Is this houses’ floorplan too cursed to buy?

The house I am currently in and my previous house had a dining hall. This is what this house has.If you have the mindset that it’s not a dining room, it’s a dining hall, it will work!

Planning guidance probably prevent garage, storage & conservatory from being converted to living space. This is why they are all currently separate. Check into this with the planning office.

The current kitchen, looks like cooker (aga?) is in the original kitchen hearth which is why it’s a huge black box.

There will be load bearing walls across the house that are not easily removed without putting in new supporting structures.

Before deciding -
Visit or call the planning office for basic guidance. I have done this - there will be published guidelines somewhere. Giving the basics about garage, conservatory & outside storage.

It does not look to be an easy / inexpensive conversion to an open modern space.

There is a lot of room for family room, office ! Guest suite. As is.

I do agree with pp about getting rid of the conservatory, though. And if it’s possible to move the staircase, that would make a big difference.

Yes. I think you need to talk to a structural engineer about what’s possible.

Looks fine to me, but there's a lot of potential if you want to change it around.

I'd get an architect to have a look and design an interior layout that would suit you. Even if it costs a grand or two for someone to look around the property and give you rough idea, it'll be money well spent if it turns out that no, you can't do what you want or yes, you can have your dream home. No point in buying the place and then finding that you have to compromise.

It's a ridiculous layout at the moment but something relatively simple like moving the staircase or creating a large welcoming hall out of the current dining room could simplify it. You say it's a period house and so it may have developed like this because of the difficulty of moving certain features (fireplaces, chimneys etc). An architect will have a clear idea of what's possible.

Is the garage built of double brick or is it just one-brick thick, as many period garages were? Could be hard to heat if so. I wouldn't convert it unless there was elsewhere on the property to build a separate garage.

I love it! We are currently trying to buy a big family home and so many are all open plan. We want lots of individual rooms. Id snap that up for its quirky nature

I'd love it, I like lots of rooms like that. I wouldnt mess about structurally with an old house with chimney breasts, you'll lose those and turn it into bland open plan.

But then it seems thats what people like

I like it as it is. Love houses with more interesting floor plans. Plus going between the kitchen and pantry, with that extra little distance, will boost your daily steps - look for the positives

Would you be happy to give a link to the house on the agents website? I'm fascinated by the layout.

It's difficult without pictures of the actual rooms to see their features but I think the family room may once have been the dining room and the downstairs bathroom a butler's pantry serving the dining room. The dimensions of the rooms are pretty big, suggesting it may have been quite a grand house when built. I may be way off though!

I'm not much good with layout, but as a former conveyancer would suggest that you ask the seller if they know why the extensions are as they are..was there something crucial that whoever did the previous extensions was working around?

If it were me, I would put your dining room where your current kitchen is. If you don't want to utilise the Garage then put your kitchen where the current dining room is. Without doing anything else at all, that makes more practical sense. It's nearer the other living spaces for trips to the fridge etc etc.

As others have said and I agree with you too, change where doors are so that there are fewer 'through' other rooms to get somewhere

It's certainly odd. I'd go so far as to consider moving the entrance to the current dining room to have a lovely big entryway with a fireplace. It's big enough that it could have a library/reading area or a boot room setup. Remove the conservatory and put a bigger window in the new entryway so that you have a view to the garden as you walk in. (I'm assuming it's a plastic conservatory and not a wooden orangerie). Merge the kitchen and garage to form a large kitchen, dining area and utility room. Put a downstairs toilet in the pantry. Leave the sitting room as is. Leave the stairs where they are, unless you are planning a big job upstairs too. It's all fixable if you have the budget.

Start by saying what you need from this house. How do you live day to day? It's no good suggesting plans that suit others if the rejigged space won't suit you and your family. Do you WFH at all? do you have children and if so, how old are they? Do you like to have friends and family around much and do you host big sit down meals, Christmas gatherings, or casual eating? Do you need that downstairs ensuite bedroom for anyone to sleep in, whether regularly or from time to time.

Secondly, is the house listed? What's your budget? because professional fees and knocking down or through load bearing walls is very costly and £££ soon eaten up.

I was going to say knock the outside storage and the hotch potch of rooms adjoining into a big dining kitchen, larder, utility and downstairs cloaks. But then what to do with the original kitchen. I'd have another reception room and keep the original dining room as is, but that might not be of any use to you.

I would say, what ever you decide, don't think about taking those huge chimney breasts out, that really would be a huge job.

Getting rid of a garage is always a bad idea unless you have no plans to sell and will be there until you die or you have space to build a new one. It's like a downstairs loo. some people will regard that as essential and you'll be alienating a big market section.

Can you extend out on the right hand side to make the storage and family room line up so that you have one big regular rectangle on the right hand side.

Honestly if you are serious about it, I would take the plan to a local architect for a 10 minute preliminary opinion because that is a skilled job and it would give you a professional sense of what options were open to you realistically.

I’d knock through or rearrange some walls on the right and turn the sitting, pantry, family and dining rooms in to the kitchen, pantry and dining areas. Flip the house over. Left side for bathroom, study, sitting areas.

Moving the stairs to the right of the dining room would help, and have the dining room as a massive magnificent entrance hall.

That is indeed a cursed layout! I like keeping original internal walls, so if these are that, then I'd be trying to figure out the rooms original purpose. If they were added in then I would be looking to change that up considerably. See what can come down and then start from scratch!

The pantry away from the kitchen is supposed to be a butler's pantry not a cooking pantry. You keep the tableware, silverware, glassware, table linens and wine in there. You may consider putting a 2nd dishwasher in there so that the table can be cleared into there from the dining room without having to troop everything through to the kitchen. Obviously pots & pans stay in the kitchen

Surely the kitchen would go where the sitting room is?

I’m presuming there’s an upstairs with it saying bedroom 5
make the 2 rooms on the right into 2 big separate rooms indicated by red lines
knock the conservatory down at 5ft wide it must be line a tunnel
put a corridor in indicated by blue lines knock to stop you walking through one room to get to another
if you wanted knock through to garage to make a massive kitchen/ living room