One large sitting room or two small?

[BeautifulandWilfulandDead]

We're renovating our new house and it's been the intention all along to knock through the two reception rooms (12x12 and 14x12) into one long sitting room, as this is what we had in our last house. At the 11th hour we're now wondering if we are making a mistake and would get along better with two smaller, separate room. We already have a dining kitchen and workspace, so don't need room for these. What would you do?

Defintely two. We have always had two living rooms, often using the dining room as one, irs fantastic for when folks want to game or spend time watching a different thing on tv, or even as a study space.

With the dimensions it will also be hard to furnish properly as very long and thin.

Why not knock the back room into the conservatory, and make that your family living space? Then the front living room can be more adult/formal/peaceful

Much much much MUCH prefer two rooms! Hate the long 'through reception rooms' of knocked through Victorian terraces. Just end up with dead space that can't be used. Or really awkward double doors which are the worst of both worlds.

If the back room is dark, can you replace the window with a much larger one / patio door? That isn't usually too expensive and can make a big difference to the light in the room. Go Crittall style for maximum fashion.

I’d have 2 rooms also. My last home had a knocked through lounge / dining room and we loved it - or thought we did! It had half glazed doors between the rooms that could be opened up in summer, then closed in winter (it was a draughty house!!)
We moved and now have a sitting room at the front which is nice and cosy, and a large dining kitchen at the back which we tend to live in most of the time. We have a TV in both spaces so could watch different things if we wanted to.
My DD has one huge open plan living space and hates it!! When she moves shes going to have a cosy sitting room too.

It depends on your family and lifestyle. I know DH and I like our own space / watch different things on TV so we would probably keep separate rooms.

I think it's lovely to have two separate rooms as different people can do different things at the same time.

It's also brilliant when the kids are older and want to have friends over. It's not always appropriate to shut them off in their rooms - especially when boyfriends/girlfriends start appearing.

Another vote for two rooms. My sitting room is the old sitting room and a box room knocked together. The proportions feel odd but I use the 'extra' space to have a massive desk.

I think two separate rooms is the better option long term for older teenagers and particularly because of the gap between the two (they will rarely genuinely share the same tastes). Once the lockdown is over and they will start bringing friends / partners home, having a degree of privacy will be very beneficial. Otherwise they'll just be upstairs the whole time. I would only knock the wall if the rooms are particularly awkward or small - but it seems like it's the other way around - the combined room will be awkward - I say don't do it.

Two separate rooms and you could put in pocket doors - the ones that slide into the wall on either side so would then have the option of a bigger room when needed

• for a party.

Two Rooms would be better and more flexible for a family with older DC. It also gives an option for them to be with their friends without the need to be upstairs in their bedrooms upto goodness knows what!

D Sis-I-L opted for the one Large room 12 x 27, and it always felt far from Cosy, with people trying to hold conversations from either End having to shout and speak loudly to be understood down the opposite end. It was also somewhat awkward having to keep getting up to share and hand things around, even the TV looked lost down in the far corner!

This thread is really helpful. I’ve just decided to spilt our long living room into two, and I’m feeling very reassured now!

Ours was a large knock through.. I put the wall back up and now we have a lovely living room and a spare room at the back... mainly used as a spare room/ laundry and storage
The kids have all their uniform and sports gear in a chest of drawers which is really handy in the morning!

2 rooms. Especially if you have children. So many options with 2 rooms.

Two smaller. Do you have kids? As teens they want their own space not in their bedrooms. Mine take over our lounge so I'm currently creating a garage hangout room for them. Two rooms is more attractive if you were ever to sell also

@Butterfly44

Two smaller. Do you have kids? As teens they want their own space not in their bedrooms. Mine take over our lounge so I'm currently creating a garage hangout room for them. Two rooms is more attractive if you were ever to sell also

Indeed. I'm looking to buy right now and floor plans showing open plan spaces is such a disappointment, puts me off entirely.

One of the reasons we bought our current house is that it has two rooms. A good size lounge and another room overlooking the garden with sliding doors. We have set it up as a reading room with floor to ceiling bookshelves and an l-shaped sofa - love having the mix of spaces as we're retired - so its lovely to have that flexibility. I would definitely keep two rooms.

@BeautifulandWilfulandDead it is basically a room that has just a sofa and a tv

I think two rooms but I do like it when they have double doors so you could open it up for entertaining.

Pocket doors also an option

I think pocket/glass doors are the least likely option. This would involve most of the building work involved in knocking through plus extra for the doors! Both rooms would have a lack of wall space too. So it's one or the other! I'm rapidly flip flopping on this today...

2 rooms would definitely be my preference. We have this at ours - one used as the playroom, and then a sitting room for evenings once DC in bed. It works and it's probably better for my mental health having an adult space away from toys clutter etc.

Our old home had 1 long sitting room, which was originally 2 rooms knocked into one. Keeping it warm was difficult and it never felt cosy.

Another vote here for two rooms, much more flexible than a big space that's hard to zone and furnish. I think we'd have driven each other mad over the last year if we hadn't had that extra space, and I like the fact that the DCs don't feel like they have to hide away in their rooms if they don't want to watch the same thing as us.

@MiddlesexGirl

Agree with *@Aroundtheworldin80moves* Two separate rooms can be very useful and one long room is not a great 'dimension' for using - usually gets separated up into two distinctive halves anyway. But having the flexibility if you can seems the obvious answer.

+1 : 24 foot long is a VERY long room. If you can do sliding doors you'd have best of both worlds

Otherwise, I would do 2 separate rooms vs such a long room