Structurally, knocking through the dining/kitchen wall is the only major change on the cards at the moment. Other than that...
- The front door on the façade of the cottage will be replaced with a window (as it would've been originally)
- The asbestos extensions to the back will be replaced with a more permanent and sound structure
- French doors will be added at the end of the dining room
- And, there will be some sort of glass added to the end of the kitchen where the current porch is located - but this is a little contentious at the moment as we can't agree; should it simply be doors? A conservatory? Or a glass extension?????? (I should think that the budget will decide!)
Some ideas so far...
Current layout of the ground floor.
A bit hard to see because I did this plan in pencil. This would be a 'best-case'/budget-less scenario with the front and back of the kitchen knocked through, which would allow for an island (just!) and a breakfast bar at the front end of the kitchen. Ideally there would be a glass extension at the front and a glass roof at the back to let in as much light as possible (there are no windows at the back of the house on the ground floor). The house is facing south so the glass extension at the front would also serve as a small conservatory.
As a result of having the glass extension, the main entrance of the house would have to be either through this extension/conservatory area or in front of the stairs, which would involve knocking through the wall to create a doorway. Although I love the sound of a glass extension, I'm not keen on the idea of this serving as the entrance of the house as well.
This plan is kind-of the bare minimum. It still shows the kitchen/dining wall removed, the new back extension and French doors off the dining room, but does not involve knocking through the back of the kitchen. There is also no front extension in this plan, just a small, brick-paved courtyard from which the front door (to right) opens on to, as well as a full glass bi-fold door which opens up the kitchen and lets in all that necessary light. Having the plan as such allows us to keep the front door where it is currently, and not knocking through the back of the kitchen makes it a lot easier to fit in a downstairs toilet.
*Don't mind my garden plants - they look a bit like mini palm trees, but will be something cottagey like lavender! :0)
