How would you improve this layout?

[whereiscaroline]

We've found a house we like, but needs a lot of work, including changes to the layout. We just can't work out what changes would make it workable though. How would you change this to make it functional as a family home?

The rear door on ground floor actually opens out to the street, whereas the front and side door open out into the garden.

It’s really hard to tell from a plan like that without seeing the rooms. My first thought would be how many times has the house already been added to? Might make it harder to knock about. Check the wiring and plumbing situation carefully too.

What a rambling house. Replacing the conservatory and lean to with a proper extension and making it two stories would give you better space, but at a price. Is it an old house because the routes to rooms through other rooms suggests that? I think it needs a complete rethink.

My first thought is that the dining room is really far away from the lounge. If it was me, I’d knock through between the kitchen and the study, lose the rear porch and put in either double doors or maybe even big bifolds along that study wall where you (presumably?) face the garden. I’d make that room a dining room, and then from the study I’d knock through with maybe a nice archway or something to turn that sitting room into connected useable family space instead of a nothing room. Lounging room for kids, etc.

I’d also lose the downstairs shower in favor of a loo, which is far more useful.

What is the lean-to? Was it originally part of the house? And does it actually have a window connecting it to the living room? 🤔 If it was me, I’d try to maybe block up the ‘windows’ that were possibly part of the house and make it part of the actual house square footage (proper insulation if it doesn’t already have it, make flooring consistent with the rest of the downstairs, etc), and then open it up on at least two sides to the kitchen and sitting room.

Is the conservatory another add-on?

I think knocking the kitchen into the study would help.

If you can access the side from the front, Id put a new corridor in alongside the lounge diner, with a new front door, and then an extension that forms a dining room where the rest of the conservatory/lean too is now. You would then have one long corridor to the shower room and a dining room off the kitchen.

What do you see as the problems with the layout?

I would replace the leanto and conservatory with a single solid room to make an one pan space from kitchen to lounge/diner. However, this would leave the sitting room very dark so that would need to be opened space or the study (do the stairs in the study go down to a cellar?)

For me, one of the problems is the sitting room being a corridor.

Looking st the first floor plan, I see there is no family bathroom upstairs. I’d want to solve that somehow too.

Do bedroom 2 and 3 have to go through bedroom 1 to use a bathroom?
Upstairs could use a rejuggle too if so.
I'd take out the dressing room wall and toilet and move bedroom 1 against the ensuite, close off door into bedroom 3 and and create a new family bathroom at other end, so the bedroom is in the middle. You'd have an l shaped bathroom to allow access to the bedroom. Of course if the wall to the dressing room is load bearing this could cost a fortune.

Something like his maybe (provided you could make the lean-to and conservatory into actual parts of the house!

The problem with moving the bathroom upstairs is the plumbing. It depends where the drainage is (or adds to the cost)

Ooh I wasn't expecting many if any replies, thank you. Here's a picture of the "front". This is the only garden, so the "front" of the house is accessed through the garden. The "rear porch" is accessed from the street. It's an old house and yes the conservatory and lean-to could be replaced with an extension, provided we could get planning permission. I love the bifold doors idea from the kitchen, but the kitchen backs onto the street so wouldn't be possible.

I think the main problematic things are:

• kitchen at rear of house instead of front
• family bathroom accessed via main bedroom!
• as someone said upthread, sitting room is a corridor!

I reeeeeally love the house though, so just trying to think of ways we could make it work.

Oh and yes, the stairs in the study go down to a cellar!

Presuming no two storey extension, upstairs I would either a ) turn bedroom 4 to a family bathroom ( picked as plumbing already there) or b)use the first window of bedroom one to make a bathroom, then knock out the dressing room to make bedroom one larger. It depends whether you want luxury and few bedrooms or less spacious but more.

Just from the floorplan it looks like you need to:

1. move the "rear" door slightly to the left (on the right as you face it) so it leads into current kitchen not study.

2. Enlarge/restyle door to create proper front entrance

3. create a corridor straight from the new repositioned rear door to the "front" of the house (through lean to and conservatory)

4. knock down lean to and conservatory and create new extension to house utility (which is where current lean to is) and and kitchen (where current conservatory is)

5. Ideally, this new extension would be two storey to allow for a new corridor on the first floor, above the new ground floor corridor described at 3)

6. the new 1st floor extension would allow access to all those rear rooms/ bathroom and also could house a new bathroom or two

BIG job though!

PS just realised my plan leaves the old kitchen unused. Probably turn it into a big utility, and then the lean to area can be a boot room instead. Or it could be a playroom.

OP - from the image you posted I was able to find the listing (nosey but I was intrigued by you saying how much you love it!) and although I don't know the area, I have to say I would touch the house with a bargepole as it needs complete renovation as well as having a strange layout. It would probably be cheaper to knock it down and start again, but then the location isn't great with all the industrial stuff so close by. It looks as though it was two separate properties which have been joined together or which backed into each other. The current living/dining room would have been two separate rooms with a hallway dividing them.

It is also the most expensive house on the street so I think with the work done it could be priced way above the ceiling price for the street and very difficult to sell in future.

Ah I see!

Well, how much moving around with units would be the budget? Bad drawing, but would something like this work better? I’d completely get rid of the door to the street and spruce up the lean-to door for a nice main entrance.

Do you need 4 bedrooms?

Buy the sims and have a play around (I'm not joking)

My first instinct would be to place the kitchen where the lean to/ conservatory are, as well as over some of the lounge area.

Knock remaining wall between stairway and sitting room so this becomes an entrance lobby and dining room. Then relocate living room to where the kitchen is.

I've also looked on right move. You'll be needing a paint brush!

I agree with wow fudge, I don't think it's a good buy, but not letting that spoil the fun of house planning. ... If you don't want to go completely open plan , I'd build a corridor for rear entrance down to lounge dinner, which I would lay out as a spacious lounge. I would turn the study (lost space for corridor ) into utility and knock windows either side of the chimney breast in the sitting room to give it light (the corridor would cut it off) and make this the study. I'd then knock the kitchen through to the lean to ( rebuilt ) to make an L shaped kitchen dinner. I'd possibly leave a conservatory in place.

And this is what I’d do with the upstairs...

Lots to think about, thanks all. We'd have £40k for immediate renovations, everything else would have to be saved for and done more gradually. Ceiling price is less concerning as wanting this as a "forever home" rather than something to turn and sell on. The appeal is the space (2.5x our current home!), the location, and the fact it's a detached property. Detached older houses are like hens' teeth round here: those coming into the market are all either about 20-30 year old houses on an estate, or smaller Victorian terraces, so this one seemed like an exciting prospect.

PS @Linguaphile I really love your suggestions! Thank you.

Oh I’m glad! I loooove rearranging floorplans from rightmove, it’s an illness. 😂