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

[Raymond1989]

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?

What I would do is yurn that door from the hall into the dining room around so it opens he other way. It looks like it would be really draughty as it is. If it opens the other way, you will get air moving into the kitchen but not rushing round the room in winter. It will also give a little more privacy from children running from sitting room to upstairs and back.

I'd like it. I dream of another reception room where the kids could bring their friends and watch their telly/play on t'xbox etc without disturbing us. It would not put me off. However, I would want my table to be in the kitchen and I'm not sure that you room is big enough for that, meaning that you would have to have a separate dining room anyway.

That's a normal layout for a small house and the extension is added in that way to preserve the window in the dining room.

I don't see the problem here, looks normal to me. Lounge in the lounge, eat in the dining room and cook in the kitchen.

If you want more use out of the dining room you could use it as an office. We had a house like this growing up with a desk under the stairs and a spare sofa and TV when dad wanted to watch the sport and all the women vetoed it.

TVs in the lounge, smart room- no toys, an easy chair in the dining room with a big table for eating dinner, homework and computer etc- a family room with a table at the heart of the home-

I would add by-fold doors to back if dining room and to the side of the kitchen so in nice weather all doors could be folded back to enjoy the outside space you have- I would have the same tiled floor outside as in the kitchen and family room with raised planters with flowers and herbs so that when the doors are open it feels like one big space.

Looks like a nice house if you think outside the box.

That is a very similar layout to my PIL's house. They use the dining room as a combo living and dining space and use the front lounge as an extra bedroom... works great!

We have the same layout, it's very standard for terraces. The front room is a living room and used loads. The middle room is a dining room and used for all meals. I don't understand why you feel you have to make both rooms into living rooms.

If anything, I would move the door in bed 2 closer to the stairs and increase the size of the bathroom using landing space that is wasted. You could put a door between lounge and diner to connect the two better. When we lived in a terrace with a similar layout, my mum used to have the lounge as a grown ups only space for chilling after work and entertaining. We were banned!

Just to add... if it was our house we would keep the lounge as a more formal (tidy!) adult room and use dining as an earlting and family room for all the kids stuff

I haven't read every post, so apologies if I'm doubling up, but it might be worth investigating whether you could halve the length of the kitchen extension and instead double the width - that way you could create a kitchen/diner and then have a separate living room at the front. If you live in a conservation area this may not be possible and it depends if it's something you'd be able or prepared to save up for over time.

Also how old is your daughter? If there's room for a little table or bar stools in the current kitchen you might be glad, when she's older, that she can do homework at the dining room table while you are cooking and maybe listening to the radio without worrying about disturbing her.

I am a single parent and have a daughter and we have a separate living room (although our kitchen is a kitchen/diner). When she was little several people made comments to me about the alleged inconvenience of having separate spaces but I am so glad we do! Now she's seven she can watch tv for half an hour while I'm cooking in the kitchen, or I can have a cuppa with friends parents if we have someone to play, and the children have a separate room to play in. We also have a sofa bed in the living room in case of visitors.

I don't understand why anyone would not know how to make a separate dining room work, but I can see the issue in terms of the room being underused if you can put a dining table into the kitchen. But then that leaves a room to be used as a study, playroom, workroom, hobby room, children's lounge, bedroom, you name it. I really can't see the problem.

I think it's a good idea to live in the house and see how it works for you and how you live and decide if you want to knock walls down etc. I would buy it if price and location is right for you and overall size. Buy magazines for ideas or google. I have lots of rooms. The more the better. One open plan is good for parties.

The dining room looks huge so why don't you make that into your kitchen & have a kitchen table in there too. I would then have bifold doors going into the lounge to open it up and make it more sociable if you have people round or at times when you want the room separate you can just close them. The existing kitchen could then be used as a play room / study or as a kind of summer room which when you are having BBQ's in the summer etc can be opened up to the garden with the French / patio doors. Bifold doors could also be put between this room & the new kitchen if you really like open plan living space. You could even have a utility room in the existing kitchen with downstairs toilet which is always a handy thing to have x

Could you make the dining room into the kitchen, with a good size kitchen table - great for every day and socialising, then have the 'kitchen' area as a study/ extra lounge/garden room (maybe with big French windows which open out completely into the outside area ? I bet everything would be used, then. My brother has a terraced house like this and whilst he does use his dining room - it does end up being a bit of a corridor and dumping ground ! Hope you buy ut as you sound so happy with it ! Good luck - remember there's never a problem - only a solution !

Ha! Only just realised Mumsky1 had the same idea !

I think your friend has the problem. Not the layout of the house.

i had similar layout only my bathroom was off the kitchen, we knocked the wall down between hall and lounge making lounge bigger just means you walk straight into lounge from front door.

..and great idea re:downstairs loo, too. Separate loo is always a bonus.

Is this for real? You think having 2 reception rooms is unusual? I need a third!!

Why not convert the dining room into a kitchen and the current kitchen into a sun room.

It's a lovely layout but the bathroom is tiny. That's what would put me off.

We had this downstairs layout (though we also had a bathroom tacked on to the end of the kitchen) in our Midlands terrace. We simply swapped the living room and dining room around. The room at the front of the house was used as a dining room / work space, the middle room as more of a sitting room with the TV and fire in. Worked well for us.

I'm going to put my dining room into a kitchen diner (it's big enough) and then the kitchen into a downstairs bathroom and utility.

I have a kitchen diner and a separate dining room. We never sit in the dining room, it's totally unused, however I wouldn't let it put you off, there's worse problems to have. As others have said you can have 2 sitting rooms, your daughter will have friends over and watch different TV from you as she's older. It's always handy to have too much space than too little.

I used to live in a similar style house and for a long time the front room was redundant as I couldn't decide whether to have it as a dining room or lounge. Once I finally made up my mind and made it into a lounge I loved it and used to spend lots of time in there. However, because the dining room was south facing and, therefore, bright and warm during the day I did have a small sofa in there too and spent most of the day there and the evenings in the lounge so I think you will get used to it and it can be nice having a separate area. Having now moved to a more open plan house I have to say I do much prefer it but have a much smaller garden which I don't like as much so really I guess its what you feel happy to compromise on.