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!

Depends how much you value the garage. Potentially extend kitchen into it. I'd also consider knocking lounge and dining room together to have a bigger lounge. The toilet is fine where it is.

@Yarnysaura

I did think after posting ‘but what about storage?!’ So your idea sounds the best solution. Smaller garage, but enough for storage. We don’t currently have a garage, therefore don’t really have much ‘stuff’ and use the loft, which is boarded. But the new one isn’t boarded. A garage is much better anyway for space and convenience.

@JazzyBBG

We currently have two reception rooms, so feel a bit uneasy at ‘losing’ a room. I would be prepared to do it for a dining kitchen. But the living room is big enough for us.

Cheapest will def be going into a bit of garage to make a kitchen-diner which can then open into garden. You’d then keep two other reception rooms downstairs and the loo. How expensive it is depends on which are supporting walls, etc. But I’d be amazed if you could get it done for £20k. You could get a builder to do the structural stuff/ and then do as much of the rest yourself to save money.

Oh and absolutely yes to living in it for a bit before embarking on work. I’m really glad we did that (albeit not for as long as we ended up having to do it) as you really do need to get a sense of the space, the light, etc before you really know how it will work best for you. Our kitchen was an absolute horror (original 60s in part, with a dishwasher from the 80s), bathroom also original 60s (no shower…), our window frames were rotten, and the central heating absolutely ancient and crap, but we survived!

My suggestion. If you keep the wet part of the kitchen close to the current WC there will be less plumping needing moving. You then have access from the garden to the main living space. Closing off one door stops the room becoming a corridor and gives more flexibility in furniture arrangement.

It also gives you room for a utility with outside access (good for muddy boots and laundry). Putting a toilet under the stairs is a good use of the space. It does loose the internal access to the garage but a shed in the garden should solve the lawn mower issue (and get 2 one for the front and 1 for the back).

Then the snug can be a grown up space / home office / cinema room. However you want to use it.

Probably more than your budget though you can make savings but doing as much as you can yourself and choosing a cheaper (but still functional) kitchen.

The cheapest option is probably to take half the garage (or 2/3) as a dining area joined with the kitchen and leave everything else where it is. But would it get enough light? Can you install windows in the side of the garage or is it attached to neighbours? You don't want to create a dark cave back there where light doesn't reach.

If funds allowed, I'd move the toilet and utility into the garage and have a kitchen diner across the back.

I have a house with a similar layout but my sitting room and dining room are combined.

I intend to knock through into the garage and place the kitchen there and turn the original kitchen space into a dining area separated by a peninsula. French doors or sliding doors out into garden to flood the area with light. Due to planning I have to keep the garage door so I intend to retain some of the garage for storage. Not sure if I will be able to access this area directly from kitchen. That would be my preference.

I no longer have grass but when I did taking the lawnmower through the kitchen didn’t bother me the same way as taking my vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs doesn’t bother me either. If it did I would just buy two appliances.

My wc is under the stairs through an internal hallway. If I had your lay out I would try to move the wc and use the existing wc as a utility room with access from the kitchen instead of the hall.

@AddictedToPaintTesters

That seems the best option. But I would be concerned about light - no windows possible in the garage because it’s attached to next door. French doors may take up too much wall space too, but we would need them for light. The garden is east facing so no sun in the afternoon coming through

Would the garage roof be able to take a roof light?

@AddictedToPaintTesters

I don’t think we could at the front. Maybe at the back, but I can’t remember where the pitched roof ends and the flat roof of the kitchen part begins.

Live with it for a bit. I was also dead set on a kitchen diner, but have come around to the benefits of a separate dining room. I like not having to look at all the washing up while eating, and in non meal times this becomes our homework / board game space.

i also agree with others that £20k will maybe get you a replacement kitchen, but won’t be enough to knock down walls or rearrange plumbing. I am in the middle of a renovation and moving the placement of anything is when the ££££ start to add up.

Will turning the garage into a living space affect the link detached status? We have similar but assumed we couldn't use that space incase we inadvertently turned ours and neighbours house into semi-detached.

1 shed, two lawnmowers, front and back.

Turn current kitchen into utility area with access to garage where there are currently cupboards. Close up access from garage to hall.

Move downstairs WC into utility area (former kitchen).

Use current WC plumbing for sink, dishwasher.

Move kitchen to current dining area and knock wall between dining area and living room.

Just a suggestion - maybe make a small office area out of a portion of the current living room, basically where the door is now - 5'6" x 11'5"

@mathanxiety

But then we have no living room? Kitchen/dining, toilet and utility?

@PolarBubble

Yes this is a concern. No other houses look like they have converted the garage. I think light wise it wouldn’t work either.

Maybe it will just need to be a new kitchen, then French doors in the dining!

I'd move the kitchen diner to the right side of the house so it's bigger and open and have a quiet cosy lounge on the left.

I’d put in a fake wall to create a utility and corridor to garage and back garden in blue on plan

red big under stairs if possible or at back of utility

Open up dinning room and kitchen - marked in green obviously if load bearing walls then cost implication

nice big kitchen across back of house

Building on the post above.

Turn the toilet into a utility (and reduces the wall removal) open up the back of the house.

If possible put a toilet under the stairs.

You mention a flat roof above the kitchen is a roof light a possibility?