What would you do with this downstairs floorplan?

[Readysetletsgo]

We have two DCs under 3 in a standardish victorian 3 bed terrace. I really don't want to move but I'm starting to think the house might be rapidly too small as DC grow??

We have a 'snug' front room and the gloomy 2nd reception is currently a playroom, we just about sit an 8-seater table in the kitchen with the help of a bench and a deep breath in when sitting down

I wonder about -

• Knocking through the wall between hallway/2nd reception

• Knocking through the wall between kitchen/2nd reception

• A loft conversion or garden office to create more space

Anything else? What would you do??

On that footprint, the standard stuff is

1. knock through 2 reception rooms (possibly with diving sliding door)
2. side return extension for the kitchen, and/or extend out the back.

Really depends what you want to achieve - more general living space that ‘flows’ or more separate space/extra room (like loft or garden conversion).

I would move to a smaller dining room table to give you more space in your kitchen diner.
Otherwise it looks pretty spacious.

I’d keep the basic layout but rework the kitchen diner. There is some wasted space where the door leads out to the garden from the kitchen plus in the middle of the kitchen. Can you redesign/ change your furniture so that you can get a sofa into that area too?? Id talk to a kitchen designer but my initial thoughts are to put all the kitchen across the back wall (potentially with big windows all the way along and a island next to it. That should free up some space. It looks like there is already a second door to the garden out to the side but I’m not sure if they are double doors. If not, maybe make them double for more light etc.

When the DC are older you will want the extra 2 rooms to be separate.

The standard Victorian terrace extension looks somewhat like this www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123192608#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY.

There are many variations on that theme, such as putting a utility in the space that was the dining room, as that space is always dark. Like this one:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123151580#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY

(note - these are just two random houses I pulled off a website).

I recommend you look at floor plans on right move to give you more ideas. You can also see what planning permissions have been granted in your neighbourhood, on the planning portal.

I don’t understand the problem, there’s is more than an ample amount of space for a family of 4, you have 2 reception rooms and a kitchen diner with a 8 seat table, how much more space do you want and want to you want to do with it?

Our terrace has the double reception room, side return kitchen extension and loft conversion and feels spacious enough for our family of 4. If you want some inspiration I’d get on Rightmove and look at houses in SW London where there are a lot of very expensive Victorian terraces with all manner of extensions!

Depends what you want to achieve from the space really. If you want a kitchen/diner/family space, I’d go with one of the floor plans @Yellownotblue posted.

If the current kitchen diner is suitable or could just be improved to better fit your lifestyle without taking on major building works, I’d just do that.

You say the middle room is gloomy (typical for this style of house), but I think that’s only a problem if you need that space as a main living area. Kids probably don’t mind if the playroom is a bit dark and it’s useful to have a room to stick the junk in and close the door. Equally, a second separate sitting room will be useful for teens.

Your kitchen units are at the wrong end. You need the dining table by the doors to the garden. Infill side extension would help massively

Thanks for the responses all

For those saying they don't see the problem, you're right, it's more than fine with two young DC. I've just started to think that in 5-10 years time it might feel different and the space would feel cramped with 2 older DC/teens. It feels like it would be hard to have a communal space that would accommodate us having more than 2 guests round

A side return extension would be great, but aren't these ££££££? I think we could probably stretch to £70k in a few years but I think I'd like another bedroom out of it

I'll speak to a kitchen designer and see if the layout could be changed. Our table is too big but I really like hosting extended family dinners for 8 and we can just about do this with our extended table. It's a nice big room but has a fireplace in it which takes up lots of room.

I do like having two receptions and can see this might be good. Would knowing the dining room/hallway wall down help?

Might be good with teens, opps

Can you swap your dining table for a smaller one that extends?
They just have it configured for 6 on a daily basis for a spacious 4 people and extend to 8-10 when family visit.

I would keep the living room at the front separate. But have you considered the 2nd living room/ dining room opening it up to the hallway? It would be relatively cheap to take that wall down, and would then give you a more open space in the house. You can use as a second living space and playroom still but you would be able to monitor play easier and talk from the kitchen. It would also let more light in.

Add front door with frosted glass panel or window panel above door also to help bring light into stair and hallway area

I agree that it’s the kitchen layout. I’d probably sacrifice the fireplace into the kitchen design and bring the kitchen up the other end. Then you have two reception rooms and having one darker is not a bad thing imo - it’s nice to have somewhere snug and cosy to watch a film on a winter afternoon.

a playroom is a massive waste of space. I can see why you have one at this age but we got rid of ours pretty quickly. It was always either a complete mess or they followed me around with their toys anyway. We haven’t looked back since getting a second sitting room.

With teens I find I need more divided spaces than a big space, so I'd focus on the kitchen diner rather than knock the wall down. If the back room is dingy think about decor and lighting before structural change.

Before spending money on big changes I'd get a kitchen designer in and see what they say. If you want to host, switch to an extendable table, smaller for day to day but fine to be a squeeze when you entertain.

How would you feel about walking through the second reception room to get to the kitchen? Effectively making it the lounge area of a large family space (with separate snug in front room)?

The kitchen layout is awkward. If you closed the door from the hallway to the kitchen then you could have a more effective u shape with the table at patio door end.

An opening between the kitchen and reception room would then be needed, letting in more light and allowing some connection but not completely open.

The downside of that is reception two is more walkway like although the room could take it as it would only be a short corner and an l shaped sofa with TV on wall backing onto hallway would work. And you couldn't market it as a fourth bedroom, though realistically few would use it that way

If you did this you wouldn't have to re do the kitchen right away. It would still give a bit more room for a more square table or an extended one flipped lengthways.

In the longer term putting the tall units against the hallway wall would make the space feel bigger rather than encroaching on the width and you'd line up the walkways.

The dead bit of hallway could perhaps be eventually combined with the loo with the washing machine in there to free up kitchen space if needed

Side infill could be conservatory-like. I think they're less expensive and less planning rules. But I could be wrong with out of date info

@Calmdown14 I like the idea of opening up but I'm not sure I follow you exactly.. could you do a very quick drawing?!

Interested in conservatory style side return but I'm not sure what the difference is? I thought that the glass for them was really pricey?

Side return and knock though to part of the hall and dining room and make the living room the play room or study/living room/extra bedroom later on and have one amazing living dining kitchen area

i wouldn’t knock through the living dining rooms as it is nice to have a separate reception room for when you want to watch something different on tv or do some thing that needs a bit of peace and quiet

it would cost a bit but it would look amazing

Alternatively you could always move if the layout doesn’t suit you. It could end up cheaper than trying to work with what you have

My house is like yours, but we don’t have a downstairs loo. The kitchen units are an L shape against the hall wall and the outside wall. They go about two-thirds of the way down the outside wall. Opposite, on the long wall, we have a kitchen table -seats 8 - we sometimes have it flush against the wall, but there’s enough room if it’s pulled out. At the far end of the kitchen by the garden, we have a sofa and a work station -DH works from home. We have four adults living here comfortably.

I think I would take the wall out between the hallway and the dining room to make a more open plan space. You would probably need an RSJ in place of the wall though, not sure how pricey that is these days.
I second what a PP said about an extendable dining room table to give yourself more room. You can use the open plan space for a play room, with a comfy sofa and TV for the day time and then save the living room as a grown up space after the kids have gone to bed.

I would block the door from the kitchen to the hall so you can put kitchen units round that end. Then there's room for dining, desk, sofa at the other end or combination thereof, probably with doors to garden. Small conservatory infil between kitchen and dining to provide internal access and maybe door to garden. Or full, massive part conservatory extension infil

I knocked wall down between 2 reception rooms when 4dc were younger. Rebuilt the wall as they got older, as separate spaces worked so better.

I’d put a door where the red line is and see if i could get rid of the blue wall. Then block up outside door at the end and flip the kitchen round so it was you shaped against that end wall with an island. Double doors in dining room could become a large window and side door in the kitchen into patio doors to give access to garden. As much as it pains me I’d get rid of the fire and either utilise the space whilst keeping chimney breast or get rid of chimney if able to.

U shaped obviously

I had an almost identical terraced house layout. Knocking through & building over the side return gave a huge amount of extra space for a kitchen diner & conservatory style roof will give light into reception 2 which could be the TV / snug leaving the front reception as another more grown up space. Obviously building work plus new kitchen isn't cheap, but it's fairly simple to do. I agree with Pp that knocking through between receptions may be something you regret longer term, a balance of open plan and distinct separate spaces works best imo, especially with teens.