should i knock thru 2 rooms into 1 in this house? honest opinions please

[bubblepop]

we live in a cottage style semi, there is no hallway, just a porch with the front door opening into the front room which is our lounge.beyond the lounge is another reception room (bit bigger) which is at the back of the house, and from this room the stairs lead up.
we tend to spend our evenings in the front lounge but feel a little cramped as it is only small,we feel we can't sit in the larger room at the back because the tv might keep the younger toddlers awake(noise travels upstairs but in front room we can shut the door)

my question is;should i knock the 2 rooms into one to create slightly more space? or is it inappropriate for this type of house considering there is no hallway? has anyone done this and then regretted it? also there would be 2 fireplaces so would it look right if it was all going to be one room? tia.x

[RubySlippers]

would much prefer two rooms to one
we have a lounge/diner in our current house and i would love a space where i didn't have to trip over DS's crap toys etc

[moopymoo]

think i would prefer the 2 rooms too. used to be an estate agent in a former life and houses tended to be more popular without a 'thru' room layout. does the tv really keep the los awake? ours are trained to sleep through earthquakes

[MrsBadger]

I wouldn't do it, for noise/privacy/heat retention reasons.

also you would be amazed how awkward it might be once opened up as you would lose wall space to put sofas etc against - the room might seem bigger but the house would seem smaller.

Better to rethink the front room to make it feel less cramped - maybe replace 3pc suite with a smaller 2seater sofa and a tub armchair?

[pooka]

Agree with the others. Without a hallway, if you were to do the work, I think you'd end up with the ground floor feeling rather corridoor like.
We had this at our old house - straight from door into knocked through sitting room with stairs leading off. While we had a study and another reception room leading from that first room, and it was 22ft by 11ft, it just felt like an overlarge hallway rather than a convivial reception room.

[GrapefruitMoon]

Our first house had no hallway either - and the stairs went up from it. I hated it (especially in winter) as if anyone came to the door they could see right in. Never had a problem with keeping dd awake though.

If you decide to use your back living room more in the evenings you could always shut the children's bedroom door and have a baby monitor? With small children I always prefer two living rooms so you can keep one free of toys (in theory!)

[Arransmummy]

bubblepop - don't do it. We have the same style house and knocked it through and it's bl*&dy freezing!! Our little one gets woken up everytime someone comes to the door as the noise travels straight upstairs. Also the heat just goes straight into the roof space (open staircase).

[portonovo]

Keep the two rooms, for the reasons others have said. I would have thought if it were one big space, there would be more problems with noise travelling upstairs and disturbing your children.

To be honest, if it's only you and your partner spending your evenings in the front room, it doesn't have to be a very big room does it? Or do you have older children?

I'm very biased I'm afraid, because we would never buy a house with an open-plan layout. We go for 2 reception rooms every time.

[Dropdeadfred]

Our house (and the one before it actually) has two rooms knocked into one and we always talk about getting them bricked back as seperate again. Especially when one half of the room looks like a toyshop at times...would be great to be able to close a door on ut. TBH we now have one huge room and alot of it is wasted..what can you actually fill one room with?

[HairyIrene]

i'd go for two rooms personally

maybe consider knocking out bigger doorway and installing sliding doors?
you could open up slightly bigger space when you want and close when not?

[Shitemum]

Maybe you could look at doing something with the staircase to stop noise travelling up, or move the wall between the two rooms to make the front room bigger but still seperate?