Hey friends,

Apologies for my absence. Our son started daycare recently and it's just been a onslaught of illnesses in our household. Worse still, the nursery bars sick kids while continuing to charge for their place despite it being where the kid caught the disease in the first place!

This is probably old news for many of you but I'm only now learning how poor our childcare system is. That said, there's a budget today which might well shake things up. If it happens it would be a remarkable bit of timing 🤞🤞🤞.

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This week I've been working on the downstairs floor-plan and after many iterations I've reached one that I'm both excited and daunted by.

I'm doing this now to double check that there's nothing downstairs that will affect the upstairs before I renovate the landing and also I can plan for what I can finish downstairs before taking on the extension.

For something of this scale, usually you'd employ an architect or home designer because even if they give you just one good idea or change, it's probably worth the cost. Here I endeavour to go it alone but when I get to the point of instructing a structural engineer (for beam calculations etc) hopefully I can find one with a flair for design too.

I could just reveal the final version but I think there's value in showing how I got to it but if you're short on time feel free to scroll through to Version 4. I'm looking for feedback on anything that you think can be improved or any optimisations for older kids/teenagers that I'm missing.

First, we made a list of wants from the house. Realistic wants; I know I'm not going to fit an indoor pool.

• A mix of separate rooms and open plan. I've been to houses that are completely open plan and while it looks great I don't find them practical as you can't get away from one another without going upstairs. A bit of both needed I think but should it be kitchen-diner-living or only kitchen-diner?
• I need to find a better place for the washing machine (currently in our garage) that ideally isn't in the kitchen. A place to dry clothes would be good too - i.e. a utility room.
• I haven't owned a console since the Playstation 3 as I know how unproductive I'd be with one. But as the lad gets older I can see that as a good bonding activity, so a space for gaming would be great, ideally in the open plan bit so it's more inclusive.
• I'm also hoping the lad will like table tennis or if not, it's a good activity when my friends come over. It can either be a full table or one that sits on top a dining table. It's the required space around it that's tricky.
• Abi would like a kitchen island if possible.
• I'd really like my own office space as sharing right now is seriously driving me crazy. I need solitude. I'd like this space to also house a small home gym (not a recent fad - I've had one in the garage the last few years but it's too cold in winter) and potentially my tools as well. We'll call this the 'dad cave'. Abi says she's happy to work in the kitchen or sitting room or hot desk between the two.
• I've said before that it's silly you can't search Rightmove by floorspace and we rely on number of bedrooms in this country. However I've also said that a good floor-plan in a smaller space is better than a bad floor-plan in a bigger space so I want good flow and for all the space to be used effectively.

As a reminder this is the current set-up:

Version 1

Before having a kid I couldn't imagine dedicating an entire room to a hallway. When I leave the house I put on my 1 pair of shoes, grab my wallet and keys and go. Abi has more shoes and handbags but it's the lad with his buggies and paraphernalia that makes this worthwhile so I've changed the current kitchen to the new hallway/entrance. This would have seating and storage along either side. The new kitchen goes in the rear extension and I've got rid of most of the annoying long and thin existing hallway/corridor. The washing machine takes the place of the existing shower.

The good:

• This is the easiest design.
• Big hallway.
• Big dad cave - large enough to play table tennis.
• Circular flow around the central staircase.

The bad:

• Kitchen storage/work surface is minimal.
• There are many underused dead zones - marked with red dots.
• No dedicated place to dry clothes.
• We'd have built-in pews against the walls around the dining table but it's a bit cramped. Moving it out would block the bi-fold doors to the garden a bit.

Version 2

Here I've closed off the living room from the kitchen-diner allowing the kitchen to be moved to the other side of the new wall. I've also opened up the entrance between hall and kitchen-diner by getting rid of the cupboards and moved the washing machine to its own nook.

The good:

• View through to the garden from front door + more light.
• Inner hallway area no longer a dead zone due to door through to living room (has a purpose).
• Better living room furniture layout. As it's separate and smaller we can turn off the heating and rely on the wood burner in winter evenings.
• With the separate living room, if the kitchen is a bit/a lot messy we don't have to look at it. I might also be less inclined to wander over to see what's in the fridge.
• I can renovate the living room before starting the extension.
• Room for a sofa in the kitchen-diner; needed given the living room is now separate.
• Deadzone between kitchen and playroom now has more purpose with the washing machine there + we get to keep the shower in the bathroom.
• Kitchen cabinets against party wall will reduce sound transference, probably no need for sound proofing that section of wall.
• We can have a kitchen island if we wanted (I show that option later).

The bad:

• Not sure where the boiler could go (needs to be near an outer wall).
• No good place for a tv in kitchen-diner.
• While sizeable, the kitchen-diner might not have the wow factor of space.
• Washing machine area still a bit awkward and no place to dry clothes.
• No more circular flow but maybe having a more isolated dad cave would be beneficial!
• Bit more work than the Version 1 but nothing too arduous. Does require re-doing the current office as I would have to move the door and radiator.

Version 3

I'm thinking bigger here. I've removed the downstairs bathroom in favour of a proper sitting area within the kitchen-diner and carved out a utility room with WC.

The good:

• Much bigger kitchen-diner with direct access to playroom.
• Could play table tennis on the dining table though the dog-leg near the sofa could be an issue.
• Proper seating area with space for tv opposite sofa to play video games with the boy.
• Boiler could go in the utility room or possibly in cupboard above the WC.

The bad:

• Playroom is smaller.
• No downstairs shower - probably not a big loss.
• MUCH more work. This would involve putting a steel in where the wall was removed, moving the wall between current office and garage + a new wall between utility room and dad cave.
• Dad Cave is smaller but probably more fair to the rest of the fam!

Version 4

In this final iteration I've pushed the entire rear leaf of the house back; put in internal bi-fold doors between main space and playroom; made the utility room bigger and put a kitchen island in. RSJs are in dashed red lines.

The good:

• I think this has the wow factor. It's spacious and all the rear of the property is open.
• The rear wall would look better from the garden being straight all the way across.
• The playroom is the same size as the office is now, just pushed out further to the rear.
• By adding bi-folds of half wood, half glass to the playroom, it feels included in the main space but can be closed off to hide mess.
• Definitely room for table tennis on the kitchen table. Top can be stored in playroom.
• Pushing the wall back on the right side of the house also means more space for the master bedroom above.
• The utility room is bigger and has a separate WC and sink. With a fold down drying rack there's now a dedicated place to dry clothes.

The bad:

• My dad cave is smaller still yet more proportional to the house. Definitely space for a desk and small home gym. If I use the wall space effectively, maybe it could house my tools as well. If not, I'll need a workshop in the garden.
• It's a daunting project on many fronts: technical, financial, disruption, time and effort.

For fun, I've mocked up the surroundings too:

Finally, I did try a version where the stairs are pulled forward to allow an entrance to the utility room under the stairs but it doesn't work with the landing above. Ruled out.

👋

Feb's Fitness Update: In January I lost around 10 lbs (4.5kg) predominantly from a calorie deficit. In Feb I continued this but added more protein to my diet and started lifting weights again to combat muscle loss from the deficit.

As expected my weight loss slowed - to 4 lbs over the month which equals an average 500 calorie daily deficit but I think I've gone lower than that so I may have triggered some muscle growth which would account for that gap 💪. Still early days but I'm feeling loads better already.

Got fitness goals? Tell me about them.

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments on this week's newsletter – otherwise I'll see you next time. Have an epic week :)

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