What would you do with this Victorian terrace layout??

[1Cush32]

Hi all,

I am considering buying a Victorian terrace and the house has lots of potential to improve the layout but too many options and I’m struggling to work out what’s best. This is the house with floor plan: Brompton Road, Southsea
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76931709.html

I’ve got the upstairs plan sorted I think - we would rotate the staircase 180 degrees (so that the bottom of the stairs come out beside the chimney breast in the dining room) which frees up some of the corridor space upstairs to make room for a small bathroom including toilet, sink and bath with shower. This leaves two doubles + one single + one small family bathroom upstairs, and will leave room under the new stairs for a large coat cupboard.

Where I need help is on the downstairs. Current layout is pretty traditional: lounge at the front (with the wall already removed between lounge and hallway), a wall and stairs cutting across the middle of the property, then a dining room, leading into a narrow kitchen (2.2m wide) and onto a downstairs bathroom. We are on a tightish budget due to the ceiling price on the road so want to work within the existing footprint rather than extend. We would remove the lean to as this is totally rotten.

I’d love to know which of these layouts you think is best (or if you have other suggestions):

• Knock through the dining room/kitchen wall and knock through current kitchen into old bathroom (maintaining a small WC to one side) leaving you with an L-shaped kitchen and dining space, where the kitchen is a long galley kitchen (5.2m x 2.2m) with patio doors onto the garden at the end.
• Same as the above but also with the under cupboard stairs changed to house a washer and dryer stacked on top of one another (but then you lose the main storage space for coats, shoes etc)
• Remove dining room/kitchen wall to create the L-shaped kitchen dining room, but keep the existing walls up housing what is currently a bathroom. Change this to be a combined WC and proper Utility Room. Downside of this plan is the kitchen ends up smaller (4m x 2.2m) and you lose the direct view onto the garden from the front entrance of the house so less light, as you would now access the garden from patio doors onto the side return from either the dining room or the kitchen.

I am stuck! What would you do? And any other ideas I’ve not thought of?

Thanks so much!

You are planning a lot of work - will it payback on increase in value of the house?

If budget was an issue I would leave the walls up. Covert the downstairs bathroom to a toilet and shower room and spend any spare money on restoring the lean to. A proper roof, double graze windows and doors and make it a proper larder and utility.
Even if it is rotten now it is a decent sized space you would be losing if you just pulled it down.

Don't forget OP that you should spend only 10% of the house price when you renovate it x

The rooms are very small, I wouldn't buy

@Rollercoaster1920

You are planning a lot of work - will it payback on increase in value of the house?

We've had a valuation done based on what it would sell for once the works outlined were done, and so based on that and some initial quotes for the works we are pretty confident we would make our money back, but it is tight hence wanting to see what people think and if we really need to do all the changes we were thinking of or could simplify it a bit.

@bebarkered

Don't forget OP that you should spend only 10% of the house price when you renovate it x

Thanks - where did this number come from? We've had the house valued based on potential works, and we know roughly what it would cost to do the works and think the two would net eachother out, but I'd never heard of this 10% rule?

@chukwe

The rooms are very small, I wouldn't buy

Within this area and budget this layout and size is pretty typical, and a 70 foot garden in this area is basically unheard of so we see that as the main selling point really

It's too small to add another room upstairs. Surely you would be better off turning bed 2 or 3 into a bathroom and having a really nice 2bed?

I would spend the money extending the kitchen into the lean to and making the downstairs bathroom really lovely; underfloor heating perhaps?

I dont raly know about budget and margins etc but wohld definitely go with first plan, maybe second if you can live with no storage space for coats etc..
I think with the last option you might really regret not having a view of the garden from the kitchen. Patio doors onto the garden are really nice in my view and especially if you have kids you want to keep an eye on while you're in the kitchen

Also - I live in a house with no bathroom upstairs and it's a total pain. So I'd defo go for adding one in upstairs even if it's very small.. all you need downstairs is a WC.

@Msfoxy17

I dont raly know about budget and margins etc but wohld definitely go with first plan, maybe second if you can live with no storage space for coats etc.. I think with the last option you might really regret not having a view of the garden from the kitchen. Patio doors onto the garden are really nice in my view and especially if you have kids you want to keep an eye on while you're in the kitchen

Thanks - this is kind of what I think too. Plus I think we'd lose a lot of light if we didn't have big doors onto the garden somewhere on the back of the house.

@1Cush32

Hi all,

I am considering buying a Victorian terrace and the house has lots of potential to improve the layout but too many options and I’m struggling to work out what’s best. This is the house with floor plan: Brompton Road, Southsea
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76931709.html

I’ve got the upstairs plan sorted I think - we would rotate the staircase 180 degrees (so that the bottom of the stairs come out beside the chimney breast in the dining room) which frees up some of the corridor space upstairs to make room for a small bathroom including toilet, sink and bath with shower. This leaves two doubles + one single + one small family bathroom upstairs, and will leave room under the new stairs for a large coat cupboard.

Where I need help is on the downstairs. Current layout is pretty traditional: lounge at the front (with the wall already removed between lounge and hallway), a wall and stairs cutting across the middle of the property, then a dining room, leading into a narrow kitchen (2.2m wide) and onto a downstairs bathroom. We are on a tightish budget due to the ceiling price on the road so want to work within the existing footprint rather than extend. We would remove the lean to as this is totally rotten.

I’d love to know which of these layouts you think is best (or if you have other suggestions):

• Knock through the dining room/kitchen wall and knock through current kitchen into old bathroom (maintaining a small WC to one side) leaving you with an L-shaped kitchen and dining space, where the kitchen is a long galley kitchen (5.2m x 2.2m) with patio doors onto the garden at the end.
• Same as the above but also with the under cupboard stairs changed to house a washer and dryer stacked on top of one another (but then you lose the main storage space for coats, shoes etc)
• Remove dining room/kitchen wall to create the L-shaped kitchen dining room, but keep the existing walls up housing what is currently a bathroom. Change this to be a combined WC and proper Utility Room. Downside of this plan is the kitchen ends up smaller (4m x 2.2m) and you lose the direct view onto the garden from the front entrance of the house so less light, as you would now access the garden from patio doors onto the side return from either the dining room or the kitchen.

I am stuck! What would you do? And any other ideas I’ve not thought of?

Thanks so much!

Thanks everyone. What would you do with the lean to? It is totally rotten and single glazed so I was planning to just get rid of it completely and have doors onto the garden from the dining room. Bad idea? Think it would cost too much to have it properly rebuilt and double glazed - is extra space in a rotten lean to better than losing the space altogether??

You are thinking of moving a staircase but are not using space you already have? The lean to need to be a 2 storey extension if possible. Kitchen across the back with dining area. Leave the staircase. This will cost a mega amount to move. Put a new bathroom in the extension on 1st floor.

All of this work is pricy for a house with little kerb appeal snd a lounge with the front door in it (as many terraces do) and it’s tiny. Can you not buy for £50,000 (Plus with new kitchen and bathroom) more and save the effort?

There are also much nicer modernised terraced houses for sale in Southsea for £15,000 which are so much nicer! Even for £30,000 you get a front garden and nice original features. There’s a lot of choice and with your plans you won’t get the money back because you don’t have a hall and the modernisation is too expensive. I cannot see why you would buy this at the price. It’s one of the worst I’ve just looked at.

I have a very similar layout house. When I bought it the previous people had taken the front half of the back room and made it a bathroom (no natural light doesn't bother me but it may some) and then there is a huge kitchen diner (23*13) across the whole back of the house. The bathroom is still downstairs but easily accessible from all parts of the house not stuck off the back. Is someone likely to do a loft conversion? If so stairs into back room may cause an issue as we had to rebuild a wall so there was a clear route of escape without going through living area.

It’s similar to my house. We don’t find a downstairs bathroom off the back an issue but do wish we had more than just a narrow view into the garden - would it be an option to move the kitchen to the dining room and then extend what is currently the kitchen width-ways, change the bathroom into a small WC as you suggested and knock through into the living room to make an open plan living space with patio doors?
Either way I wouldn’t replace the lean-to as it looks like it’s making the kitchen dark.

This is a much nice house
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/76266606#/
Only a couple of streets away. The garden is smaller but south facing. The larger garden is not and the moss growing on the walls indicates it is quite shady.
You also have a small front to this house. Never underestimate the value of having an area to keep your bins. Where would the bins go if you only had street access?
I think the ceiling price for that road would be lower than your total spend so not only will you have all the hassle of living in a renovation but you won’t add any real value.

Every house I’ve looked at is better. If your budget is at the lower end for the area, how are you going to afford expensive alterations? And they are expensive. Why not compromise on garden at the back for a garden at the front and get a house already far better than this one. There are so many available and some have halls and open out to the garden. This is one of the worst and is definitely over priced.

I'd leave it, they were designed like that for a reason.
I never understand why people buy these houses and spoil them by modernising them.
There are loads of modern houses on estates and new builds.

I'd buy a different house! That's a lot of work for a small terrace house. Just buy something else that meets your needs.

moving the stairs is a massive job, and probably quite structural.
Have you had a quote for this?

My friends have similar shape and downstairs they have smaller lounge, and then large family room/kitchen/diner at the back which is lovely.

I would extend into the utility lean to, make kitchen diner across the back, with doors into garden, Make current bathroom into downstairs loo and utility.

But this together with the stairs and upstair bathroom is a LOT of work. one or the other but both?

New staircases have to meet builiding regs. Their structural integrity is built into them but opening up floors is an issue for insallation if that is needed. You cannot just put any old staircase - you have to consider headroom and width and safety. By a chimney sounds difficult to me. Our staircase had to be made for the house because off the peg was never going to work. Very expensive!

how about

• keep staircase
• make dining room into Bed3 / study
• make upstairs bed 3 into a family bathroom
• make the lounge / kitchen / leanto + bathroom into one big open plan kitchen / living space with good windows onto the garden.
• possibly add downstairs loo + utility under the stairs + a slice off the lounge if you can do it within budget.

I think you would be 'over developing' it. As others have said, for a few K more there are better houses.