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Extend your fence materialIn a small garden you will want your bins to visually ‘disappear’ as much as possible. And creating a screening structure from the same material as your garden fence can be a good way to make them recede. A neat wooden box like this will discreetly store your bins whether in the front or back garden.Discover 10 ways to bring your interior style into your garden
Channel urban glamMeal prep almost becomes theatre in this immaculately accessorised cookspace with triple-panel sliding doors. The three same-sized panels create a great sense of symmetry and order, which is mirrored in the long dining table and peninsular unit. Polished-concrete floors, marble worktops, brass accents, deconstructed pendant lights, prehistoric palms and a gorgeous garden beyond represent clear kitchen bliss.Discover 10 tips for bringing more daylight into your home
Be dynamic…By using exposed brick and full-height bifold doors, this essentially simple extension to a terrace house also brings the outside space in.However the project – which is in basic terms a simple box – cleverly defies its simplicity with a really funky ceiling-scape that’s full of exciting changes of slope and angle and interesting triangular roof lights. It all equates to a dynamic space.
Choose a magic slotThis example also keeps the kitchen just outside of the extension, which again has been used for the dining table. But where three simple roof windows were used in the previous example, here a ‘slot’ roof light creates a swathe of daylight over the kitchen and lifts the whole effect.
Create a ‘no kitchen’ extensionFrequently, a kitchen extension may not have any kitchen in the extended part at all. In this example, the add-on has opened up and enlarged the existing space, and has been used as a new dining area so that the kitchen can make use of the whole width of what was the rear of the original house.It’s worth noting how the older part of the house is enhanced not only by fully glazed doors across the rear of the extension, but also by roof windows that allow for good ventilation and flood daylight into the kitchen, too.
Face the right directionThe key to getting an open-plan layout right is to think about which way your kitchen will face. This will have an impact on how sociable the space is, and how much you can benefit from the view outside. For example, by having a sink or hob in the island or peninsula, you can talk to others in the room while you’re cooking, even if they’re in another part of the space. Alternatively, you might choose to leave the hob in the island and position the sink below the window to enjoy the view outside while you’re washing up. The kitchen here is tucked in the corner, but the peninsula means everyone in the room can interact with each other.Discover design tips to help make your kitchen the heart of your home
Max out on the viewIf your open-plan layout is L-shaped, it can be difficult to decide where to put the door to the garden. In this extension, the main door has been positioned in the living area, but that could have limited the view to the outside from the kitchen. The solution? Two right-angled walls that consist almost entirely of glass. The smart bit here is that the owners haven’t had to lose precious worktop space – instead, the opening begins at the top of the work surface. The view is just as good as it would have been with a floor-to-ceiling window, and the worktop can double up as an outside bar area. Discover more ways to open up your kitchen extension
Try small touches with big impactLess is more in small spaces, so go for one or two larger pieces of furniture rather than multiple pieces. “Use size-appropriate items,” says Hoad. “Many clients look online at big spaces and want to replicate exactly what they see – remember to scale it down for the size of your flat. Choose furniture and fittings in smallish sizes or a smaller number of larger-sized pieces so the space doesn’t appear crowded.”
Judicious use of a glass roof in specific places to bring daylight into underlit parts of a house, as seen here, can be very effective, and can become a real talking point, too.
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