Help me knock about my new house

[TommyShelby]

Hi all,

I am currently in the process of buying a bungalow that needs some modernisation but is otherwise in a good state of repair.

I am looking to maximise the space and am looking for any suggestions and ideas that you may have. I have attached the floor plan (hopefully )- what do you think I can do with this space?

About all I can suggest is opening up the kitchen area between it and the sitting room. Open kitchens are big on design shows but who knows if it will work in your bungalow. Just realized that you wanted to maximize space--not sure that would do it.

Looks like you have loads of space but a really impractical layout. Two conservatories, neither opening off a living area, is quite something!

Could you stretch to getting an architect to draw up some plans? Might be the best money you've ever spent.

Does bedroom two have no window? Is the conservatory built where the window used to be?

Depends on your priorities and budget and type of construction, what space there is outside etc. It is an odd layout. Do you want to keep/ rebuild the conservatories or do a different extension etc . At the moment all I can see it knocking the kitchen into sitting room and looking at the storage room near bedrooms , do you need that for storage ,as you have garage and utility. Is that space suitable to staircase into the roof space?

That’s a bit of a mess ! What are you thinking, a complete rip it up and start again versus tweaking it slightly ?

How many bedrooms do you need? Would you prefer a big eat in kitchen ? Would you prefer your living room backing onto the garden? What are you currently thinking of doing ?

What do you want from the space?

Budget?

I hate conservatories so I'd get rid of both of them. I'd rebuild the one on the left as a proper room but wider on the right and then open plan the kitchen into that new room for a good size kitchen/ diner. If that's beyond your budget then knock the kitchen into the sitting room. If you have a really big budget then move everything around because ideally you would not have the front door next to the bedrooms and would instead come in by the kitchen and lounge and move further down before you came to bedrooms.

How much work are you prepared to do and do you know what you want out of the space?

The layout is a bit of a mess! Have you worked out where the sunlight falls?

Having thought about it, I would second the idea of an architect. The layout is awful. Having watched many, many episodes of George Ckarke'
"Ugly house" I think it could be amazing.

That storage cupboard looks to be huge - putting a window in the rear wall would make it a usable room if it's a decent size.

I'd remove the two conservatories and extend properly across the back of the kitchen side of the house, open up a bigger kitchen into the extension with a dining area.

You might want to open the two reception room into one too.

We can't advise without knowing where the sun strikes.

However, it does look similarish to one on Love It or List It this week (the one with the internal swimming pool!). They ended up putting kitchen and reception on (what is your) right hand side, with a new entrance door there, and sleeping quarters over on the LHS. You already have plumbing at both ends of the house so swapping kitchen / bathing will be easy.

Very odd lay out, a conservatory off a bedroom? Not sure I’ve ever seen that, before. You could know the sitting room through to the kitchen and make a big kitchen diner. I suppose. Or make the living room a bedroom and use the bedroom that opens to the conservatory a little snug.

If you extend the hallway to the length of the house (and ultimately to the new entrance) then that will also help get light in.

What are your priorities for the space? Will you use the garage? Does bed 2 have no windows? Room sizes would be useful.
I would get rid of both conservatories, knock kitchen and utility together, knock sitting room and garage together, put the bathroom in what is now bed 2, knock the bathroom and storage together to make a bedroom.

Budget? Load bearing walls?

Lots of wasted space

I’d remove both conservatories
Use the ‘hallway’ bit of the utility room and unused wall to create lots of storage.
Turn the lounge into a bedroom, using 1/2 of the sitting room to make a nice en-suite.
Turn the other half of the sitting room into a kitchen bit of a kitchen / diner/ sitting room knocking it in with the kitchen and 1/2 of bedroom 3 and that area of the hallway
Knock the storage and other half of bedroom 3 into a snug off the kitchen
Bedroom 2 is knock in with that end of the hallway and bathroom and give it a smaller en-suite.

Which direction does it face? Which room has the best view/ outlook?
How many people living in the house?

Do you use your garage for keeping a car in or just storage?
I was thinking you could move the utility to the back of the garage, then you can open up the kitchen in to the utility and conservatory.

I suspect that bedroom with a conservatory off it has been used as a something other than a bedroom.

Conservatory off a bedroom seems to be quite common in bungalows around here for some reason. I don’t get it either!

Garden (conservatory side) is south west facing.

Budget luckily isn’t really a factor as I have family coming in with me who can do the work.

It will need to have at least 3 bedrooms at the end of it and will ideally need to be best laid out for a family house. The only idea I had was to knock through the sitting room and kitchen to create more flow but I am a bit layout blind and spatially challenged...

Room sizes are below for those who asked.

Lounge (4.53 x 4.57 (14'10" x 14'11"))
Sitting Room (4.53 x 3.63 (14'10" x 11'10"))
Kitchen (4.29 x 3.61 (14'0" x 11'10"))
Utility (2.26 x 2.81 (7'4" x 9'2"))
Wc (0.96 x 1.88 (3'1" x 6'2"))
Conservatory (2.86 x 3 (9'4" x 9'10"))
Bedroom 1 (4.53 x 3.63 (14'10" x 11'10")
En Suite (3.74 x 0.95 (12'3" x 3'1"
Bedroom 2 (4.3 x 3.1 (14'1" x 10'2")
Conservatory (3.65 x 3.12 (11'11" x 10'2"))
Bedroom 3 (2.52 x 3.69 (8'3" x 12'1"))
Bathroom (3.11 x 2.36 (10'2" x 7'8"))

Also, garage will need to be kept in some form; but won’t be used for a car - more for storage

Do you want to just knock the interior about or build extra?

If budgets not a nudge concern, I'd consider using permitted development rights to put a full width extension on the back and completely redesign the space, putting all bedrooms on the front and all living space at the back. Then you can have a lovely big kitchen and sitting room and probably an extra bedroom and bathroom.

Huge, not nudge

@SoupDragon knocking the interior about for now however, may consider adding bits on but it may have to be further down the line