What could we do with a garage conversion?!

[howareyoutoday]

Hi all.

I've attached a simple (very very simple that I drew on Paint ! ) floorplan of the downstairs of our home.

We love the house and the area so would love to stay around here. We have two children and plan on having one more at some point and so because the house itself is relatively small and because we have an integrated garage, we were thinking of doing a garage conversion to make use of the living space downstairs.

The "trouble" - for want of a better word - is, the stairs are directly behind the garage so we couldn't knock through and make a great big kitchen/diner. What else would you suggest?! Would you make a bigger lounge area or is it actually just not worth doing at all?

Second question: when buying a house, which is more ideal (obviously both but we don't have that option!)

a. A bigger living space
b. A garage

Would you suggest not doing the conversion at all and instead doing an extension on the kitchen/diner? I'd say the kitchen/diner measures at around 7ft wide.

Sorry for information overload!

Thanks all for your help!

If the kitchen/diner is 7ft wide i would prefer that was extended.

Then invest in really good storage in the garage

Definitely the extension over the conversion. Better to add space (if you can) than repurpose IMO.

Thank you both! It's a lovely home but I think you're right in that out of the two it could definitely benefit from the extension. I think we're looking at the garage and thinking "what can I do with you!" when maybe it's ok just being a garage at the moment!!!

Do you have a loft? Our loft was converted so having the cellar (in your case, garage) as the storage/organised dumping ground for stuff was invaluable. Clever storage in a garage is a wonderful thing!

Yes we do have a loft! Ahhh thank you for that suggestion. I will have a look online at some clever storage ideas for garages!

Could you get access under the stairs to the garage? If you can i’d Maybe use the back half the garage space for a utility room and have the frint as storage.

I'd convert the garage to a living room accessed from the current lounge - with three children you will need a separate space, particularly as they get older. You could then have the current lounge as a playroom/second living room.

Then in time you could do a one storey extension of the kitchen diner.

I would open up the whole lot but move the kitchen/diner to the current lounge/garage side and have a cosier lounge on the other side.

I’d have a double living room. There are no measurements but the living room looks pretty tight even for a family of 4 to hand out. Andva kitchen extension would be fab too if the budget permits.

We have a garage conversion that was a playroom when DC were little and is now a music room with 2nd TV. We resisted the 2nd TV until our eldest started secondary but once the homework load increased, we found that second reception space really useful. Family life for us involves a lot of music practice and homework, often at the same time, and DCs' bedrooms are quite small.

That said, extending the kitchen sounds lovely. Icd expect it to cost significantly more though, especially if you open up the whole back wall.

One more thought - could you extend either the garage or the whole downstairs frontage of the house forward to make the converted garage a more useful size?

Re extra living space Vs garage, we were advised it doesn't tend to affect value much. Some people prefer it converted, some prefer the garage, but neither will pay much more then the other. Reckon on it not reducing value (especially if you can put in a good usable shed) but don't assume you'll make the costs back on the sale price. However it sounds like the whole point of this is that you won't need to move for some time.

If you can get the electrics and plumbing through, at a reasonable cost, I'd convert half of the garage into a utility with downstairs loo and the other half into well organised storage, so you can make the most of the living space you do have. Extending the dining area would be great, to provide more of a family space, though adding a solid roofed conservatory would also make a big difference.

Extending the kitchen sounds lovely, but also a LOT more expensive than converting the garage, so this would depend on budget for me.

I agree with Elstree that, with a growing family in the house, a second living room is invaluable in terms of different dc "needing" to do different things at the same time.

Our garage conversion is a playroom/music room. The children have their toys, and I have my piano in there. It's a lovely space, not huge, but perfect for its use. As they get older it'll probably evolve into a den, games room or similar.

Could you turn garage into living room then knock through the living room/WC/kitchen to make a big kitchen diner and use existing dining room for utility/WC/storage?

I'd make it into a playroom. You get the toys out of the way and the rest of the house can be grown up. As they get older it's a space to hang out with their friends and a space for another tv to avoid arguments.

You could do it inexpensively by putting in a stud wall and leaving a little space for storage behind the garage door. You might need to change that to a roller door though.
Or go the whole hog with a window instead of the garage door.