what would you do to this house?

[Namechange466]

We have been looking in SW London/ Surrey for yonks and we’re really priced out of finding the house we ideally wanted - 4 bed, kitchen diner etc.

But we have now had an offer accepted on a house which is in our ideal area and is perfectly liveable and actually lovely inside.

that said it’s significantly under our budget meaning we have about £50k starting to do some works - and potentially up to £100k over the next 2 years. Fully done up 4 bed houses in this area can go for anything from 900k to 1m, if not more -so hopefully we could at least break even but actually add value.

We both work from home a lot, have a toddler and want more children, my mum regularly stays over to help with DC - and my husbands family lives up north and may occasionally visit.

Plus we love a kitchen diner.

This isn’t a mansion. So What would you do to this house knowing all of that and our budget? if needed we could possibly move out for six months

Just to add - other houses on the road have done loft extensions, side extensions and/or kitchen diners - it’s a 3 bed 1930’s semi.

Is the conservatory worth keeping or could it be demolished so that you could extend out 2-3 metres right across the back? If you knocked down the wall between the kitchen and reception room you could create a huge kitchen/diner/living space…and maybe the dining room could become a lounge/snug?

Good luck!

umm, switch the dining and reception rooms, so that the kitchen can be knocked through or opened to the dining area.
incorporate a murphy bed onto one of the study walls for the occasional guest.
lastly i'd change the small bedroom to an ensuite. and rework the other bedroom to a second master with ensuite. however set this room up so that in the future it could suit two children.

I'd get rid of the conservatory, and extend out the back creating a new kitchen diner, as well as a utility between the shower room and new kitchen diner.

If the study already has foundations to support a first floor extension, I'd also go up and create an extra bathroom and bedroom on the first floor.

On the first floor I'd move the loo into the bathroom to create a nice family bathroom, and you could use that space vacated by the loo as the doorway to your new bedroom and second upstairs bathroom.

I'd use the current bedroom 3 as the second study/occasional guest room.

As others have said remove conservatory and extend to make a big kitchen diner. Convert garage into utility and study / downstairs bedroom and convert lodge.

However, I don't think your budget will cover this. Removing conservatory, taking down walls, extending and adding a new kitchen is likely to be in the region of 150k.

If you can move their and do things gradually I think it looks like a great space.

Bear in mind that kids can (and enjoy) sharing - all three of mine have moved into the same bedroom.

You already have a 4 bed as that study can be study/bedroom 4!

It looks a lovely spacious house

As per others, combine the rear reception rooms to a kitchen diner. Remodel the bathroom upstairs. An en-suite wouldn't be my priority as you have a shower room downstairs.

In case you haven't noticed building costs have really increased recently, so your £50k won't stretch as far as it once used to.

I work in construction. If it was me, I’d knock down the conservatory and build a 2 story extension across the back of the house (roof line/planning permitting) This will give you a big kitchen diner and a good sized extra bedroom, which are the things which add most value. It would be over your budget (by how much depends on what spec you have) but the good thing is the house functions as it is currently, and you wouldn’t have to knock through until you were ready, so you could do it over time. It would be a ball ache but worth it in the end.

Convert the loft to give you a 4th bedroom. Pp correct that the study could be used as a 4th bedroom now, but good to keep it as a study for wfh/dc studying if possible. Alternatively convert the loft but switch the study and 3rd bedroom around given how small the 3rd bedroom is.

I'd suggest living in the house for a while before deciding what to do about the kitchen/conservatory. I know it is the fashion at present to knock rooms into one large room but as the dc get older separate spaces for them to hang out with friends, music practice, gaming etc may be useful. One option could be to demolish the conservatory and extend the kitchen, keeping the dining room as a second sitting room/playroom?

I’d have dining room as grown up lounge and knock the kitchen and current lounge into kitchen/diner/family room, possibly extending into conservatory area if funds allow.

Knock down conservatory and new big kitchen diner at the back. You have two other separate spaces (study/front reception) so you don't need conservatory as well.

I would keep the back reception and use it as a playroom for all your DC toys. You'd have to think about how to get light into it though as no separate window (extend it slightly + skylights?). You could put in pocket doors so it could be open to the kitchen during the day and closed off at night. Having somewhere to put toys out of sight is great!

When you can afford it, loft conversion with ensuite bathroom. I'd also shove a small study/single bedroom up there but that depends on how much space there is in your loft.

Eventually (after loft conversion), I'd want to knock through downstairs toilet and shower room to create a utility room/boot room area with side access. But I'd still want to keep space for a downstairs loo as well so would think about this when designing kitchen diner at the back. Can you shave off some space from behind the shower-room to fit in a decent size utility area and toilet? Having somewhere that's not the front hall to store muddy boots and coats, as well as have your washing machine and dryer, would be really useful. And there's no need for a downstairs shower room if you've got one in the loft conversion.

House has so much potential - you must be very excited!

Thanks all for all the great ideas so far! Feel like our house has potential which is great. I suppose we could try and do work in phases and refinance as needed to pull out funds so no rush.

There are also some points that I didn’t think about before - converting the downstairs bathroom to a utility and that kids like their own spaces to game/socialise as they get older so maybe a cavernous family room isn’t always the best idea. lots to mull over

Hmm... depends on the conservatory quality. Could it easily be converted onto actual room with lovely big sky lantern? Cheaper than knocking it down and rebuilding but really depends on current age and standard. I'd then knock reception room and kitchen into big kitchen/family hang out room. Open conservatory space on this room so lots of light and have have dining table under sky lantern. Also pinch area of reception room- where current door is for a utility room.

I'd then look at a loft conversion in a couple of years time. Move loo into bathroom.

photo of conservatory is attached. seems to be in relatively good condition

I think you might get a shock on prices. I’m just coming to the end of a large renovation. Costs have skyrocketed. I don’t think £50k will get you very far at all. It certainly won’t get you a decent sized double height extension and it probably won’t even get you a single height extension all the way across the back.

Depends on your budget, a quick win would be creating a relationship between the kitchen and the conservatory by moving the kitchen worktops to the partition between the en suite and kitchen and then I would improve the conservatory to create a space you want to use qll year.

I personally wouldn't create the open plan kitchen diner of 2010. Many are realising the issues inherent with that and starting to move away from that.

Has the garage conversion been carried out properly? I would make that a study leave, remove the ensuite. I would then install some beautiful glazed doors between the dining and living with 180 hinges so that the house has defined spaces but each space flows into the next.

I agree with PP, £50k is going to do less than you think. Prices and availability of trades have gone mad. If no urgent work (rewire/new boiler etc) I would just live in it and keep the cash safe until you are sure what you want to do. An extension is going to eat that budget (and more) quite quickly.

Oh and yes - I agree with not jumping into doing the kitchen diner . My house is very similar and I’ve resisted knocking through because I realised I actually hate people buzzing around me when I’m cooking. Love being able to close the door and put the radio on !

I would convert the loft immediately (work top down), then in a couple of years spend 100k doing what you can do make the downstairs work. I'd try and stretch that to getting rid of the conservatory and creating a large kitchen/diner extending as much as poss in budget

I would swap the functions of the current reception room and dining room and save towards having a loft conversion as you don't have much in the way of bedroom space at the moment. I'd probably get rid of the conservatory if it's a cheap and nasty plastic one and if that aspect of the house is south facing, get one of those gorgeous retractable awnings to provide shade in the summer. I wouldn't change the kitchen unless there was any way to add on a utility room. I hate huge kitchen/diners - much prefer the rooms to have separate functions. But I think that's just me.

I'd wait for a bit. Often when you move into a new place unexpected stuff comes up that the seller didn't disclose (holes in roof, dodgy boiler, peeling lino). Wait and observe the sun, where it goes.

In the meantime maybe spend a thousand or so on a nice new rug or new front door or bit of furniture or repainted front entrance hall. Something that spruces up the property's first impression and makes you proud to call this place home.

Long term, double story extension as pp noted.

I would turn downstairs shower room into a utility and have door opening off the kitchen. I would add another shower room next to utility loosing some space in the office. I would keep this room as an office/spare room. Eventually I would knock down conservatory and have an extension going across the back of the house but this will cost in excess of 100k.

Thanks the garage conversation has been properly done - will keep the bathroom there for now unless/until we can get a 4th bedroom upstairs- for my mum as she can stay in the current study for now when she comes over.
maybe we can get a garden room for an additional wfh space if needed.

Noted on the £50k not being a lot (which is crazy obviously) so we would sit tight and really work out what we can do to add living functionality and value rather than rushing.

@Marchitectmummy I always thought that lots of people are still wanting the large kitchen diner, pls could I ask what the main issues are with that? We have a toddler so have very limited experience of what children/families need as they grow older!

We viewed a house much like this one.

I would put a study bed into the study and then it can be home office and spare room - we have a study bed and absolutely love it.

I think an open plan kitchen diner is nice but only if you also have a separate sitting room which you do.

I think if this were my house, I would probably focus on the loft conversion first as it looks like you have loads of living space, albeit not ideally laid out but only two good size bedrooms - fine when your kids are young but I would want to be able to give both kids the same size rooms ideally

Personally and this would cost a hell of a lot more than £50k I would extend the first floor to the side (assuming it's allowed and that the foundations under the ground floor would allow it) to create two new bedrooms upstairs. I'd turn what's currently bedroom 3 into an ensuite for bedroom 1.

I'd also knock down the conservatory but extend the back of the house a few feet out from the original back. This would reclaim some of the garden (because my extension wouldn't be as deep as the conservatory) but also create house space for an extended kitchen diner.

I'd lose the downstairs shower room, personally, but maybe keep a smaller space as a toilet off the study. And I'd knock the upstairs toilet and bathroom together so that they're one room.

But all that's probably about £150-£200k's worth of work. (BIL had something similar done recently; slightly smaller scale, and they went super-high spec German swish in the kitchen, but they spent about £165k in the end.)