Spacious and expensive house but bad layout, how can I rejig at minimal cost?

[JemimaDucki]

A house has come up in the area we are looking to move to. It is at the top top end of our budget and we cannot afford much more for renovation, maybe 15-20k max. Quick search reveals that the house is about 20 years old so shouldn't have any structural issue. This house ticked the boxes for what we want for house space, outdoor space, cul-de-sac location, schools, etc. But, it doesn't make me feel like I want to live there (admittedly I haven't viewed yet, maybe an actual viewing will change my mind). There are a few issues here:

1. the 1st floor has awkward layout, 2 rooms are long and narrow, 2 rooms are single. So out of the 6 rooms, only 2 are proper double. For a house in this price bracket I am expecting it to have more than 2 doubles. Also i particularly dislike narrow layout. I am also guessing it will be quite dark there as it all walls and doors. My question is is there any way to re configure the layout (cheaply) to have more double room, even if that means end up having only 5 rooms.
2. how can I let more light come into the 1st floor?
3. the kitchen diner living space is huge, 10+m x 5.5m. But looking at the photo, it doesn't give the feeling of spaciousness, in fact, it looks very crammed. This kitchen and the 3 ensuites upstairs are I assume recent upgrade, the kitchen has new gadget, quartz worktop, pop up extractor fan etc so it will be silly to rip it off. I am guessing the price tag include these renovation as its immediate neighbour sold for 750k early this year. So the question is, again, how can I partition this space to have comfortable kitchen, living and dining areas?
4. how to decorate this kitchen diner living space so it doesn't look so soulless, I can think of whitewashing the floor but nothing else comes to mind.

The price is at the top end of the market for this town, maybe slightly overpriced even, it has all the space but it is somehow lacking in character. (first world problem, I know but please don't shoot me)

I live about 2 hour from this house and am looking to move to this house to be nearer family. I will only view take the hassle to view if I have a plan of how to make it work.
Thanks for reading. Suggestions welcomed!
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113751593?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

@EmeraldRaine this is the area we wish to move to and has low stock.. hence asking resourcelful mumsnetters for creative (and cost effective) ideas to make it work...

Hi OP. Other than the size, this is pretty much everything I hate in a house. The kitchen is not something I could live with both because of the dark grey, the shininess, the concrete worktop and the lack of worktop space. I see what you mean about the kitchen. It's open but looks a bit like an unloved hall. I think maybe an interior designer could help you with furnishing or zoning to address that if you feel the kitchen is something you can live with or are willing to replace (yes I think you are paying for it in the increased price).

I'm not into loads of ensuites when they compromise bedrooms and some of the long narrowness has been caused by those being put in. I'd want to rip out a couple of the ensuites. I can't see any other way to get better shaped rooms.

The 1st floor looks quite light to me? You could consider a light tunnel to bring in more light if you wanted.

You need to go and see it though as pictures can be deceptive.

You need to look at the house first. I never trust the photos!

The loft room is the office and it's above the garages. I would think it's purpose built with a house that size, not a dodgy no building regs conversion.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

My thoughts... There is a Games Room, Living room, Dining room... plus a room that tries to be kitchen, dining room and living room. I'm guessing for the view. Thats why it appears cramped.

Bedrooms... space has been sacrificed for bathrooms. However, if they aren't small. Just awkward.

How many rooms do you need for immediate family?

I think the OP is having a laugh and this is a joke thread if they think the layout is poor with all those rooms. Plus the fact the photos deceive my eyes by having double beds in when they say there are only two double bedrooms.

If you can spend 900k on a house but only 15k on renovations, I think there's something wrong and what happens if you move in and find something wrong with a house of that size?

Apart from the obvious, well move the games rooms upstairs and put double beds downstairs fix, perhsps this isnt the right house.

Or perhaps the OP just has the wrong attitude.

I'm not sure which, but I'm staggered by this thread tbh.

@RedToothBrush yes i am having a laugh. Seriously if you have nothing to contribute why not just jog on? thankfully on this thread poeple like you are the absolute minority.
This house has plenty of space and plenty of potential, just a pity it is let down by the layout, i said repeatedly.
It is a discussion about whether it is possible to improve a situation. If you dont see the problem in the first place, dont comment! Or at least do it without personal attack.

@RedToothBrush. I agree.
Good way to get people to look at your house on Rightmove though.

I think you need to decide how you would want to live in it.
The kitchen for example. Do you see that as a room to watch TV? Or would you use the games room as a TV snug?
They have three two-seater sofas and and incredibly hard looking table.
I'd want to orientate the sitting area towards the garden perhaps with a corner sofa instead and remove the dark thing round the TV. Might help section it so it isn't all linear.
Again with the table. You have formal dining in another room and high seating for breakfast and chatting.
I think a wooden table or something less hard looking there is probably all it needs.
The upstairs has clearly had the bedrooms carved up a little to create extra bathrooms. What do you need them for?
Do kids need huge beds or would they prefer their own bathroom? It reduces the need for dressing tables etc in the main room.
And if the rooms are for guests then there doesn't need to be loads of other furniture.
I don't get the dark feeling other than the décor but you really need to see it.

I think it looks like it has been finished cheaply. The wooden downstairs floor will always be a problem as it looks like cheap lino.

If it’s at the top of your budget, and you don’t really like it, don’t buy it. Wait for something else.

Has no-one mentioned the huge barn building clearly in view at the end of the garden? I'd be investigating that pronto.

House has 'good bones' and I think if you disregard the hard-looking furniture in the open plan space, add large rugs to define a seating area focussed on the garden, maybe a wooden island in the kitchen space, lots of houseplants, and redecorate the hall and other living rooms, it will be lovely.

Ok, if all the other boxes are ticked and there is nothing you prefer on the market, I would go for this house as I don't think there is anything that can't be fixed with painting, rearranging and accessories.
There is only one very thin long bedroom. It has windows at both ends so shouldn't be dark.
I would split it into 2 zones. A sleeping zone at one end and a dressing and sitting area at the other. ( Or maybe a study area for a teen.) There is width enough to put a double bed at right angles to the long wall. Then have nice wardrobes, maybe a chaise lounge or small sofa ( a ton other place to sit and read or contemplate life) and dressing table etc. The thing will be to zone the room into two areas and have things coming out into the room rather than all round the edge. The other thinner room is fine I think to be just a smaller double.

It has absolutely no character and that would put me off. Only one room appears dark to me and the landing is fine.

Has no-one mentioned the huge barn building clearly in view at the end of the garden? I'd be investigating that pronto.

^ I assumed OP isn't concerned with whatever is going on next door.

That house is massive, but also very, very ugly, IMHO of course.

I live near there. Honestly it looks okay. Tbh I hate the decor. I hate the grey kitchen. I hate the coloured rooms, id have to go in there and strip it. Paint everywhere, new kitchen and remove all those indoor French door things because I hate those too.
I feel it would have looked better being a open plan type house.

The outside is lovely, also Hillmorton hmm it's nice but for 900k the house doesn't speak to me

Thing is though with a house that size you don't need much of an imagination to make it work. You just need to change the use of the rooms. If you can't see that then thats the problem! Especially if you are lacking in budget and building work is a luxury that you can't afford.

The kitchen/living room is huge and very grey and shiny which makes it seem souless. The grey units would be ££££ to change so I would work on adding/accessorising to change that. Think of a complimentary colour you like with the grey and try and imagine what it would be like if you painted a wall that colour and added accessories. The pp suggestion of a kitchen island with a wooden top that is the same kind of shade as the floor would be nice. In the rest of the room you want to think of 2 or maybe 3 zones/areas. So a dining area, sitting area where you can either chat to the cook or watch TV depending on your preference for one of these. Then maybe another small seating area by the doors to look out into the garden. I think they have got their table in the wrong place and I would have it parallel and near to the run of kitchen surface that goes across the room ( but with space to walk round it obviously). Then I'd find a huge patterned rug that you loved to mark out the seating area(s) The colours in the rug would be in tune with your kitchen accent colour ( so it might be better to find the rug first).
I'd lose the whole media centre at the end as I think it is very ugly.

Thats very much an issue with having the wrong attitude when looking at a property. Its not the layout that is the real issue.

Another consideration is if the windows were new when the house was built in 2000 ish they will need renewing soon. The standard of double glazing was not great then and 20 years is a normal lifespan for windows of that age. Our house has a similar number of windows and the cost to renew was an eye watering £40k for aluminium. We were quoted around £30k for uPVC.

is this a joke? In what world can the kitchen be considered crammed?

I don't think any of those bedrooms can be considered singles. Every one could comfortably have a double bed in with space left for furniture! But I guess our expectations are all different.

House is meh bland boring
Go see it
Live in in for a year before making changes you need

Addressing the '3 narrow rooms' on the left of the upstairs layout (and ignoring the 'but those are big rooms anyway' comments)...

If you're saying that, instead of these three slightly compromised rooms, you would prefer two generous rooms, and more light in the upstairs corridors, take out the ensuite that is in the middle of the side room, move the corridor to that room so that it enters the room where that ensuite door had been, so being lit by the windows to the rear of the house. Now combine the two rooms on either side of the corridor into one room that's just on the front of the building and replace the ensuite if you want to - or not! This will mean that the side room will have a much more generous end to the front, and only be narrow to the rear with the ensuite, the front room will be a lot larger and not long any more, and there will be lots of natural light to the new corridor.

It's a huge house, you can get doubles into all of them. That said I don't like it myself, lacks wow which I would expect for that budget

Just to point out the long thing bedroom with bus on the wall has a fold out futon which presumably fits the width of the room when flat.

Therefore the idea you can't fit a double bed in it, is nonsense. You may not be able to full walk around it, but thats probably not an issue unless you intend to have a swingers party and every room full of couples.

It just highlights the lack imagination on how to make the room work better.