Lay-outs, Rooms and Open-plan living.
Having constructed and laid out the floors we knew roughly where all the bedrooms, bathrooms, lounge and kitchen were going to be. The submitted plans had shown where the windows were positioned and this does tend to dictate that there is going to be a room on the inside for them to illuminate and ventilate.
(Before carrying on. Hint. I had laid the joists for the floor boards, before laying these I made all the openings for the upstairs windows working on temporary flooring made from sheets of chipboard. Any marks made by stones that fell on this didn’t matter and the proper flooring was laid after this potentially damaging activity was finished).
I say “roughly” as no matter how much you have planned out interiors on pieces of plain, or even squared, paper it still makes you stop and think when you see a finished expanse of open floor. In our case the downstairs area is 120 square meters (approx 1,080 sq ft). The upper floor, because of the open-plan, double height hall way 100 square meters (approx 900 sq ft).
Using lengths of timber laid out on the floor we could “visualise” rooms and actually “walk through” where doorways were going to be. It is almost impossible to say how good this activity can make you feel. It is the first time you can directly relate your planned scheme, with what actually exists “on the ground” so to speak. Minor adjustments were made; Bedroom walls moved, Bathroom extended, by not a lot. Not big things in themselves, but they improved the feel and the flow of the rooms. This criteria of “feel” is most important at this stage and is good for future developments.
I made up the wall framing for the walls that ran parallel to the sides of the building. Calculations were then made as to the number of sheets of plasterboard required for each room. They could then be “posted” into the rooms, ready for when the walls were going to be fitted. Because there were no cross walls in the way, moving 2,5metre by 1,2metre sheets of plasterboard into each space was made a lot easier (nb They are not 8ft X 4ft. The metric dimensions give you a 3 square meter panel). The wall frames across the barn were then constructed and door frames fitted, the walls being built around them and not vice versa, so I knew the doors were going to fit.
With the walls in their skeletal state services runs for electric sockets, lights, switches, electric radiators as well as pipe runs for water could be planned and positioned. When this time consuming, fiddly part was completed all walls, ceilings were insulated with glass-fibre (laine de verre) and plaster boarded.
The large barn door entrance lent itself to the idea of a double height space as the hallway to our house. Once we had decided this we made sure that the floor corridor structure was set at a suitable distance from the back wall to give a decent width of passageway, with enough of a balcony to create the open plan effect. This was complimented by leaving the back and front internal stone walls exposed. They were pointed in lime render and wire-brushed to maximise the lightness of the stone and gave us two feature walls in the finished hallway.
The ceiling in this hallway was constructed from a temporary floor we erected in the hall so we had a platform to work from which, when we removed to reveal the finished result it was a real “wow” moment. Very satisfying.
If you feel we can help you achieve your own “wow” moment feel free to contact us.