Dividing long living room?

[aiskabash]

Hello,
Working through home renovations and would like opinions on whether to divide my long living room in half to create two rooms. Thinking a separate dining room might be nice.

A typical 1960s boxy number with a living/dining room combo and a galley kitchen across the back. Including current and new plans. Not extending into garden due to crazy building costs.

Thank you.

I wouldn’t have the dining room between the kitchen and utility.

Could a dining area go between the sittin* room and kitchen - but I’d keep it open plan.

Could the dining room go to the left of the kitchen, and have either put in a wall between the living room and dining room, or doors from the living room into it?

Are you thinking of re doing the kitchen knocking down walls etc?

You could block off the living room
At the line of the kitchen and utility and then open up all three to make one long kitchen diner snug type room? Move the utility into the garage

I would swap the study and cloakroom into the dining area (between kitchen and utility). The dining area then goes where they once were.

We had the same layout and blocked the lounge in to a separate room and opened the dining space in to the kitchen - never regretted it

The dining room table is currently in the nook between the living room and kitchen but am not so keen on open plan there.

That is a good option to have the dining area/room left of the kitchen. Perhaps doors between left sided dining room and living room. Thanks.

Nice plan. Had not thought of utility in the garage. Like the snug option too. Thanks.

The cloakroom and study are very narrow with little light. I fear moving cloakroom might be pricey and not keen on loo near the kitchen but could rearrange walls.

Did you have a full wall or doors when you blocked the living room? Was the living room still fairly bright?

Could you put the utility in the store / garage area? I would be tempted to allow for more dining space instead. If you did find yourself with too much you could have a small sofa / armchair in the kitchen too.

Interesting thread as we have pretty identical layout (albeit ours is 80’s rather than 60’s) and having exactly the same dilemmas ! We are progressing with plans for extending out to the right hand side and moving kitchen from centre to that end but we need plan b if prices are too crazy. Cannot made mind up on living at room at all, on one hand love the double aspect, doors opening into the garden but on the other doesn’t feel like best use of space and finding layout really tricky. Do come back and let me know what you decide.

@aiskabash we put in a full wall but have 2 long high windows just below the ceiling in the new wall to throw some light in the back of the lounge area.

Thanks for the info.

I definitely will let you know what we decide. It would have been lovely to widen the kitchen. I am sure folks have done lovely work with their long kitchens.

It would be nice to see a few photos from fellow galley owners!

I would put folding doors at the divide of your 'L' shaped lounge.
We have a through lounge dining room with a square opening of the dividing wall in the middle and folding doors. Both rooms have plenty of light. We have the flexibility to open up the doors to create a bigger space if we need it, and a godsend when we had the heatwave. In the winter especially both rooms are warmer for being closed off.
I love having a separate dining room having had an open plan kitchen diner in our old house. I hated being able to see all the clutter when I served up a meal.

I would think about switching the kitchen and dining area around. Then the utility is off of the kitchen, and the dining area closer to living room. Some sliding doors would give some choice about closing it off or opening up.

Thank you for your post. I missed your reply. Great idea. Thank you.

Yes, thinking the utility needs to be closer to the kitchen rather than the dining room. Makes sense to have the dining room nearer the ‘relaxing end’ of the house. Thank you.

This is quite like ours.

I have friends who have done modern folding glass doors between dining and living room and it's fabulous. It works visually and practically.

We kept ours as a lounge diner, mainly because we have a fireplace and woodburner in the middle of the long wall, and I couldn't cope with getting rid of it or leaving it oddly in a corner. Instead, we moved the hall-kitchen door slightly to the left to make space for a small kitchen table in the bottom right corner of the kitchen. We also considered butting a bespoke, narrow table up to the left hand kitchen wall, but decided it was a few cm too tight on our measurements.

Knocking the dining and kitchen through would be a lot more popular though, I think. I just couldn't get past compromising the fireplace. Having 2 separate tables is actually really practical for us (one for homework /craft and one for eating) but I am sure it would feel more spacious with just one.

I’d prefer this layout

Actually this is different again. The study could double up as a spare bedroom or hobby space.

Forgot to post this!

We’re cheap and used ikea kallax shelves as a divider

I would knock down the wall in between kitchen and living room to make a kitchen diner then divide off the living room if you wish to. Your living room is the only big space in your home and lots of small rooms certainly won't attract myself as a buyer so maybe others feel the same