Sick of crap house layouts

[Naptrappedmummy]

A moan thread but probably deserves to be on AIBU…

Looking to buy, 2 kids (boy/girl) so need 3 bedrooms. Every single house without fail either has 2 bedrooms plus a room so tiny you can’t fit a bed and wardrobe comfortably in it, or they’re 4 beds and slightly out of our price range.

Add to that rubbish uphill tiered gardens where you’ll trip and nearly break your neck every 5 minutes, a lack of storage in almost every house (no utility rooms, cupboards, pantries or porches), and just absurd layouts in general which make no use of the space they have and are completely counterintuitive.

All I want is an actual 3 bed with some storage, an ordinary downstairs layout and a flat garden capable of holding a swing and some chairs. Why can’t I have it????

I heard that the large downstairs loos in new builds is to accommodate disabled people

We used to have one of these 2 bed + boxroom houses. Downstairs is pretty much open plan.

We managed to build an 2 story extension to the side with a large utility plus a boot room / office/ play room (whatever you need) downstairs and a double bedroom and bathroom upstairs.

We also added a single story extension downstairs so we have a kitchen/ family room.

Maybe it's worth looking at the houses and how the neighbours have extended them for inspiration?

Is the area where you're looking hilly, OP? If so, you might find a level garden a bit of a stretch. I live in a very hilly town, and the only houses with level gardens are the ones down on the flood plain, and guess what? They flood from time to time.

If you buy something with enough floor space, you should be able to reconfigure the inside to suit, especially if it's detached or S/D and you can extend out to the side.

Yeah new builds have min sizes of everything now to accommodate the turning circle of a wheelchair.

i couldn’t be doing with inroad parking - that’s a firm no from me. I’d also need a garage.

I always found if you want 3 double bedrooms you need to buy a 4 bed. New builds can be excellent though, sometimes the incentives mean it’s so much better value than a resale home. You might be able to afford more than you think?

There are lots of tiddly terrace houses in our town as it was a mill town that expanded rapidly in the industrial revolution.

So the vast majority of housing near me has no parking because it was so rare to have a car and most was built before WWI. We have a drive. We paid a huge premium for that parking space as so few houses have drives.

I am assuming you live somewhere hilly with your remarks about gardens being stepped. How far can you expand your search?

You must be looking in particular place (obvs). Places I'm familiar with don't have this issue.

I love a challenge! Where would you like to buy exactly?

It’s the same where I live too weirdly.

Current design seems to give new builds en suites by sacrificing bedroom space and another toilet downstairs taking space from living areas, add in utility and garages that barely anyone parks in...

1950s ex council houses up and down the country have this design. 3rd bedroom smallish but big enough. By 1960s/70s the third bedroom became teeny tiny.

If looking at newer builds try a 3 storey.

The downstairs living space may be smaller than a traditional 2 storey 3 bed. But you tend to get 3 double bedrooms a lot easier

If your area doesn’t have much in the way of Edwardian houses (like mine!) try 60s/70s. They don’t have the same modern look as modern new builds but you get much more for your money.

I have a brand new 3 bedroom new build and it’s basically 2 bedrooms with another tiny room I use for a home office.

As always with home buying, there will have to be a compromise with something, it’s rarely possible to tick every single box!

I think it's pretty much expected that the third bedroom in a 3 bed will be a box room, it's that way in every 3 bed house I know. Two decent doubles over the two downstairs reception rooms and then a box room over the hall and stairs. IME the older the house, the larger the box room. My sister had the box room with a cabin bed and single wardrobe in our 1930s 3 bed semi and it was fine if not palatial.

I'm sure there are 3 beds with a decent third room out there but they'll be like searching for unicorn poo, so I think realistically you'll need to find a way to make the box room work for you or else somehow find the money for a 4 bed. The first option is probably easier!

I'm flat hunting and also fed up of stupid layouts. I can only afford shared ownership which is 99.9% new or very recent builds.

The lounge layouts are the worst. They're all open plan living/kitchen/dining. with an ugly strip separating the laminate kitchen area from the carpeted living area, often diagonally. No thought to where you would put a TV or sofa, often with radiators in the way of the most obvious places. So many flats with walls at odd angles.

Hideous dark grey carpets throughout. Likewise grey-tiled bathrooms. Limited storage.

The 1 bed flats are tiny. I've lived in many Victorian conversion 1 bed flats which have provided more than enough space, but new build 1 beds are half the floor area.

It feels like no thought or consideration has gone into any of it. Just knock them up, meet the quota, inflate the price because people are desperate and stick on an astronomical service charge while doing fuck all in maintenance to add insult to injury.

Came to say this @Naptrappedmummy . We bought a 3 bed that we were gutting and re-wiring. We moved the walls to turn the box into a small double so now we have 3 large doubles (one with large en-suite), 1 small double , family bathroom on first and second floors.

Most houses offer this opportunity as long as you have funds. Sounds like you don't have enough or you need to widen your search parameters/budget

We could do this and have the funds but was hoping to avoid it if I’m honest. We had to do a lot to our current house and don’t feel up for doing it all again with a baby, but may have to!

I don’t think it helps that there’s very few properties coming onto the market, at least not around where I am. I am in a notoriously expensive area which doesn’t help. A lot of the houses on Rightmove have been on there for months because they are either too expensively priced or have many issues that will require a huge amount of work and money. If you want an overpriced but shoddily built new house you’re fine, or an old bungalow to demolish and start again with a construction project, but we don’t want either. Otherwise everything local to us is in the seven figures range which is well over the budget. I am hoping for the “spring bounce” our estate agent seems to be very sure of. Good luck, it’s quite depressing when you are looking at the moment.

Round us there's a lot of new builds so I find all the bedrooms and kitchens tiny. With en suites and massive downstairs loos.

If I can afford a decent size 4 bed then maybe start adding on ensuites, but if there's 2 cupboards in the kitchen I would rather a bigger kitchen than a downstairs loo. Or a bigger master than a tiny en suite and tiny main bathroom

What’s your rough budget and where do you want to live? Maybe someone can find it for you?

3 bedroom detached house for sale in Woodthorpe Drive, Woodthorpe, Nottingham, NG5 (rightmove.co.uk)

Thank you for the very kind offers of doing a search for me, where I live is quite small though and this is my regular username so worried about outing 😬 perhaps I should start another thread next week under a new username and take you all up on it!

You cant help how houses were built which were in a time where that might have suited the way people lived and the size of families etc

Again the trend for open plan so now everything is and yet most people hate it and end up separating the rooms again.

Also people who have the houses u want, cant afford the houses they want so they aren't going on the market.

I have a house that would meet your needs (London though) but I'd only be moving if it was to a detached house and I can't afford it so I'm staying in my 3bed (all doubles) larder cupboard in kitchen, coat cupboard, downstairs loo under stairs and under stairs storage as well plus a flat garden.

We converted the loft to get a large 3rd bedroom and the box room became my office.

House building standards in this country are terrible and builders get away with what they can - I think RIBA said we have the worst standards in Europe.

What you have described in your OP sounds like your average 1930’s semi, typical lay out for the time period, sounds like you will either have to extend a property or increase your budget.