bucket list for extension, remodelling

misc2013

Interested in people's thoughts on wish list as this is a once off opportunity to a big refurb and thus improve the functional aspect of existing house.

family, 2 young kids.

New kitchen, come dining, come small living area.
New utility.
Re-modelling ensuite bedroom and main bathroom and living room.
Upgrading heating system.

A couple of things appeal to me at the moment = wish list. Just a top of the head.

Kitchen - floor to ceiling presses with as much pull out storage as possible and pull out bin drawer. Belfast sink. Island with seating. Waist level oven. Vertical radiator/s. Maybe one of those hot taps with instant hot water.

I've never had a proper utility room - none or tiny - so would like a counter space with sink, decent storage and possibly a mounted washing machine and dryer to waist level, if have the chance to do this - future proofing!.

We'll have a new section of hallway so a bench with drawers for the shoes/ kids wellies and the coat stands in a built in unit.

Bathroom - towel radiators!
Ensuite. Widest possible shower with reset shelves for shampoos etc rather than familiar rust bucket things that never hold items properly.

Heating - upgrade and hopefully get the zones for upstairs/downstairs. Maybe change some rads but maybe the new heating system would be enough to make current rads work better?

Living room - change current open chimney to stove, possibly an inset one but don't know how expensive this is to do. debating this as would lose a mantlepiece but we#d add shelving elsewhere. Mounting TV over fireplace v getting proper TV unit and shelving.

Bedroom - ensuite will be a nice treat and would also like sliderobe to max storage. Not a v big room.

Any practical suggestions would be v welcome, that we should consider and havne't thought of. Thanks.

looksee

While you are getting the heating done get a bunded tank. You can also get the boiler outside which may save some inside space.
Definitely get heating zones if your system will allow (we couldn't and its a great loss to easy organisation of heating)

In order to get recessed shelves you have to sacrifice wall depth - and make sure they are not placed to catch water, including water that drips off bottles.

Put a large sink in utility - one that will take things like oven trays for washing.

Don't forget storage for vacuum cleaner, brushes, buckets etc. And ironing board, laundry racks. Storage/place for wellies and mucky shoes.

Do you really need island seating if you have a dining table in the room? The high seats tend to be junk collectors and repositories for school bags and coats.

now online

Exciting times!
I wouldn't and didn't bother with an island, depending on the size of your kitchen it might end up bugging you.
Double oven a must.
Insinkarator, cuts your bin charges hugely.
Larder press, I love mine.
USB sockets and speaking of sockets get loads
Rotary corner press, nothing worse than things getting lost in the corner press
Integrated appliances, looks so much neater.
Wide cutlery drawer
Deep pot press.

All I can think of for utility is as much storage and see can you get stackable appliances.

misc2013

now online wrote: »

Exciting times!
I wouldn't and didn't bother with an island, depending on the size of your kitchen it might end up bugging you.
Double oven a must.
Insinkarator, cuts your bin charges hugely.
Larder press, I love mine.
USB sockets and speaking of sockets get loads
Rotary corner press, nothing worse than things getting lost in the corner press
Integrated appliances, looks so much neater.
Wide cutlery drawer
Deep pot press.

All I can think of for utility is as much storage and see can you get stackable appliances.

I never thought of an insinkarator. Will look it up. A lot of advice for deep drawers for pots etc. Love that. By larder press do you mean an especially big press with sections that pull out?
Yes, hoping for stackable appliances.

And yes, loads of sockets definitely. We have power bars everywhere!

misc2013

looksee wrote: »

While you are getting the heating done get a bunded tank. You can also get the boiler outside which may save some inside space. "




What's the advantage of this, sorry? We did consider a slimmer version to save space as we'll lose some garden.




In order to get recessed shelves you have to sacrifice wall depth - and make sure they are not placed to catch water, including water that drips off bottles.

We're thinking recessed stove but if so, putting up shelving in the alcove. It's currently dead space on one side with a dodgy TV table in the other alcove. It's tempting to mount the TV on the chimney breast but then it's stove versus mounted TV.


Put a large sink in utility - one that will take things like oven trays for washing.





I would LOVE a big sink for that very reason along with fridge shelves!


Don't forget storage for vacuum cleaner, brushes, buckets etc. And ironing board, laundry racks. Storage/place for wellies and mucky shoes.

We do already have space under stairs so may cupboard it off at some point. For now it holds kids bikes and scooters but we are getting a decent garden shed.

Do you really need island seating if you have a dining table in the room? The high seats tend to be junk collectors and repositories for school bags and coats.

It's partly for counter space and partly as breakfast bar / second table. I'd love a second table as our only table is constantly full of kids stuff. Just for those days when you don't have to clear everything out of the way all of the time.

Don't put the tv over the fireplace.
Its awful looking and awful for viewing.

BoardsMember

Lighting is really important. Ambient lighting in kitchen and living areas is nice, however u achieve it. I think loads and loads of spots is a bit harsh.

Maybe consider panelling in hall/stairs/landing, and low level sensor activated lighting at skirt level, can give a wow factor.

LenWoods

BrownFinger wrote: »

Don't put the tv over the fireplace.
Its awful looking and awful for viewing.

+1
perhaps a floating mantle for over the stove instead,



and some Milano designer radiators from bestheating.ie recess pipes in to the wall, easier to clean the floor and clean lines on the skirting,



also vertical available, im puttong a coat hanger above my vertical radiator in the hall, warm jackets as part of the home heating system. win/win





a pop up socket fitted in the kitchen center island would be useful as well as some RJ45 network sockets around the place linked to your wifi router,
future planning to have one near your heating controls too, maybe hidden for plugin in the controller.

LenWoods

BoardsMember wrote: »

Lighting is really important. Ambient lighting in kitchen and living areas is nice, however u achieve it. I think loads and loads of spots is a bit harsh.

Maybe consider panelling in hall/stairs/landing, and low level sensor activated lighting at skirt level, can give a wow factor.

+1 get yourself a 60x60cm dimmable 50W LED remote control panel which fits closely to the ceiling at 5.5cm from company "Lampenwelt"
BRENDA CCT Model: 9624206 or similar model,
they also do longer versions,
can replicate any form of light from soft 2600k right up to clinical 6500k

50W LED = 350W Halogen Equivalent at full illumination & 87% More Efficient

i have two fitted in bedrooms.











smaller version 40x40cm dimmable 30W LED remote control panel which fits closely to the ceiling at 5.5cm from company "Lampenwelt" Model: BRENDA CCT 9624204

30W LED = 250W Halogen Equivalent at full illumination & 88% More Efficient

I'm just finished a big renovation. It took much longer than if was supposed to due to Covid.

Few things that I'd consider if I were you:

We got an island and love it. Would not be without. We put a raised bar around it and spend loads of time there. We put our hob on the island so when we cook we're facing into the room. It's brilliant. We also went with an induction hob that has a built in extractor and sucks the air down and out under the floor to the outside. It saves having an ugly extractor hanging down from the roof.

We got a copper sink and we love it. We got electric blinds from Ikea and they add a bit of wow factor and are super handy, we have Alexa voice control them

We got Reina Neva designer radiators from the UK and saved a fortune. They were nearly half the price of the same radiators on best heating.ie

For flooring look at LVT - it's waterproof and durable and not as hard and cold as tiles.

Good luck and research everything you can. Don't let your builder convince you out of something you really want to do. If you want it stand your ground.

misc2013

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm just finished a big renovation. It took much longer than if was supposed to due to Covid.

Few things that I'd consider if I were you:

We got an island and love it. Would not be without. We put a raised bar around it and spend loads of time there. We put our hob on the island so when we cook we're facing into the room. It's brilliant. We also went with an induction hob that has a built in extractor and sucks the air down and out under the floor to the outside. It saves having an ugly extractor hanging down from the roof.
.

How expensive is this with built in extractor?

charlesanto

consider that the next time you remodel will be to have a downstairs bedroom and wheelchair accessible bathroom

misc2013

charlesanto wrote: »

consider that the next time you remodel will be to have a downstairs bedroom and wheelchair accessible bathroom

We have indeed thought of that and are lucky to have 2 downstairs bedrooms. We are making the shower in new ensuite as wide as possible to allow for a shower stool but it's not big enough for a wet room. My husband thought we should bite the bullet and remodel our main bathroom into a wet room but I like having a bath and am not ready to take it out yet. We've little kids so the bath is great as well as remedially. Hopefully we'll get 20 years before the bath is ripped out. We could make the bathroom an ensuite for the adjoining bedroom down the road but we've recently changed that into a playroom. Again, hopefully the bathroom doesn't need a radical remodel for a while!

hero25

if budget allows, employ an architect. one who'll take your requests on board.

misc2013

misc2013 wrote: »

How expensive is this with built in extractor?

It's a bit more expensive alrite. There's labour to build a trench to pipe the extractor out (I did that myself) but you can get recirculating extractor hob and save on that. And the hob was more expensive but not much more than a hob and separate extractor, think our hob was about 2k. I was going to get a pop up extractor that raised up out of the island, theres a highly rated one you can get from Amazon for too much, but ended up getting one with the built in extractor instead.

Also, make sure you join the Self Build Renovations Ireland Facebook page. So much info there. In fact I searched that whenever I wasn't sure on something

hero25

attached pics may help.
1. is of power and LAN port below the counter. LAN may not be possible, but at least go with the sockets.
2. is the end of the island, where we have double doors to access spice shelves. its only a few cms deep - only the thickness of the corner posts.
3. is the spice shelves inside those double doors - my favourite "gimmick" in the kitchen as all can be seen!
4. is our bench outside the utility, inside the back door for shoes, coats, school bags etc - you mentioned you'd like and it may give you some ideas.

atilladehun

This is great, I'm at the same stage as yourself so I'll keep following and adding as we go along. We have a lot of the same requirements. Island, waist high oven.

We have tall narrow pull out spice drawers. They save so much space for the pantry cupboard.

We're going to have a drop down clothes horse from the utility ceiling.

Pull out ironing board and iron for the bedroom instead of going downstairs and up for one thing.

atilladehun

Forgot to add yesterday, we hung our TV high years ago, never again. It was just so uncomfortable.

I'll always have it eye level with the couch from now on.

misc2013

hero25 wrote: »

attached pics may help.
1. is of power and LAN port below the counter. LAN may not be possible, but at least go with the sockets.
2. is the end of the island, where we have double doors to access spice shelves. its only a few cms deep - only the thickness of the corner posts.
3. is the spice shelves inside those double doors - my favourite "gimmick" in the kitchen as all can be seen!
4. is our bench outside the utility, inside the back door for shoes, coats, school bags etc - you mentioned you'd like and it may give you some ideas.

Great ideas. Thanks for the photos!

misc2013

atilladehun wrote: »

This is great, I'm at the same stage as yourself so I'll keep following and adding as we go along. We have a lot of the same requirements. Island, waist high oven.

We have tall narrow pull out spice drawers. They save so much space for the pantry cupboard.

We're going to have a drop down clothes horse from the utility ceiling.

Pull out ironing board and iron for the bedroom instead of going downstairs and up for one thing.

Love the idea of drop down clothes horse! Going to Google. Utility is long and narrow, 10ft x 5.
I wondered about a drop down ironing board there but don't think we'd have the space.

ratracer

These are a few pics of our kitchen, which was fitted before Christmas.

Our kitchen wish list would have been similar enough to yours. I’m delighted with the way it turned out, it was a massive effort over three weeks, now it just needs the finishing touches, and I’m going to be changing the wall colour over the weekend.

misc2013

[quote="atilladehun;115885454"

We're going to have a drop down clothes horse from the utility ceiling.


Curios. Have you picked one out?

misc2013

ratracer wrote: »

These are a few pics of our kitchen, which was fitted before Christmas.

Our kitchen wish list would have been similar enough to yours. I’m delighted with the way it turned out, it was a massive effort over three weeks, now it just needs the finishing touches, and I’m going to be changing the wall colour over the weekend.

Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing. We're going for the 2 waist level ovens too. Is your fridge integrated too? Is the pantry press ( I am excited about getting one of those) on a third wall?

ratracer

The fridge and freezer are integrated in the the two tall units. The pantry/ larder is in a recess, this was designed into our original kitchen 16/17!years ago, but never had drawers in it, just shelves. It is on the wall directly opposite the ovens.
It’s probably my favourite part of the project.
The back kitchen/ utility is the same material also.

JimmyMW

misc2013 wrote: »

Love the idea of drop down clothes horse! Going to Google. Utility is long and narrow, 10ft x 5.
I wondered about a drop down ironing board there but don't think we'd have the space.

I have 3 of these in a laundry room with a MHRV draw and return on opposite sides of the ceiling, a great job, stuff drys in under a day no trouble, check out "Cast in Style" Highly recommended getting these

BoardsMember

Is there any value in putting in MHRV or some sort of mechanical ventilation in oart of the house. We're looking at 2 storey extension, large open plan living space ground floor. Open plan to other parts of house that it would be difficult to put ventilation ducts into. Would it be worth putting doing it just in the extension?

misc2013

JimmyMW wrote: »

I have 3 of these in a laundry room with a MHRV draw and return on opposite sides of the ceiling, a great job, stuff drys in under a day no trouble, check out "Cast in Style" Highly recommended getting these

Did you use Cast in Style yourself?
Googling something similar in Ireland.

atilladehun

misc2013 wrote: »

[quote="atilladehun;115885454"

We're going to have a drop down clothes horse from the utility ceiling.


Curios. Have you picked one out?

Not yet. Lots of work to do before then!

JimmyMW

misc2013 wrote: »

Did you use Cast in Style yourself?
Googling something similar in Ireland.

yeah i got those ones as i could not find anything similar here at the time

cruizer101

now online wrote: »

Insinkarator, cuts your bin charges hugely.

Surely anything that can go in the insinkarator can just go in the brown bin which is free anyway.

Also I think their use can lead to a increase in sewer blockages.

now online

cruizer101 wrote: »

Surely anything that can go in the insinkarator can just go in the brown bin which is free anyway.

Also I think their use can lead to a increase in sewer blockages.

I have 3 bins already, definitely didn't want another one.
I'm using the insinkorator for 5 years now, never an issue with blockages

misc2013

I've just added one for myself. I never heard the term before now but I've discovered 'mudroom press". I was looking up hall bench for coats etc. Some of them look amazing.

Just to add my voice to the TV at eye level and to the side of a fire. We did a full refurb recently and this is what we did with the TV room. You can't see the TV when it's off due to the dark colour of the wall.

The self build and renovations Ireland Facebook page is a great place for ideas. I uploaded loads of pics of our refurb on it a few weeks ago but my toddler got hold of my phone and deleted the post and lots of the pictures with it.

We also put a full wall of shelving/library at the bottom of the kitchen/diner.

JimmyMW

Deleted User wrote: »

Just to add my voice to the TV at eye level and to the side of a fire. We did a full refurb recently and this is what we did with the TV room. You can't see the TV when it's off due to the dark colour of the wall.

The self build and renovations Ireland Facebook page is a great place for ideas. I uploaded loads of pics of our refurb on it a few weeks ago but my toddler got hold of my phone and deleted the post and lots of the pictures with it.

We also put a full wall of shelving/library at the bottom of the kitchen/diner.

Very nice job

That's the shelving unit we put at the end of the open plan area

misc2013

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just to add my voice to the TV at eye level and to the side of a fire. We did a full refurb recently and this is what we did with the TV room. You can't see the TV when it's off due to the dark colour of the wall.

The self build and renovations Ireland Facebook page is a great place for ideas. I uploaded loads of pics of our refurb on it a few weeks ago but my toddler got hold of my phone and deleted the post and lots of the pictures with it.

We also put a full wall of shelving/library at the bottom of the kitchen/diner.

Looks great. Is that the fire??

misc2013

misc2013 wrote: »

Looks great. Is that the fire??

It's an electric fire in the first two pics.

misc2013

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's an electric fire in the first two pics.

I've never seen one like that. V nice.

BoardsMember

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just to add my voice to the TV at eye level and to the side of a fire. We did a full refurb recently and this is what we did with the TV room. You can't see the TV when it's off due to the dark colour of the wall.

The self build and renovations Ireland Facebook page is a great place for ideas. I uploaded loads of pics of our refurb on it a few weeks ago but my toddler got hold of my phone and deleted the post and lots of the pictures with it.

We also put a full wall of shelving/library at the bottom of the kitchen/diner.

That looks fab, top class design and finish. Enjoy!

seannash

If you do an ensuite put the extractor fan on a different switch to the light. Stops the fan coning on if soneone goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night or if someone is up earlier than the other.

Sink thats large enough to take the pans and wire trays that slide into your oven. So much easier for cleaning.

If going for radiators have them sit about 2 inches away from the wall so you can easily hang clothes on them if necessary. We've all tried to snake towels down the back of the radiator to dry them.

As for kitchen, it really is personal preference. One thing we included was building in storage for cutting boards into the cabinetry. We opted for no upper cabinets but we really tried to cut down on the amount of unnecessary crap in the kitchen (a drawer for bags springs to mind)
Unfinished kitchen pic below

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-iGPXhqMXe/?igshid=rz6ofafbwubb

seannash

seannash wrote: »

If you do an ensuite put the extractor fan on a different switch to the light. Stops the fan coning on if soneone goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night or if someone is up earlier than the other.

Sink thats large enough to take the pans and wire trays that slide into your oven. So much easier for cleaning.

If going for radiators have them sit about 2 inches away from the wall so you can easily hang clothes on them if necessary. We've all tried to snake towels down the back of the radiator to dry them.

As for kitchen, it really is personal preference. One thing we included was building in storage for cutting boards into the cabinetry. We opted for no upper cabinets but we really tried to cut down on the amount of unnecessary crap in the kitchen (a drawer for bags springs to mind)
Unfinished kitchen pic below

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-iGPXhqMXe/?igshid=rz6ofafbwubb

Kitchen looks class, but with the rads, you should never dry clothes on radiators - dry them on a clothes horse in a well ventilated room or you will end up with damp and condensation.

seannash

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Kitchen looks class, but with the rads, you should never dry clothes on radiators - dry them on a clothes horse in a well ventilated room or you will end up with damp and condensation.

In my case its normally drying clothes that the tumble dryer didn't get 100% dry but yes good point.

MastiffMrs

Definitely agree with fan on second switch to bathroom light, makes such a difference.

Our utility room can be a little bit of a dumping ground. Would recommend really thinking of what you'd use the space for. Designated space for laundry baskets ready for ironing would be useful.

We have an integrated fridge freezer for 15 years and I'd like to change it for a freestanding one. Don't have enough space and constantly trying to jam stuff into freezer or rejig stuff in fridge to get something else. I'd replace the integrated section with a tall pantry with plenty of drawers.
Only found this an issue since the kids came along, integrated fridge freezer was fine for just 2 of us.

SameOleJay

Deleted User wrote: »

That's the shelving unit we put at the end of the open plan area

Very nice, where are the sofas from in both rooms?

phormium

MastiffMrs wrote: »

We have an integrated fridge freezer for 15 years and I'd like to change it for a freestanding one.

I know nothing about integrated stuff never having had any but I have just built an extension to my kitchen, it's not fitted out yet due to lockdown, but I was going to put in an integrated tall fridge to replace my undercounter one.

Is there less room in an integrated version than a free standing one based on the same space? Kitchen is going to be white so I could go with free standing as it would blend in, I'd prefer to have the bigger volume in the fridge than a prettier looking integrated finish.

Tails142

I went with an integrated larder fridge but yes they are smaller

Here are two to compare;

https://www.harveynorman.ie/home-appliances/refrigeration-appliances/larder-fridges-and-freezers/electrolux-integrated-larder-fridge-lrb2df18c.html

Integrated, 1769mm high to fit in a 1800 unit, 310 litre capacity.

https://www.harveynorman.ie/home-appliances/refrigeration-appliances/larder-fridges-and-freezers/hotpoint-fridge-sh81qwrfduk.html

A bit taller at 1875mm but 363 litre capacity so about 15% more volume.

As I said though we went integrated just because of the kitchen layout and we get on fine 2 adults and 4 kids. We had a standalone undercounter freezer but found that a bit restrictive, especially now with lockdown and trying to limit number of runs to the shop so we ended up getting a tall larder freezer too and putting it in the garage for overflow. So if you had space I'd recommend tall versions of both fridge and freezer in the kitchen.

db

For the shower get shower enclosure with built-in shelves. In ours, there is a glass door inside the shower with shelves inside. Try to get a shower pumped directly from the hot tank instead of an electric one. Get a thermostatic shower valve so the water temperature is always perfect.

In the kitchen try to keep related functions close to save on movement. Have the dishwasher near the crockery press so you can unload dishes easily. Have your food prep area beside the hob and your ingredients storage nearby. Having the hob on an island makes this easier to achieve. Put a tall larder freezer in the utility room. Get a standard size hob. We got a large 6 ring one before and when it got cracked we had huge problems finding a replacement of a similar size.

SameOleJay

SameOleJay wrote: »

Very nice, where are the sofas from in both rooms?

Thanks. EZ Living for the dark grey and DFS for the lighter ones in the TV room.

phormium

Tails142 wrote: »

So if you had space I'd recommend tall versions of both fridge and freezer in the kitchen.

Thanks, I'll have a look at those, want to maximise the capacity within the space!

I actually have a tall freezer already in the utility room, don't know what height but it must be approaching 6ft, went for the biggest at the time I also have a small chest freezer as well as back up, big fan of freezing here! Plus I have a second undercounter fridge in utility but hoping to replace both fridges with the max tall one, it's more the bending down to peer into top shelf of fridges that drives me mad other than the layout, the two are actually handy as I keep day to day stuff in one and the utility room one stores the more long term stuff mainly baking supplies/drinks/long life stuff etc.

ebayissues

Deleted User wrote: »

Just to add my voice to the TV at eye level and to the side of a fire. We did a full refurb recently and this is what we did with the TV room. You can't see the TV when it's off due to the dark colour of the wall.

The self build and renovations Ireland Facebook page is a great place for ideas. I uploaded loads of pics of our refurb on it a few weeks ago but my toddler got hold of my phone and deleted the post and lots of the pictures with it.

We also put a full wall of shelving/library at the bottom of the kitchen/diner.

Are those pocket doors?

ebayissues

ebayissues wrote: »

Are those pocket doors?

Yes, we put them in so we could close off the TV room at night.