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

Ahh, tbh most of the nicer houses are concentrated on the SW side.

If I were you I would rent in Hillmorton, get in the school and then move slightly further out.

Gives you time to wait to find the one as well and your not constricted on area as much.

@LemonSwan SW side of hillmorton is where exactly, can you give some streets? also. i cant get the desired primary school then move slightly out as the i need them to go to the desired secondary too..

Ahh cancel that. I just checked and the house above does come under Ashlawn Area.

All the way covering Cawston, Dunchurch, and SW villages Grandborough, Broadwell, Nethercote etc.

www.warwickshire.gov.uk/school-admissions-appeals/priority-area-map-infant-primary-schools/3

I know that area. Not up to date enough to comment on prices, but can understand why some of the others suggested have been ruled out by the OP.

I think you're being too picky before you've seen it. EA photos are notoriously misleading both positively and negatively.

What I do think you're up against though is that it's priced as a house needing no work, and personally I would want to redecorate the whole thing before even getting to the style and colours of the kitchen and bathroom which also aren't to my taste.

I had also noticed the barn at the end of the garden but weirdly can't see it on google maps. Assuming I have found the right house you'll probably have some pretty amazing views from the upstairs rear windows,

What's the industrial unit at the bottom of the garden used for?
Farm animals, industrial manufacturing or?
Could be a source of noise or smell or both, do check it out.

I think it's an awful layout upstairs!

But I also hate houses masquerading as something they aren't!

I do think you need to view to get a sense of the space available.

Hope this works!

SW side of hillmorton is where exactly, can you give some streets?

Sorry I mean SW side of Rugby is nicer for big houses.

The Hillmorton side was only developed after the 1930s because previously thats the direction all the dirty smoke went.

So the nice big character houses are around in Hillmorton but they are scattered here and there and dont tend to sell frequently. They are also usually grade listed.

If you go further out the other side of Hillmorton away from Rugby then there are also some nice villages - like Clifton etc. But they are not in Ashlawn catchment.

It seems the Ashlawn catchment is centered around the commuter route down the Ashlawn road and into the SW side of Rugby (Dunchurch, Toft, and SW Villages etc.)

And yes that is a much nicer layout for upstairs!

@mistlethrush that might works! thanks!

@mistlethrush it would also get rid of the awkward doorway half blocked by the fireplace

@stilldumdedumming why would bad luck led people to have this budget 😂 , for us, just normal double income family who have been working and saving for 20+ years

Op, there are so many things wrong with your post. Stop telling people to jog on. You came on to a public forum and managed to boast, brag, dismiss and offend but get upset when others make statements you don’t like. Your reaction as shown above, proves that what you lack in brains and sensitivity you make up for in having more money than sense. Enjoy your bland boring mansion.

I stand corrected and it is fine that people have different views and perspective. But it is nice to comment without the need for personal attack.

Good luck finding the right place. I agree with your concern about bedroom sizes but it does sound like it is worth your while visiting this one (and go and look at the grade 2 place while you're over there :) ).

I'm a bit jealous not because of the budget (it would be a stretch for us but plausible depending on what our current house would sell for, SE but not London lol) but because of the kinds of house you can look at for it - if only I could get anything with that kind of space ( I'm particularly keen on extra downnstairs rooms), where we are for that price ...

Personally, I don’t like it at all.

You could possibly move the partition wall between the two long narrow bedrooms so it becomes longer and use some of it to tack onto the corner bedroom making it bigger. You are right they are odd shapes for the price.

I would make sure I had enough money to re-decorate all the house most of the decoration is ghastly. New curtains and I would want to retire the en suites and bathroom.

I don’t like the kitchen it is very shiny and dark. It might be your taste but I would prefer something with more character.
As someone mentioned I would get rid of the tv unit and shelving up the living room end. Lose a sofa would make it more spacious and I would also add in a fireplace.

Then I would want a landscape gardener to do something wonderful with the grass. If you are a good gardener with vision you could do it yourself over time.

I would go and view it and take a builder or an architect with you to see if you can move the bedroom wall. Or ask them to visit independently and report back.

A nice position to be in to afford a house with that budget but I would be looking for something better. Don’t think that a house of twenty years wouldn’t have any problems.

I would have put the ensuite in the long thin room across the back wall rather than being at right angles to it and removed the ensuite for the little bedroom.

I'd also move the study to where the dining room currently is. If you're wfh being close to the main door is far more practical. You could then have a dining room instead of the games room with a little snug off it (assuming that you would use a dining room more than a games room.

There seems to be plenty of storage in the kitchen but I wonder how usable the worktop layout is if you do a lot of cooking from scratch. I think you'd be better off resiting the hob to give you a longer stretch of uninterrupted worktop.

The garden is certainly a blank canvas - no wonder the seating is orientated to the media centre.

Op
If you do buy this property

Aren’t you concerned about people who know you reading this thread?

[quote ThanksIGotItInMorrisons]@stilldumdedumming why would bad luck led people to have this budget 😂 , for us, just normal double income family who have been working and saving for 20+ years

Op, there are so many things wrong with your post. Stop telling people to jog on. You came on to a public forum and managed to boast, brag, dismiss and offend but get upset when others make statements you don’t like. Your reaction as shown above, proves that what you lack in brains and sensitivity you make up for in having more money than sense. Enjoy your bland boring mansion.[/quote]
Very very rude! She told one person to jog on, one person who decided this wasn't a valid thread on the basis of the price of the house.

Surely to God everyone is educated enough to realise that £900,000 isn't an outrageous price for a house and some people living in 1 bed flats in London would get more than that price in a sale.

OP is hardly in Kim Kardashian territory. Even people with decent budgets need help with house hunting, they aren't a different species.

The op has not boasted or bragged

It’s like some mumsnetters begrudge and despise anyone who isn’t on bones of their arses stretching a chicken carcass to last a week to feed a family of 8

@Pythonesque thanks, i am surprised to discover this price in rugby. For a long time i was told by relatives that compared to Leamington Spa and Warwick, Rugby offers the best value for money, so my initial budget was a lot lower than 900k.
@Redsquirrel5 I dont like these shiny grey interiors too, but thought it would be 'easy' to re-spray..
@Hathertonhariden i hate to interrupt the kitchen worktop as it costs £££ but if there is no choice.. ..
@Saladovercrispsanyday nobody knows apart from families, hopefully, I havent even decided to view it yet
@Chicchicchicchiclana thank you.

I would probably turn the small rear facing bedroom into another family bathroom, then remove the two little en-suites from the bedroom above the games room. That would leave you with 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms on that floor, which feels about right.

The little front facing bedrooms could be knocked through to become one, or used as a study and the other as a small guest room. 2.46m depth isn’t much, but if you put centre a double bed on the short wall then there is still space to walk down either side.

I swear the vast majority of "this house is awful" posts are the vendor looking for interest and hoping for a load of posts saying there's nothing wrong with it.

I'm not sure why I keep getting quoted. I was trying to be nice!!!!

@stilldumdedumming sorry for that .. i know you are being nice. thank you. I didnt understand that 'luck' comment and asked in what some poster deem to be a rude way.
@GreatPotato if that is the case i am now hugely disappointed as also nobody likes my shiny expensive grey kitchen lol

almost nobody