I know, I know. If you follow along on Instagram you’ll be sick of me banging on about the extension. The problem is, we’ve been planning this room for years. Seriously, years. It’s the most exciting project that we’ve ever done together and to be honest it’s all we talk about. If it isn’t for you, maybe skip the next few months of renovatingthebroadway on Instagram. If you love a floor plan and looking at room layouts this ones for you.

Back in 2019 when we were looking for a house, we knew that we either wanted something that had already been extended, or that had the potential for an extension. We’re really into the big open plan kitchen/dining/living spaces so this was the most important thing for us. When we had our offer accepted on the house (probably the day we had the offer accepted) we sat down with a bottle of wine and started drawing out extension plans. I still have a folder that has all of those little sketches from back then. We moved into the house in June 2019 and after a few months of living in the house decided to get an architect around.

To be clear, you don’t always need an architect to do your drawings. We had a vision for the room already and actually it hasn’t changed too much from that. This is a relatively big project though, and we thought we’d benefit from some professional help. We had a fabulous architect who came to the house and listened to everything that we wanted from the space. He then went away and came up with four options that spanned a range of prices. We had another meeting to discuss what we liked about each layout and decided on the final floor plan.

I thought I’d share the plans for anyone who is thinking about doing something similar to give you ideas, or anyone who is downright nosey and loves a good floor plan! For reference we live in a three bedroom 1930’s detached house (original plans below). We knew that we wanted to knock through the dining room, kitchen and utility to make one room. We wanted a kitchen area, and sitting area with a utility and a downstairs bathroom and really wanted big sliding doors across the back into the garden.

The first thing that the architect suggested that we hadn’t considered was extending out by 1.5 meters across the full width of the house. This would make it easier to fit everything in that we wanted.

Option 1

So, option one seemed like a great start. This was one of the more expensive options. This is because of the amount of steelwork needed to support the house (over the island). We loved that we wouldn’t have to have a column in the middle of the room. We also loved the three velux windows (it’s an East facing room and gets gorgeous morning light) and the sliding doors. I wasn’t particularly keen on the L-shaped kitchen, and didn’t like losing this much kitchen space for the utility. We also loved the size of the utility and bathroom, which meant having a discussion about losing more of the garage. Overall, a great first option.

Option 2

Option 3

Okay seriously, this was our least favourite. On the plus side, it was by far the cheapest option as the corner of the bathroom could be used to support the house which really reduced the steelwork. We weren’t particularly happy about losing one of the best parts of the house to a utility, but losing some of it to a toilet? Absolutely not. It felt like a lot of dead space in front of the garage, and not a huge amount of space for kitchen units. Again, we could keep the garage (eurgh). Again, I did like the idea of a utility door into the garden, and it would have been a much cheaper option, so we really had to work out what was worth losing.

Option 4

The one we’re going with

What we’re going with! The room is completely opened up with the help of some pretty hefty steelwork. We’ve kept the three velux windows over the sitting area but also widened up the sliding doors and added a picture window in the kitchen area to really make the most of the garden. We have one run of kitchen units along the lefthand wall, and then an island in the middle. The thing that I’m most excited about is the addition of a pantry under the stairs! We’ve then take a fair bit more of the garage to squeeze in a utility and bathroom.

This is the view from the back, although we’ve made a slight change to the sliding doors instead of bi-folds. I really can’t wait to have those doors open next summer! We’ve ended up with exactly what we wanted back in 2019 and I’m really happy that we didn’t compromise at the time. This layout won’t be right for everyone, and I really think that you get a gut feeling about what is going to work for your household. If anyone is currently planning out an extension I hope that it is useful to look through several different versions of floor plans. Hopefully you can pick the little bits that you like and come up with your own dream layout.

If you’re not planning an extension and just love a floor plan, I hope you got your fix!

Follow along with our progress on our Instagram page (@renovatingthebroadway) and let us know which bits of the plans you like the look of!

Emma