Can you please look at this house and tell what you think of the layout?

[meadowquark]

Disclaimer: the links are taken from Rightmove for visual purpose.

Current upstairs layout of mine is very similar to this one: here.

I increasingly need 3 bedrooms and thinking perhaps this layout could work. I love it (from the pictures). My 2 DC would have equal sized bedrooms. It would cost up to 15-20k to rearrange the layout as opposed to 40k for a loft conversion, and it is less of upheaval. It seems like a good investment return.

I am hoping that this is not our forever house but God knows when (if) we can afford to move...

What do you think?

addictedtosugar my front bedroom is 5m (widest point) x 3.5m but then a section is cut off by the staircase where is about 4m x 3.5m. And a chimney on another side. My back bedroom is 3.4m x 2.4m.

I don't think it would add value. I think most people would consider those rooms to be too small for second and third bedrooms. Therefore I think you should just think about how much the different options are worth to you and how much they would cost.

A loft conversion on the other hand would add value, provided you can do it without spoiling the first floor (which sometimes happens when there isn't much space for the stair case)

I thought hard and long and decided that the best option is to split the front bedroom to "master" and smaller bedrooms. However the smaller one would be really small as it is over the stairs, so basically I would need to move the staircase by 1m forward to create a bigger small bedroom. Moving the staircase means that I am reducing the bathroom at the back of the house - still ok size, but I would have to remove the chimney in the bathroom and the loft as this would be in the way of the moves staircase.

It would be smart layout and similar to most 1930s houses in the area.

The question is how much is it going to cost with moving the staircase and removing the chimney and rejiggling walls? Probably a lot!

I am still not fan of a loft...

The front bedroom is far too small to split. The resulting rooms would be less than 7 ft wide. An internal bathroom is not great but it's a better compromise. Most families wouldn't buy a house without a bath and that I your market.

A loft conversion would be best. Nif you live in South Noorwood it doesn't have to cost 40k. Get a velux loft conversion and ongoing add a bathroom. You can do that fir less than 30k and the house will work for you much better and for much longer.

Removing the chimney and moving the staircase is structural work that will cost at least a few thousand.