What would you do with this house?

[UnconsideredTrifles]

I need ideas!

We are in the middle of buying a house, and are trying to fill the waiting time with planning what we'll do with it.

It's an old stone house, surprisingly light but with quite small rooms. It opens directly onto the pavement, and has a single block garage running alongside the kitchen and about 3-4m further out into the large garden.

I'm thinking it needs a bigger kitchen, maybe a utility, definitely a downstairs loo and husband is keen on a sunroom. Leaving aside issues of budget - what would you do with it?! I have been staring at it for weeks and need some inspiration!

With Curiosity's layout, I would ditch the proposed small bedroom, square off the front bedroom and have a bigger family bathroom instead.

Oo that does sound nice. If you're going to live in it for awhile (so resale value isn't a huge consideration), then I'd 100% agree with @SoupDragon

Curiosity’s layout looks good but I would find a way to have the utility/loo in the centre of the house otherwise you are losing your view of the garden and potentially making the kitchen quite dark.

@OliviaBenson Out of interest, what's the problem with tanking? Our surveyor (local, many years of experience with old Welsh stone) thought it was a good option!

Old buildings are meant to breathe. You need to firstly diagnose what the source of the damp is and treat that. Tanking is only a short term fix and isn't good for the building fabric.

Is it a firm that survey and do the work?

This gives more info: https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/managing-damp-in-old-buildings.html

https://www.spab.org.uk/sites/default/files/ControloffDampness0.pdf

@Curiosity101 That's good floor-planning! And really helpful - I find it really hard to visualise things.

The garden is nice, so I'd try to keep the view for the kitchen too @TattiePants - I've tried to persuade DH to sacrifice a bit of the garage for the utility but he's stubborn!

This is really therapeutic and fun

@TattiePants and @SoupDragon - Is this what you were both thinking?

Yes. I'd move the en-suite door though otherwise it's awkward. Maybe stick a Juliet balcony as the window for that bedroom...

I'd be inclined to put the rear extension right across the back. I have one that looks like that (previous owner) and I'm thinking of filling in the gap.

Floor plan tinkering is great when you do have to live with the work or pay for it 😂😂

With how I've drawn it they look awkward but they wouldn't be in reality. The bedroom door would be able to open more than 90 degrees so would be completely out of the way if it was open or closed. It'd only be in the way at the angle I drew it .

Having the ensuite door there also means you lose the least amount of useable floor space.

I think the upstairs layout works well and having the bathroom and en-suite next to each other would make the plumbing easier (and cheaper). If you could stretch to an extension across the full width of the back of the house that could be the kitchen / dining room with large doors onto the garden. Have the utility / loo in the centre of the house like your last picture and use the existing dining room as either a playroom or a study.

I would open up the porch, hall, living room and kitchen and have it as one huge living space, keeping the sitting room as a snug.

That is my dream house layout.

You need to know where the sun rises and sets, where drains are, and lots of other things, which is why architect inputs are important, you wouldn`t want to lose light by blocking off windows, nor have a dreary north facing extension which is why professional advice is invaluable.

I would definitely make use of the garage by getting a joiner to make a wooden cabinet wall on the long side of the garage wall to be slide doors or cupboards the whole span of that wall. Storage space galore. I'm jel! It would only take off 2 or 3 foot off a massive room.

You are all fantastic people - thank you for the inspiration!

That last plan looks like it covers everything @Curiosity101 - now off to discuss the realities of it with DH (who is the one who'd have to build it all...)

With how I've drawn it they look awkward but they wouldn't be in reality.

Especially not if you had the door to the en-suite opening inwards along the wall...

Depends how much you want to spend. Definitely needs another bathroom and a downstairs loo and a utility. Depending also on size of garden I'd be thinking rear two-stretches extension and would possibly remove the wall on right in hall as I don't like narrow hallways.

Hate to add another bit to consider, but we had a sitting room with those dimensions and found it really annoying. Just too narrow, and with an extra wasted space end. We tried all sorts of furniture configurations but by the end were considering a small extension. Ended up relocating.

@GreyishDays That's interesting - do you think an extension would have cut off too much light? I hope you didn't relocate just to escape the living room!

I agree with Greyish - the lounge is only 10ft wide which is more of a corridor than a main living room. It's difficult to furnish without most people sitting in a line.