Can anyone suggest how this seemingly awkward extension could be used or adapted/improved

[lecce]

The house I have attempted to link to is in the perfect location. It's not our usual style of house and it is pretty bland but it does have most things we need, the potential to add a good loft extension and, did I mention the location?

It just seems that the extension at the back has not been done very well and has created a tiny dining 'area' and an extra bit to an already long kitchen that has plenty of storage without it. I really don't like that bit of worktop going across the bottom under the window with one lonely-looking stool underneath it. I can't imagine any of us ever sitting there and can just see the worktop bit of it covered in crap the whole time.

Can anyone see how the space could be better used? All suggestions welcome including radical ones that involve sledge-hammers and anything else really.

We have discussed the possibility of putting a stud-wall halfway down the lounge to create a dining room and, even without doing this, our table and sitting room furniture would all fit in that room, but what could we do with that 'extra' bit?

Any ideas from people more talented than us at this sort of stuff would be lovely.
here

Does anyone have anyide

I'd be tempted to put a wall across more or less where the end of the sofa is and then knock down all the other walls so that the kitchen, the dining room and the back of the living room are one big space. I don't know how possible that is structurally but I think it would work better than that very narrow L-shaped kitchen.

Weird floorplan, the 2-d ones are much easier on the eye.

I'd do the same as Lala, then you'd have a separate sitting room and a big open plan kitchen/living /dining room.

i agree - one big open plan room, although i'd keep the hall & staircase bit separate.

Absolutely as lalalonglegs says, I have seen this done as well. Instead of the two long rooms side by side, have a nearly-square kitchen dining family room at the back, and a smaller but no less useable sitting room since you only lose dead space from the back. Probably will end up with a bit of wall or pillar in the middle of the back room, that you may need to incorporate into the kitchen, and you might just need to think carefully about light and circulation, but not impossible. the bit near the stairs/back door could maybe be partitioned to a pantry or utility room or wc downstairs.

I don't think it's a bad house at all, there are plenty smaller, newer and blander about.

Thank you for all the help.

We had considered knocking it all through but assumed we couldn't as a structural wall is involved. fossil am I right in thinking that a pillar would be there to enable the old external wall to be knocked down? Do you have any idea how much that kind of work would cost?

Thanks again - our house has gone under offer to a ready-to-move person who is in rented and the pressure is on - don't want to have to rent!

I can't get the link to work

I think it's a bit expensive for that area if you're going to have to put work into it

Are you local tyler? Have tried to do some research and thought it was a pretty good price - there are propreties on the nearby main road that are much smaller for 5k less; another about 2 min drive away that needs gutting and is much smaller that is on for 10k more...I could go on (rightmove addict ). Of course, they could all be over-priced, but if they all are, they kind of cancel each other out don't they? I think it's a lovely area . Also, I have found out that is priced at 7k less than the current owners bought it for. Of course, they bought at the peak so could still be over priced, but my experience in this area is that most people are still expecting to make a profit or at least get their money back, despite the current state of the market .

Anyway, all I know is, nothing as nice as this has come up before in this area that is also in the catchment area of the best local schools (catchment is weird and roads you would expect to be in it are not).

It's not my dream home but I do love the area and, though, it needs work to improve it, I think it's liveable-in. Of course, if I had more money, I wouldn't be looking twice at it, but I don't...

I used to live in Carlton and I'm still around Nottingham area.

I think the area is fine, just that Nottingham in general is fairly cheap and this seems a little on the high side to me if you're needing to do work on it as well.

Friends sold their house not too far from there earlier this year for 5 grand less than they purchased in 2007 so 7 grand under the purchase prices is perhaps fair if you're talking similar timescales.

Ok, good to know there are some others out there who accept they may have to take a loss- though I do appreciate how shit that must be.

I know Nottingham is cheap when you compare it to other cities but I guess here we're looking on a a street-by-street basis and at nitty-gritty stuff like catchment areas. The other argument would be that we don't need to do work on it, we would want to. It has been really well-maintained and has posh stuff like curvy radiators under bay windows that will actually allow us to use the wall space

That said, it's nice to have input from a local and, of course, we won't be offering asking price.

Friends got a great deal on the house they were moving up to so all worked out for them in the end.

Please can you put a proper link up to it just for me

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38144711.html

Got it to work at last, will go have a nosey

I agree, reinstate the original front room - nice tidy adult room when the dc are little and possible future bedroom if the 3rd bedroom is too small for an adult sized dc or for guest on a decent double sofa bed.

Keep the hallway (I live in a 60s open plan house it is noisy and the mess spreads) Have the washing machine/utility area near the stairs in the kitchen to minimise the interference on the rest of the room. I know someone who has 2 sinks in her long kitchen one for food/washing up and an arts and crafts one for the dc - fab idea.

Have a large kitchen/dining/family room across the back. There should be a lintel above the doors to the current dining area. Have the regular kitchen stuff down the end near the dining room in the short term whilst you find out the costs of making it open plan.

Almost identical layout to what we have bought - but the extra bit at the back of the kitchen was a boiler room downstairs loo. We were faced with the need for a complete overhall so have done what suggested above - re-introduced a wall between sitting room and dining room so we have a private "front" adult space - and then knocked down as much as possible in the rest - so we have a large kitchen/dining/family area. We have left the back right space as a loo/utility (although tiny utility).