1960s house - convert integral garage to 4th/3rd double bedroom?

[SleepBecomesHim321]

Hi all, I'm hoping you might be able to advise about our house plans…

We live in a 1960s 3-storey townhouse in zone 3 suburban London. It has a nice garden and is 10 mins walk from a station.

The ground floor consists of an integral (inaccessible from house) garage, small bedroom/study, and utility room with downstairs loo and access to garden. First floor is open plan living area - kitchen, diner, living room, and top floor (2nd floor) is 2 bedrooms and bathroom. There's a garden at back and also a drive at front with space to park a car. It's a mid-century house, so lots of space/big windows but not aesthetically to everyone's taste.

My question is about what is appealing as a family home and what we might do with garage. We've been considering converting it to a bedroom as we use it for storage now and not much else. But we're also not sure how long we'll be here and so we're wondering if it's worth releasing the equity we'd need to do this work or whether we just live with that we've got until we either rent it out or sell.

If we did do the renovation work, we'd have 2 bedrooms on ground floor, plus a toilet (may also try to fit in a shower but would be more major work) living area on first floor, then 2 bedrooms and family bathroom on top (2nd) floor.

I suppose I'm wondering if it's worth doing the garage work or not. If we did, we'd have four bedrooms but in two sets of two, separated by a floor in between - not an ideal set-up for a "family home". I've realised as I'm writing this that you can't possibly answer concretely (and we will get estate agents' views) but if you have any comments, however tangential, they'd be gratefully received!

Thanks.

[Riderontheswarm]

I would prefer the fourth bedroom / extra reception. We don't use our garage for anything other than storage so I'd prefer more liveable space especially if there is room for a shed in the garden. I wouldn't use a car in London anyway. We didn't have one when we lived there. The congestion is terrible, parking is difficult and public transport is quick and easier than trying to navigate London by road. I don't think many people in London would need room to park more than one car so living space is likely to be more of a draw. I would convert the garage as it suits you and will probably suit more possible buyers.

[Villagernumber9]

Our garage has been converted into a 5th bedroom/snug.
We use it for the children's computer games.
They can play their games and invite their friends around whilst we can have our living room.
Love it.

[Bloodybridget]

Agree I don't think a garage is much of an asset in London, people generally don't expect to have one and if it's easy to park on the street it wouldn't be used for parking anyway. Extra living space, games room or bedroom more useful for most prospective buyers, but definitely put a shower in on the ground floor if you can.

[JoJoSM2]

I'd convert it too. It could be a useful bedroom for an au pair or guests. I'd just make sure that the garden is accessed from a room which is not a bedroom and that would feel awkward.

[ASDismynormality]

I've just converted my integral garage, well worth it for us as we now have a second living room.

Ask some local estate agents. We were told it wouldn't make a difference to price taking away the garage adding an extra living room. We are planning to stay here very long term so works for us. If we were thinking of selling in a couple of years probably wouldn't have been worth the cost.

[CelineW]

Maybe a reception/living-room with view/access to the garden? If your garden is on the ground floor it's always a great idea to have a washroom on that floor too.

[SleepBecomesHim321]

Thanks for all your comments. We're definitely going to proceed - estate agents' valuations this week confirmed it too. We've realised there's probably asbestos in garage and that we'll need to move gas and electric meters though so could be a long process.....