1930s Semi-Detached Two Storey House Extension and Redesign, Chorlton, Greater Manchester

How can the Pride Road team extend and enhance Patrick and Joanna’s three bedroom semi-detached home?

Patrick and Joanna’s 1930s semi-detached home in Chorlton is short on light and room space for the children, meaning that the couple were keen to explore ways to improve the overall layout and make it more family friendly.

At a loss for inspirational ways to resolve their concerns, Patrick and Joanna turned to Magda at Pride Road to come up with a range of solutions to help them make the most of their home. Magda led the couple through an inclusive Concept Design Workshop to look at ways to extend the house, transforming it from a promising property into an ideal home.

Are you also in the market for a spot of Grand Designs treatment? We have lots of ideas to help you redesign your home.

The ground floor in its current layout comprises a relatively small footprint that includes a living and dining room with an original fireplace and a little kitchen and utility room that partially blocks the hallway. This means that the only way to enter the kitchen is through the living room.

Upstairs there are two large bedrooms and a smaller box room. There is also a wide driveway to the side of the house. That said, Patrick and Joanna were keen to explore options for a ground floor and second storey side and rear extension.

After listening to Patrick and Joanna’s domestic requirements, Magda devised a selection of personalised options to extend and redesign the existing ground floor and upstairs living spaces.

All plans are to scale

Ground Floor

Option 1 – exploring ways to integrate a side and rear double storey extension that includes an internal footprint redesign

We started off by ensuring that the extension would leave a one metre wide space to access the garden from the side of the property. We then looked at the interior of the house, exploring downstairs options. We decided to separate the kitchen and living room to give them their own separate points of entry. We also decided to install a useful shower room, utility room and cloakroom underneath the staircase.

We went on to analyse the size of the kitchen, looking at aspects we liked and disliked. We subsequently decided not to close the living room off from the kitchen entirely, instead making space for a sliding pocket door. We were also mindful that the second storey element of the extension would increase light in the sofa area of the living room with the introduction of some lovely skylights. Are you craving more light in your home, particularly during the cold winter months? Look no further than our top tips.

Option 2 – plans for a wraparound extension

In this proposal, we considered wrapping the extension around the kitchen to create a ‘C-shape’ room that would be functional and easy for the family to navigate through and around. We incorporated a large utility room and cloakroom area that leads into an extra bathroom. This extension would benefit from contemporary Velux windows and attractive bi-fold doors to allow for beautiful outdoor views. If you are struggling to upgrade your kitchen space, take a look at our useful guide right here.

Option 3 – maximise the kitchen space with clever island ideas

Here, we were keen on the notion of entering and leaving the kitchen via the utility room, meaning that cumbersome outerwear and dirty shoes could be conveniently dropped off and kept out of the way of main living space.

We continued to tweak the ‘C-shape’ kitchen plans, drawing up different options for a kitchen island with plenty of space around it for the family to gather and socialise in comfort.

First Floor

Option 1 – create big bedrooms in the new extension

This is where we played around with the extension proportions to the maximum, designing one large bedroom and a single bedroom because Patrick and Joanna ideally wanted to accommodate two useful extra rooms in the new space.

Option 2 – minimise the bedroom footprints as a backup plan

We reduced the size of the two new bedrooms just in case the planning department objected to using the available space all the way up to the boundary of the property. To us, this felt like a logical backup plan that could alleviate any disappointment for the family later on in the process.

Option 3 – introduce an ensuite bedroom within the new extension

We designed a bedroom with an ensuite, while keeping the original bathroom intact. We also added a further single bedroom in the new extension space but left the existing rooms alone as further changes, we felt, would have been too intrusive.

The result: Home extension solutions to increase space, light and storage and improve the family living experience

Patrick and Joanna were very happy with the options we devised during the Concept Design Workshop and enjoyed analysing what might work and what might not. The priorities were to increase the number of rooms in the house, resulting in more space for the children to grow into, and Patrick and Joanna thanked us for achieving those goals. Maybe you should be considering a Concept Design Workshop too?

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Patrick and Joanna say: “We were looking to do an extension but hadn’t really explored it a great deal. Magda has given us a real insight as to what is possible, both upstairs and downstairs and has really pushed the boundaries of inspiration. Magda’s work has been very thorough, looking all around the house, putting in a utility room and toilet and redesigning the kitchen. We have a number of options and it’s exciting to see what’s possible in our house so we recommend this workshop.”

Moving forward, Patrick and Joanna will get quotes from builders, weigh up the options and make an informed decision, according to their budget. Our plans are hand drawn to scale so that clients and builders can measure from them to get those crucial first cost estimates.

Would you like to redesign your house to create better space, light and functionality? Book a workshop.

"Magda’s work has been very thorough, looking all around the house, putting in a utility room and toilet and redesigning the kitchen. We have a number of options and it’s exciting to see what’s possible in our house so we recommend this workshop.”
Patrick and Joanna

“We were looking to do an extension but hadn’t really explored it a great deal. Magda has given us a real insight as to what is possible."

"Patrick and Joanna were very happy with the options we devised during the Concept Design Workshop and enjoyed analysing what might work and what might not."

"The priorities were to increase the number of rooms in the house, resulting in more space for the children to grow into, and Patrick and Joanna thanked us for achieving those goals."
Pride Road

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