Help me with the layout of my bungalow!

[legohead09]

I live in a small bungalow. I don't want to move.

In an ideal world we'd have a loft conversion - but it's completely unrealistic financially right now.
I also think an extension could be out of the question due to cost. Maybe a conservatory if they're cheaper?
We have a budget of around 10-15k to make improvements.

Is there a way I can knock walls down, change the layout to make it feel more spacious?
Right now we feel crammed in! (2 adults and 1 3yr old)

Floor plan attached. What would you do with the layout or what could I do?

In the lounge I've marked where the tv currently is in green, the rectangles are my sofas and the circle is my table. My lounge is very narrow and is a walkthrough to the other rooms as you can see.

Any ideas welcome!
Thanks

Kitchen where it is, living room where the back bedroom now is. Conservatory right across the back of both kitchen and new living room. Both kitchen and new living room open up into the conservatory. Or you could close off one set of doors if you want more space in either kitchen or new living room.

Current living room becomes master bedroom. Put in short corridor from front door leading to lobby. That means that part of master bedroom becomes narrower, but it’s a long room, so it’s big enough for bedroom furniture and a workspace. Narrower section of bedroom becomes a workspace for your DH.

On a similar theme to cafenervosa, if you can't have side access... add walls in red to turn part of living room into bed 2 - I reckon this would make bed 2 about 7.5 ft x 13ft which is ok for a child. Knock down wall between kitchen and living room with squiggly line, to make kitchen diner, then bed 1 becomes the living room which looks out on the garden - much better than wasting the view.

With a kitchen diner your dp could also use that as his work space which is better long term than trying to use your dc's room as his workspace.

Another option…

Your long living room/diner is better suited as a kitchen diner. And you could use the front bedroom as a living room. Bedroom 1 is v generous so could chop into some of this, to stop the corridor through the long room.

I also agree with the previous 2 posters, try to get all of the living space across the back of the house with the bedrooms at the front. It will make a real difference to the feel of the room but also mean that you could extend (either conservatory or room) at a later point. I would also think about future proofing by leaving a space or creating a cupboard where stairs might need to go to a future loft conversion (look at how neighbours have done it or get some plans drawn up), or at the very least just make sure you don’t put an expensive kitchen or downstairs loo there!

Some of these suggestions are going to be as expensive, if not more expensive than an extension!

Honestly, I would downsize your furniture as cheaply as possible and put every penny you have into saving for a loft extension.

I think part of the problem is that your living space is also a corridor through the house and from the kitchen. I would see if you can create a corridor (new doorway and lintel) stealing a bit of bedroom space. Swap your dining table near the kitchen and have space a tv lounge area.

Putting up partition walls won't cost much. Knocking down the wall between kitchen and living room might if it's supporting anything - though as it's a bungalow it's feasible it's just plasterboard anyway in which case the lot of my plan could be done for £5k to £10k.

Agree - have the two bedrooms at the front and all the living space across the back.

I think this is probably the best idea but it does give you a very narrow 2nd bedroom however you could make it all very nice.

I am currently searching for a bungalow with a loft conversion and a conservatory.
We live in a huge rambling house in a remote location. I am looking ahead to old age and we want to move somewhere in a better location, with a bathroom downstairs but not too small. Once we are too decrepit to climb the stairs we would still have storage and guest rooms upstairs.

My conservatory is the favourite room in the house, it's only too hot on those 3 days a year when we have proper summer weather and everywhere is too hot. In winter it takes some heating but if you plan it carefully to have wet underfloor heating it will be useable all year round.

Which way is north?

Thank you for all of the replies. Some good ideas there for me to think about to chat over with DH.

Trying to answer some of the questions/comments.

We can't have the front door on the side as it's a terrace so neighbours either side. Set of 3 bungalows and I'm in the middle.

My neighbours have never done any internal remodelling or extensions as they're both single older people who have lived there since this estate was newly built (1999).

My garden is south facing so I would love the living area at the back as my lounge can be a bit dark being north facing. But I think adding a bedroom into the front would be really small?

We didn't add the patio doors to the back bedroom they were there when we moved in as previous owner used it as a dining/sitting room.

I don't know how feasible it is to move the kitchen to the front of the house due to the drainage? This is something we've discussed but not sure if it would just be a huge expensive that wouldn't really ever be recouped when we come to sell one day. Compared to spending that money on say an extension.

The ideal would be a loft conversion with 2 beds and a bath upstairs. I'd then knock the kitchen and back bedroom together to make a kitchen/diner, keep the lounge as it is with the stairs in there somewhere and keep the front bedroom as a 3rd bedroom/study for my husband WFH.

The fact my lounge is a corridor does make it awkward for furniture placement!

An extension or loft conversion wouldn't be possible without us remortgaging I think. We have about 15k in savings but would need a lot more for those kind of buildings works. My husband worries about borrowing money in the uncertainty of interest rates etc.

I also don't want to move as I love the street I live in, my neighbours are lovely, I love my garden, it's great for school, work, shops etc. Also moving is too expensive as house prices where I live are through the roof (south east England).
I like my house - I just want to make it work better for us.

What condition is your kitchen in?

Are any of the walls structural?

Given that you have patio doors already you could do this. The slightly bigger kitchen would have room for a table. If it's in good condition you could revamp with new doors/ counter top and just a few new units.

I'd keep the corridor open so you look right through giving feeling of space.

Then you can watch your child play in garden sitting at your table or on your sofa.

It does mean losing a bit of width to make the hallway. They are not so popular now but the long narrow bedroom now at front would suit wardrobes either side of bed with units over the top. We used IKEA for built in effect at fraction of cost. As long as it fits a double bed with room to walk along bottom it's efficient use of space.

The door into the bedroom might be better at other end. I'd plan furniture before deciding where it goes

I'd move the whole living space to the back.

Blue - bedrooms 1 and 2.
Yellow - bathroom
Black - stack the washer and dryer in a cupboard so they aren't in the living space
Red - kitchen, dining and living all across the back so you can live indoor/outdoor.

2k to sort the walls and doors, utility cupboard.

13k - lay a deck all across the back of the house with a decent pergola/roofing over it for rain cover for outside living. If the garden is big enough, add an outside unit like a self contained office etc and have it as a playroom

Oops forgot to add the pic

Thinking in a similar way to @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz I was going to say that in order to make furniture placement easier in the new bedroom, you could have a walk in wardrobe from the hallway so the room only needs bed and bedside cabinets (8ft would be okay for that) and your husband could have his desk under window.

Given where your bathroom is and that you presumably have to avoid the bedroom, access from the hall may suit the way you live and keeping this space could be useful for future staircase

Oops forgot image

I'd do something like this. It will cost you more than 15k at todays prices though unless you do a lot of the work yourself. You'll see I've put the corridor to the back so it is over to the right on the plan a bit - that's because if you put a corridor just eating into the current living room space that would create a v narrow room, but using some of the 'wider' side of the house makes it more balanced. I've shown a larger lobby outside the bathroom to give things a bit of breathing room, so it doesn't feel so cramped, but you could have your cloaks etc here in a built in store room.
It's a shame that you are a mid terrace as door on the side would have been the best option if not. It's a small house and so you are limited. On the plus side, if you do convert the loft in the future, the corridor down the middle does give you good access to where you'd eat the stairs.

That's great noidea!

This is exactly the size and layout of my mum’s bungalow. She has a conservatory on the rear - off the kitchen - that she uses as a dining room. It’s a decent size, has central heating in there so can be used in winter, and roof blinds so its not too hot in summer. The only problem is that the rear bedroom window opens into the conservatory now.

Yes I’ve seen so many bungalows on rightmove when there’s a bedroom into the conservatory. That’s fine when it’s just one older person who doesn’t use that bedroom as a bedroom, but not great for a family bungalow.

I love @noideawhatsuits diagram, it’s the simplest and best. Whether it’s worth the cost to the OP is obviously a personal decision.

I've taken @noideawhatsuits and tweaked as you said no open plan, remove the suggested store area, keep wall between kitchen and lounge but have the kitchen and lounge open onto a dining area, that way it's connected so the space joins, but you can hide from the kitchen/mess in the living room. You also retain wall space in the kitchen for units.
Our kitchen, dining room and lounge are open plan, but thanks so wall and furniture placement you can't see the kitchen from the living room.
It feels like a good compromise for space over privacy

Are you at home while your husband is working? For that budget, I’d put the best home office you can manage in the garden.
It would free up some bedroom space and mean he can work when you’re in the house without you having to worry about making noise. Put in a shelved wardrobe where the desk was, and a bit of storage in the office and you’ll be able to take anything out of the living room/kitchen that doesn’t need to live there and it will all feel more spacious.

To me it looks like now without doing any work the table should be in the corner near the kitchen and you should get a corner sofa at the front. You could also get benches along the corner back walls and a rectangular table to fit in closer to the wall.