Because everyone loves a floor plan... help me out with this layout

[Fuckadoodledoooo]

Just had an offer accepted on this. Never in a million years thought we could buy. Dh nan has taken pity on us and has said she wants to help us when she is alive not when she's dead and she has very generously given us enough for a great deposit. I'm so grateful to her. We're 40 and never thought we would be able to buy, we moved 200 miles as we were priced out of even renting where we lived before.

For context, room size are kitchen 16ft x 6.4 ft, lounge diner 25 ft by 9.9 ft.

Upstairs all good. Me and Dh in one room, two little dds in the other (well, the baby will probably be with us until she's 3 if the others are anything to go by, so just 6 year old Dd for now!).

Garage converted to bedroom which is perfect for 18 year old Ds.

I love open plan houses. I'd love to try in the next couple of years to change this up. We have purposely bought under budget so that we can do things to it and the mortgage will be half of what we currently pay on rent.

Ideas would be appreciated!

Also, for now would you use the dining room at the back as a dining room, or as a playroom and have the dining table in the through lounge. Or have a play area there instead? Dh is all for a dining table out the back but I would like to be able to use that as a playroom to shut away all the toys and mess.

Out the back is all flat patio so could possibly be extended so the back is square.

I would put a wall between the front part of the living room and the back and then knock the back part into both the dining room and the kitchen 😊 that way you get a large open plan kitchen diner, with room for sofas too, and a separate living room area

I would put the dining table in the middle as it looks like the only access to the kitchen is from the front hall so you would have to continually walk through half the house from dining room to kitchen if you had it in the back room!

If you want open plan I would put back the wall between the lounge & the sitting room to create an adult front room.
Open up the kitchen, dining room & sitting room into a large kitchen/dining living space opening on to the garden.
The ground floor bedroom looks large enough to use part at the kitchen end to create a proper shower room accessible from the bedroom & utility room.
Do away with the toilet in the utility room so that it is a useful size.

@BrieAndChilli

I would put the dining table in the middle as it looks like the only access to the kitchen is from the front hall so you would have to continually walk through half the house from dining room to kitchen if you had it in the back room!

That's what I said to Dh. If we had a 'playroom' in the middle bit then we'd be stepping over toys with dinner plates. I'd rather it was the back room used as a playroom so it was shut away.

What WhispersOfWickedness said.
I would also build a bedroom above garage- if structure and finance allows.

Then divide the downstairs bedroom into a sturdy/ playroom, larger utility and of course keep the WC.

@StripeyDeckchair

If you want open plan I would put back the wall between the lounge & the sitting room to create an adult front room. Open up the kitchen, dining room & sitting room into a large kitchen/dining living space opening on to the garden. The ground floor bedroom looks large enough to use part at the kitchen end to create a proper shower room accessible from the bedroom & utility room. Do away with the toilet in the utility room so that it is a useful size.

Yes I'd want the front room as a separate quiet place. So open up the back and hopefully be able to square it off.

Ideally I'd like to turn the utility into a bathroom so the garage bedroom was a bit more self contained. One day when Ds moves out my dad may have to live with us or stay more often.

@WhispersOfWickedness

I would put a wall between the front part of the living room and the back and then knock the back part into both the dining room and the kitchen 😊 that way you get a large open plan kitchen diner, with room for sofas too, and a separate living room area

This is what I would do too. Not keen on a lounge with dining room table in, but a kitchen dinner with a bit of living space or playroom is great.

Also, there would have been a third bedroom upstairs - they have incorporated it into the front room.

What I was thinking of right away was to put the wall back up to make it a small front bedroom again so that Dh can have an office rather than working in the bedroom (he's always WFH).

Also if my dad does have to move in, Ds will always have that as a bedroom if he needs to come home (if he can ever leave!)

Short term I agree with you, playroom at the back, table in the middle, living room at the front. Long term there looks to be loads of options and loads of potential, but definitely worth living there for a while before you make any decisions. I think I’d open up the back, but then separate off the front living room.

There seems to be a lack of flow through the house. Whatever you use the back room for it's a long way to get there from the kitchen. Will you be able to hear kids playing from the kitchen?

I would definitely walk off the front lounge and open up the rest as open plan sooner rather than later.

@Mumski45

There seems to be a lack of flow through the house. Whatever you use the back room for it's a long way to get there from the kitchen. Will you be able to hear kids playing from the kitchen?

I would definitely walk off the front lounge and open up the rest as open plan sooner rather than later.

That is a worry. Although our rented house is sort of the same layout but with a crappy lean to thing at the back that we use as a playroom - I can hear from the kitchen. But, that's ok for my 6 year old. Wouldn't be so great when the baby is 2.

Hopefully we will be able to do something by the time she's independently playing in there.

@Ylvamoon

What WhispersOfWickedness said. I would also build a bedroom above garage- if structure and finance allows. Then divide the downstairs bedroom into a sturdy/ playroom, larger utility and of course keep the WC.

Yes!

The house next door has done that.

Our rental place is the same sort of layout. I hate lounge diners it's just messy especially with kids.. I always prefer a kitchen diner so, opening it all up at the back will be something we'll try to get the money together to do.

This is probably a forever home.

Honestly I'm on cloud 9 though.

It was horrible having to leave the place I'd lived since I was 9 and we couldn't afford to rent there anymore.

The fact that I'll have my own home that I can put a picture on the wall in or paint to my taste is amazing.

I'd make the kitchen and middle one (sitting room?) into a kitchen diner family space, take out that bit making the kitchen an enclosed L shape

Live with that for a bit, and then if a home office is required maybe use the smallest upstairs room??

I'd be loathe to give up the utility room tbh, as then it means the noisy washing machine is into the kitchen...unless you can get water and drainage out to the back of the garage and put the washer and dryer out there? You'd then be able to get your bathroom in there maybe?

@LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow

I'd make the kitchen and middle one (sitting room?) into a kitchen diner family space, take out that bit making the kitchen an enclosed L shape

Live with that for a bit, and then if a home office is required maybe use the smallest upstairs room??

I'd be loathe to give up the utility room tbh, as then it means the noisy washing machine is into the kitchen...unless you can get water and drainage out to the back of the garage and put the washer and dryer out there? You'd then be able to get your bathroom in there maybe?

Yea that's why I wanted to reinstate the smallest bedroom for an office - they have incorporated it into the front bedroom.

oh bugger...just saw the garage is already a bedroom, so no space for washer....unless you can get it into the bathroom when you convert

I’m an interior architect. Theoretically anything is possible if you have unlimited funds. If not then you need to think about which walls are load bearing and how you’d support the weight if you removed them. I recently worked on an open plan kitchen diner which had two steel beams to support the ceiling and a brick pillar in the middle of the room. Using the pillar meant we could use two thinner (cheaper) beams. If we had used only one long beam without the central pillar, it would have to be twice as thick and twice as expensive. And the ceiling cavity wasn’t deep enough to conceal the thicker beam either. Really you need a professional to look at this for you.

@BlueSoop

I’m an interior architect. Theoretically anything is possible if you have unlimited funds. If not then you need to think about which walls are load bearing and how you’d support the weight if you removed them. I recently worked on an open plan kitchen diner which had two steel beams to support the ceiling and a brick pillar in the middle of the room. Using the pillar meant we could use two thinner (cheaper) beams. If we had used only one long beam without the central pillar, it would have to be twice as thick and twice as expensive. And the ceiling cavity wasn’t deep enough to conceal the thicker beam either. Really you need a professional to look at this for you.

Oh yes, will be getting someone round to look.