Would you like to improve your entertaining space but without the expense of a huge extension? My clients, a young couple – we'll call them Jack and Jill, had just bought a house together. They hoped to live here for the long term and grow a family in. I met them the day after their moving day, with the house upside down and mostly still packed away in boxes. Although they didn't yet have experience of living in their new house and couldn't express any known frustrations that they needed to be resolved through their redesign, they had analysed their life in their previous home and knew what they wanted to avoid that had annoyed them there. A keen gourmet cook, Jack, wanted a kitchen with more space for his complex culinary efforts. They loved entertaining and playing board games with friends so wanted their dining room and kitchen to be open. They wanted a space that was sociable, large enough for groups of friends, while not getting in Jack's way in the kitchen. Deeply in love, this young couple wanted to improve their lifestyle with more romantic meals together. They had fallen into the trap of eating evening meals in front of the TV and missed having conversations and enjoying that time together. When we spoke they said they needed a bigger kitchen and dining room, with much larger table, to avoid the problems they'd identified, to give them the space they needed as a couple and as hosts with their friends. When I asked what was stopping them eating their romantic candlelit dinners together at the table they told me that they couldn't be bothered to clear the table of clutter every day. Their dining table was getting piled up with stuff set down on the way in to the house every day. It was too much of an effort to clear off to make a romantic candlelit dinner together a regular thing. We discussed what it was that was landing on the dining table and causing it to block up and become unusable. They said it was paperwork, laptops, bags and post. All the things that were coming in through the front door with them at the end of the day and needed to be set down somewhere to deal with and had no other specified place to go. This was the key to their problem. It wasn't so much the size of the dining table that was causing their frustration. It was having nowhere else to put all these things, that they needed and were an inevitable part of their arrival home. Without having somewhere for these things to go, they would always have this problem. So we looked at the entrance and hallway. We discussed ways that they could have a place for each of the items that would typically come in through the front door. We identified places for coats and bags to hang, shoes to stack, post and paperwork to wait to be dealt with. Having these essentials given a place that was easier to use than the dining table would make their arrival home each day quicker and easier and avoid any need to clear the dining table. Jack also worked from home and needed a more dedicated space to be able to work and then at the end of the day to be able to close off and switch off from work. Initially they thought they needed a very large extension. Instead I showed them two options for reconfiguring their space without needing a huge extension. Both options gave them a larger open plan kitchen and dedicated workspace. One option used only the built space they already had. The other option included a small two-storey extension to give them a bit more generous space, with an office space that could be more easily closed off, and an ensuite to a 1st floor masterbedroom. Do you want to discover how you can solve the real problems and get the space you really need without unnecessary expense? You can do this with the Big Picture Plan. Book your spot on the next session here: https://www.i-architect.co.uk/bpp.html This project was for a couple who love sunshine, entertaining and cocktails. Wanting to maximise their enjoyment of their Victorian terrace home, they called me in for a Home Design Workshop to explore the potential for a sunny roof terrace. This couple were keen home improvers and had already extended their ground floor to create a beautiful open plan kitchen diner that opened out to their spectacularly lush back garden that rose up a steep slope behind their home. They had also reconfigured their bedrooms to make it easy for them to entertain guests with two beautiful double bedrooms with ensuites. Their own bedroom had been further maximised by opening up to the loft space to create a dramatic double storey space with a small storage mezzanine. Their garden, although stunning and well designed for entertaining, lost light towards the end of the day and was in shade by the evening. What they were missing was some space to enjoy cocktails in the sunshine towards the end of the day. They had discovered that their mezzanine space enjoyed the last of the evening rays and they wanted to see if they might be able to have a private sunny roof terrace where they could enjoy time together as a couple, enjoying a full evenings worth of sunshine. This project explored if it was going to be possible to create a roof terrace given the size and configuration of the space. It also created sketches that could be used to discuss the proposal with planners to check on its potential to gain planning approval. Although the balcony was feasible, the option to use a balcony rooflight, such as the Cabrio by Velux, seemed like a more affordable and flexible option for this couple. A rooflight balcony would maintain the same mezzanine space internally but allow them to open it up during the summer to create the balcony as and when they wanted it. Let's face it the UK isn't blessed with all year round sunshine so sunbathing and cocktails in the evening sunshine is unlikely to be a daily occurrence, unless we see some dramatic effects from Climate Change. This sketch design gave this couple all the information they needed to help them make decisions for their next home improvements and saved them from making an expensive mistake with their home. Design Your Home Vision Checklist
Early in 2015 I visited our client at home in Bramhall, Cheshire. We sat around the kitchen table to discuss our clients wishes for their home and what they needed for their project. Now a completed extension, this blog is a review of what we achieved with this project in a small space on a tight budget. "I needed some professional drawings for a small extension to my kitchen and advice on building regs, etc. I had a rough plan with my initial ideas and someone to build it but needed some more accurate plans that my builder could build from. The house is 300 years old so nothing is straight!" The planned extension was small needing to fit in a lot of functionality. The brief included:
As this was a small project, not requiring planning permission, of traditional build and our client had a competent builder in place, it was possible for the project to progress with only our sketch design. The client and builder made all decisions on detailed design, although we were available should our support be required during construction. Building regulations were dealt with on notice by the builder. Although the space was limited we managed to create:
"I really enjoyed our discussions and solutions and everyone was really excited by the plans. The extension took 5 months but it is now finished and we have the final sign off certificate." If you want to make a massive difference to your life with some home improvements let us know and book your own Home Design Workshop with iarchitect. "It is gorgeous, really gorgeous and has made a massive difference to our lives. Thank you so much for the design - you did a fab job."
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Design Your Home VisionThe Design Your Home Vision Checklist will help you kickstart your home improvements.
Download yours with the button below to get your home project off to a great start: Get started with the free Design Your Home Vision checklist. AuthorJane Leach, principal architect at i-architect Categories
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April 2024
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