Help me reshuffle this house?

[tired1245]

looking to put an offer on this house, needs redoing throughout, happy to knock down walls, move things around! I've attached the floor plan, the bathroom is currently ground floor, was hoping to move that to the third floor and keep the downstairs toilet. There's a possibility for a loft conversion to, just not sure where to put the stairs and don't want to loose a bedroom with them. We want to knock down the wall between reception room and lounge to have one big room. Any ideas on a plan that could work?

We have a similar house. I would convert the current downstairs bathroom to a utility room and, as you suggest, keep the downstairs WC.

I think the house lacks accessible practical bathrooms considering how large the house is - in ours we have a WC on ground floor, a bathroom on the middle floor and a bathroom on the top floor. Our middle floor is divided so that we have our master bedroom and bathroom at the back of the house and then a large lounge/living room across the front of the house. Our top floor has 3 bedrooms and a full bathroom. Where are you thinking of putting the bathroom on the top floor without losing or reducing your bedroom space?

Do you need the whole of the middle floor to be a living room?

Could you extend over the garage? I can't see the diagram clearly, in terms of the dimensions involved, but it could possibly be accessed from the landing on the middle floor. I would extend out rather than up into the attic - they always seem to consist of walls that are unusual heights and ceilings with different head heights. They just seem such a waste of money and space (literally!)

I think the best plan is to sit down and think about what you really need in terms of living space in relation to your family. For example, our layout works for us because our children are older, it would be a nightmare with babies. They have the spare upstairs bedroom as an extra living room for their TVs and computer stuff which keeps the "proper" living room on the middle floor clutter free. Also think about long you are going to live there - a layout which works now may not work 10 years down the line.

I think this all comes down to personal preference really.

If it was me, I would put a modest family bathroom in on the second floor, using most of the first bedroom inc. it's doorway and window. I'd shift the wall in between the third and first bedrooms to make the third bedroom a close size to the larger second bedroom, so that two children could easily share.

I think it would be nice to connect the reception and lounge on the first floor, but wouldn't necessarily open right up. I'd probably put in double doors etc. so that it could be opened when you would like to have it so, but could also but shut off and either room could then have a sofa bed in it and transform into a guest bedroom if the bedrooms are full on the second floor. I think that gives quite a lot of flexibility, though probably doesn't fit in with your vision!

I also wonder whether you could fit a WC under the stairs on the first floor, even if it's tiny (think about sound proofing possibly), so that you have a loo accessible on each floor.

I would consider leaving some sort of shower room in the ground floor, possibly combined with a utility, so that there are two lots of shower/bath facilities if you are a family, even if only for the future... If you do this you probably wouldn't need to keep the other WC.

Sorry if that makes no sense. Hope you love it very much if you do put an offer in!