Remodelling a terraced house - please critique my floorplan!

[ChocolateChoux]

Hello everyone First time poster, long time lurker! My partner and I bought & moved into a new house about 6 months ago, with a view to eventually remodelling/extending it to suit us but don't know if what we're suggesting is a good idea!

The house is a bog-standard 2 bed Victorian terrace - 2 up, 2 down with a small galley kitchen on the back and stairs in between the living and dining room. We ideally need another bedroom adding and we did initially hope to do a side-return extension to gain a bigger kitchen/dining/living space downstairs. However, our funds are limited and we therefore have decided to do a loft conversion first, while remodelling downstairs to fix the old, cold and tiny galley kitchen into something a bit more useable (and not damp!) until we can afford to do a side-return extension.

At the minute, the layout of our house looks like this
imgur.com/a/4P3hZ

But ideally, I would love to open it up like this:
imgur.com/a/n8Ow5

Can someone take a look and let me know what you think? Does this even look like a sensible idea?

[JT05]

A good idea to put the kitchen in the middle, but the circulation looks awkward.
How about getting rid of the desk nook and breakfast bar (?), moving the door to where the ‘nook’ was and continuing the kitchen run along the wall.
This would give a bigger circulation area and make the entrance to the stairway more open.

[Quodlibet]

My concerns would be with your plans that there's a lot to bump into, and the row of kitchen units protruding into the space is pretty limiting and will define the usage of the room. I think it would also be difficult to get out of the back door round the table.

Practically speaking, where's your storage? Where do people put their shoes/coats when they come in the front, or their gardening stuff when they come in from the back?

Do you really need all those kitchen units? Clever kitchen design eg larder pull outs and swing corners can mean you can get away with far fewer. We knocked out our defunct chimney breast and put a couple of units and work surface in there on the suggestion of our kitchen planner.

[Quodlibet]

Could you knock out the downstairs cupboard to increase the visual flow between the front and back rooms?

[another20]

I think that it is a great idea to move the kitchen back into the dining room.

I think that where you currently access the stairs to go up from the bottom RH corner of the new kitchen in problematic and restricting your kitchen layout. Could you block this door and create open access from the top RH corner of the lounge instead?

This would allow you to have a large L shaped run in the new kitchen across the middle wall and along the RH wall....you may also have space for an island or peninsula?

I would leave the understairs cupboard and use for either downstairs loo or washing machine or coats/shoes.

Upstairs you could create a 3rd bed by removing the bathroom fittings and then creating a smaller windowless one between the two existing bedrooms - if there was enough space to do this - much cheaper than a loft extension.

[thecatsthecats]

I agree that there isn't a clear flow.

Would there be room to have a desk nook nearer the dining end, looking out on the garden?

Things I would think about - coats, shoes, umbrellas, where do they go if you don't have that cupboard? Is there room for a washer, dryer and dishwasher (I think that is good to plan for, even if you don't want all three yourself. Our kitchen is huge and lovely, but there's nowhere sensible to retrofit a tumble dryer. My friend had a similar problem with wanting to make a a small change to her kitchen, so do think about it, even if selling is a long way off.)

Our rear chimney breast has the (electric) range oven built into it, so you could do something like that?

[thecanaries]

Yes I think it's good. One think though what does the bay kind of window look into and is the garden extending out from the doors ??

Have you considered outdoor/indoor living to create more
Space in summer months?

[thecanaries]

Ps I need to do a layout and was wondering if you used an app
To do yours?

[SilverSpot]

Aw I can't the links at work :-(

[PunjanaTea]

I would say what you’re planning particularly with the bay window doesn’t look that cheap. Would you not be better saving that money towards what you actually want to do?

[whiskyowl]

I understand your points about funds being limited, I really do. But I think for the same prices as a loft conversion you could get a mini-extension that would sort more of your problems. I'd do a cheap side return, using timber frame and cladding - with skylights right up against the existing wall to ensure the dining room doesn't become too dark. The cost of this would be loads less than a more expensive 'glass box'. This would allow you to put in a much better shaped kitchen. Having a pleasant 2-bed house is better than having a 3-bed where the spaces you use extensively, like the kitchen, don't work for you.

[thecanaries]

Looking at it again, I think to free flow you
Would be better off removing the unit that blocks and adding in a kitchen island. See photo

[thecanaries]

But whisky I agree in terms of living and enjoying but a 3 bed will make more money when selling.... significantly so!

[RicStar]

I prefer the original layout! But then I am not a massive open plan person so perhaps that is why. I have to agree with those that say extend or leave it pretty much as it is. Perhaps change corridor.

[thecanaries]

Ideal world -
I would extend that corner area, add no fold doors and the red extra kitchen units allows for a washing machine and tumble
Dryer Comfortably.

I'll put the pen down now! Sorry!

[ChocolateChoux]

Wow, loads of amazing replies! Thank you all so much for your suggestions I’m going to go back and look at the plans again tonight and will post it here once I’ve got something decent! For those who asked, I made the plans in photoshop using the estate agent’s floor plan as a template

To answer a few questions:

Where do bags and coats go
I have a small coat and shoe rack near the front door, so that shouldn’t be an issue. The under the stairs cupboard currently just houses junk and my hoover so the plan was to find space for the hoover etc. by having a ladder cupboard in the kitchen where this, plus outside things can go.

Can you just do an extension instead of a loft conversion? A 2 bed house with a good downstairs is better
Unfortunately we desperately need the extra room upstairs. Currently we both work from home out of the spare room, which is quite small and also has to house my partner’s drum kit, a sofa bed for a relative who stays with us regularly and our clothes horse. So we desperately need additional space for this, more so than a bigger downstairs unfortunately. The dream would be to have a double height extension at the back but we just can’t afford the 50k-60k to do it!

Can you make changes to the living room to allow for better flow e.g knock through cupboard under the stairs/have the stairway facing into the living room instead
Unfortunately the living room is already super small so anything that removes wall space in that room is not possible!

Can you wait and save for what you really want?
I could, this is a very valid point. However, we do need the extra bedroom ASAP and I am very impatient and sick of cooking in a cold, damp kitchen every night

[thecanaries]

Sorry forgot to add!!

[ChocolateChoux]

Sorry, forgot to answer your questions in the previous post! The bay window would look out onto our garden, but a courtyard-y bit of it, facing an old (but nice looking) brick wall that currently has plants growing up it. The French doors would lead out onto our patio

Also, I made this in photoshop by using the original floor plan from the estate agents as a template.

[MrsMoastyToasty]

I noticed that you have chimney breasts downstairs but not upstairs. If they are redundant downstairs then think about removing them to free up more space.

[ChocolateChoux]

Ah, that must be a mistake on the floor plan! Both chimneys are still there and working.

[lalalonglegs]

A slightly nerdy question but, if you were to do a loft conversion, where would the stairs go? I can't see how you would fit them without having to create another corridor from one of the bedrooms to accommodate them .

[MiniCooperLover]

Definitely get rid of the breakfast bar!

[OliviaBenson]

You will end up spending a lot of money on a new kitchen for you then to do a side return later on.

Could you do a side return extension but also include a downstairs loo and small office space instead of a loft conversion?

I'd be selling the drum kit too 😂

[Reluctant2ndtimer]

Why not just swap the kitchen and dining room? Have the kitchen in what is currently the dining room and have the current kitchen as a study. Your proposed plan doesn’t really seem to give you much extra space, swapping the rooms over would give you a dedicated office room.

[ChocolateChoux]

Right, i've gone over the floor plan again! Could any of you let me know what you think?

imgur.com/a/4cSe2

lalalonglegs - The idea is that we'd have the new stairs directly next to the old stairs and remove a bit of the bedroom. However, we'd then use this as a guest room/space for partner's drums (so it wouldn't matter too much that it would be smaller) and have the current master bedroom as our shared office, with our master being the loft conversion (with ensuite).

OliviaBenson - I know, I have a feeling that might happen too! But I figure if I keep the kitchen on the left hand side of the room, then we can always do the side return at a later date and knock through, while still keeping the new kitchen. My partner has got a lock up for his second drum kit - he compromises

Reluctant2ndtimer - Unfortunately I don't think the dining room would be big enough to fit a kitchen and dining table, without the current kitchen knocked through.

[TheAntiBoop]

Drums in a terrace!!!!!!

I would worry that you're not achieving much with the loft tbh. Have others filled in the side return? What have your neighbors done?