Tennyson Avenue
Feedback on your plans
SGBC & Love to renovate
Feedback on your plans
Here you’ll find useful personalised information and considerations related to your current plans. You’ll see that we’ve added red numbers on your plans which are associated with our numbered comments. The idea is to provide you with helpful advice and things to think about before you make permanent decisions. We hope you find them helpful.
Front room
Privacy in the front room is usually a must. Consider how you’ll want to achieve a balance of letting in natural light and screening for privacy. Typical options are curtains, blinds and shutters.
Curtains: If you decide to use curtains then consider recessing the track into the ceiling for a cleaner more modern finish. Let your builder know in advance to allow them to add structure to the ceiling to support the curtain track.
Blinds: These are ideal for both privacy and letting in natural light. If you decide to use blinds then you consider recessing the mechanisms. This keeps the roll of the blind out of view giving you a very neat finish. Battery or mains operated motorised blinds can be very useful if you have larger windows or patio doors to screen. It means you can open and close your blinds at the touch of a button and you don’t have a visible chain pull.
Shutters: These are ideal for privacy and letting in natural light.
You are retaining the chimney breast in your living room. There are several advantages to having an internal wood-burning stove in your home, including:
Efficient Heating: Wood-burning stoves are highly efficient at heating your home, as they are able to generate a lot of heat using very little fuel. They can help reduce your reliance on central heating systems, which can save you money on energy bills.
Eco-Friendly: Wood is a renewable resource, and burning it in a wood-burning stove is a carbon-neutral process. This means that the carbon emissions produced by burning wood are offset by the carbon absorbed by trees as they grow.
Cozy Atmosphere: An internal wood-burning stove can create a cozy atmosphere in your home, as it provides a warm and comforting glow. The sound and smell of burning wood can also add to the ambiance of your living space.
Backup Heating: In the event of a power outage or other emergency, a wood-burning stove can provide a reliable source of heat for your home. This can be particularly important in colder climates where temperatures can drop quickly.
Click images to enlarge
Open plan area
It could be a good idea to have an oversized door into your open plan area giving you a more striking entrance.
When you extend a room you’re causing it to deepen. Typically this will cause you to lose natural daylight in that room because the light has to travel further. An oversized clear or frosted glazed door at the entrance to your new open plan area would help bring additional natural light from the front of the house into the rear.
Consider a glazed pocket door between your hallway and open plan area. This would remove any obstruction that a traditional door would create whilst open. It would also give you the option of using the wall space that an open door would typically block.
Consider clerestory windows within the cloakroom toilet to help bring more natural light into the toilet.
A centrifugal fan will be needed since your cloakroom toilet isn't on an external wall.
Designing a kitchen is an art in itself so you’ll definitely benefit from using a kitchen design service. A good kitchen supplier will offer this as part of their process, however make sure that you have plenty of countertop space and storage. Note that savings can be made by buying countertops separately from your kitchen supplier and using tiles for your splash back instead of continuing your countertop up onto the wall.
Instead of centering your hob on the island you may find moving it to the end of the island will give you more usable counter space.
Have a really good think about the amount of storage you need. Then think about adding more since you always grow into space. You have 2 very good walls in your extension that can accommodate large amounts of storage through a combination of built in and free standing units.
Make sure you account for curtains or blinds in front of your full width patio doors to give you optional privacy. They will look more modern and seamless if you choose to recess the blinds or tracks into the ceiling. If you have tall or long patio doors then electric blinds or modern netting works very well. You’ll also need to make your builder aware of this early on since recessed profiles are part of the structural build.
You can recess the vertical frames of your patio glazing within your walls allowing you to achieve a frameless look. You’ll need to let your builder know about this before the structural build is complete. advance if you specify this to the builder in advance. Choose good quality patio glazing because you’ll benefit from modern low profile frames and various thermal properties.
If you’re planning to install awnings then specify this to your builder in advance. This will allow him to hide the mechanism inside the exterior brickwork making for a more modern streamlined finish.
Consider having an overhanging roof. The overhang gives you protection from rain allowing you to still have your doors wide open without the inside of your home getting soaked. It’s also a great design feature.
Use the largest possible rooflight over the kitchen for a neat look. You want as much natural daylight in the rear of the extension.
You have a large rooflight to allow light into your living area. Glazing that size would present a couple of problems. It would need to be bespoke, meaning expensive. You’d also end up paying more for transport to your home and for getting it into position since your fitters would need specialised equipment and insurance to move it from curb into position. Instead of bespoke roof lantern you may find you can achieve a more cost effective and similar look by choosing the largest standard sized roof lantern.
Ask your builder to recess the roof drainage on your extension to avoid visible guttering running the width of your extension. You’ll get a much more streamlined look.
Consider a living roof. It helps with the thermal properties of your extension and is much more pleasing to see from your loft than a flat dark roof. You’re also helping the environment.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
First floor
Consider adding a direct entrance into your wardrobe from within BEDROOM 3. You would be able to access it without going through the BEDROOM 3 ensuite. Consider using a pocket door instead of a traditional door. It would give you the most flexibility to organise any built in dressing room storage. Your builder will need to know about this to create the correct door opening.
Consider using a pocket door for the bathroom entrance in BEDROOM 3. Having it positioned where the sink is drawn would give you more flexibility for arranging your bathroom to make the best use of space. Your builder will need to know about this in advance to create the correct door opening.
Consider adding motion sensors in the bathroom to turn on subtle low level lighting. They’re useful for night time visits to the bathroom.
Consider using a pocket door for the main bathroom entrance. It would give you more flexibility for arranging your bathroom to make the best use of space. Your builder will need to know about this to create the correct door opening.
Click to enlarge
Loft
Consider using a pocket door for the bathroom entrance. This would give you more flexibility for arranging your bathroom and making the best use of space. Your builder will need to know about this in advance to create the correct door opening.
Consider a larger statement sized frosted window that would compliment a freestanding bath underneath it. Alternatively have a flat roof light placed into the ceiling increasing daylight into the room and allowing you to look toward the sky whilst reclined in the bath.
Underfloor heating is a great way to increase the luxury feel to an ensuite. Don’t forget to add an electrical towel rail also. It means you can schedule it to power on and dry your towels without the central heating being on.
Consider adding motion sensors in the bathroom and landing to turn on subtle low level lighting. They’re useful for night time visits to the bathroom.
Consider oversized windows to create more impact. Recessed window coverings look much better and don't obstruct glazing. You’ll also need to make your builder aware of recessing window coverings very early on since recessed profiles are part of the structural build. Privacy in the bedroom is a must. Consider how you’ll want to achieve a balance of letting in natural light and screening for privacy. Typical options are curtains, blinds and shutters.
Curtains: If you decide to use curtains then consider recessing the track into the ceiling for a cleaner more modern finish. Let your builder know in advance to allow them to add structure to the ceiling to support the curtain track.
Blinds: These are ideal for both privacy and letting in natural light. If you decide to use blinds then you consider recessing the mechanisms. This keeps the roll of the blind out of view giving you a very neat finish. Battery or mains operated motorised blinds can be very useful if you have larger windows or patio doors to screen. It means you can open and close your blinds at the touch of a button and you don’t have a visible chain pull.
Shutters: These are ideal for privacy and letting in natural light.
Instead of buying pre-made wardrobes consider built in storage to make the most functional use of space in your loft rooms.
Click to enlarge