r/HouseDesign

People of Reddit. I need your help.

My wife and I decided to buy a major fixer-upper. It's a house built in the 60s that has been abandoned for about 10 years and mostly used as storage by the previous owner.

Because of the house's age, it has undergone a few modifications over time, and rooms like the kitchen weren't designed for how we use them now. The kitchen would've been a room hidden away for staff to cook, for instance.

The house is a blank canvas for us to redesign as we see fit, but I am not sure what to do.

We also live in a place where we need to use safety grills on any accessible windows and doors, or use steel doors.

We have a front verandah we can rebuild, but we were thinking of just grilling it in.

If we do that, there is potential to add a new room to the front of the house.

I don't love where we have decided to put the kitchen, as the space is a bit small for two people who love to cook.

If you are looking at the plans, the dining room and living room would lead out onto the Verandah. If we grilled in the Verandah like we are thinking of doing, and after we add a roof, and an upstairs deck off the master, the space between the living room and dining room could become a new internal room to the house, which would be about 11' by 13', bigger than the 7'x11' of the current kitchen, but with no natural light. It could also be an additional outdoor sitting area.

I have included an AI rendering of the front of the house and a kitchen layout for the space we picked for the kitchen, done in Ikea. I am not sure if the dimensions would be visible on the post, so they are here as well https://imgur.com/a/vGTt0l8

What would you guys do?

I welcome any thoughts, ideas, comments, or questions. Thank you!

The side and back is all green along with the garage. Big fan of Sherwin Williams colors. Looking for a neutral but clean look.

Just want to get your thoughts if my engineer's pricing is okay or too high?

We're building a tiny house/mil suite behind our home and I wanted to get some advice on the flow and feng shui of the layout. The entrance is at the bottom of the image, and walks directly into the kitchen "alley", with the pantry and fridge behind the door, which we have been advised to move to the opposite end of the kitchen wall. Between the kitchen and living I want to put a large console table/desk to function as a space for eating, working, or extra cooking counterspace. Up against it will be the back of the sofa, facing the living room wall with a fireplace and built ins around it. The next section has the small hallway leading to the bedroom and bathroom, and the bathroom with a stackable washer dryer inside (on side of tub nearest the door), and a water heater (on opposite side of tub next to exterior wall). The bedroom has two medium size closets, flanking the king size bed, and space for a dresser and a chair. The ceilings above the living room and bedroom will be vaulted while the bathroom ceiling will be roughly 9 feet. The second and third pics are inspiration for the kitchen and living set up.

Advice for my front entry? I know I want to paint the door a deep emerald and probably replace the metal with black stuff instead; I have a black iron security/storm door I’m also ready to install; was thinking the underside of the awning could be beadboard (to match the ceiling of the porch) also painted emerald; I’ll be rehabbing the OG rope & weight windows and painting the exterior of the sashes the same emerald; below the white vinyl siding is a visible brick foundation on top of not visible fieldstone. Shutters are black and I’ll be leaving them as is. Roof is heather gray. Should I paint the window and door casing/moulding emerald as well? What should the front side of the awning look like? How does all this sound?

Hi everyone, I’m building a house in Ireland and really struggling to visualise the spaces from our 2D floor plans as I’ve no construction/architecture background. I’ve been quoted €400–€600 just for 3D images/design help, which is sadly out of budget for me as a teacher.
Does anyone know of any affordable people, apps, websites or budget-friendly options that could help me visualise the house better? Would really appreciate any recommendations — thank you!