Requesting advice / ideas on reconfiguring an existing floorplan

last year

Earlier this year my husband and I relocated a lovely three bedroom weatherboard cottage (cira. 1950) from Melbourne's eastern suburbs to a small quaint town within the Hepburn Shire.

Prior to purchasing the home, the previous owners had made many improvements, including good quality double glazed uPVC casement windows to most rooms and a new kitchen which incorporates an integrated laundry.

We have a few dilemas with the current floorplan and would love advise/ideas from the Houzz community.

* Master Bedroom

Location of custom made floor to ceiling robes:

The master bedroom is well proportioned and located to the front of the home - it faces west on our site. As per the floorplan and photos, you will notice that the focal point of the room upon entrance is an entire wall of floor to ceiling robes. These are also quite new and cost around $5000.00 a couple of years ago.

I personally would rather walk into a room and see a lovely bed made up with stunning linen, art on the walls and some feature lighting.

Any ideas on where the custom wardrobes could be moved to?

Position of Master Bedroom door:

Moving the door to a location which works well with the bedroom space (possible wardrobe relocation) and also finding the best location for the hallway/loungeroom door location.

* Loungeroom/Dining

Addition of doors opening to an outdoor deck/pergola to the north and possible door relocation (off hallway)

This is quite a large combined space.

(please note that the fireplace and walls to either side have now been removed)

Our plan is to construct a deck/pergola to the north of the home with direct access to this via the dining area. We are thinking of installing new sliding or bi-fold doors? Currently there is a new fixed uPVC window on this wall, which we intend to repurpose in bedroom three.

I am thinking that the access should be closer to the kitchen to allow a larger dedicated space to an eating area?

To sit well with the Master bed door, what is the best position for a door or double doors?

*Bathroom/Toilet

Currently these are two separate rooms. As the bathroom needs updating I am thinking of merging these together. Also, I am not a fan of opening the front door and looking down the hallway to the toilet...

* Bedroom Three

Should it stay as a dedicated bedroom or could it be accessed via the loungeroom and reimagined as a library/study? This room does get lovely sun in the morning as it faces east.

I have attached a floorplan, elevations and photos of the Master bed wardrobes, kitchen and combined lounge / dining areas.

Any advise would be amazing.

Thank you.

Featured Answer

bigreader

last year

I wouldn’t go to the cost of moving the wardrobes, not for such a small issue. I’m sure you’ll come up with other things during your works that could use the money more. If you hang the bedroom door on the other side of the frame it will redirect some of your view towards your bed.

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Comments (32)

Kate
last year
Can u post the floor plan and elevations in a comment. I can see 3 photos only
SHARON
Original Author
last year
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I'd start firstly by asking whether you know which are load bearing walls ( the converted garage and the heavier walls in the plan makes me wonder ) , which walls you are happy with , etc . Also , being on a concrete slab , moving plumbing may be difficult too , but presumably can be done , even if it needs concrete cutters involved . I think you'd be better to devise an overall plan , rather than a room at a time . I also take your possible family and resale into account , but you have some rooms that seem too big for 2 people , some too small . This is purely throwing ideas around , but do you use the bath ? Presumably you use the shower . So as far as the laundry goes , maybe move tghe toilet and the laundry to the right hand room ( make into 2 rooms ) ; move the bath to the left , by the looks the bath would need to be rotated 90 degrees , but you'd have the one room with bath , shower , vanity . But on a bigger idea , when you said about removing walls , what about taking out the hall to what you call the back door , incorporate the hall and door as part of the laundry , so you have the door to take laundry to a washing line . Then , as well as gaining that space , you mightn't need the other wall along the kitchen , so you could expand that a bit ( you'd obviously need thoroughfare between living and dining , but you'd gain 3 or 4 sq mtrs . Or just move the kitchen -- I suspect the combined living/kitchen/dining is bigger than you need , even more so when you include the family . Done 'right' , you could probably enlarge Bed 2 and 3 , add an ensuite , better utilise the study ( or move it or delete it ) , etc . But I'd want more info .
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imo the feature that restricted the new family room is the wide sliding door out to the deck and the central twin cavity sliders in the centre of the wall ...do you need/want a storage wall for TV books music etc in the family room and do you need full width glass from family room to deck?...consider a smaller sliding door near the dining room end of the family room with windows (1500 tall?) on the rest of the walls (unless you prefer the feeling of a conservatory) but smaller windows can better frame some views and are easier to dress and could allow for wall space and window seat with storage shelves or drawers for books, games, toys etc.. always depends on who and how you will use the room and if the new family room is a living area with TV how will you use the other living area and the upstairs sitting room ...maybe the family room could have no doors and become open plan with kitchen and dining area and the original living room could be closed off and access direct from entry to dining room could also allow for more wall space for the kitchen?
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SHARON
Original Author
last year
My apologies Kate,

Please find the current floorplan above. I will follow up with the elevations.
SHARON
Original Author
last year
Kate
last year
My thoughIts.
SHARON thanked Kate
oklouise
last year
how many bedrooms and bathrooms do you need/want, do you have any plans for future extension.. changes to the kitchen or adding a garage or separate laundry and/or front porch and how wide and long is the block of land and what is the distance from the house to all four boundaries?
SHARON
Original Author
last year
Good morning oklouise,

Thank you for your message.

We need one bathroom in this home. What do you think of the idea of incorporating the toilet /bathroom together?

Two dedicated bedrooms and a third room which can be a library/study/bedroom.

We are going to have plans drawn to include a garage which will be located to the right hand side of the house. Most likely we will extend the gable to gable roof line over the garage. We are also going to include in the drawings a front porch which will extend to access the garage from the side, a deck / pergola to the north and a small deck to the east which will be accessible from the kitchen and will wrap around to join the northern deck.

The block is approx. 24m wide by 25m long.

Currently we have 6m to the right hand boundary, 6.5m to the left hand boundary, 8.25m to the front and 9.25 to the rear. We cannot build within the first 5m of the front.

Also, we are planning on a semi circle driveway as we have two crossovers, one at each side of our block.

We cannot build further back without report and consent, however I am open to the idea of extending sections of the home out under the eaves which could add another 450mm.

A day bed to bed three three for example could be good.

Thanks once again.

Sharon
siriuskey
last year
I can't read the dimensions but i would consider placing the bed head against the passage wall if wide enough and re swinging the door which will give you a view of the bed and your lovely robe

Are you able to build to the boundary for your garage
SHARON
Original Author
last year
Thank you oklouise,

Yes, we will build to the boundary which will give us a 6m wide garage.
SHARON
Original Author
last year
oklouise
last year
the dimension of the living area is inconsistent with the overall length of the house and other rooms and need to be checked) but aiming to make the master bedroom and bathroom more comfortable my suggestions (subject to accurate dimensions) includes rearranging the bathroom walls and stealing extra space off the wider than necessary hallways to allow for a new entry for the master bedroom (no obvious alternative location for the biw that would need to be substantially reduced in size to be moved) a bigger lined storage and more spacious bathroom with separate shower and bath
SHARON thanked oklouise
SHARON
Original Author
last year
Hello oklouise,

I have just run the tape measure over the lounge/dining, please find the dimensions listed below:

* Overall length of room is 5695mm (internal measurement taken from plaster to plaster.

*Actual living space, including extended gable area is 4924mm. The extended gable area is 619mm.

*Dining wall to front is 2192mm

Please let me know if you require any further dimensions.

Loving what you have done so far, thank you.
oklouise
last year
a gable roofed extension for a garage would make undercover access to the front verandah challenging so my suggestions would be to use an almost flat roofed garage and front verandah with a connecting pergola to shade western sun with an open deck off the dining room (to avoid blocking northern sunshine inside) and a flat roofed alfresco with barbq, outdoor fireplace and servery window on the north east with a porch at the back door and... consider including a separate laundry and/or powder room off the back porch...(the deck and garage will require a DA so would be best to include the new laundry in plans even if the work is not completed at the same time....the flat roofed garage, front porch and pergola would create the look of a continuous verandah across the whole frontage and i've included moving the dining room window to bed 3 and installing sliding doors (1800 wide should retain wall space for existing furniture as wider glass doors might lose too much wall space?) and I've added doors to the living room (1200-1500? wide cavity sliders or hinged glass doors would help with heating and the bed 3 study window should be off sett to allow for the new laundry
SHARON thanked oklouise
SHARON
Original Author
last year
This is gorgeous, thank you so much.
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
Hello oklouise,

I am revisiting your ideas and suggestions from our last discussions last year. I have a couple of questions to run past you. Are you still available to contribute to this particular Design Dilemma? Thank you,

Sharon
oklouise
7 months ago
always happy to offer an opinion but have to assume that you previously posted under another name as i can't locate the old plans ..please provide a new floorplan with accurate room sizes and locations of door and windows so that i can make new drawings
SHARON thanked oklouise
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
Good morning oklouise,

Thank you so much, I will get the information that you requested over to you. Shall I create a new Design Dilemma?

Thank you,

Sharon
oklouise
7 months ago
i always keep every plan i do and no need to start from scratch if i could find the last plan i did for you ..but tell me your questions and we will first see what specific extra info i need
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
Hello again oklouise,

Thanks once again. Apologies for my delay in responding.

Personally I want to achieve the maximum impact through a well considered design, that is functionable and looks great, without having to spend an excessive amount of money. I guess this is what most renovators are looking to achieve. I am fortunate to have had a career and formal qualification in building and construction, therefore I can easily cost out all items of the project, it's the overall design that I get stuck on. Your input to date has been really great.

It seems that you do not have a thread of previous communication and drawings, I will send over to you to refresh your memory.

Thanks,

Sharon

This is the current floorplan
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
oklouise
7 months ago
i can see the old thread what i can't locate is my personal copy of the original plans that i did for you (that i always keep filed under the name you last used but, amongst hundreds of other plans, it's difficult to locate yours unless i know the name you used for the old post ...not essential but it would have made it quicker for me to make some variations without having to redraw the whole plan on my CAD program again but i'll manage......what variations are you thinking about?
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
Good morning oklouise,

I am sorry to hear that you are unable to locate the original plan that you drew up.

I would like to explore the potential of the following:

Living Room:

Potentially pushing out the living room a little, perhaps up to 1800mm to give more of a dedicated lounge space with a day bed under the window, as opposed to a walk through living room.

Bathroom:

Is there room to have a separate toilet as opposed to the bathroom with toilet. Could the toilet be relocated to the where the bath is at end of small hallway with entry to the bathroom via a cavity slider?

Master Bedroom:

I would still prefer to move the robes from the southern wall to the wall backing onto the hallway. We have a King size bed, it's currently positioned where you have drawn it, however there is not enough room to get around the bed. If the bed was positioned up against the southern wall, there would be 900mm each side for side tables.

I am planning on moving 2/3 of the robes to the other side and the other 1/3 robe could go into bed 2.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you,

Sharon
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
Also, I have another couple of suggestions? Please see marked up plan attached. Thank you
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
Kate
7 months ago
That angled window does not look big enough to sit in.
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
Hi Kate,

The window is 1460mm h x 1200mm w
oklouise
7 months ago
i can't read the details on your last plan but my first thought is that adding an 1800 deep extension to the living room would probably be just as expensive as a bigger extension elsewhere as you can't extend further forward but need to finish a new copy of your plans to be able to be specific...
SHARON
Original Author
7 months ago
Hi oklouise,

Thanks for your message.

You are not able to read any of the comments on the latest plan that I uploaded?
oklouise
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
no we can't read your handwritten details but i'm working on your plans...
oklouise
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
after attempting numerous variations i can't see any great advantages to an extra 1800 added on to the living area except to offer extra length and empty floor space to a room that is already big enough for all the basics but lacks wall space for storage and TV but, without a wide opening to the entry, you could have a couch arranged differently and a doorway to bed 3 would reduce storage and furniture options for both bedroom and lounge but, maybe the window in the lounge could be replaced with a cantilevered bay window with awning roof roof to create a bay window seat and the small extension could be better used to add a generous laundry which would allow more storage in the kitchen or a more generous bathroom as the only way i can find to keep a separate toilet is to move the existing toilet door to allow enough space to add a tiny handbasin to the existing toilet plus a door across the entry hall to add privacy from the front door

another option for the master suite, would be to steal space off bed 2 to relocate all 3700mm of the original biw and use small freestanding wardrobes and/or chests of drawers for storage in the minor bedrooms...some varaitions for the bathroom and other ideas collected into one plan

and you could also keep the original master bedroom for guests and invest in a spacious new master bedroom (with or without an ens) behind the new garage with access through the original bed 2 that could be used as a dressing room and whichever bathroom varaistion you prefer
Kate
7 months ago
Could you extend the dining area out to side You could then turn table around allowing storage on front wall and more space for living area