Gorgeous character house but will it work?? FLOORPLAN

[chummymummy7]

Right price, right area.

But with no garage or loft (it's converted into a master bedroom) do you think this layout could work in terms of storage and bathroom activity with 2 teen soon to be teens?

There's been a family of 4 living here for 10+ years, so it's worked for them.

my hubby has quite a lot of work equipment and we need a WFH space. There's space for a garden office to be built, the garden is very pretty but isn't that big tbh

Nb: I really love character features, and "feel" and location are important to me - but we do also need practicality - and lack the budget needed to have both

those bedrooms are big enough for teenagers to have a bed desk and clothes storage in London they would be called spacious doubles!!

There’s no space or privacy downstairs unless you walk through a utility into a conservatory which needs work to make it a year round living space which is a dumping ground for loads of crap without a garage.
It’s a very pretty house but I think the downstairs layout would put me off in the first instance.

Also stairs off one of the main reception rooms compromises its use especially in the evening if you have young children are who are light sleepers. As I once came to realise

I don’t like the layout, having to go through a string of rooms with no hallway.

If your not dead set on kneb I'd look at hitchin or st ippolites or codicote or ware. The school catchments are much better. Codicote should be on par price wise and size wise and has a great community and decent school catchment and it's a village full of character homes. No train however
I would add Hertford to that list, especially as it has two train stations.

Do you know the area well? I really like Knebworth but I will never buy a place I cannot park easily with a drive. The stress would get to me and in a few years you might have to accommodate two more cars if your children learn.

Layout wouldn’t work for me nor the tiny bedrooms with growing teenagers.

Train lines aren’t normally an issue, close friend lived beside a busy one and so did my nana and you get used to the noise quickly.

That's an insane amount of money for such a tiny house. And I live in the SE!

Its a really sweet house, I love it. However, if that were me I would be very concerned about the lack of space. My old house was 1352 sq feet and I remember a couple coming to view it and they had two teens and I just couldn't imagine how it would work for them. There was nowhere for the kids to go separately (apart from their rooms).

Not for me.
Everytime you settled down to watch the box, you'd have a kid walking in front of you!

@SpiderinaWingMirror

Not for me. Everytime you settled down to watch the box, you'd have a kid walking in front of you!

This is a point. I am sitting on the sofa in our family area (at end of wide kitchen) half watching the TV and ds2 just home from uni has come in to maraud the fridge three times in the last 30 mins. It's OK as it is the other end if the room with an entrance beyond where I am...but in that house, yes, he would be walking back and forth in front of the TV I am trying to watch!

It’s so pretty. The fact that there’s no hallway is off putting, but it wouldn’t stop me buying it, if I loved it!

Thanks for all input, thoughts and ideas. This thread has been so helpful and we've decided not to go with the Knebworth house in the end. Practicality, space, storage, and a quiet, safe road won out.

Doing a 2nd viewing of this house later today:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121677476#/?channel=RES_BUY today

Obviously it needs tidying up but the vendor's a builder, and willing to do anything needed (within reason!)

Anyone input welcome. Can anyone see scope to add a 2nd bathroom in?

@chummymummy7 - How about a shower in the utility room? I have only looked at the floor plan and the utility room looks large (Jealous!) but could you move the wall between the toilet and utility and shove a shower in there?

By the way it's a lovely house.. very nice kitchen.

And for more storage put cupboards above the worktops in the utility room for all the washing tablets etc. So halve the size of utility room but still keep the storage and having a loo/shower room.

And then put a cupboard in the office for ironing board, hoover etc

I think it could be improved by making the utility room a combined and moving the door to the conservatory. Something like this…

The office space could remain in the front room, where it currently seems to be.

@SpeckledlyHen thanks, that's exactly what I was thinking - wondering why the builder didn't do that in the first place for selling.

that's a great idea @honeyroar but we decided against this house due to the busy road and lack of garage or loft.

We're now looking at this one: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121677476#/?channel=RES_BUY

No garage or loft would be an absolute deal breaker for me to be honest.

No amount of clever in-house storage could house the bikes and skateboards, camping stuff, Xmas Decs, suitcases, big box of wedding memorabilia and all the other crap we have in our garage and loft.

@chummymummy7 that is a much nicer house

@Floralnomad thanks, yes I think it's a way more practical family house layout - and the garden could be awesome

I think it looks completely fine as a layout! The house I grew up in and the house I live in now don’t have hallways downstairs, so you walk through the rooms, and it’s never bothered us. I’d keep the layout how the current owners have it so study in the front reception room and then the second reception and conservatory as living spaces.

Actually to be honest personally I would get rid of the conservatory and just have the one living room - the energy rating for the house is abysmal and it looks like the conservatory is single glazed?

That is a much nice (albeit more expensive) house. The 2 options for another shower would be to either steal a bit of the utility room like previous people have mentioned. I'm not sure your teens would like to have to walk through the whole downstairs of the house just wrapped in a towel though. Depends if you want a downstairs shower for sporty/muddy children or dogs.

Or divide the bathroom in two and have an ensuite, probably accessed from bedroom 2 would be easiest, though you could remove one of the cupboards in bedroom 1 to get acess. It would mean that the main bathroom would be windowless though, unless there is a way of putting a sun pipe in or something. Or maybe you could rejig the access to bedroom 2 by making the main bathroom smaller, and then carve a ensuite out of a bit of the hall and a bit of bedroom 2 on the front side of the house.

Sorry, should have RTFT before posting. The St Albans house is ok but looks quite dark in the photos? Possibly as the main rooms are north facing?