WWYD with this floorplan?

[salema]

The conservatory has got to go. It’s searingly hot in there and we never use it. However it does contain our dining table and there is only space for a 4-seater table in the kitchen.

Thought about adding a solid roof to the conservatory but it would make our already dark and dingy living room even darker (living room has no windows except patio doors to conservatory). Kitchen is in a state and needs replacing, but we’re going round in circles wondering about extensions, removing walls etc... Would love a big dining table where DCs can do homework, crafts, we can do work etc. Like a big open plan family space. An extension would require us to remortgage so needs to be a decent improvement!

Here’s the floor plan - WWYD? And thanks!

Instant thought - rip off conservatory and extend right across the back of the house; join living room to kitchen to make one big living space.

I'd take out the wall between the study and living room and the wall between the living room and kitchen to make that one big space. Keep the family room as a snug for watching telly in the evenings but open all the rest up. It's hard to tell what size rooms you have but it could be that you don't really need to extend if you can reconfigure your layout

Thanks both - @PurpleWithRed, that’s DH’s ideal and I guess the most expensive option. We’ve been told by an architect we’d have to have a flat roof with lanterns. I worry that would make the whole downstairs really hot. At least we can close the door to the conservatory so it doesn’t cook the entire house.

That’s interesting @MissYeti. We do need a study due to working from home but the outlook at the front of the house is nicer than the back so making more use of that front window would be good. You’re right that we don’t necessarily need extra space...the floor space is decent but not used properly. I live in the kitchen and front ‘family room’ (basically a playroom).

Something like this with big bifold doors leading onto a nice patio?

I’d just take out the wall between the kitchen diner and the living room and make that a large living space with the family room as a small evening lounge IYSWIM . With regards to the conservatory I’d either take it down or have a proper roof put on it but open that it into the space as well if you are going to keep it , will need a structural engineer and steel beam but that should be doable for a few thousand .

Ah okay just seen you updated while I was busy scribbling!

I would look at knocking out the store and getting a dining table that fits the space in the kitchen better.

I would also see about reconfiguring the utility room somehow... you could make it smaller/different combine with the WC etc and give you a better space in the kitchen?

How old is the kitchen replacing cupboards with drawers gives you loads more better storage so you could change the layout.

On the cheap I'd reconfigure the kitchen. Losing the peninsula should create space for a large kitchen table. Maybe add extra storage against the toilet wall to compensate. If the stor can go that may help fit a table. Then maybe internal double doors to the lounge, but that might limit furniture placement too much.

If it's a period property by wary of losing character by extending. If you do extend, maybe just the current kitchen to avoid creating more dark space in the lounge.

I would knock the kitchen into the living room and then fill the conservatory walls in to make a dining room. You can make the inner walls glass and so the sitting room won’t lack light. My in-laws did similar.

Wow, all these ideas are fab! Thank you for the diagram @MissYeti...that does look quite appealing. Maybe we could get a little garden office with the money saved from not extending 😁

Property is only about 8 years old so no period concerns. The kitchen that was put in (not by us) is the cheapest horrible-looking thing. I wouldn’t normally rip out an 8 year-old kitchen but it’s not good. Good point on the drawers @RandomMess. We have a pan drawer and a few rubbish cupboards that are tricky to access.

You could put skylights in the roof of the conservatory for added light.

I was going to ask if you had enough garden space to consider an outside office 😁😁

I would just knock the wall between kitchen and living room and get rid of conservatory putting doors all across the back of living area. Then a nice new kitchen, big table and some seating for chilling. Great ye have family room as that's essential with open plan. Nice deck all across the back and it will look great with not too much spending or upheaval.

We built right across and put in skylights and extra side windows but it's still a bit dark I'll admit. The cost including kitchen (admittedly the most expensive howdens make) was £60k for 40sqm and internal steels etc.

Thanks for the idea on price @stucknoue. Including kitchen that sounds ok - architect was hinting at around £100k to go right across the back and I don’t think I can justify that (since it would be a remortgage it would in reality cost us a lot more).

I kind of like the idea of just knocking conservatory and combining kitchen/living. But that means reducing our official square footage. Any chance that removing the conservatory would devalue the house?

You could knock through and leave the conservatory on for now and see how it goes?

I'm tempted to think as they're not particularly fashionable it won't devalue?

there is no way I would make the living room kitchen and study one room.
Open plan on that scale looses its appeal pretty quickly when cooking smells and noise and heating cannot be contained.

You could knock living room and kitchen together to make family room/kitchen diner, and then make the snug into an adult lounge.

My parents had a crap conservatory, they had it replaced with really high quality glazing, had blind put on the roof, and underfloor heating in. They now use it all year round.

I would extend the kitchen, but not the living room. Make the kitchen big enough to be kitchen/diner/family space, with big doors out on to the garden and a huge table across the back. get rid of conservatory and make a nice seating spot out side living room, possibly with doors out of kitchen too.

I know two fairly recent extensions where they have put a strip window in at the place where the old meets new. It looks amazing and floods the room with light.
So the window is really long strip that follows the edge of the roof. But hard to describe

No don’t open up the whole of the downstairs!!!! I don’t know how old your kids are but now mine are 8-12 years old it is a godsend to be able to have me cooking on the kitchen with music/tv on, and the kids able to be doing their homework at the table in the lounge as well as another one on the computer in the study. Today I’ve been working on the PC while others have been watching TV, doing housework/cooking etc.
Better to be able to shut the kitchen away and we have put a tv and games console in the study so the kids aren’t taking over the lounge TV all the time.

I would knock down the conservatory and extend the kitchen out slightly. You’d be surprised how much of a dofference even extending by a couple of meters makes.

If not extending:
I would also just take down wall between kitchen and living room and make that one large kitchen/dining/family room space as you still have the separate sitting room at the front.

Or, do as above but also extend out across the back.

(And demolish conservatory)
Not usable space and makes other room dark. I think having one detracts from property value!

If the front has the better aspect I'd move the utility and wc to what is now the study and knock through between the family room and the kitchen.

I think you should be able to get the kitchen to work with a bigger dining table. Pick one that extends a good deal and is narrow - IKEA is good for this - and put a bench seat up against the wall, or push it right up to the wall and just use the other 3 sides day to day, when you don't have guests. Reconfigure the peninsula, maybe swap it for a portable island unit.

If that is not enough then maybe a small extension to the kitchen, maybe just extending upwards on the right hand half. It you can claw back the store space then great, even if you do lose a bit of head height in that corner for the stairs.

Shallow depth larder or base cupboards are fab when space is tight. I reckon a really good kitchen tweak will solve this.

It looks like a great layout to me, and I'm sure a £100k extension would be lovely, but it's a lot to spend on a house that already has 3 reception rooms, especially when you hardly use the lounge as it is.

Surprised at so many people suggesting the living room and kitchen be knocked together- think that would be a big mistake! A family house needs a decent sized living room for entertaining guests and it looks s nice size as it is. You need to knock down the conservatory and maybe install glass doors to make the living room light and bright (if not there already).
The kitchen would be lovely extended into the garden if budget allows to make a kitchen/diner/sofa area. Plus a lovely patio across the back of the house.
The downstairs of your home would then pretty much be the ideal family space.