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Renovating Smaller Homes

Young family seeking advice

4 years ago

Hi, we bought our first home few months ago. Decent sized parcel, perfect location but little too small and dated for our young family. Living/dining room has a shape of an arrow head (or a B-52 stealth Bomber lol) which doesnt leave much space for living. Kitchen is too small, bathroom has a wall between the toilet making it look small and stuffy. We wont have budget for a massive reno/extension. Any advice or suggestions will hugely be appreciated. Thanks all

Featured Answer

oklouise

4 years ago

it looks like a great block of land and my first thought for long term improvement given Council approval and enough space, could be an extension at the back for a more generous kitchen and another at the front with a double garage, master suite, new entry porch and front courtyard but, while we all wait for the lottery, my suggestions would be to close the extra doorways from kitchen and bathroom, renovate the family bathroom, add a shower to the laundry and use bed 3 as a master suite with direct access to the laundry/ens from the bedroom that could later be used as a rumpus room ...there are new door height openings from the kitchen without removing the whole wall to allow the walkway between kitchen and dining, the opening for the peninsula bench and extra space for the fridge freezer backed with built ins in the living area for TV, books toys and music etc as a wide door height opening instead of removing the whole wall can often be used to save the load bearing structure and the ceilings in both rooms and it may be possible to re use the kitchen appliances, cabinets and sink with some extra flatpacs and a new counter but first project should be to make an accurate plan of the whole house including the length of all the walls including the hall, bathroom, entry, laundry and L shaped wall in the kitchen..accuracy is essential as even only a few cms can make the difference between being able to use economical off the shelf fixture or having to spend much more on custom made

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Comments (10)

oklouise
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
do you have long terms plans for any major work as it can be better to make big plans that can be reduced to smaller segments that can be completed over time otherwise you risk making changes now that will need to be redone in future eg it seems logical to block off the external bathroom door but that might be the ideal location to connect the old part of the house to a later extension but it could be OK to remove the toilet wall and patch the floor and save a major bathroom reno for later but we need more info..what are the floor, walls and roof built out of, where is north, describe your climate, how many bedrooms, bathrooms and living area do you need and want now and in future and what is the condition of the existing kitchen, bathroom and laundry..and is any part of the house been an extension to the original and can you include the measurements of the bathroom and laundry
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Kate
4 years ago
Small Reno kitchen plumbing stays.
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Yes, siriuskey. You are right again. It would be smart to invest in having a professional draftsman draw it up. But on face value, I really think oklouise's plan works. I have sort of drawn it out on the floor. I love that she is using standard size vanities with only a custom made top, and the towel shelves are now 450 instead of 250 wide, which is much better. The little odd-shaped infill at the end of the bath provides a spot for the lovely jug and bowl set my mother made for me. (I used to use the jug to pour water over the grandchildren's heads when I washed their hair, and now it's just a lovely decorative item with deep sentimental value) and there is space beside the bath for the urn filled with decorative soaps that was a gift from a son-in-law on his first visit to our home. I really think the bath needs to come back to 1500 long, but that's not an issue at all. I found a really nice shaped oval tub at 1500 x 760 that I like and is quite inexpensive. I don't need to worry about towel rails because I have a lovely timber free-standing towel rack that will fit nicely at the end of the shower if the shower door is placed on the side. It looks like the vanity drain can run under the drawers and into the bath outlet and the WC vanity will run under the wall into the shower drain, and all other plumbing stays the same except I'll ask the plumber to chase the shower tap and rose into the exterior wall rather than have it on the side, OR there is room for a false wall in front of the exterior wall to hide the plumbing if that works out better. The niche can go in the new wall behind the WC vanity. I'll be really surprised if this isn't a feasible plan, but I will take your advice, siriuskey, and get a pro to draw it up so I can be totally confident it works. Can't thank you enough, oklouise - and you, siriuskey, for all your efforts which, I think, contributed by generating new ideas and flushing out the important issues.
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Kate
4 years ago
Also meant to close door into kitchen from hallway and extend cupboards across
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dreamer
4 years ago
I can understand the separate toilet in the bathroom, due to the door to outside from the toilet. This is adding the privacy required for a two way set up. Since you do have a second toilet, you could block up the outside door, or just permanently lock, or put a window in, and remove internal wall in bathroom.
The toilet in the laundry could have a wall installed so when using that toilet you or your guests, would not feel they are on display.

It appears, to me, that the storage room, bedroom three would be additions, which have joined up to the outside laundry and toilet.
Are these extensions of good quality, with good insulation etc?

Kate's suggestion for the kitchen, would be a good starting point to improve that area.
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Kate
4 years ago
Another small change for the bathroom would be to reduce the size of the hall cupboard so that it only is as wide as the bath. It’s current width is adding to the choppiness of the bathroom floorspace
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Marty
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you for all taking time to share your thoughts. Attached are some additonal photos fyi.

oklouise - Its double brick with floorboards; terracotta roof, east is north from the plan, no extensions aparts from bedroom 3 which is a semi finished converted garrage(priority no1), its in Sydney north shore. In the long run we would like to add another bedroom/study, a bathroom and a carport.

Kate - I really like your idea but little conscious that wall between the kitchen looks to be the load bearing wall. Will def check it out though. I will also look into cupboard size. Agree 100% it adds to the choppiness

dreamer - we dont really use the toilet door to get out so yes I think we can patch it up. Bedroom 3/storage is a converted garage thats half finished. Toilet/laundry is pretty small with low ceiling so yer..bit of a dilemma there. It would be great if I could lift the ceiling higher, have a door into bedroom3, turn it into an ensuite since plumbing is there.

Once again, thanks heaps ! Much appreciated
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Kate
4 years ago
Lovely backyard. Ok so the bathroom needs a full Reno to bring it forward 50 years. Your shower plumbing is in the wall separating toilet.
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oklouise
4 years ago
do you mean the backyard is north?? is there a step down from the living into bed 3 and/or the store room? and if the ceiling is low in the storage area we need to understand the roof..can you post a google earth photo to show the roof shape and what's the distance from the outside walls of the laundry to the back and side fences AND we need accurate internal measurements of bathroom, toilet, entry and laundry
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Marty
Original Author
4 years ago
oklouise - yes it's facing kinda NNW and yes! there is about a 7cm drop. I will try to take some meaurements but in the meantime below are some arial snaps

Kate- Yes! Even if its just ripping out those tiles ! Once we finish working on bedroom 3, bathroom will have to be our next major goal. I did promise the girls : ) Endless work!
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