Good living space or big bedrooms?

[Snakesandpropertyladders]

We are currently househunting, we have 1 DC, and hope for another.
So far we have found 1 terraced house, which is beautiful, with lots of features. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 of which are good sized doubles, 2 bathrooms, and lots and lots of cupboard space. The downside is that the living room is very, very small. The only other living space is a kitchen diner and a large conservatory.

We had it in our heads that we would spend most of our time in the conservatory, but I'm wondering how practical that would really be?
I've read on here that they are either too hot or too cold. It does have underfloor heating, but I understand that's incredibly expensive to run. If we couldn't use the conservatory as a reception room then we would be very cramped downstairs. The living room just about fits a small sofa and an armchair but I can't see that there would be room for toys etc. The garden is also not great so not much scope for extending.

Our other option would be to buy a semi-detached house that has a good sized kitchen with room for a table, and a large living/dining room. The bedrooms are small, with only 1 proper double, 1 small double and a tiny box room. It is on a large plt though and has a huge garden so there's the potential to extend at some point in the future (years, and years away though as we don't have the money for anything like this right now).

We are really torn and I must admit it's keeping me awake at night! So I thought I would ask you wise mumsnetters for some advice.

Underfloor heating is only expensive if its the electric vs wet version. Do you know which it is? Unfortunately, conservatories tend to be rather cold / hot.

If you have a spare bedroom though, perhpas you could use it as a play room / toy storage.

I can't comment on the cost of underfloor heating or conservatories as we have neither, however how the living space would work for you is, IMO, more important than the bedrooms.

We've just moved from a house where the living space was really small relative to the bedrooms. I didn't feel like it was a good use of space. Our children are young and dont play in their rooms so rooms were only really slept in. Our new house has loads of living space and I much prefer it. I also think the living space should be all on the same floor with babies/toddlers or it won't get used.

When we move, it will be to get more living space.

Always go for bigger living space, especially with a growing family.

I built a house with big bedrooms (and enough living areas too). We do not use the bedroom space at all. If I build another house I will focus on adequate living areas and, equally, utility areas (a laundry room and utility room) and small bedrooms with adequate storage but beyond that just enough room for a bed.
You can get blinds for conservatories that help with the insulation but I know two people who have put a solid roof (with velux windows) and stove into their conservatories to make them useful year round.

We moved last year into a flat which has 3 double sized bedrooms but a relatively small living room and no large kitchen to compensate.

While we have more space than our previous flat (72sqm rather than 53sqm, and 3 beds rather than 1), it doesn't feel much bigger because we've lost some communal space to gain bedroom space.

It's great for our 2 boys to have their own rooms, and I don't regret the move - there wasn't, and hasn't been since, anything better available that we could afford - but if I had the choice I would take smaller bedrooms in exchange for more communal room.

Would it be an option to convert the conservatory into a proper extension?
Otherwise use the spare double bedroom as an extra sitting room/playroom?
If your DC has a double most of the toys could be stored in there anyway.

We had an extension downstairs a few years ago so we have a larger living space compared to upstairs. We did get a few comments on this saying downstairs is much bigger than upstairs but my answer was always "we only use upstairs to go to bed". Friends and family always take up the living space, not bedroom space when visiting - and I do feel we got it right. Of course it would have been lovely to have big bedrooms too but knowing we can have people round with the extra space has worked for us.

The semi with the extra land.

Potential DC2 won't need anything more than a box room for "years & years"
Daytime rooms are much more important than bedrooms, and the huge garden & potential for expansion give you so many more options long term

I agree with other posters in that i'm sure there are ways to convert a conservatory into a more useful space - solid roof /log burner etc. If you can do this, then the house sounds perfect - nice big bedrooms, and plenty of living space downstairs.

We have medium sized bedrooms plus a downstairs playroom - the kids (aged 7,5&3) simply just want to be near mummy & daddy, so usually end up spending very little time in bedrooms, not much time in playroom, 99% of the time dragging toys out of playroom & into the living area.

Although i'm told this will change as they age.... and then it'll be impossible to get them out of their bedrooms!

Of the two houses you mention, I don't think either is suitable. The first you say has not enough living space but the second has a tiny box room as one of the bedrooms - how long will this tiny box room be sufficient? What can you actually fit in there? It sounds like you need something between the two.

2nd sounds better to me.
I certainly couldn't use our conservatory for a living room - far too hot when it's sunny, and freezing when it's not. We don't have underfloor heating, but glass is hardly known as a good insulator.
You really need your space in the living quarters rather than the bedroom area if you have to choose.
Bigger plot gives you options in the future - it's amazing how quickly you can blink and find life has moved on 10 years and your finances are different.

There isn't really anything between the 2 I'm afraid. Not that has come onto the market so far anyway. Most of the housing stock is 1930's and that means 2 ok sized bedrooms and a box room. It also seems to mean small living rooms and/or tiny galley kitchens. Most people have knocked the dining room into either the living room or kitchen to make the rooms larger, but you don't really see houses where both rooms are good sizes. Well, unless they have extended but then they are waaaaay beyond our budget.

I don't know about conservatories, but in my household we spend most of our time when not in bedrooms in the kitchen/diner. If the one you're talking about in the first house is a decent size, then I think it sounds nice. And the living room could make a lovely cosy TV den.

I don't think a small double and tiny box room sound like very good bedrooms. It depends on how you spend your time in the house though, obviously.

Bigger living space is the most important to me. We have an old cottage with small bedrooms but a large downstairs and it is fine. It feels spacious and there are lots of places to store toys and crap and still have room to play.

Our previous house had much bigger bedrooms but a smaller downstairs living space and we felt really cramped.

The kitchen diner is about 17'5" x 12'5" so not huge. I'm not sure you could get a sofa in there as well as a table and chairs. Living room is about 15'5" x 12'5".

There's no furniture in there so it's hard to picture the space. We currently have a small kitchen and then a huge living/dining room that we spend all of our time in because there's nowhere else to go. We would spend more time in a kitchen/diner if we had one, but because our DC is a baby we need floor space for him to play with toys. I don't think that would work in the house above unless we could use the conservatory a lot.

Living space every time. Bigger garden a bonus too. And only one set of adjoined neighbours.

As an adult, I have lived in 16 houses and flats in 3 countries, with family ranging up to 3 kids and two adults. My priorities when hunting what should be our last home before the nursing home (but who knows really, I thought that the first time we bought instead of rented and that was 5 homes ago.)

living space: not open floor plan!, doors add flexibility!
kitchen space for two adults to work without getting in each others way.

2 (or more) toilets or a spot where a cloakroom could be squeezed in
outdoor space, no matter how small or even communal for our son

We got 3 out of 4, and zoopla tells me neighbors in this very building have knocked down the wall between kitchen & DR, so thats our plan, someday. I refuse to worry about them being on the top floor and us being on the ground floor making a difference until I have to.

Small bedrooms with good storage - bigger living spaces. All houses should be built this way ;)

Well, we spend most of our time sitting round the kitchen/dining table (have an armchair in the kitchen area but not a sofa), but if you want a space with a table and chairs plus a sofa then option A doesn't sound that desirable.

Then again, option B doesn't sound great to me with two small bedrooms. Can you keep looking?

I would go for the second option if I were you OP. We (DH, DD and I) live in a new build semi-detached with similar proportions to the one you describe. The living room is small - we have a corner sofa rather than separate sofa/armchair - but the kitchen/diner is sizeable. When we have people over the living room does feel small, but we often sit around the dining table in the kitchen. Bedrooms are similar to the house you describe too.

The potential to extend is key I think. We only have a baby at the minute, and don't necessarily plan on any others, but extending would probably be necessary for us too when she's older as there's not a huge amount of room downstairs for toys (playmat and bouncy chair 'out' all the time at the minute and it makes the room look crowded). If you extend, would you be able to also extend/create bedroom space? The bedroom size sounds a little problematic to me (from someone with the same size and number of bedrooms!).

Not sure I agree about small bedrooms with lots of storage. Wait until dc are teens. They live in their bedrooms, and want double beds. At least my 6ft 4 teen did.....

We can keep looking but small rooms seems to be a feature of most 1930's houses, which is what we seem to have an abundance of in our area.

I think the appeal of the terraced house is that it could be absolutely beautiful. It also has loads of built in storage space, which really appeals. If we weren't currently in a flat with big rooms we wouldn't be doubting this house. But we are worried that it may turn out to be a downgrade rather than a step up.

Never underestimate the noise of a terraced house- we live terraced with dd aged 4 and dd aged 6mo, we can hear music and DIY and rug beating most of the day which disrupts dd2s naps etc- completely reasonable times but still affects us because her naps are obviously daytime. I old go for a semi every day if the week- we rent ATM so always on the lookout for somewhere bette as salaries/life costs increase