Live with the house

Its important when moving into a new property to live there a few months before finalising what needs to be done and when.  Tempting as it was to just gut the whole house, its much better to see how it works and what needs to be done first of all.  As the purchase was going through we both felt that the moving of the bathroom from its current position wedged in behind the kitchen up to the first floor was a priority.  Now, after living here some 8 months the bathroom changes are right at the bottom of our 'to do' list.  Its crucial to realise that the most used rooms are often the priority when renovating - you want to live in somewhere that's nice.  Making a shiny bathroom is all well and good, but you don't live in it.

When we first moved in I carried out a thorough survey of the whole house, a useful way of making sure you familiarise yourself with all the nooks and crannies as well as giving accurate dimensions for planning out rooms.  

It quickly became apparent that the ground floor rooms, namely the front living room and slightly strange dining/reception room were our priority.  The dining room in particular was the logical starting point as it was a room which connected the house together - in the middle of the ground floor acting as an entrance reception and dining area, the room as it stood was rather dark and frankly quite odd.  We had real problems imagining what we'd actually do with it.  Roughly square in proportion, pinned between the stairs and kitchen, it would take a discovery under the carpet to act as inspiration for this space.

Taking steps

Before we moved into the house I knew that the stair arrangement would have to be altered to reduce the feeling of them cutting the house in two.  As there is no entrance hall for the front door the only option available to us was to treat the dining room (middle room in the ground floor) as a kind of entrance hall or lobby.  This could be achieved by taking away part of the wall separating the stairs and dining room and thus opening up the staircase.  The stairs will in effect become part of the dining room rather than wedged in between two quite narrow walls.

How the stairs are treated when they become visible in the dining room was another question.  Originally I considered cranking them around 90 degrees so that you step down into the dining room rather than straight onto the front door.

There would have to be either a small landing created or the steps would rotate around.  The landing idea was quite appealing as it gave the stairs additional character and created a nice feature.  Further thoughts around this developed into constructing a thin timber and glass screen at the end of the existing staircase, so upon entering through the front door this feature screens the stairs from view.

I would finally reject these ideas as overly complicated and unnecessary, but I still like the concept and maybe one day I can use this somewhere else.

Sketchy Plans

Our house is rather unusual in that the front door is on the side and thus the stairs divide it in two.  This arrangement was a little unnerving when we first saw it as you arrive at the stairs as soon as you come in the front door.  There is no grand Victorian hallway or proper entrance.  It also means you have to walk past the front door every time you go from living room to the rear.  Its not the best feature, but one which we have to work with.

The sketch plans below describe the internal arrangement of rooms with the staircase dividing the house across its width.