Terraced House Layout Help

[NamedyChangedy]

Another one for you budding interior designers...

After saving up for years we were planning to have an extension done, to have a lovely big kitchen / diner, but having had a few builders' quotes in, have sadly realised that the project would take us to the very top of our budget and beyond.

We've therefore decided to just work with the space we have and get a new kitchen, plus general refurbishments. We haven't done much to the house since we moved in 7 years ago, and it could do with a good spruce throughout.

Can you chuck some ideas at me for skinny terrace layouts that would work for a growing family?

The reason for the extension was that our kitchen feels narrow and it's a challenge to comfortably get 6 people round the table without everyone having to scooch up / bumping their heads on the oven!!

And I'm not sure if you can see from the picture, but the living rooms have been knocked through. The back room is very dark as it just has a little window (which is overlooked by our neighbours). It's where houseplants go to die.

What other info is helpful...?

• DCs are 7 and 5, but at some point will probably want a separate living space.
• We'd ideally like to be able to fit up to 10 people round the dining table.
• We had a walk-in pantry in our extension plans and I love the idea of that, as we have lots of DH's junk essential kitchen appliances that need storing.
• As we're not extending, we have a bit more leeway so are open to moving internal walls.
• There's a piano in the back living room which we'll need to make space for.
• There are 3 bedrooms upstairs, one of which is a guest room / study as I sometimes work from home.
• I've been told that the awkward chimney breast in the kitchen can be removed to make space. We'd probably need to also remove the chimney breast from the upstairs bedroom otherwise it's a big job to support it.

I'd be grateful for any ideas you can come up with - hoping this'll get me excited about things again, as opposed to being bitterly disappointed that I won't get my extension!

(And sorry that was super long!)

Can you convert the loft? I don't think you can get what you want out of this house as it stands. You have two living spaces downstairs and take up a bedroom for work rather than give it to one of your children. I would look to see how you can give a child this room and move your stuff downstairs or get an office in the garden. This would be my top vote. The loft could be the child space when they are older so you do not need to do it right now. You could do the garden office though. You could put their toys into their two bedrooms.

I would have the table in the rear darker space and put in good lighting. It's dark and overlooked so you could consider French windows but this is only a marginal gain and you are still overlooked. The piano could perhaps go in the front living space. You are asking a lot to get a table to sit 10 in a house that size! As you have a utility and cloakroom I don't see how you can improve the kitchen space or the living space to accommodate a huge table. There are only 4 of you! Seems like a quart into a pint pot!

Lots of options but it really depends how you use the space and how you see yourself using it going forwards. I kinda feel like you might have a too much stuff problem rather than a lack of space problem?

If the kitchen is your heart of the home - how about this:

Move kitchen to the dark end of the current thru lounge.

Then zone the middle of that room with a table - something like a 6 seater that can extend up to 10.

Zone the bay window area with a sofa and/or chairs.

Then make the old kitchen into a snug type TV room playroom.

That would leave the house a bit unbalanced between kitchen and living but if you see ourselves spending more time in the kitchen area it would work for you.

Or you could just refit the kitchen making the most of the existing space with a well designed kitchen.

What space do you have in the garden? Would a garden room be a solution later for a home office or teenage hang out?

Can you do a loft extension? Much cheaper than the side return work. Would get you more space as the children grow up and spend more time in their rooms. You might be able to get 2 small doubles and a shower room on which case you could re-purpose one of the bedrooms as a playroom. Or you could have a nice master bedroom up there.

I think I'd reinstate the wall between the front and rear living areas so you have a separate lounge area.

Remove the wall between the stairs and rear living room and change the dark window for french doors. Install a kitchen. I love the idea of a table to zone it. (hate island units!)

Possibly move the downstairs cloakroom under the stairs? Then knock out as much of the wall between the new kitchen and what will be your old kitchen.

Install concertina doors across the back wall leading to your garden - this will be your second living area/playroom.

Thanks Kokusai, interesting idea to have the kitchen in the front. I've been scouring property sites to see what this might look like but I haven't been able to find any examples. I wonder if there's a reason why it's not commonly done.

I'll have a think about how the kitchen as snug might work. It's a nice light room in the mornings whereas the front living room gets sun later in the day.

A simple refit of the kitchen may be what we end up with, I just wanted to feel like we'd explored all the options.

A loft would be lovely, as it would be great to have a proper guest room up there. But I'm wary of building costs in London, after our recent experience.

Bubbles, the DCs are very happy to share a room at the moment, but you're right - they may want their own rooms fairly soon so we may have to give up the spare room and use the back living room as study space.

We have a fairly big shed at the bottom of the garden (16ftx10ft), but from what I've seen making it into a proper usable room is really not cheap. That might be one for when the DCs are teenagers - good idea!

Lots to think about...

I am an interior spatial designer. Looking at the existing kitchen space, I suggest you have a one-wall kitchen and a bespoke kitchen table and bench made to fit alongside the length of the wall on the opposite side. The bench could be made to double up as storage underneath for all your other appliances. This is looking at it without knowing any measurements but probably your best option in a narrow space.
I would suggest removing the wall between the 'dark living room' and the stairway to open that up and allow more natural light to flood in from the stairway area and make it seem less boxed in. The area can be separated by a piece of furniture or even the piano. I would enlarge the small window and have plantation shutters installed to allow more light in but still offer some privacy. Or depending on budget you could have a floor to ceiling glass brick wall section installed (where the window is) to give total privacy and yet allow natural light into the space. This could create a lovely feature in that room.
I agree with bubblesbuddy , to have your home office in the garden and consider a loft conversion for another bedroom or teenage chill out area which will add value to your home.
I am happy to offer my services if you need, depending on your location. There are a few options you can explore in just rearranging the space, taking into consideration your lifestyle and how you want to use the space and the flow from one room to another.
All the best.

I'd also reinstate the wall between the two living rooms. Make the front one a more formal living room.

Knock the back living room into the kitchen to make and open-plan family kitchen. Have a sofa and TV/family area (you can store toys in here and it can be the DC lounge) in the old back living area opening to a kitchen zone. Shift the loo/utility to the other side under the stairs with a door opening from the hall.

Big extendable table length ways across the back wall with some nice bi-fold doors on to the garden so you can open them up in the summer. Wood burner in the fireplace might be nice too.

Good luck!

I reckon @beautifulspaces nailed it :-)

My kitchen is this shape but no utility so probably longer. I would put in the biggest affordable French doors. I also put in a new large window at the side which has massively improved the light. It was previously like a cave in winter.

I kept the kitchen at the dark end but improved the lighting. It's compact but it works. Big double sink and fridge more useful than loads of counters or range cooker. Keep stuff off the counters!

Storage, build in cupboards and shelves into alcoves. Everything to have a place. Kitchen triangle, sink: stove: fridge minimal distance apart. Since you have the utility, replan the space for maximum storage. Keep your stepladder in there for the new high shelves for rarely used stuff. Get rid of stuff you don't use.

Extendable dining table. Don't let it be a dumping ground.Folding (or bedroom) chairs for visitors. It's our favourite room now.

Ooooooh but then @InsomniacDormouse posted that floor plan and that looks good!

And is in fact kinda how my old house was and it worked really well, I had room for a big table and a sofa. Except I didn't have room for the WC/utility because I had cellar stairs going down.

Ooh some great ideas here too. I really like the idea of taking out the wall by the stairs, I just need to look into how much that would add to the cost as we'd need a lot of steel put in, to pretty much support the entire house.

@InsomniacDormouse I had never even considered moving the utility room there, I just assumed that the entryway to the kitchen would have to stay as it is. Lack of imagination I guess!

@beautifulspaces you're exactly what we need, who knew such a thing existed!? Where are you based? I'm north London. Do you ever work with clients remotely?

@mayhew is there any chance you have pictures of your kitchen you could share? I'm all about minimalist storage solutions, but DH is a quasi-hoarder so it's a constant battle.

If you are not doing an extension, a high quality garden office would be a lot cheaper and buy a lot of space.

Regarding moving a kitchen to an area of the house with insufficient electrics and plumbing would cost a fortune and be a major upheaval. That's why people on a budget don't do it! You will also have to fit the old kitchen and remove water pipes and waste etc. To keep costs down you need to work with what you have or you may as well do the extension. Removing a wall would be an option though.

This shows French doors, kitchen end and new window. It's not minimalist!

@mayhew I love your dog.

She's a silly old thing!

Is there any reason you can't take out a loan or remortgage to civer the cost of your extension? That is what I would do if I wasn't planning on moving

We have also built a home office. Cost about £10k

I can't zoom in enough to see what sizes your rooms are. If you let me know, then I will have a play and see what I can come up with. I love doing new floor plans

I am based in Buckinghamshire. I have worked on residential interior design projects in different areas in North London, so not a problem.
Pin me an email if you wish and we can discuss.
[email protected]

Thanks so much mayhew, it looks lovely and bright. Lots of food for thought.

littlemissneela, the kitchen is about 4.5x7m and the dining room is about 3.5x4m. The complication is that there's a chunky pillar / chimney breast to the left of that little window which would be tricky to remove. I'm sure we can though.

The junk is things like pasta maker, food processors / blenders / smoothie makers, shot, wine, champagne, cocktail glasses etc. Things we don't use everyday and I'd happily get rid of, but DH is convinced we must keep. A nice deep pantry would be ideal for all that stuff.

Borrowing even more for the extension doesn't really sit right with me. It would mean nothing left for the rest of the house, and with things up in the air with Brexit and the election, we can't rely on having shed-loads of equity any more. And just out of principle, I can't justify paying £125K (yup!) for a tiny extra sliver of house - that's pretty ludicrous even for London, surely!?

I can't justify paying £125K (yup!) for a tiny extra sliver of house - that's pretty ludicrous even for London, surely!?

Side returns are so expensive because they are so tricky to do :-(

I reckon you could do the loft + new kitchen + some work to the dining room and have change left over for that.

Hi @NamedyChangedy other people have talked you through plans for using the space. I had two other ideas.

First off, what do you keep under your stairs now? could it be used for storage in lieu of a big larder cupboard and to take DH's junk kitchen equipment?
Inspiration on such as this page
uk.pinterest.com/explore/under-stair-storage/?lp=true

Also how nice is the side return now? is there enough space to dedicate to entertaining or at least the overspill? would it take a long but narrow trestle type table with benches stored under the overhang?
If so would a retractable awning be of any benefit, or glazed canopy roof? Probably take too much light? but there must be a way of making use of that space without enclosing it into the house.

We considered a side extension but the budget was hard to quantify. There were sewers running under and antsy neighbours. We painted it yellow pre renovation in its gloomy phase. When we put in the new windows and doors, the family insisted the yellow had to stay!

I would put the wall back and have a front room.Then I would open up the whole of the back of the downstairs behind that. Get rid of the corridor and the utility room and make it a huge space. Put French doors in on the dining room to let in light and on the outside wall of the kitchen. If you want a utility room put it at the end of the kitchen. So that would make a shorter kitchen at the bottom end rather than the dining room end.
Like this (our old house)

Love that layout Lulu - did you have a downstairs loo in that house though?

And good point noenemee, we've had some nice pull-out drawers built in under the stairs, but we do still have some space that could be used for appliances. As a few of you have pointed out, we're in need of a good de-clutter as well. Clearing out for the builders will be a good opportunity for that!

Kokusai I dearly hope you're right, but sadly I'm learning that money doesn't ever seem to stretch as far as I think it should!

And I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for your ideas, it's been a really useful exercise in broadening our horizons. We've scheduled a call with our architect on Friday am to talk through our options. (Although he's already charged us for the extension tender so I'm not sure how much more help he'll give us now).

DH doesn't like the idea of taking out the wall by the stairs, as he thinks it's too open, and delivery people / jehovah's witnesses etc would be able to see right the way through to the garden from the front door. I don't think I share his concern - I think the extra light & feeling of space would be worth it.

However, he did have a valid point about floor levels - I forgot to point out that our kitchen and garden are almost 50cm higher than the front of the house. So any of these open options would require a fair bit of excavation work which would add £££s to the cost. For that I think we'll have to get a friendly builder round to get a better sense of what we're working with.

Thanks again, you clever people!

DH doesn't like the idea of taking out the wall by the stairs, as he thinks it's too open, and delivery people / jehovah's witnesses etc would be able to see right the way through to the garden from the front door. I don't think I share his concern - I think the extra light & feeling of space would be worth it.

Great that your DH is right here - everyone will be able to see through to the garden - but most people including estate agents and new buyers will love that because you are right too the extra light and feeling of space is worth it.