House layout advice

[Sunisshining12]

We're in the middle of a major renovation & are lucky enough to have some extra rooms. Interested in your opinions on layout, especially those with kids. We just have 1 baby at the moment so can't really get our heads around what would work best in the future when LO is older & possibly more children here. This is our forever house so resale isn't a big factor . The original layout we planned doesn't seem to work now we are parents!

Finished house will be 4 bed, 1 ensuite, & a main bathroom
The attic is large plans to convert that

Option a:
Attic - cinema room, plus partition with a study area & separate loo
'Spare' reception room - music room for DH piano & guitar

Option b:
Attic - a 5th bedroom with ensuite & dressing room area
Spare reception room - cinema room (possibly squeeze piano in there too?)

The view from the attic window is fab over countryside.

What would you do?

What's the current floorplan?

If you have 4 bedrooms, I am guessing that you don't really need a 5th bedroom? I would make the attic into a large cinema / play room without the study partition, but would keep the bathroom (for tweens / teenagers). I have 3 children and that would be my dream for when they have friends over, sleepovers etc - a separate space which is big enough to accommodate say 5 or 6 friends. I'd use the spare room as a study / music room.

We have two large sitting rooms. One with a decent enough tv. I don’t like shutting ourselves away so no cinema room here. We have more bedrooms and bathrooms than you but I don’t quite see why would convert the attic into a cinema room. Another bedroom and en suite might be more appealing.

One thing we learnt is that we need storage. The attic does this very well for suitcases, ski gear, Christmas decorations etc etc.

We also learnt that we speak to our children. We talk. We don’t shut ourselves away in an attic with a film. We like a convivial home where friends come and go and we cook, chat and enjoy each other’s company. If you have more children I think you might see where we are coming from. You are thinking of replicating going out in your home but reality might get in the way of this. Not a single one of our friends has a cinema room. Home offices are more favoured. Also dressing rooms and more bathrooms.

We do have a self contained space for visiting parents though! A flat above the garage.

What is the rest of the layout?

I wouldnt put a playroom up there because it will be a good few years before you are happy letting dcs play two floors up. A playroom area would be best off the kitchen or main living space.

A.master suite would be ideal with walk in wardrobe etc, then a study on the middle floor (presuming evening working so cna hear the kids if they wake in the evenings).

Cinema room sounds amazing, but I would put that somewhere you can carve out a space with no windows etc. Id not waste a lovely attic space on a room just to watch films.

Thanks for the replies. It's hard to imagine our future but understand it might not be safe/practical to have children on the top floor if I'm say cooking on the bottom floor. Good point, So defo no to the playroom up there.

We don't need another bedroom as there's only 3 of us, but obviously this could change in the future hopefully. We want to get all the building work/conversion etc done now whilst everywhere is messy/undecorated.

Neither of us work from home so don't need a home office as such, but a study is always handy isn't it. I agree this could be one of the bedrooms, Although theyre all double bedroom & it's seems wasted?

We already have a fab bedroom with en-suite & dressing room so wouldn't trade this for the attic.

There's no where else in the house for a cinema room, it's either the attic or the spare reception room. I get that it's not to everyone's taste. To the person who posted that you don't like to shut yourself away and you like to 'talk', we do too! But I'm sure a family movie night at the weekend & somewhere for kids/relatives/friends to watch films together isn't going to harm our communication skills that badly

To those that have kids (not teens), would you feel okay letting them & friends watch a film in the attic cinema room, or would you need to stay with them?

Thanks

Id be fine letting 6yo dd go and watch a movie in the attic without me. But only since she turned six and inly if she chose to ever leave me alone.

What about a pool table up there? Shove a tv on the wall, beer fridge, a sofa. Can watch movies too but quite fun!

Sorry rest of house:

Hallway
Large kitchen/diner with a separate small room that can be partioned off (has sliding doors) to use as a playroom or study?
Reception 1 - living room/TV
Reception 2 - ?
Utility & loo

Upstairs - 4 beds, 2 baths

Attic - this is essentially a large room & a small room - to use as?

Napqueen I did think that originally - but I'm afraid it would become more of a man cave, DH would live in there!!

Who needs a cinema room for a family movie night? What a waste of a room.

I’d have
Kitchen diner
Make small room off that I to a utility/boot room
Reception 1 lounge
Reception 2 playroom

4 beds and bath rooms as you have them

Large attic room music/cinema room
Small attic room study

Fairenuff, what would you suggest then?

Btw, I get that nobody 'needs' a cinema room or even spare rooms. There's lots of things in life we don't 'need'. We've worked really hard to get this house so trying to make it as great as possible. It's our home, it's what we work for, so we want to make it amazing & enjoy it! Not that I should feel I have to justify myself. And clearly no, I don't live in London (no where near!)

Sorry Brie, there's already a utility & loo by the back door.

The separate room off the kitchen used to be the utility before the extension, but we moved it to be by the back door for muddy boots/dogs etc.

I would think ahead and have the attic as a family room rather than a cinema room. Space for the children to have friends back, comfy sofas, beanbags, TV, games console, maybe a small pool table etc. A small bathroom up there would be great - it could be used for sleepovers or as an additional guest room.

You could still have a family movie night but without making it a cinema room (which, unless you watch a lot of films, feels like a waste of a room).

Keep a downstairs room as a tidy, 'grown up' space and perhaps an office or space to do homework.

I'd put a bathroom up there and make it a sitting/study/teens in the future space - so futon, sofa, etc. once kids are older you can use it for sleepovers and later teens can hang out there.

We have this on our third floor - bathroom, bedroom and sitting room. It is great for guests but also for teens to hang out or one of us to use as a study.

Ok, if we have a study/tidy area it either needs to be off the kitchen or one of the reception rooms. We've never had guests stay as everyone is so local otherwise it would Hagen make a great guest room. Just trying to make best use of the space & trying to make sure all the rooms are used

Pallisers I like that idea, a sort of hang out room? But I hate the thought of it not being used for another 10-13 years.

What would you do with the spare rooms on the 2nd floor then?

I think it's ok to suggest a child-friendly multi functional room without fear of my children becoming monosyllabic !

I have 12 year old twins (boy & girl) and whilst they & their friends are quite happy socialising with us when they have a get together, I'm also realistic enough to know they want independence and time way from parents!! I envisaged the attic space as a pp said - sofas to chill / watch a movie / play Xbox/ mini snooker table or table tennis. My DD has a love of all things art so would be lovely if you could carve off a corner for a hobby area.

I didn't suggest a master suite up there as you'd said in your OP that you already have that. Storage can be built into the eaves so I wouldn't worry about that unless you're a boarder

I've realised the house is top heavy, which isn't great with little ones & need to keep an eye on them (unless you need the bedrooms) but probably is good for when they're teenagers?!

We can't add any more to the downstairs as the kitchen has been extended which created a larger kitchen diner, small room off it & the 2nd reception room. Ideally could do with another room downstairs and less upstairs!!

Name changed, that sounds really good, I think in the future that would be great for somewhere LO and friends/cousins can hang out away from us! My LO is just a baby at the mo so it's a long way off. Maybe we should knock the idea on the head until she's bigger after all?

I would build a bathroom up in the attic as that is messy work because that would future proof what you use it for!

You could rent it out as spare room if need be, teen pad (more bathrooms great if you have several teens), could be a music room & den - it's versatile space that you don't need at the moment but will probably be far more useful in 10 years or so.

Do I'd install bathroom, heating, plaster it etc then basically not use it for anything other than storage until you need it. You have plenty of space so just wait and see how your needs change over the next few years.

I think what you are missing in your description of your plans is recognition that how your house is used will evolve over time. So your "spare" spaces would ideally be flexible enough to rearrange every few years as your family grows up. For example, with small children, a playroom / play area near the kitchen will allow you to get some things done around them. Later they might use their bedrooms for play but do homework where you can help them. As teenagers they might be best off with a good study area in their bedrooms and hobby space elsewhere.

A music room sounds great. When we moved into our house, a garage conversion had been used as a music room. We changed it into our study, put a piano in the main living room. Life moves on and I've unexpectedly become a music teacher. When my children are both home we could do with 3 music rooms if practice needs to be done :)

Think about "future proofing"; I often hear people discussing what cabling / pull throughs for easy upgrades might be worth it in a new build or extension. Don't know much about it myself though.

Have fun!

Thanks, it's hard to imagine life with kids to be honest that's why I'm struggling so much. We will defo keep the playroom downstairs & add plumbing & a staircase for the loft of

When we were students, instead of a TV my friends bought a projector on eBay and we would have film nights where we connected a laptop and just pointed the projector onto a plain white wall. So you could have a "cinema room" just by having enough seating, but you don't lose the space the rest of the time.

There are wifi projectors now that use your phone to show movies in a blank wall - things change and evolve

You seem to need to label rooms!

Get the basic work done, bathroom plaster, electrics and see how things evolve

Yes to play room off the kitchen - great for kids to keep their mess separate - good idea for an adults only room too - where you slope off and relax without breaking your neck on stuff - squishy sofas and decent mood lighting

The upstairs rooms can be overalls and plastered aswell and left for now - wait and see if you decide to have more children

You may want a work room and DH wants his own playroom!