Help me with my floor plan!

[carringtonm]

We're buying a new house and plan to convert the garage. I'd love some Mumsnet input because I've seen great ideas come from people on here.

We need to create a home office space that can double up as a spare bedroom for visitors. This has got to be part of the conversion because of my partner's need to work from home and family who don't live locally.

We are also aware that there isn't much storage space downstairs so we have debated keeping part of the garage as is, or adding in some built in cupboard space.

We also have a toddler and would like another child so space for toys and/or play space would be handy.

Not all of our needs can be catered for just in the garage so any simple amendments to the rest of the house are also welcome if they'll solve some storage issues. We can't afford a new kitchen at the moment so a complete change of layout isn't possible.

I have attached a floor plan of the property as it is. Each small square is roughly 1ft x 1ft.

What would you do with the space? Give me your bright ideas!

Could you make a planning application and convert the garage into a 2 storey extension with a guest bedroom above?
What about a fully insulated garden room in addition to the garage as a home office space....a good one will set you back about £5-10k.

Dining rooms are very infrequently used and are often viewed as outdated. What about using that space more productively? Personally I think the house would flow better if you had a dining table open plan off of the kitchen area?

@Chalfontstgiles It's a link detached house so there's already a bedroom above the garage.

3rd idea is to extend the back of the garage and loose some garden so it aligns with the back of the dining room to create more living space.

@Chalfontstgiles How are you imagining the dining area? Knock through the kitchen wall?

We'd like to swap he living and dining spaces around but this is the current layout. It wouldn't be a dining room in the traditional sense - it would be dining and living as one big space if you know what I mean. Open plan except for the kitchen.

I think the kitchen is currently disproportionately small. Kitchen is seen as the hub of the home these days. I’d enlarge the kitchen and put it in the current living area and stick home office at the front of the house possibly with coat storage.

@Chalfontstgiles Yeah, we've thought about extending. The current dining room is an extension so we could make that larger. But it would mean losing the only patio area in a very well established garden so we're not sure about that option. Plus the lack of light to an already fairly dark living room area.

Sorry I could have relied to all your posts at once!

@Chalfontstgiles We can't afford a new kitchen at the moment but I really like that idea for a long term option. It's worth noting that the house is very well done aesthetically already. It's purely creating a more practical space in terms of storage and the office. Thanks so much for your ideas, I want other people's thoughts to bounce off of because I've gone a bit blind from looking at the same plan so much!

So, ideally I would keep a small storage space at the front of the garage and keep the up and over door for easy storage of bikes etc.

I’d then make the rest of the garage into the kitchen, would be larger than the current space, with doors to the garden. This would be open to the current living room which would become the dining area with living space at the back. I’d get rid of the doors from that room in their current location and make the glazed floor to ceiling windows into doors.

The current kitchen would become the office/spare room.

I would suggest a flip up flip down bed like you see in studio apartments this will mean you get to keep the floor space for when it's an office / play space.
Same for the desk this will give you a more versatile space for when its a guest room.

Also think that if you can extend further back I'd do it.
We saw a lot of houses with garage conversions and they are always a bit awkward and unusual as its a long narrow room and proper thought generally wasn't put in.

@Ikeameatballs Okay I'm liking this idea of moving the kitchen to the garage. I'm just not sure our budget would stretch to it! Saying that, I have no concept of how much it would cost to have all the plumbing and gas etc installed, maybe it's reaaaally cheap

I just think looking at the size of it, current kitchen must be very functional I e just for cooking meals. Most kitchens these days are places to mingle and the dining space with nice table and chairs are placed in there often with a sofa and TV etc if space permits. You do have good space OP, but passing through the lounge with plates of food to access the dining doesn’t seem very modern or practical. My instincts would be to put the lounge / living at the back of the house where the dining area and redevelop the space forward of that more effectively. Home offices located at the front of a house are a winner. We are all having to stay in these days for internet deliveries etc and being close to the front door is great. The ground floor garage space could then easily be fitted out as guest sleeping area with a nice day/sofa bed and toy cupboards etc. I have built a house from scratch and redeveloped 3 houses now, I do know my onions.

If you can’t stretch to loads of changes then I’d knock the kitchen through to the current sitting room and create one big living kitchen diner space, with a proper sitting room at the back. I found with small kids it was so much easier to be all based in the same area - ie they play while you cook etc. You can decide which room toys / play stuff live in then. Garage is storage & spare room away from noisy communal rooms.

Really appreciating these ideas. Definitely a good point about the kitchen just being a practical space at the moment. We have an open plan downstairs currently and we do like the 'hub' feel of it. Having said that, we don't expect to stay in this new house for a very long time so any spending would need to be cost-effective in terms of resale.

@LadyFuschia I think your idea is more realistic in terms of cost. Hadn't considered knocking through to the kitchen before this thread and I like it! My only worry would be that we'd lose that wall space against the kitchen for potential storage options (units, shelving etc) which we are desperately going to need. Where would the hoover go?!

a few questions

• do you need bike storage? or what kind of storage do you need?

• will the guests be visiting at the same times as your DH is working? Or can one room double up for both?

To put a new kitchen in the garage is probably not too bad if you don't have a gas hob (induction is much better). you have the water from the downstairs WC and electric is easy.

but if you want to keep the budget as small as possible, I'd make the garage into one big room with windows front & back. Include desk for DH at the front with bookshelves dividing the space. Then have a sofa bed in the back half which makes a playroom / guest room. Add lots of big cupboards for storage too.

@parietal We have one adult bike at the moment plus garden toys, barbecue and lawnmower.

I'm a teacher and I have a stupid amount of early years resources which currently take up half our garage but we plan to condense these a bit and use the loft space for them. They're mainly boxed up.

The bedrooms are bigger than our current ones too with built in storage so some toys can be in those.

The study and bedroom can double up as we'd have visitors at the weekends and my partner works weekdays.

The boiler is in the kitchen at the moment so would that need to be moved if the kitchen does? How much would that cost us?

Bikes, BBQ etc could go into a small garden shed costs about £700?

A boiler doesn’t necessary have to follow a kitchen at all, no.

I knew houses a bit like this growing up. Kitchen was like a breakfast bar with glass sliding doors between that and the living room (this was the 60s). But could you open up kitchen that way - like a wide and high hatch? This kind of thing.

Is there a door from hall to garage near the stairs? I'd split it to storage and utility at front half from where door is (?) and then office/spare bed at back with French doors. Get one of these in the office www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/nyhamn-sofa-bed-with-triple-cushion-with-foam-mattress-skiftebo-yellow-s29306420/

@SwedishEdith Nice idea! No door from hall to garage. The garage starts where the stairs do.

[quote carringtonm]@SwedishEdith Nice idea! No door from hall to garage. The garage starts where the stairs do. [/quote]
Hmm, is there space for a door near the toilet? Or could some minor rejigging happen there to create a door?

Yes to making some of the garage utility / storage area, could you fit an island in the expanded kitchen for storage? Then office / spare room at the nicer end.

@SwedishEdith No, the toilet takes up all the space under the stairs. Only access can be from the living room area.