Ground floor - large open plan + 1 separate room, or smaller L shaped open plan + 2 separate rooms?

[minipie]

We have been planning a rejig of our ground floor. Plan was to have a separate quiet sitting room at the front and then a very large, square open plan room at the back (family room for kitchen/dining/general living).

I just spoke to an EA and he reckons people really want 3 rooms - a kitchen/diner/sitting area, a playroom, and smarter adult room. So he recommends carving a quarter of the big square room off to use as a playroom. The playroom would be quite dark realistically as it would be an internal room. The family room space would be less generous and L shaped rather than square, but it would still be big enough, and probably tidier assuming the toys stay in the playroom (hahaha).

Which would you choose, please vote?

Option 1 - front room plus large square family room

Option 2 - front room, medium sized L shaped family room, darkish playroom off the family room.

Thanks!

Thanks, still reading, haven't had a chance to do a plan sorry. DCs will be 5 and 3 when the work is done so toddler phase will be pretty much over but still plenty of toys I imagine.

Leaning towards Option 1 with some kind of temporary barrier(s) to section off a play area. That area could later become a sort of family organisation area (all the paperwork, school kit, hair stuff etc that we don't want hanging around the hallway/kitchen proper).

namechanged I suspect we also wouldn't use the separate sitting room much!

Could you make your extension slightly shorter i.e. Projecting out into the garden less, then add a sunroom behind the kitchen diner? That could be an informal family/play room/sitting area, with glass doors which could let light into kitchen. You could have the glass doors open during day to make one big space but then close off at night to hide clutter of toys etc.

Plan below (not exactly accurate but you get the idea) Garden is at the top of the plan so that's where the light comes from. The top third or so of the big square room is extension so could have glass in the roof.

The question is what we do in the corner marked ? Play area as per option 1 or play room as per option 2 (if a separate room it would probably need to be a bit bigger than shown)

cake the proposed extension is already pretty short, about 8-10 ft, our garden is pretty small unfortunately so an extension any further would really make it teeny. And the sitting area is kind of dictated by the fireplace which we want to keep...

Without seeing the space it's difficult to tell exactly what would work but based on your plan I would have the front room as a playroom/snug, and divide the large square at the back in half vertically. I'd have the right side as a kitchen diner and the left as the formal living room. both rooms would get an equal amount of light from the garden and it would create the 3 room layout that the estate agent recommends. I definitely wouldn't create the small internal room, unless there is a way of creating a window at the side. Also the one large room idea seems very out of proportion for this size house. Have you spoken to anyone who draws up plans for extensions? They usually have good ideas about what does and doesn't work and any restrictions that may occur.

here is an idea of how to divide off the dungeon room and so you can slide panels back again to hide or open up the area You can get them from IKEA too

This company provided our wardrobe doors that we designed but our builder fitted them but they are deffo brill

If you had 2 dividers coming into a central point to form a square then they could be opened when using room for playroom or office/study area when children are older doing homework using computer etc rather than playing iyswim then closed off when you don't want to see stuff

This would mean dungeon was light and airy but could also be hidden away when needed

Good luck

Also when thinking about roof think about having skylights (that can have thermal blinds) in solid roof so room is warm in winter rather than conservatory which could be very cold in winter and toohot in summer

I think you mostly need the separate lounge when your dc are teens and having friends over, screens etc. So could you go for option one with open plan living area but sitting room as a playroom until they are older then do it all up nicely later. I would 100 percent not build an inner room. It will drive you mad and your whole plan will be ruined.

Or if you don't want another door going off living area for toy store could you buy a tall wardrobe type piece, shelved and have it painted, make it a feature but all toys neatly stored in boxes inside?

What about using glass screens or stud walls with internal windows in them to create the dungeon?
You could have screens or blinds to hide the plastic when you want the space to be more sophisticated. I've seen a few lovely designs using Crittal windows on Houzz.

I'd probably section it off as a play area. A big rug, low-ish Kallax 'walls' or similar with boxes, and maybe a low kiddie table.

Then once past the toys phase, if either turn it into a desk area, or a 'reading nook' type thing with bookshelves, chair and lamp, or I'd have 2 walls of cupboards . Or maybe build in a larder, or small laundry room.

I have young children, and while I understand the appeal of one big living space (plus living room) all I visualise is mess! I agree you will spend most of your time in that room, but will it be full of toys, pots and pans after cooking and all your laundry? It would drive me mad! I'm not sure of the dimensions, but how about extending the wall to section off the second sitting room, and having crittal doors so you can chose to have it completely open or closed to the kitchen space. You could have a wall of shelves for toy storage, and later on it would allow you and the kids to have separate spaces when you want. I personally would then have a small utility room in the 'dungeon space' but you could also extend the kitchen into it (but think where your muddy boots, drying laundry etc will actually go!) I do understand that you would lose an element of your big bright open plan space and you're family is probably a lot tidier than mine- but just thought I'd suggest another option!

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Cake that's funny, your suggestion is very much like what we have at the moment - kitchen diner on the right, sitting rooms on the left, except that the adult sitting room is at the front and the playroom/snug at the back. The trouble with this layout is that the kitchen is in the dark "dungeon" corner, also the kitchen diner is quite long and thin so feels narrow.

It's quite a large house, 5 bed/3 bath and 2500 sq ft so hoping this size room isn't out of proportion? Victorian so high ceilings etc.

RTKanga those doors look great ! not sure about them for the dungeon, (I think I prefer a lower level divider for that, or something more see through like Kallax), but they would be fab for something I want to do upstairs - thanks for the link.

Totally agree about solid + glass bits rather than conservatory.

june your idea is something I suggested to DH - but he is desperate to keep the front room as a more formal room (I call it our shrine to pre DC life) and doesn't want it becoming a playroom - even temporarily and though we hardly use it at the moment... I still think that could be a good solution though so will work on him!

goddess the difficulty is partly that it's a corner so that would mean 2 walls of glass/Crittal and that starts to look a bit office-y to me iyswim? Yes if we had stud walls they would have to have internal windows and/or glass doors to let some light in. Not sure how internal windows would look.

SpottedZebra that's what I'm currently thinking. I also think they'd be more likely to use it if it was an area within the bigger room, rather than a sectioned off room. Once they are older I am thinking a desk/school bag/paperwork/ipad area (all that stuff which otherwise ends up cluttering the hall and kitchen).

user147 I know!! We are reasonably tidy but it's the stuff with nowhere to live that causes the mess... which is why I'm intending to build in shed loads of storage. Laundry will be upstairs. Washing up is mostly done fairly quickly though I do need to think about that. Toys are the big mess issue for us... The layout you're suggesting is kind of what we have now - problem is the kitchen ends up in the dark and narrow space left over. Basically at the moment we are giving the nicest space to toys (and there is not much space for storage in that room for various reasons).

Thanks again everyone! I am still veering towards option 1 with some kind of temporary dividers (Kallax/bookshelves/maybe sliding screens) to section off a play area in the dungeon corner. And big wall cupboards for toy storage in that corner too. Then later to become a sort of home organisation corner. However june's option is still a contender too.

I would totally go for the 1 big room rather than a dungeon. You can get in huge wall to cealing cupboards on the wall where the dungeon would go for plastic tat storage.