Getting closer

The second set of plans (which I confess we've had for a couple of weeks now) are rather more restrained than the previous. Possibly a little too restrained.


The front elevation shows the two storey extension very much in keeping with the existing house. At the back, the living room now has patio doors and the flat-roofed kitchen now projects into the garden. This is clearer from the ground floor plan:

The general shape of things here is as we'd like it, with utility space added in front of the kitchen, similar to the original extension plans. The space behind the living room is a patio, with doors onto it from the living room and the side of the kitchen extension.

The major change we want to make concerns the kitchen / dining space. We want to reverse the positions and have the kitchen near the utility space, with units along the outside wall. The dining table will then go at the very back, with glass on two sides. The entrance area to the kitchen, adjoining the living room, also needs a bit of tweaking. We think it would help if the wraparound concept were abandoned so the back is made narrower. This will make the room a perfect L, rather than the C presented here. To make up for the lost width, we reckon the kitchen can be made to extend a bit further back than it does here.

Before leaving the kitchen, there's one other major change we're suggesting: instead of a flat roof, having an apex extending back from the original house with a glazed gable and two skylights, which should go some way to bring light into a room which otherwise runs the risk of being very dark.

Upstairs, then:

We have an en suite but are still short a hotpress. Sadly, the glazed screen has gone from the small study and we'd like that returned. The only major alteration to make here is the positioning of the en suite: if it's moved back to make the bedroom smaller the space will be used better (we don't need a big bedroom, but more wardrobe space is always welcome) and the en suite can sit directly above the utility room for ease of plumbing.

All these observations have been passed on to our long-suffering architect and we should hopefully be heading towards a formal planning application in the next couple of weeks.