We bought our new house aka renovation project a couple of months ago in Bath and have been busy planning and dreaming about the end results ever since. We appointed our architects about a month ago (how to choose an architect for your project seems like a topic that deserves it’s own blogpost!) and gave them our house renovation wish list – you’ve got to ask for what you want!
At the outset we had an initial site meeting with them, walked through the house and shared our ideas and thoughts for the house. Based on their feedback on what was doable with the space and our available budget, we wrote down everything we would love to have in the new house. This wish list will then work as a design brief for the architects.
The house is a rectangular, split level bungalow. One end of the house has a kitchen, dining and living rooms, plus a downstairs toilet and two home offices. The other end has bedrooms and bathrooms. We want to open up the space in the living room end of the house, and rearrange the layout in the bedroom end.
This is what we hope to end up with:
Current kitchen/living end of the house renovation:
- Walk in Larder in the kitchen
- Slim Mezzanine for a library above kitchen/living room. The ceiling is nearly 4m high in one end so hopefully this is doable.
- ‘Grown ups’ living room – that can be separated/ doors from the kitchen area. As much as I love the look of open-plan living, I also want to be able to have a separate living room. Maybe with big sliding doors
- High ceilings. In the current kitchen and dining room the ceilings have been boxed-in to create attic space which seems such a waste as high ceilings are such a great feature to have.
- More light. This part of the house is currently quite dark.
- Access to garden. At the moment the direct access is blocked with a conservatory which needs to be converted to be part of the house. Also there is no access to the back garden from dining room.
- Kitchen with an island and low level units (and that larder!), plus a little sofa area.
- Fireplace – potentially gas?
- Downstairs toilet – we have one already but the location might need to changed
Hallway / back door area
- Hallway storage for kids school bags/coats/ shoes – walk-in cupboard?
- Utility cupboard for washer/dryer and cleaning equipment.
‘Existing Bedrooms’ end of the house renovation:
- Kids bedrooms with en-suite and built-in wardrobes
- 1 guest bedroom with en-suite and built-in wardrobes – to double as an office (storage for work files and small wardrobe for guests)
- Small TV/games room for the kids. Possibly with sliding doors so can be separated off
Attic/loft conversion renovation:
- Master bedroom with en-suite and dressing room. Ideally with views from the bed
- Home office/ studio/ 2nd bedroom with built in storage to be used as home studio (needs good light)/ office – needs capacity to add en-suite in the future
- Beautiful staircase
Outside:
- Patio seating with firepit
- Terraced back garden
- Small greenhouse and raised beds for herbs & veggies
- Driveway and outdoor lighting
And that’s it! I can’t wait to see how the final house plans will look like.
Planning was granted for our renovation and you can see our plans and layouts here: We have a planning permission!
