Was a bit disappointed with today's project. A bit expensive for what they got - the shower room was very cramped, and didn't give the sense of 'luxury' which they seemed to be aiming at. The dormer windows were nicely designed but putting in floor to ceiling windows means you can't make use of that entire wall.
Great to have RFI back. But like you Velvet the loft room yesterday was disappointing and very expensive. I wouldn't call it a shower room at all, it looked more like a little cubby-hole. Also not sure about the sink outside, I think they could have built a lovely en-suite, but they paid for having the floor to ceiling dormer I think. Not many ideas from this one for my loft which starts in May. Although they had the same idea as me which I will incorporat in my conversion. Lights on the stairwell and glass bricks in the room.
Originally posted by pkb: Great to have RFI back. But like you Velvet the loft room yesterday was disappointing and very expensive. I wouldn't call it a shower room at all, it looked more like a little cubby-hole. Also not sure about the sink outside, I think they could have built a lovely en-suite, but they paid for having the floor to ceiling dormer I think. Not many ideas from this one for my loft which starts in May. Although they had the same idea as me which I will incorporat in my conversion. Lights on the stairwell and glass bricks in the room.
Ooh pkb everyone does lights on the stairwell and glass bricks Including me!
I agree about the shower cubby hole, it was teeny and claustrophobic, extremely disappointing - not exactly luxurious! I couldn't understand why they had divided it up from the loo, it was a very poor use of space. They must have had more floorspace than we did, yet it all looked very cramped.
I think the problem is that a lot of people (me included) just cannot translate flat plans to 'real space', so they only know AFTERWARDS what a design will look like, when it is too late. Fortunately my partner can understand (and even draw) plans, so we always know what we're going to get. The plumber who plumbed our loft said that is very unusual - generally clients walk up the stairs for the first time and get a surprise (whether good or bad).
I really like RFI. I missed yesterday's but saw today's. A nice family built a fab extension with kitchen/diner. The examples we saw were all great and the couple really made the most of the help they had.
Dave is fabulous. He's so practical and really knows his stuff.
I really liked today's one, too, because we're having our kitchen extension done with pitched roof and velux/skylights. I thought it looked great with lots of light. A bit disappointing that there isn't much in the way of photos on the RFI web page, though, as OH didn't see it.
Ooh pkb everyone does lights on the stairwell and glass bricks Including me!
Great Velvet, do you photos I could look at? I just saw idea of lights on the stairwell while browsing the net for loft rooms etc. But it is always nice to see different looks.
Also liked yesterday's kitchen/family room. Love the sliding doors at the back.
I haven't got any photos I can link to, sorry pkb. But they are nothing startling. Our lights are actually in the floor at the top of the stairs (special type which aren't supposed to get hot - but they do!). They were expensive, and fiddly to install, and to be honest they are not worth having IMO - the kind of things that sound like a great design idea but in retrospect I think they were a waste of money.
The glass blocks are good though, look nice and transfer light well - but I would use them sparingly rather than a whole glass wall.
Thanks Trish but that is the best idea - then you'll imagine it much better than it really is .
The loft is lovely but the rest of the house is very ordinary. I have a burning desire to do a Kirsty - no not the blue tights - get the sledgehammer out and knock through between kitchen and dining room as the current layout isn't very good ... but as we are not staying here that much longer and want to put our money into the next house, I just have to grumble about it.
Did anyone watch today's RFI? I only saw the last fifteen minutes. It was a basement conversion and it looked great when finished - the best I have ever seen, as it had light wells back and front and a decent ceiling height.
However it cost £102K just for the building work! So I want to know why it was so expensive - were there special problems? They also had to pay £7K for Party Wall costs, and then more £££ to fit it out.
I missed the last 20 mins (had to catch my train!) but when I left I thought they were on schedule and on budget. If it cost £102k just for building, they must have smashed through their £110k budget! They were also effectively doubling the size of their flat, so that could have been the main reason for the expense (still cheaper than buying). I also think they were using some lightwells (?) that may have been expensive, but worth it for the amount of light they brought into the area.
As someone said earlier, it's a shame the RFI website doesn't provide more photo shots of the works in progress - especially with the final outcome.
You obviously saw the bits I didn't and vice versa
I can't remember how much they said they spent on fitting it out - but obviously they had to carpet and furnish it (they had help in that some of it was wedding gifts). They chose coir carpeting which looked nice - not sure I would want it under my bare feet though. There were two bedrooms in the basement and a loo (not sure that there was a shower down there though - was it on the plans?) Their original bedroom was then made into the dining room.
The light wells looked as if they had always been there - like you see them in original basement flats - did they have to dig those out too?
I can see why the PW costs alarmed you - but I guess there are real party wall issues when you are digging out a basement. Due to the ceiling height issue I guess they had to dig down a bit which could compromise neighbouring foundations.
It did look really stunning - I usually hate basement conversions because they are gloomy and the ceilings are too low, but this looked as if it had always been part of the building.
Originally posted by velvet: However it cost £102K just for the building work! So I want to know why it was so expensive - were there special problems?
It wasn't so much a conversion as a creation. The existing cellar was only about a quarter of the total floor area, if that, (it wasn't much more than a sunken cupboard) so they were basically mining! The whole thing would terrify me and if I was the neighbour I would be soooooo unhappy. The noise alone must have been awful (all very well for the owners going off on honeymoon for three weeks!) It did look good though - though it was a shame they filmed the 'after' in the dark. Would have like to see the amount of daylight it got.
Ah, thanks Jane. I thought it looked enormous in comparison to the other basement conversions I've seen. And I can see why the PW costs spiralled! Dyou know how long the work took? must have been months.
...
- get the sledgehammer out and knock through between kitchen and dining room as the current layout isn't very good ... but as we are not staying here that much longer and want to put our money into the next house, I just have to grumble about it.
