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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not want a house with this floor plan (pic included)

231 replies

Raymond1989 · 27/06/2017 10:20

In the area I want and with my budget I'm only going to get a terraced house. All the terraced houses I've seen a tiny and I feel like I'm in a prison cell.

I've found a house that's within budget and I love it! Feels spacious and is end terrace with a big park next to it. I love the area.

It feels cosy and there's still a yard for own use eventhough it's small. It's big enough to have a washing line and an outdoor table and chairs. I'm moving from a semi detached house with front and back garden but it's worth it to live in a better location.

My issue is the floor plan (see pic)

An extension has been added but to preserve some yard space it's been added in a long rectangle. This then leaves a large dining room but another lounge with no use to it!

My friend has th exact same floor plan and her living room is redundant!

I only have my daughter and I but family stay a lot so I could make the 'lounge' into a multi use room with a guest bed,computer desk etc.

Would this floor plan put you off? Is it a disaster?

Any ideas on how to make it work?

To not want a house with this floor plan (pic included)
OP posts:
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8
thegreylady · 27/06/2017 14:12

When we bought our house our main criteria after location were either two bedrooms and a separate dining room or three bedrooms and a kitchen diner. We were lucky and got both. We love having a separate room to eat. If we have guests we can close the door on the kitchen and washing up and relax round the table. The living room is for sitting in, the dining room is for eating in and the kitchen for cooking/washing up.
If you put a sofa bed in one of the downstairs rooms you have an optional guest room 🙂

willymcwill · 27/06/2017 14:16

If you wanted the roomsto feel more connected then you could always continue a run of units down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. So if you look at fourquenelle's picture, the right hand side could also have matching units - which you could use for storage of all sorts of stuff. It's tie the two rooms together and then you could have a table to use as the dining table, and perhaps a cupboard to store the computer (one of those with the pull out shelf?) And then use the sitting room as a chilled out space equipped with sofa bed for visitors?

BusterTheBulldog · 27/06/2017 14:31

Used to live in a house with that exact layout! We had dining table and chairs plus sofa in dining room (and telly Wink) used to leave kitchen door open so could chat to people sat in dining room. Used lounge as lounge and using dining room as dining room or other lounge if telly viewing clash. Thatblayiut worked for us and never had a second thought about it! Used lounge all of the time.

usernamenonumber · 27/06/2017 14:34

I don't understand the appeal of a kitchen/diner. Who wants to sit and eat surrounded by all the dirty dishes and food preparation paraphernalia?

I lived in house like this as a student. Except, as a PP descibed, the bathroom was part of the ground floor extension beyond the kitchen, so upstairs there were the original three bedrooms. Four of us lived there, and we used the front downstairs room as another bedroom.
We used the middle room as a communal lounge, with sofa, chairs, TV and yes, a dining table.

I think this is an ideal layout. You have a multi-purpose room adjacent to the kitchen (away from any mess, noisy washing machine etc). You have a second sitting room which can double as a guest bedroom.
What's not to like?

Chipsandonionrings · 27/06/2017 14:45

I used to live in a house like this. I was young and single and the dining room bit did become a walk through - I had a table and chairs there but wasn't really into dinner parties and stuff. I didn't live there long but it had a lovely homely feel and now I am much older with kids it would be perfect.

however I have seen houses where they have converted the dining room into a large eat in kitchen and turned the existing kitchen into a second living room/playroom/ sunroom - depends on view over garden. this seems a good use of space depending on utilities placement.

Bluntness100 · 27/06/2017 15:02

One of my friends had a house like this and the dining room does become a bit of a walk through. The huge positives is it's pretty much a kitchen diner, you just whack a table in there and if you have a child, it's a great place for them to sit and do homework quietly

Op, for uou it may be as close as you get to a kitchen diner so I'd think carefully here. All you're really complaining about is the wall between the kitchen and the diner, which with young kids round hot stuff, or even when you have guests round for dinner, is a huge plus.

usernamenonumber · 27/06/2017 15:33

the dining room does become a bit of a walk through

Yes, I remember now, in our tatty student house the carpet wore right through!

A good idea to have a long carpet runner between the two doors.

Itsheresomewhere · 27/06/2017 15:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BarbaraofSeville · 27/06/2017 16:02

There's nothing wrong with the house as it is but if the current dining room is large you could make that space into a kitchen diner and the existing kitchen into a utiltity/storage/boot room.

Flisspaps · 27/06/2017 16:06

It's not dissimilar to mine downstairs, we use the dining room as a playroom

Aquiver · 27/06/2017 16:10

This thread is hilarious - baffled by the thought / existence of a dining room Grin

GreenHillsOfHome · 27/06/2017 16:18

There's quite a few posts suggesting converting the kitchen to a utility...I'd see that as a huge waste of space.

In the lounge I'd have main sofas/TV etc.

Dining room I would have a table and chairs and small sofa. Depending on which room had the most space would depend on where I'd put a computer.

Lots of suggestions for a library too but I'd put that on the upstairs landing if there's enough room. It sounds odd but we have a wide landing now and one wall is just bookshelves (floor to nearly ceiling for about 10 feet)...it looks amazing and we always get comments on it...plus it's a valuable use of otherwise wasted space if you have a big landing.

Lucy1971 · 27/06/2017 16:26

I have the same layout. It's just me and my DD and its a godsend having the 2 rooms when she has friends round.

BarbaraofSeville · 27/06/2017 16:28

Well I disagree about the utilty green. We built a kitchen diner extension and converted our old tiny kitchen to a utlity/boot room.

It's a revelation and means that one room is a bit of a dumping ground, but still useful, and leaves the kitchen and living room much clearer - all that 'stuff' that needs to be on hand is confined to the utility room.

We now have loads of space to properly store coats, shoes, hats, bags etc instead of having them clutter the tiny hallway or look a sight in the living room. Washing machine, drier and second freezer in there, freeing up kitchen space - also means that one person can cook while the other sorts washing without getting in each others way. Extremely useful and not a waste of space at all.

Space to store

Frazzled2207 · 27/06/2017 16:45

My old house was just like that. It was fine. We had lounge, dining room/study and kitchen in that order.
For you I'd make the front room into either a study or playroom and the middle room a lounge diner.
But if you're insisting on wanting a kitchen diner it won't work!

MyOtherProfile · 27/06/2017 17:01

Our house was like this when our kids were small. I loved the lay out. We had the sofa and tv in the front room and no toys. We had the dining table and book case and you storage in the dining room and the kitchen was the kitchen. It was perfect. In the evening when the children were in bed we sat in the nice toy free lounge and during the day we mostly used the dining room because of the toys and the table. It was great being able to separate the kitchen off when toddlers were around and they could play while I cooked. As they got older they used the dining table for homework. The lounge had a sofa bed in for grandparents.

I really am stunned at the OP never having seen a separate dining room. I saw it as a kind of busy room for food and play and stuff.

user1487175389 · 27/06/2017 17:13

Totally standard layout round here.

I think it's quite sweet that you think you'll have two many rooms, in a house not much bigger than mine. Mind you, I'm completely outnumbered by kids and there's stuff everywhere.

PrimalLass · 27/06/2017 17:20

Hope this thread has shown you there is a lot you can do with the house, OP.

Inertia · 27/06/2017 17:21

I really don't get how it can be so difficult to understand the concept of a dining room?

Put a table and chairs in it and sit there to eat- surely it isn't rocket science?

It's the most common layout for Victorian terraces- anyone looking for a Victorian terrace will expect that (except apparently the OP)

ElBandito · 27/06/2017 17:23

When my mum was a girl her parents house had a:
tiny galley kitchen;
very small dining room with a table, chairs, two easy chairs for the adults and a TV where everyone lived if they were home.
Slightly larger sitting room that was only used once a year because it was for best.

This lay out was quite standard as was the way they used the house, completely ignoring one large room for probably 364 days of the year.

I suspect that this, quite common at the time set up, would fry the OP's mind.

SnickersWasAHorse · 27/06/2017 20:21

ElBandito I did think of suggesting to the OP that she should keep the front parlour for best.

Booksandcrocheting · 27/06/2017 20:32

OP, it looks like a generous amount of space for a 2 bed terrace. But if a kitchen diner is an absolute must have for you, then this isn't the house for you, and you'll have to keep on looking. We all have deal breakers when house hunting - nowt wrong with that.

PickAChew · 27/06/2017 21:26

it is a great amount of space. We have a smidge less downstairs space because our bathroom takes a chunk out of the dining room and we've seen 4 bed newbuilds with less downstairs living and kitchen space than we have (they have the obligatory 3 toilets, of course).

Which is why we've been able to stick it out here until the kids reach secondary school without murdering each other, yet!

PickAChew · 27/06/2017 21:27

For when the queen visits, Snickers :o

chachaboom · 27/06/2017 22:17

Uh? This is a normal terrace type house layout and as a previous poster said you've even got an UPSTAIRS toilet!

I'm amazed you've never seen one! Not even on a telly soap?

Most people over the years have knocked the first two rooms into one.