We brought our second forever ever house just over a year ago. A week after we moved in our son was born some two months early. The house was brought with the fact we had a one year old already and a second baby on the way, oh and a then 13 year old. The house is the right size for our growing family and aesthetically didn’t need a great deal doing, not immediately anyway other than personal preference paintwork. That and the loft space, which I have already posted about that we made into a bedroom for the teenager. We purposely brought a house that didn’t need a new kitchen or bathrooms, not straight away anyway.
Other tasks that we have planned are biggys, we want to re-landscape garden to make it a little more user friendly, I want to re-vamp both the kids bedrooms, when they are old enough to appreciate it and convert the spare room into an office/wardrobe/spare bed space. The biggy however is the kitchen extension I have planned. I don’t think big really comes close to the mammoth task that will be this extension.
The house has already been extended, and when doing so they extended the kitchen. Whilst there is nothing wrong with the aesthetics of the kitchen, by any means, I cannot however for the life of me work out why the previous owners chose the design they did. It is dark, small, and a considerable waste of space. The only real good thing is the storage – there are a bazillion kitchen/utility cupboards to make the most of. Other than that, its a bit of a strange one.
Here is the floor layout and some photos, perhaps you’ll see my point.
So it goes without saying I want to knock down the wall between the kitchen and downstairs toilet to open the space up. It doesn’t end there. I also want to bring down the wall between the kitchen and living room/dining room. Creating an even bigger space but
It doesn’t end there. I would build a wall between the lounge/dining area to shut off the living room. It would then be a smaller, cosy, single purpose lounge.
It still doesn’t end there. You will see we have a conservatory, this was here when we brought the house. For 6 months of the year it is great, albeit a little warm. It houses all the kids toys, the only carpeted room downstairs and is generally a tip. During the summer months it is a useful safe space for the kids. During the winter it is cold and rarely used.
So the plan is to knock down the conservatory and build out, with brick. I want to extend what will be one long, but not very wide room to one large space that will accommodate a kitchen/dining area big enough for our family of five, potentially a lounge/TV area, downstairs WC and utility, complete with bi-fold doors, along the length (or as much as the budget permits) of the house, that open up onto the garden.
Another important aspect, is I don’t want a flat roof. We had one in our old house and it was very problematic, it didn’t feel overly safe and it leaked – a lot. I would like the roof to be angled similar to the picture below although my initial enquires tell me that we cannot pass eight feet in height if we want the extension to fall within the permitted building regulations that do not require planning permission. I am hopeful that the extension should fall within the permitted regs and as it is a single story extension and we will not need to go through the council for planning permission.
So it is a very large extension, and with a one and two year old it might not be the easiest of situations to live through. There is also the risk of outpacing ourselves in terms of house value however this isn’t a massive concern of ours as we really have no intention of moving for, well, decades. The only time I would move would be if we were emigrating to sunnier climes, moving to my home town of Bristol, or we won the lottery. So it is unlikely we’ll moving anytime soon.
There are a lot of decisions to be made yet, I have grand plans of being project manager and sourcing materials myself, running point, oh so very Grand Designs. I also fantasise about kitchen designs, appliances, decor, colour schemes but they are all very far into the future. This is at the very very beginning phase. So much so that we are having the first meeting with the builder tonight. It may well transpire that we are dreaming and the plans are an impossibility. It may far exceed any budget ideas we have in mind or we may actually end up in Spain. Hmm.
Here are some pictures of the final product that I have in mind, which can be found on my Pinterest board Kitchen/Diner extension.
Anyway I would love to hear from you. Have you undergone an extension like this? How did you find it? Any words of wisdom? I would to hear about your experiences or plans.
Are you undergoing a kitchen renovation or extension? Then be sure to check out this post on surviving without a kitchen.
For more inspiration and ideas here is my Pinterst board.
It sounds so good. I’d want to knock the walls down too and open it all up. My friend recently knocked down their conservatory and built out and it’s the best thing he did. It looks so big and part of the house now, rather than a bolt on. Good luck!!
I love the inspiration images! I would love to have something similar when we buy a house.
#BloggerClubUK
It’s going to look amazing! I love your inspiration – it’s going to be so light and bright. It’s a big job but it’ll be so worth it. Best of luck! #HomeEtc
This looks like it will be fab. My brother-in-law has just done something similar and put in lovely underfloor heating too. They now have a fantastic space and a great family room too. #HomeEtc
That will look amazing when its done, if you do it! I have just opened up my kitchen & dining room and whilst its nowehere near the size of yours, it makes a huge difference, loads of light, a better feeling of space and it gives the house more of a wow factor. I did it in my old house too! definatley the way to go! As a property developer myself I definatkey recommend project managing it yourself and sourcing the materials, you will save thousands! good luck and look forward to more pics… Emma xx #HomeEtc
We did a huge extension like this a couple of years ago. It was an absolute nightmare as we had problems with our builders. I have 3 kids and the twins were only 1 at the time! It was all worth it and I love it now, it makes such a difference to our house. Feel free to check out my blog for pics as I wrote quite a few posts on it. Jemma x #HomeEtc
Our builder was recommended to us by a good friend who has just built two houses – with said builder. So I’m hopeful we will be in good hands. But getting the right holder has been a key issue for us. It’s nice to hear that it is worth the upheaval in the end though. I will definitely go and check out your pics. Thanks for your comment xx
Sarah, a huge undertaking but such fab ideas. The inspirational photos are stunning. You may have seen our new kitchen / dining / living area single storey extension on my blog. It’s changed the way we live and having our first summer with it and being able to fold back the doors onto the garden is a real bonus.
The upheaval will be worth it. A reliable builder is key. So the fact you’ve a recommended one is a plus.
I look forward to seeing the plans become a reality. #homeetc
Thanks Jane. Yes a huge task but the common themes seems to be – it will be worth it. I know a few people who have done something similar and they’ve all said the same as you – it’s totally changed the way they live. Yes I have seen your extension, it’s really stunning, must be an amazing space to live in! Thanks for your comment xx
Your house is lovely already with this extension it wipp be fabulous!! Can’t wait to see you get it done! Love the Pinterest images and the floorplan of your current house.
Xx
I absolutely love big kitchens, that was what I always wanted in my house. I had to compromise for more space elsewhere with our house though. I’m currently pinterest searching what I can do with what we’ve got though. It’ll look amazing whatever you do though x
That’s the kind of kitchen I would love. I’ve always want3d a kitchen that doubles as a family room so that I can be with the kids while I’m cooking and they’re doing homework or drawing or where we can share a cup of tea together. I hope your quotes aren’t astronomical and you get the kitchen you want. #sharingthebloglove
I’ve never owned a house do I don’t have the first clue about DIY stuff, but your plans look ambitious! If you think your kitchen is bad, you should see mine. It’s practically a closet. I can’t wait to move out of this flat. #ablogginggoodtime
aww I’m so envious – I love house renovations and I always get so shocked by what knocking down a wall can do to the space available – love it! Love the pinterest pictures too. Love big islands in the middle with bar stools – creates such a social hub in the kitchen. Good luck! #ablogginggoodtime
It sounds and looks great what you have in mind. We’ve undergone similar works recently though not quite so large as ours is a semi. My biggest help was my other half who is really laid back and methodical to the tiniest detail. He’s german and i tease him that it seems to be a trait that comes with him. I rush into everything I do and it normally goes ok but with the planning side of things it really did pay off to plan plan plan and then I could be a bit more free with the finishing touches. Oh and not to pay for all of the building works up front no matter how much pushing the builder do on trying to convince you otherwise. Good luck with it all and the kids will be fine:)
Mainy x
#bloggerclubuk
I can totally see why you want to make these changes, there appears to be a lot of wasted space and quite dark. What you have planned looks amazing. I would love to design my own kitchen from scratch, hopefully one day. Good luck with it all, share with us your ideas I love reading about it. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove X
Wow Sarah! We’ve talked about extending our house but there really isn’t any point. Like the term second forever home! I’m definitely not in my forever home and can’t wait to move one day! #sharethebloglive
Your vision is amazing! I agree with you about the current extension, it just doesn’t make sense to do it but keep it that small. I hope you achieve your dream home.
#SharingtheBlogLove
I feel your existing kitchen pain! We have a terrible kitchen extension that I cannot fathom why they chose to do it as they did. The bathroom is above it and equally poorly designed – the fact that it’s bigger than two of our three bedrooms is somewhat baffling to me! We’re planning to do our own extension, but my plans are so big that I think it’s a 5-10 year in the future plan. I love your ideas here – it should totally open up the space and make it really light and bright. I hope the meeting with the builder was positive – best of luck with realising your plans! Thanks so much for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
How exciting! I would love to have something like this done. I can’t wait to see the finished extension! Good luck with it x #sharingthebloglove
Can’t wait to see the finished product!
This is so exciting! I’d love a massive classy house!
#ABloggingGoodTime
Great idea – we did something similar to ours a couple of years ago now and we’ve loved the open plan-ness of it. Take a look at Janes at Maflingo.com and her pinterest board too, it’s very similar to what you’ll be doing and hers looks amazeballs. #fortheloveofBLOG
I love the ideas you have. We are buying our forever home next year – When it gets built! I can’t wait to be involved with the kitchen design design even if its only chossing the worktops and cupboards! There is room for a conservatory as well once we are in. Its very exciting house projects! Need to have a geek at Pinterest! xx
#KCACOLS
I love your vision the after pictures look brilliant and I think may be my dream kitchen too! I don’t own my pwn home so I am not in a position to do this but I look forward to seeing how you get on should you move ahead with this #kcacols
How exciting! We have planning permission for a two storey extension and this has got me all excited about it again. I hope it all works out for you! Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next Sunday
We’re building an extension right across the back of our house right now. It will be a kitchen/diner with a breakfast bar and bifold doors leading out to the garden. We are having a “crown roof”, which starts out flat and then pitches downwards, which is great because it allows for a longer extension and high-ceiling. We’ve got veluxes in the pitched bit to send light back towards the rest of the house. Then the old kitchen is going to be a utility room and downstairs toilet. I am SO EXCITED! It’s going to change our lives forever. The building works seem slow though. We’ve been going since late July and next week we are promised that the extension will be watertight. Then they will break through the wall to our old kitchen and the stress of not having a proper kitchen for a few weeks will begin! Good luck with your plans. #KCACOLS
Back again for #marvmondays. We’re now debating doing our kitchen up over selling up!
This sounds fab and so exciting!! I’m with you on all the opening up of spaces, and it’s funny how at one point conservatories were all the rage whereas now the thing is to make a much bigger more useable kitchen. I shall watch with interest, we’re planning our own building project which we’ll hopefully get some plans for next year. We have a very small kitchen and a fairly decent sized dining room with a humungous garden. The plan is to build across the back of the house on one level, creating an open plan kitchen/diner and then turn the existing kitchen into a utility room and downstairs toilet. We’ll see how it all works out! X #MarvMondays
Oh that sounds fab! I’d love to see that good luck I hope it goes well x
Haha!! You sound like you have exactly the same kind of plans as me!!!! I can’t WAIT to get started but our house is listed so I think getting planning is going to prove tricky! 😉 I really look forward to joining you on your journey though 🙂 Thanks so much for linking up with us — it’s lovely to be introduced to your blog. Hope you’ll link up again 🙂 Caro x #HomeEtc
Me neither I am so excited about it. Oh yes planning might be a bit tricky but hopefully you’ll get it without too many problems. Thank you for your lovely comment I look forward to linking up again soon x
We did this! We knocked about three walls down and it was SO worth it! Love the space and the kids could play too. Keep us posted! Thanks for linking up – Jess xx
#HomeEtc
Oh wow that sounds fab. One thing I have taken from this post is everyone says it is worth it. It makes me so excited to get started. Thanks for your comment, I look forward to linking again soon xx
Wow big plans!! If you end up with an extension that looks like that bottom picture I will be eternally green with envy – soooo beautiful!! Thanks for sharing and good luck with the renovations #forthelovoefBLOG x
Oh wow… let me know when its done because Ill be moving into the extension… or at least coming for tea… nope prosecco!!
Thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime
Wow! Those are some plans. If you can, I would go for it. Your kitchen ideas sound brilliant. I would love to get a kitchen extension. #ablogginggoodtime
OMG you have a lot to do! I would love a project like that- we are currently looking to move. We’ve had a flat roof with nothing but trouble so think you are right to try to change it. Good luck! #KCACOLS
Those plans sound amazing. And I am sure it will be absolutely fabulous. I really hope that your builders say that it is all possible. I am very envious. We moved last year and our kitchen is horrid. I would love to be able to transform it completely and your idea of a large and bright kitchen is very appealing. Hugs Lucy xxxx #MarvMondays
Oh wow, that would be beautiful. Love your house but of course, is important to have goals! Thanks for linking up to #MarvMondays. Kaye xo
I was looking at the current kitchen and thinking, that’s ok.
But the new one WOW! Looks amazing! Id move a camp bed in there lol
#kcacols