Swapping bedroom with living room

[ShastaBeast]

We're in a two bed with two kids (both girls age 7 and 5). I'm very close to booking in some work including removing a chimney breast and a new doorway into the bathroom in the current bedroom. Plus new bathroom. At the same time we could swap the bedroom with the living room.

The bedroom is at the rear with doors opening into the garden. It's about 3.3 x 3.5m plus a bay window/doorway. The living room is much larger at about 4.7 x 3.8 with wide bay and chimney breast.

The larger front room would accommodate all our bedroom furniture plus a desk for me to work at home, a sofa(bed) with small coffee table and some floor space for exercise (without having to clear the floor of fecking toys).

The back room would be noticeably smaller but would fit most furniture and would be next to the kitchen and open our into the garden. There's also a noise issue from our neighbours and the front room is more insulated.

Is this plan sensible? Is the back room an ok size for a living room? I envision the kids wanting friends over and for us to clear off so setting up a living space in our bedroom seems a good option, but we are taking the best room in the house. In future we hope to extend and have the kitchen in the extended rear, making the old kitchen into a bedroom. This could make the living space larger but it depends on what we are allowed to do, so we can't depend on that.

Any views/advice?

It's only swapping furniture isn't it? Sounds like that layout would work much better for you?

I'm confused, are your bedrooms downstairs or upstairs?

I'm slightly confused too. Is it a bungalow with an attic conversion? Do you have a living room a bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen downstairs and just one bedroom upstairs?

Yes it would be a small living room, but you should use the rooms that would suit how you live.

Sounds much better to me

I'm slightly confused

Goind floor flat??

Guessing it's a ground floor flat?
If it works for you then go for it. You can always switch the furniture again if it doesn't work out.

Yes could be a flat as the op says it depends what she is allowed to do. Or a period property I guess.

Oops missed off flat when I said two bed, DH trying to talk to me while posting, yes ground floor. It would be weird if a traditional house but I'm hoping all being on one level makes it less so. I hang out a lot on my bed to get away from kids TV and mess. They never hang out in their bedroom except to raid their storage and scatter clothes and toys around the house - eldest & DH have ADHD and I have a very bad back. They've taken over the living room which is the best room in the house - Victorian, high ceilings. Their bedroom was done recently and they have a little toilet/sink room next to their room. They have loads of storage.

Current layout worked when they were small and under control but now I can't manage it. A smaller living room may be more managable for cleaning and next to kitchen. Our bedroom would be far from the bathroom and I wouldn't want to install an ensuite inside the front room. I guess I feel it's a little selfish.

There's a precedent for planning permission for a rear extension but we wouldn't need it for this plan. We will have an engineer draw up plans for the structural work and the neighbours are relaxed, its freehold so no one else to get permission from.

Although we can swap rooms without any other work if we want to. There's just one minor thing to make it ready in the front room.

Sounds ideal for your needs. PIL did this in their bungalow. They also put a small conservatory type extension on the new lounge at the back which made it look so much bigger and gave nice access to the garden.

Sounds like a perfect idea. Gives a better flow to the kitchen/living/garden space and gives you a proper sanctuary without major structural work. If your needs change in a few years then you can change around again.

Any guests would enter the house and walk past two bedrooms before the kitchen and then living room which feels a little odd, but definitely better than having guests walk through the bedroom to get into the garden. It's also less 'impressive' for guests - no cast iron mantle piece and high ceilings with plasterwork and chandelier. It will be a cosier room. Although if we do extend and manage a full width extension it will be amazing, very modern and open with a third bedroom (door to walk past). We won't decorate the rooms at this point but will in future - more because of living with disruption as we have the money.

The alternative is a huge mortgage for not much more space or moving further out and away from our amazing school.

It's not in the slightest bit selfish! You're proposing a living room plus a bedroom-office-second-living-room. Makes complete sense to me. It is bonkers that most of us use one set of rooms all day and a completely different set all night. Much more sensible to use both rooms for living, to some extent.

We started with what sounds like a similar flat to you and have already extended, but now have the bedroom in what was the living room. I love having a larger personal space. Like you say, when you have only one living area it can get very claustrophobic so you do need to have space for your own retreat.

If you are planning on the extension at some point then makes sense to trial this way of living to begin with.

I must admit I don't like the fact that visitors have to walk past the bedrooms before going to the living space, but I just keep the door closed to keep it a bit more private.