Our Chorlton client Christine asked us to come and look at the ground floor to redesign her house layout. The aim of the workshop was to come up with different plans for the space and to solve the problems the client had identified.
The existing house had the front dining room and the back connected to a separate small kitchen that led outside to the garden. They already had a side extension and were looking to create more space in the kitchen and reconnect it with the rest of the house.
We looked at big and small interventions to try to keep within Christine’s budget.
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In this option, we completely opened both walls and connected the rooms in an L shape. We moved the dryer and washer into the corridor under the staircase. By closing down the entrance from the corridor into the kitchen this extra wall space could be used for storage.
We looked at turning the front of the house into a small sitting-living room with a television and a bespoke seat corner and moved the dining table between the sitting room and the kitchen.
Finally, at the back of the house, we located a large kitchen island that will allow the clients to look over into the garden whilst cooking.
For this ide, we turned the kitchen island into a peninsula that allowed for more storage space. We moved some storage into the corridor, keeping the washing machine and dryer under the staircase.
Again, we blocked off one door in the corridor.
The living room with the TV corner would remain at the front of the house. We made it slightly larger so there is room for two sofas. The dining table was moved opposite the kitchen in the back of the house.
We explored how having a kitchen in the middle of the house would work. We started by closing off the corridor into a utility room, making the corridor slightly smaller.
By recessing the fridge in the existing door the kitchen can be contained just around the kitchen island.
We moved the dining room to the front of the house and turned the back of the house into a living room with a fireplace.
This option included a small side extension to allow for roof-lights that will bring light to the dining table.
The kitchen was separated from the living room which was moved to the front, right-hand side of the house. We recessed the fridge between the chimney breast and the wall. We then located a line of kitchen cabinets along the closed wall which was the back wall of the new living room.
The corridor remained as it was, with just one door blocked off and kept the dryer and washing machine under the staircase.
By opening up the space it creates a roomy feeling but doesn’t allow for wall space to locate cabinets. This is why the kitchen island featured in all of the options.
The main issue with this house was that the kitchen was really small. also, the dining room located in the front of the house was too far from the kitchen. this was impractical as our clients had to walk through the other rooms with the dishes. There was no view into the garden from the kitchen itself.
All of these options helped with these problems and the client can take the plans, which are drawn to scale, and get quotes from builders.
Are you interested in booking a workshop? Read more here about what to expect from a design workshop.
We have good drawings showing how to maximise our space and lots of ideas I haven't thought about.
Christine
It is one of my favourite examples to show how differently the approach to redesign the house layout can be.
We talked mailny about internal changes but they make such a difference to how you can experience the house.
We drew all these options to have a base to ponder about and decide what flow works best for the client. If this was my house I would do the last option with the small extension. This would give a lot of nice quality light to the back of the property.
Pride Road
