Are your rooms in the right place?

Are Your Rooms in the Right Place?

Your rooms don't need to be in the same places they were when you bought your home. Is it necessary, for example, to include a kitchen in your new extension, or could it serve as an additional sitting room?

Traditionally parents take the master bedroom. Does this work for you or should your children have a larger bedroom as they have loads of bits and bobs? Rather than having a larger bedroom, why not add an en-suite bathroom or a walk-in closet if you have the space?

Floor Plan

Looking at a floor plan tells you a lot about the house. A thick black line is usually a supporting or structural wall. You can remove parts of it, but you'll need to reinforce them with joists. This can be costly and difficult.

A thinner line could be a stud wall, which is less expensive and easier to remove. Knowing the type of wall allows you to determine whether you can make a space larger or smaller.

Can You Add a Sliding Door?

A sliding door is an excellent way to save space, especially in smaller rooms. Pocket sliding doors and barn doors are two great examples of sliding doors. A pocket door disappears into a recessed compartment in the adjacent wall when fully opened. A barn door is a type of sliding door that is frequently found in barns. A barn door hangs outside a room, covering the doorway but leaving gaps at the sides where the wall meets the door.

Kate took a bedroom and turned it into a big bathroom. Really think of where your rooms are, they aren't all necessarily in the right place.

Your Assignment

Take the labels off your floor plan and see where spaces would best be used. Really think about the rooms and spaces that mean the most to you. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of each room? Is it to be relaxed, to focus, to be revitalised?