What do you think of this floorplan?

[sarahb083]

Would you consider it a 4bed or 3bed with an extra reception? Any suggestions for improvement?

I hate lounge diners, I'd want a kitchen diner with a separate living room. I would completely reconfigure the bottom so there wasn't a bedroom, I don't like downstairs bedrooms- would rather living space.

I keep looking at this - it doesn’t flow. other options are:

Making kitchen into a snug/office/bedroom with access to downstairs loo, and making the extension the kitchen; or

Making the kitchen behind garage and using part of garage space as a utility area.

@purplesequins

I think it's good. a bedroom that's more private with en suite for relatives to visit. or for a live in nanny.

to add to that: a room were a shift worker could slink in to sleep at silly o'clock without disturbing the rest of the household.

@sarahb083

Thanks *@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz* (love the username) - what about the ground floor layout wouldn't you like?

I just prefer kitchen diner (with a seating area) and for this to have access to the garden at the rear.

We use our lounge on an evening, so would want that separate, smaller and no garden access.

@Milkbottlelegs

We would probably use a bed that folded down from the wall so that the room could be used in another capacity if it was just for guests

I don’t actually think wall beds are a great use of space. They are the size of a very deep bookcase but the shelving isn’t deep enough to out much on (can’t fit a A4 box file for example).

If I was to chose again I’d probably go for a decent sofa bed with shelving above if I needed it for storage.

I’ve had two fold down beds in different houses and found them more comfortable than any sofa bed (had months on one of them) as it’s a proper mattress. It would eat a lot less into a room than a sofa however, if you wanted to have a sofa in that room then obviously a sofa bed is better.

Our house has had the garage converted, it was marketed as a 3 bed with a 4th bedroom/ extra reception room downstairs.

If you needed a 4th bedroom then I would consider that but otherwise I don't think I would.

3 bed and with a layout that wouldn’t work for me (and would stop me viewing if I was looking to buy).

I’d want all bedroom upstairs, one more bathroom upstairs, and another downstairs room. I also consider built in garages a waste of good house space.

The circumstances where this layout works are if there’s an elderly or sick relative to consider. Even then I think I’d consider it a 3 bedroom house where one room is temporarily used as a downstairs bedroom.

I wouldn't view a house with this layout, but again it's whether it works for you that matters most.

What I don't like: the kitchen is in the wrong place, it should be at the back of the house and in the same area as either dining or sitting--I could cope with a formal dining room in a separate front room or a sitting room there, but not a kitchen cut off from the house. I don't get the function of the extra bit off the end of the house, there's no flow or purpose to the rooms here and it also looks like the lounge-diner is going to be a bit dingy. While it's quite a large house it's a bit of a habit warren, I think guests would get lost trying to understand why things are where they are.

@sarahb083

Thanks for the replies. We have one DD and not planning on any more, so we don't need 4 beds. We're planning to use the downstairs room as a guest room.

The guest room, downstairs bathroom & utility is a planned extension, and I'm not sure how much value the extension would add if most buyers wouldn't consider it a bedroom.

Any other feedback welcome! Thank you

Ah ok, so this bit on the side is the planned works? If so I would go back to the drawing board--your house will have issues around value because of the kitchen and downstairs layout. I'd expand the downstairs floorpan to put in a proper nice big kitchen at the back, bathroom and utility at the side, with a study at the front. Study would be usable as a spare bedroom, maybe bathroom where the utility is?

Thanks all - lots of useful feedback. The new downstairs room will be used as a guest bedroom with en-suite for (very frequent!) in-law visits so it does work for us for now, but I understand that it's not ideal for everyone. We may remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room as some have suggested. DH LOVES the integral garage so that's not going anywhere unfortunately.

@sarahb083

Thanks all - lots of useful feedback. The new downstairs room will be used as a guest bedroom with en-suite for (very frequent!) in-law visits so it does work for us for now, but I understand that it's not ideal for everyone. We may remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room as some have suggested. DH LOVES the integral garage so that's not going anywhere unfortunately.

In that instance then I'd put the guest room where the kitchen is on the plan and the ensuite where the utility room is. Bunk the utility room down (with a door into en suite).

Open the full back out into a kitchen/diner/family room. Possibly close off the right hand side part as a lounge (the one with the bay window patio doors)

I would consider this a 3 bed with extra reception, and offer accordingly. For some reason, in houses which have an upstairs, I only consider bedrooms upstairs to be bedrooms.

I'm actually going to be putting a downstairs bedroom in shower room in my own house for my parents, but I still wouldn't market it as a 4 bed, as that's not what people would expect from the description.

@MiddleClassProblem you are definitely right that wall beds are more comfortable than a sofa bed. I just feel a bit missold with mine as I was talked into it on the basis that it saved space (well I don’t have a bed in the middle of the room so I guess it does) and it would be great storage (it’s a swivel one) but I can’t even fit files on the shelves which is a bit of a design floor for an office space!

Have you considered any noise issues in the downstairs bedroom in this current plan? You've got the door coming straight off your main living space. What happens if you/your guests go to bed in that room before other family members who are using the lounge? I'd hate this layout as I'd feel like I had to be extra quiet to stop noise carrying through the door.

Our 4th bedroom is on the ground floor. We have it set up as a second living space (a nice, calm, grown-up adult space as opposed the the child-centric chaos of the main living room). When we need to use it as a guest room, the furniture all moves to one side, we open a cabinet at one end, and pull down the wallbed. It works beautifully, and having a wallbed always makes me feel like I am in a James Bond film

It is the access off the lounge rather than a bedroom downstairs that is the issue.
If you make the existing kitchen the bedroom it makes it much more flexible. Could be a playroom, formal dining room, office or a bedroom.
The room at the back could be either a kitchen or living room snug depending how you configure rest.
Think this would make selling it easier if you ever decide to move

Oh and swap utility a downstairs cloakroom