Renovation advice for
We live on a hobby farm in Noosa Hinterland and plan to extend our 3 bed 2 bath mock Queenslander to provide open plan living/kitchen/dining for our family of 4 where the kitchen can be the hub of the house. Currently the kitchen is in a small octagon at the east of the house and away from living and entertaining areas. The house has plenty of outdoor space with a large wrap around verandah.
We have no space restrictions for the extension, but have a budget of $300k. My husband has an owner builder licence and we had a builder to assist, so we hope to stretch the budget by doing what we can ourselves.
We approached a draftsperson to draw up the extension, but without design backgrounds ourselves I feel like the proposal is not well considered from a liveability perspective and the extension is disjointed. We don’t mind old juxtaposed with new, and don’t propose to try to mirror the style of the exisiting house, however I would like the exisiting living and outdoor areas to feel connected to the new areas and the design more cohesive.
I would like advice on how to move forward. We have used an architect in the past to design and plan a new build (different property) the costs spiralled and I don’t need a full service design, planning, project management etc. Should we seek advice just to the design stage and have a draftsman take over the drawing plans?
Draft plans and photos of west of house where extension is proposed.
Any advice gratefully received.
Comments (18)
29 days ago- 29 days ago
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Renovation advice
Comments (19)yep, I can see this is a tricky one then and appreciate you've already worked through negotiating some of these constraints - it's always a case of more than meets the eye with these projects..... But there's still something bugging me about this one conceptually. I think it's the fact considering the full scope in that you're doing a reasonable amount (which will cost a fair bit I imagine) but it's essentially replacing and if not losing some property amenity in the process (garage gone). When you have an opportunity like this I always dig deep to find the creative opportunity to really maximise the investment. It's a relatively smallish home, but on these ones the idea is not to tighten them up further, but to open them up and increase the feeling of space more than what they are...the key is in the planning. I suppose it's the stuff that we don't want to be noticing that I'm picking upon such as the idea of a main bathroom opposite double doors to the formal living is not ideal. oklouise's option is better but it's still kind of visible from the entry.... It's like you've got the various "spaces" boxes ticked with the rooms etc but the flow/transition is a little clunky. Walking through a kitchen, then the laundry to finally get to the loo is not an ideal set-up. Maybe it's the central passage that's closing it in an may not even need to be there so the formal living is open...I don't know and it's too involved/complex to resolve in a post/on a forum as ultimately this stuff comes back to the project brief requirements. Advice I have is like always trust your instinct and if it's not sitting right for you in certain areas then it's not resolved yet.....this may need a bit of unpicking and revisiting to get the best outcome....but just my professional opinion ;) best of luck with it PD...See Morekitchen renovation advice
Comments (10)I think the layout is a great use of the space. It flows, there's room to move and everything is accessible. Think about replacing the cupboard next to the dishwasher with drawers. Drawers give a lot more usable storage area that is easily accessible. You could put in a blind corner cupboard as well (Bunnings have them). Pull out bins under the sink eliminate the need to have a bin in a corner somewhere (Bunnings have those too). Some open shelving on the wall to the right of the sink near the arch would be handy and would look lovely. It doesn't need to cost a fortune either. Don't be scared to get quotes. We've just recently had 15 quotes for the kitchen we're renovating and the price varied by $15K. Totally worth the run around to get extra quotes. We also picked up some great tips and advice along the way. We are paying a builder who does renovations and extensions to do it for us. He can get things so much cheaper at trade price than we could. He is also managing the tiler and painter as he uses guys that work with him all the time. We have decided to get a flat packed kitchen that is pre-cut. The builder is putting it together and making the timber counter tops for us at less than half the price of the kitchen places. We chose the tiles and he ordered them at a better price. Same for the sink, taps, handles etc. We have saved thousands of dollars doing it this way and he manages the entire thing for us. Added: I rang the builder. He said that if your budget is really tight, consider getting a Kaboodle kitchen and have a builder install it for you. He recommended not to order the Kaboodle hardware (hinges, drawer runners etc) as it's not the best quality and a builder can order others. The handles would be fine though. It would make it way cheaper for you and you would still get a decent quality kitchen....See MoreFull house renovation advice
Comments (18)Hi Kel. Whilst I agree with the above, a few of your items in the list would not require a builder and you would be paying extra simply because someone else is insuring and supervising the installation for you eg flooring can be done direct with a flooring company at the end. Re build vs demolish, if you buy in Mullaloo there is a retained value in the existing house that you would be throwing away by demolishing ie to replace the existing house back to existing size (although your own configuration) using up part of your budget vs applying that to just modifying the existing home. The major costs in renovations in Perth (being double brick/concrete slab) are the relocation of services such as plumbing / wastes etc that typically are required when eg a bathroom is reconfigured or kitchen relocated and the finishes of those rooms eg cabinetry, benchtops, tiles etc. They will be a large amount but again are also part of the cost of a new build. For mine, renovating is giving new life to a tired home and is nearly always enthusiastically accepted by Councils and neighbours when planning. Changing a facade to a house in Mullaloo is generally quite straight forward but keep in mind existing houses there usually have quite low eaves/roof lines. It depends on the house as to the options eg additional roof structure to raise visual height / modifications / garage location etc. Re the costs, it will completely depend on the house, what style and level of finish you want it to be when finished (we've had people spend $2,400 on a shower mixer), the extent of the changes and how much time you have to arrange things eg flooring. Good luck!...See MoreLots of Renovation Advice Needed for Older Farmhouse (photos)
Comments (6)Thanks geluka, would like the laminate throughout but have been told not to put it in wet areas and kitchen, even though it is advertised as waterproof. My husband can lay the tiles (he's done that before) but the planks will be a new thing. Would love to get someone to do it but its costly. I am coming around to the grey lower cupboard - I will have a look at options. :) The splashback brown tile in the photo is now history, so yes a lighter splashback is best!...See More- 29 days ago
29 days agoI would think that the complicated octagon roof line would be difficult to add into. So why can’t you place the extension in the middle of the two octagons?? Having access into the existing verandas from new extension. Could also have a deck from new extension elongated the extension even further. The extension could be a simple rectangle with a gable roof independent from the octagon roof lines.
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entrance onto deck is shown in red. Additional photos taken from red x looking west, north then east Driveway is not hard landscaping, it’s a track currently (rural property) garage not to scale. Hope this helps.
- 28 days agolast modified: 27 days ago
based on dreamers idea my suggestions is an extension that makes use of existing spaces rather than creating a separate new building and there's some additional suggestions for more privacy for kids bedrooms and more storage
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oklouise