Our Chorlton clients wanted to see how they could reconfigure the interior of their 1910 terraced house without adding an extension. Kerry and Steven bought the house as a run down property to do up.
In the Chorlton architect workshop, we looked at opening the kitchen and rear dining room and how to reconfigure the existing layout to increase the utility of the space. We looked at knocking down the chimney breast in the kitchen so there is more space.
Some of the walls in the house were structural and Kerry and Steven would need the advice of a structural engineer on how to knock them down to open up the space. We decided to knock down the corridor wall and close off the rear dining room. Then we would open up the wall between the front reception room and the dining room and try to connect that to the kitchen.
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For each option, we drew up to-scale plans.
For the first idea, we looked at a galley kitchen with the dining table staying in the main dining room. We would locate the office space under the stairs and the clients liked this idea so kept this feature throughout the workshop. The main thing we were looking at was where to put the kitchen and where to place the dining table so the current dining room could possibly become a children’s playroom in the future.
We put the dining table in the kitchen and measured the space to see if having the kitchen just along the neighbour’s parting wall would provide enough space. But once we had placed the dishwasher and fridge and cabinets along the wall there was not enough storage room. This option could be possible if we placed more cabinets on the other side of the wall for extra storage space.
In this option, there were no cabinets and instead, there would be a movable island on wheels that could be parked in different locations as needed.
In this option, we placed the worktop underneath the windows looking into the patio. The dining table would be near the garden door to open up the view as much as possible and bring the outdoors inside. The very front would be a galley kitchen and then we would have a small everyday dining table right at the end. The clients could keep the large dining table in the main dining room. This option would be more flexible.
The clients were keen on an office area under the staircase and opening this space up. They currently have a utility and storage room in this space.
In Option 4 the living room is better connected and there is good perspective when you look into the kitchen with the garden in the background, the room would be much more open and bright.
We suggested different types of doors, sliding, patio or fixed, which all vary in terms of price. Initially, the clients hadn’t planned on redoing the patio doors but after we showed them several options they liked how larger doors would open out the space.
The clients liked Option 4 and once they obtain calculations from a Structural Engineer, and the Builder has done a Building Notice they can start building straight away. As architects, we provide the idea and take the clients through the path of exploring it and analyzing the positives and negatives.
To start the works, the clients can get a ballpark price from the Builder and Kitchen Fitters. The hand-drawings are in scale so the clients and builders can measure from them.
Today we sat with Magda and went through the designs for our house. We drew it out to a full-scale model and then we planned out different options of what we could do and I think we found our final option. We've got some really useful advice about the building regulations and the structural engineer work.
Steven and Kerry
We've got a whole different idea of how our house is going to look!
It's good to see the options on the paper! It's much easier to decide and consider the value of the best one.
This was a small size design exercise. We looked at the changes manoeuvring the kitchen layout, walls and windows could bring to the space. This type of design exercise allows the clients to analyze the ideas once they are on the paper and settle on a design that wouldn't be easily changeable once the builder had finished it.
Pride Road
