Has anyone ever successfully added a bedroom by extension to a 1930s/40s ex council semi?

[SatsumaZoom]

I live in an ex council house that very typically has 2 good sized bedrooms and a box room. I am acutely aware that as my daughter reaches her teens this box room will just be impossible for her and have been trying to think of a way to add a bedroom downstairs so that she can have our room and we can temporarily move downstairs until she one day (maybe) leaves home!

Ideally id love to add a rear single story extension with a bedroom and also use it as an opportunity to connect the kitchen to the garden. Currently we have a rubbish extension put on by previous owners that is too small to fit a double bed, isn't insulated and is our only access to our back garden, so we would first I imagine need to knock this down. Does anyone have any bright ideas or has anyone managed to achieve this?

I have attached an image of our ground floor although it makes the utility and family room look considerably bigger than they are (utility fits a single washing machine)

Why not go into the loft instead of extend downstairs? Downstairs bedrooms are odd unless it is a bungalow.

Or you could do a two story extension.

I dont think our attic is big enough to do a loft conversion and I am not sure we have the funds for a two story (this would obviously be ideal) so I guess I am trying to think of a different solution - the idea being if we ever sold we would market the downstairs bedroom as a snug or family room not a bedroom as I appreciate not many people want that.

Do you have to walk through the sitting room to get to the kitchen?
Could you partition the sitting room making a hallway alongside the stairs and have a large kitchen/diner/living area all out to the back. If the side door is movable at all you could possibly get a downstairs shower room/laundry area along that side wall. Smaller ex-sitting room becomes bedroom.

Cheapest way is to turn the living room into a bedroom and the kitchen / breakfast into a 'family' room.

When you sold you would market DD's bedroom as the snug.
That rear hallway is such a waste of space.

Add a corridor so you don’t have to walk through the sitting room. Sitting room because downstairs bedroom and then extend at the back to make a kitchen, diner, sitting room.

Or is it possible to reconfigure upstairs to make more evenly sized rooms?

I hadn't even considered reconfiguring our sitting room and making it a bedroom (partly because it looks out on the pavement but we would get around that) thats a good idea! I agree that halway is a complete waste of space :( I am not sure what they were thinking when they added it in...

You could widen the rear extension to the level of the window in the Kitchen/Breakfast room.
I have seen that done in a house my DS rented at uni.
If the rear is double storey, I mean just a single storey widening.
You could maybe have access to the garden through the utility room.
By redoing this extension, you can tackle the insulation, etc

You could refigure your ground storey to be a bit more functional and add a second brick skin to the extension. Does it meet building regulations at the moment?

If budget allows, I'd take down that back hallway wall (might need an RSJ in there if it's load bearing), make the utility and family room into one bigger room, change windows for doors and vice versa. Like this: red line = take out, yellow line = new door, blue line = new stud wall and door, purple line = change to regular window.

I assume you've got a door leading from the sitting room to the back rooms, although I can't see one in the plan. I'd also ideally want to put in a loo somewhere downstairs if there was to be a bedroom on the ground floor, any chance of utilising the understairs cupboard for that?

What would be your budget?
A teen can absolutely have a box room though. Is it a desk to study at that you think is missing? Could you set up a work area in the current family room or get some sort of Murphy bed for the box room?
Personally I don’t think it’s a great move for a teen to turf their parents out their bedroom. A double story functional extension would be a different story….

@TheNoodlesIncident I hadn't really considered taking out those walls - there is indeed a door connecting the living room to the kitchen, sadly the understairs cupboard is too small for a bathroom..I agree though we'd really like a bathroom down there though.

I'm wondering about infilling the gap beside the family room, but it would mean a bit of a rejig I think as the current kitchens only window would then be lost.

@WhatAWasteOfOranges you are probably right she probably could cope in there if she had to - we've a cabin bed with a pull out desk that when open completely blocks the doorway. It kinda works. I guess I'd just like her to have a bit more space - I grew up in a box room and hated it, so I guess I was trying to see if I could give her more.

Our budget is 35k approx. I'm aware it would have gone a lot further 3 years ago!

Depending how large the sitting room is, i would put up a stud wall to create a corridor from the front door into the rear part of the house (so make the sitting room private so it can be used as a bedroom) then have the back part of the house as the living space - if budget allows, extend to fill in the space next to the family room (red lines) and knock down all / some of the walls to create open plan / semi open plan to suit your needs (blue lines).

This

Do you actually need the extra bedroom? As opposed to just a bigger bedroom for her?

We had a 50s semi detached ex council house and as there were 4 kids, the box room was too small. So my dad knocked down the wall between the two rooms and made them a more equal size. Funnily enough, after we all moved out, he knocked it down again and made the box room, a box again!

similar to others, I'd cut off the sitting room for a bigger bedroom.

How wide is the 'rear hall'? if it is big enough, I might keep it as a loo / utility room (U) and then open up the rest of the space as a big living / dining area.

Ooh Parietal and I have a similar idea but love the idea of keeping the corridor as a utility.

Sadly @parietal the hallway is only 1m10cm wide so i think thats too narrow, which is such a shame because I love that idea.

There are 3 bedrooms upstairs @Cdmlover and its us and 2 girls, so ideally yes we do need the bigger bedroom somewhere I think.

I did consider we could go out over the family room (as her box room is next to that) but doubt when that extension was added the foundations were deep enough..

So many fab ideas ladies thank you. So much I'd not thought of!

Yes, mum and dad also added a single story extension at some point but making the two rooms upstairs more equal in size was the most straight forward way (and I suppoe cheapest) option to ensure enough room for each of us kids. Changing the room sizes was also a lot less upheaval than having the extension built.

If the corridor is 1.10m, you could get something like this (washing machine & dryer stacked is only 60cm).

@Africa2go would I fit down beside them though? I can picture myself getting stuck ;)

@Cdmlover oh ok I see what you mean shrink the room next door and make them both a similar size... thats a really good idea. Gosh its amazing how obvious ideas seem to have completely passed me by!!

thanks guys

That might work for you to move the wall between the front bedroom and the box room, often that wall isn't load bearing. Even in my 1930s semi, almost all the internal walls are brick built load bearing ones, but the one between the front bedrooms is not. If so that should be doable well within your budget.

I'd still be tempted to rearrange the layout downstairs at some point if/when budget allows, the scope there is marvellous. Also, you'd be amazed how small a space can fit a lavatory and basin, there are some compact versions available for just this issue if you wanted to go down this route. Or a lovely "lootility" room instead.

1.1m is wide enough. have a loo at the end, then a wetroom shower then a sink. or have a coat rail / slim shelves instead of the shower.

at the other end in the understairs cupboard, you can stack the washing machine & dryer (W on plan)