Need some help with knocking out walls /design ideas

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Hello!

My husband and I are wanting to redesign our home in particular the entry / living space and we are finding that the current layout is hard to work with and we have unneeded walls taking up a lot of space.

We don’t want 100% open living such as kitchen and lounge room as one but we do want to take out this hideous cupboard in our entry and remove the wall to open up the walk in. Any recommendations or assistance will really be appreciated I have attached our current floor plan. We are also renovating our kitchen.

thanks a million

Ash & Rob

Featured Answer

Austere Hamlet

3 years ago

Not sure I'd be in a hurry to create a home where you open the front door onto a dining table and chairs. I'd say it's very likely that that little partitiion wall is holding up the roofspan and it may be costly to remove. If you look at the floorplan you can see the walls run vertical right through the centre of the house.

I wonder what is not working about this layout? Even with the wall removed you will still have to turn left or right when you enter the house anyway. Just removing storage won't change that. I would be more inclined to remove the ugly storage and replace it with something more attractive that works for you in the space. Like a cloak and shoes closet or similar.

Turn that entry into an attractive mudroom. Then it is no longer just wasted space with annoying blank walls near the door. But a proper entry with a useful purpose. Then the irritation of it will go away. People are always quick to decide they need to remove walls in a home when in fact that may not be the real problem at all.

Comments (11)

dreamer
3 years ago
Are the unneeded walls, load bearing?
Kate
3 years ago
Hi .ash, some photos would help. Both internal and from outside the entry. My initial impression is to add a wall between dining and lounge. I would then use meals as a family room, with the dining opened up to the kitchen, rather than a formal dining.
The entry and porch is tight. I’m not sure what I would do from just looking at the floor plan. Why is the porch there? Do you want to keep it, is it external or was it once part of house?
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Good that the heat/air system is over the door and doesn't interfere with your decor too much. It appears the ceiling fixture to the right of the FP might indicate that the dining space is there. Put a sofa in front of the FP and two small accent chairs with it, facing each other over a round glass coffee table. Can you wall mount the TV left of the FP? I think the room is too narrow to put the TV above the FP - you'll strain your neck. If you mount it opposite the FP, a sofa and two chairs could work but will need to be small scale - try apartment-sized seating. The sofa could face the window with the chairs opposite it. You could turn to see the fire or to watch TV. Swivel chairs come in handy in such tight space.
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Mona you have seen exactly the dilemmas I'm facing with this room so I really appreciate your comments. I was focusing on no1, but really 2 and 3 are on my mind too. In terms of getting some continuity between the rooms I was planning on recovering the dining chairs in a fabric to tone with cushions/throws on the white couch, ottomans in a matching tone, and pulling this colour scheme through into cushions in the formal lounge. I love the spring colours at the moment (greens, blues etc) which you can see i'm playing with at the moment but you might be able to see the painting in the formal room which is orange, red and yellow with a blue/purple base. So I'm very keen on colour and so tired of the brown carpet and neutral walls. I was also going to restain the dining table and chairs to a dark mahogany colour, and change the bar stools to something more modern. re: rug closer to sofa, I've done this and it looks off-balance with nothing else in the space. It seems to work better in the middle of the carpet area at the moment. Perhaps thats because I haven't ordered the ottomans yet. I don't want to add a coffee table to this room as prefer Ottoman to put feet up on. I've attached a pic of a rug, do you think something like this would work better? re the wall: yes this is the major for me at the moment. It is a TV room so tv and speakers stay and I wont be adding any custom cabinetry. The idea was to increase the space in this room by removing all of the cabinets and they are now in the adjoining room. The speaker covers have not been painted as I needed to work out what wall covering to apply, and colour etc. so once they are painted the wall colour they will blend in better. The idea of shelving has merit, I'll have to have a think more about that... Any other thoughts you have are appreciated.
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Hi nikki. This post has my creative juices flowing. The vertical space you have in abundance is seldom seen in regular interiors, and I will impart some ideas that I have implemented in commercial spaces. The bookcase is an amazing idea, it will not only solve a storage problem, but will add instant personality and style to your space. Bookcases don't dictate a style, so they are timeless and seldom date. They can be interpreted and styled in many ways so they have flexibility most other pieces do not. The flatpack bookcases come in many sizes, height and widths, so using this to advantage, I would measure the wall to the right of the door, and then mark that distance on the left side also. This is the area I would shelve! Only I suggest full height for maximum effect, and designer conviction! Floor to ceiling, in smaller widths is often featured in your trendy mags, Milans furniture fair loves to set up bookcases that emphasize space and light, the higher the more dramatic and the more customized they appear. Flat pack shelves mean you could afford to do this, and cleverly sort out your best fit scenario. I would even punctuate some of your bookshelf backs wi your accent colours with smaples of wallpapers that feature your accent colours. Places like masters offer free samples of them, or you could even colour photocopy prints offline. Simply temporarily set them into. Backs and display your face objects in these ones. The remaining wall left without shelving, upon entering the room, I would either paint a colour, or line it with horizontal timber planks. ( engineered flooring planks) are cheapest and most effective as their surfaces can be cleaned easily. This will add major wow factor and lengthen the wall visually, it will also clear the entrance sufficiently and allow the bookshelves even more effect. I myself would mirror this section of wall, which would be expensive, but would open the space dramatically, and look super clean. Just remember to leave a shelved area open for your tv, and forward think for another objects like lamps of entertainment units that may need housing. Lastly, depending on your style, I would track down an old painters ladder with cross bracing on eBay etc, and paint it black or turquoise. Lean it (fix it) against your shelving or even blank wall to tie in your amazing new library. Good luck!
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PRO
Dr Retro House Calls
3 years ago
You need to confirm if the walls are supporting the roof structure. Get a builder or structural engineer to have a look in your roof space to work out if they are load bearing. If they are load bearing you will need to engage a structural engineer to work out a way to span the new openings to support the load. Depending on the load, and the width of the span this could be a steel beam, or a timber beam, or beams. This beam will then need to be supported at either end, and you may want to work out a way to disguise it, or make it a feature.

There are a lot of design and detail decisions to be made with connections, supports, concealment, electrical, continuation of floor and ceiling finishes, and it is getting these little details right than can add significant costs which at first sight looks like a cheap and easy job.

Best of luck with your considerations

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits
geluka
3 years ago
Do you need 2 eating areas?
Depending on how you want the flow to work you could convert either dining or meals into study nook/seating area and then adjust the walls accordingly. This may change the layout of your kitchen renovation.
I would not get rid of the entry wall as you need a sense of arrival, plus privacy.
PRO
3DA Design Drafting and 3D Visuals
3 years ago
Why do you need to zigzag to go into a house? Just punch into this window to go straight in. Its a window so surely not structural. Even if it does, the lintel beam above it has done the job well.
Your current entry can be fitted with new joinery and make it a cloak area. No need to punch any walls.
Liz Laurie
3 years ago
Hi Ash and Rob, How about moving the kitchen to the bed room off the alfresco. Move that bedroom to the dining room. New wall there. Have an open plan kitchen dining with a big island bench where you kitchen be part of the party and not hidden away. Let the lounge as somewhere else to go and the old kitchen as room for a big dining table going across the house. Dinning party for 16.

Have fun
dreamer
3 years ago
Liz, that would mean you have one bedroom with people trying to sleep, while they are in the middle of the entertainment area.
PRO
Congo Systems
3 years ago
Hey Liz,

I tried to modify the plan without messing with the existing (possibly load bearing) walls too much. I made an assumption that the Meals area didn't need to be so long so added an often-underrated Storage room. Flipping the Entry cupboard gives some useful shelving to the Dining Room and the added wall between the Dining and Lounge gives more options for furniture layouts.

I'm quite happy to tweak this for free if you want to see variations.

Cheers

Colin

Congo Systems - 3D Visualisation & Design
Jennifer Bradley
3 years ago
I really like a small entry, rather than walking straight into a house (or having others look in when you open the door). I also wonder about two eating areas - tends to result in the more "formal" one being largely unused. For me, the wall that would annoy me is the one between the kitchen and the dining - need not be completely removed, maybe shortened. That would enable the kitchen to be more connected to the dining area without being completely open to it. If you can get hold of Sarah Susanka's book on renovations (she does a series on the "not so big house"), she has some good ideas about small changes that improve liveability.
PRO
CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD
3 years ago
Hi Ash & Rob,

A little bit more information on how you want to use the space and which direction is North, if you are in the southern hemisphere or South if you are in the northern hemisphere. I.e, is your alfresco area in the morning or afternoon sun or is it shaded by the car port.

As another person asked, do you need two eating areas or is one a family space and where do you have the TV etc. These have a huge impact on whether any change will make an improvement to your home. You do also need to know what is structural and what is not as it will affect the cost of changes proposed or to be avoided. Altering the kitchen will also be limited by the door to the corridor to the bedrooms which cuts the space in half with the meals space.

There will be plenty of willing people to offer suggestions with a bit more information from yourselves.

Christine.

Need some help with knocking out walls /design ideas

Austere Hamlet

Comments (11)

dreamer

Kate

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