Loft Conversion - Drastically Changing the Design

The Plans Have Arrived

Wow. You know how I said there would be compromise with the floor space on the loft floor? Well yeah, it's pretty bad. The bedroom isn't too bad but isn't as spacious as it once was and the study area is now accessed via the bedroom - thus meaning it can't double up as a guest bedroom.

The study area is still a good size but the limited access makes it more of a private office and there's way too much space for that so it's kind of a waste. Plus I'm not involved in espionage or state secrets, so I don't really need this level of privacy.

So no. Just, no. This isn't going to work. I was quite deflated at this point. I felt like I couldn't make use of the significant loft space without losing a bedroom, which would then reduce the usable loft space because that room has to reappear somewhere. 

 

Oh I was in a mood for days over this. Tracy asked our builder round to give a second opinion. He also thought I was crazy for not wanting to demolish the firstborn's bedroom.

Taking a Step Back

So one morning I was stood on the landing after having a shower and I suddenly realised that the master bedroom doesn't have to be in the loft. I know, it's not the most high-brow of eureka moments, but it unlocked a train of thought that was yet to occur to me...

We have a decently sized double bedroom as it is. It's hardly palatial but equally, we don't have to climb over each other to get out of bed (not unless we want to, of course). With a bit of thought, the available space could be much better utilised.

In the original plan, the second-born and third-born would each have had a double bedroom whilst the firstborn had a box room that, if I'm honest with myself, she was already starting to outgrow because of a lack of wardrobe space. 

But if we used the loft floor for the children's bedrooms they could each have a reasonable, equally sized single bedroom. Then it doesn't matter about the loss of the firstborn's current bedroom.

In fact, if we use a u-shaped staircase, then there could be enough of the box room left to still be a usable space. A space that could become an en-suite for the newly available double bedroom and unlock that 5% value increase. We then have the other double room free for a hobby room - which is superior to the previous hobby room because it's bigger and doesn't have a sloping ceiling. 

 

Feeling much more optimistic, I emailed the architect, apologised for not listening to him in the first place, and asked for the drawings to be changed accordingly. Unusually for me, I didn't created any of my own drawings first to see if what I was asking was even possible - I've left it to their creativity and we'll see what comes back. 

In theory there should be enough room - there's about 25 square metres of floor space and a single bedroom should be between 6 and 12 square metres. 

For your benefit though, I've done a couple of rough sketches...