What would you do with this house?

[mnahmnah]

Hi

We are in the process of buying this house. We have two DC - one is a football mad 6yo, so in and out of the garden a lot (only current access is from the kitchen - no outside access as it is a link detached). Garage internal door is also from the kitchen (I have drawn this on!), so lawn mower etc has to go from there to back garden as we can’t go round the side of the house.

What changes would you make to the floor plan? Or leave it alone?

Thanks for all suggestions and inspiration!

Can you put a small shed in the garden for lawn mower, gardening items and children's footbaalls

What's your budget, and do you want to keep the garage as a garage, and do you want to keep that dining room separate? I'm going to assume moving that loo is not viable.

@Thatwouldbeme

Yes, that was totally the plan. But there is a front garden that needs mowing too, so then we would have to take the mower through the whole house, rather than just out of the front garage door

@LadyGardenersQuestionTime

The budget would probably be £20k max, including replacing the kitchen itself.

The toilet is in a stupid place isn’t it? I’m not sure how hard or expensive it would be to move it to under the stairs/back of garage. Move the internal garage door to the bottom of the stairs. Then we could knock the kitchen diner through and our French doors in. That would be our plan.

But I’m interested to hear any other ideas!

Get another lawn mower for the front lawn and keep it in the garage?

This. A lot cheaper than redoing your downstairs layout if it otherwise works for you!

Depends where you are in the country, but where I am you’d be hard pressed to get change from £20k for the kitchen alone (inc fitting, appliances, etc). Building costs are insane at the moment

@maximist

We currently don’t own one lawnmower, so the idea of owning two blows my mind 😂Great idea though!

@Flockameanie

Yes, that’s my concern. But a dining-kitchen has been my one stipulation with all the houses we have looked at. I may have to shift my thinking.

Are you planning to keep a car in the garage ?
If not steal some and turn it into a utility , knock through the dining room / lounge to have one large family room patio / bifolds onto paved area

I think ideally you'd the wc and a utility area at the back of a garage and open up the whole back of the house into a kitchen, living, dining area. It might be more economical to convert the garage into a dining room and knock through. You could even have the existing kitchen simply sprayed or wrapped to tide you over. I wouldn't worry about the lawn mower too much, you can't let it dictate how you live. But a light flymo and throw it in a garden shed.

I think for the big back of the house job you're surely looking at 40k plus mind you

@Jennalong

That was plan b for me exactly. Saves removing the toilet. Definitely won’t put a car in the garage.

@Bs0u416d

That definitely sounds out of budget! I’m not a fan of open plan either. I like some spaces separate.

What is the orientation of the house, you want to maximise sunlight coming in. If you don't need the garage you could turn that into the kitchen, have the current kitchen as a dining room with double doors leading to garden. This would be a lovely bright kitchen diner with windows on each end. The current dining room could be an office/playroom/garage depending on what you need.

@Evanna13

Sounds great. But moving the kitchen and converting the garage would be beyond the budget I am sure.

The best option I guess is combining the kitchen and dining room. The toilet is the spanner in the works. Lots of work to relocate. Not sure we want to remove altogether. Then a load-bearing wall to remove and put steel in. Plus new kitchen.

I’m going round in circles!

Kitchen door as back door to the garden is pretty standard for most people so that's not really an issue. Shed in garden solves lawnmower problem, and get a cheap electric or hand mower for the front. Unless you're planning a big renovation before moving in, I'd live with the layout for a while before making any layout changes.

We’ve got six lawn mowers! (Just inherited three). I’d just buy two - one for the front, one for the back. Or have a gardener! Much less hassle.

Could you steal a little bit of the garage to use as a downstairs WC. Use the current WC as a utility/laundry room.

@Yarnysaura

Sounds sensible. The only issue is that the kitchen really is awful and I would replace that as soon as possible. But then changing layout would need to be done at the same time.

I only explained the door situation and lawnmowers etc in case it affected layout suggestions, as there is no outside access being a link-detached. So access is key.

@Honeyroar a gardener! Imagine that! We have zero clue about gardening so it may be a requirement

Moving the kitchen will be expensive as will moving the toilet. Converting the garage into a dining room and knocking through to the existing kitchen (with or without a new kitchen at this stage) will be your cheapest option of creating a kitchen diner and would free up one of the other reception rooms to be play room/study/snug. Losing the wc altogether would be a mistake and keeping it where it is and having it in the middle of your kitchen diner would be odd I think.

@Evanna13

Yes that’s where we would move it to, so we could create a kitchen diner. But it means a lot of digging for sewage pipes etc.

@Bs0u416d

Ok. That sounds a great idea and not one i had considered. Not moving the toilet would be cheaper. Plus we keep an extra room. Thanks!

Before you convert the garage think about the fact that you will be losing storage. That might be fine, especially if you have a decent sized and accessible loft, plus garden shed (or don't have any stuff!), but our garage is essential for us for storage (out door gear, tools, roof box, bikes, Christmas decs etc etc) and generally being a processing area e.g. for stuff on the way to the tip, recycling, gifts, clothes etc It is essentially an enormous cupboard/work room that's keeps all the stuff out of the house and I wouldn't trade it for more room space, though I might put the washing machine and tumble drier in there.

I couldn't deal with having to take a lawnmower through the house! I'd probably buy one of those robot lawnmowers in that scenario

Going into the garage to extend the kitchen and create a kitchen diner would be the easiest. You don't have to bring the whole of the garage into use, maybe two thirds to create a kitchen diner and leave the other third as is for bikes and lawnmower and crap.