Which option please help!

[hippychickreno]

We have been waiting to start a downstairs small reno project over last few years but due to various reasons and struggling to secure a builder the work is yet to start. i think with having so much time to keep thinking over i am now wondering if we are creating the best use of space so would appreciate opinions. (havnt found the architect that helpful). for context standard 3 bed semi detached house with 2 doubles and box room. married with 2 small children, both girls so they could share bedroom. husband WFH full time. I do 1 day/week WFH but of course this could all change over time with jobs etc.
option 1 - current plan.
option 2 - i am now doubting whether this additional room will be that useful, it was meant to be an office/playroom type of room. my thinking is to move the kitchen into that space and create a bigger living area. have tried to illustrate this in pics.

also re downstairs toilet. a few people we know in same size house have just put this under stairs (doable but they are very small!). do you think that is better or best have a little one in utility?

altho a small project the work is costing A LOT of money so want to get it right.
thanks :)

In option 1 do you have to walk through the garage to get to the toilet and office?

Do you have a plan with the sizes? It’s hard to gauge without knowing the size of the room. Plus current layout.

How long do you plan to stay in the house?

I’d take out the wall between kitchen and dining. Move the kitchen over. I’d have separate doors leading to utility loo and study. You need a downstairs loo, you don’t want guests to have to walk through your utility with muddy football boots and clothes soaking in the sink. I’d keep the study/other room. The girls won’t want to share when they are older, an office will add value to the house. It could be a homework room/ games console room, another tv room, music room hooky room or whatever.

If the wall between kitchen and dinning is structural you could have a pillar on the peninsula I’ve drawn

I'd keep to option 1, we have the almost same layout but with the kitchen diner at the back of the house. With a family it's nice to have various rooms you can shut doors on. It'll be a playroom for now and a second lounge later on.
I'd probably do a double story extension though if you can get the pp, most of the money is underground so once you've spent that then sticking a bedroom on top shouldn't be too much more.

I like fruitbrew's design best.

Otherwise option 1, with a door between the utility and study.

exisiting plan attached, we did consider that wall out but engineer told us we would need a whole steel frame to support which our budget just wont allow. i think we are keen to keep that wall in now and will also be less upheaval as we will be living here.

ideally forever home. so even if we keep that wall in you reckon keep a seperate downstairs office?

thank you! we did enquire about adding a bedroom over the garage but was told it would be extra £60k as garage footings would all need redoing 😭

I’d still keep the study. But have doors in from the kitchen. A study you have walk all the way around to won’t be as useful as one that leads off the kitchen.

the other issue is we want direct access from garage to garden so this will involve leaving a least a door somewhere down the very left hand side of the house. hence why we opted for open plan kind of utility/office space?!

yes true good point, so would you envisage one side of the room having 3 doors? one to utility, one to loo and one to study? im just not sure how that would look 🤔

If you need to keep the supports there, then I’d shift the loo to allow for a door onto the kitchen. I’d move the kitchen to the other side of the room and use the wall to build in seating for a table at that end of the room. Then have the sliding/bi folds in the middle. You’ll have to bring stuff from garage this way but I think that’s better than through the study anyway which you may want to put sofa, rugs carpets
etc. kitchen have a hard floor that will be easier for muddy people dragging tools from the garage.

Put it this way.
DH is wfh. The washing machine is running. How much work can he do without a oir to shut?

Or it's a playroom, and the most important tv program has just started being watched. The washing needs doing...

Without a door, the study will be like working in the utility. Everyone who goes into the utility, garden or garage will be in that space...

If you placed the toilet/sink where I've shown purple:

• sliding pocket door as space saver, place wherever suitable
• keeps boiler where it is, less cost
• soil vent pipe from bathroom above currently in garage can be enclosed within this toilet area and WC easily linked in to drains

Utility area shown in yellow either stacked appliances or all under a worktop.

Keep the wall between utility and study on the current line of the back wall, less cost as using existing structure. Place door to study in centre of this wall.

Any reason why the utility room is so big?

@AnOldCynic ah thanks so in theory the toilet would just become part of the utility room?

but as others you think keep the additional
room rather than make the kitchen/diner bigger?

@FallingAutumnLeaf @fruitbrewhaha thanks both, completley get this. husband is adamant he wants to be able to get straight from garage to garden (he is a biker so often comes home muddy and cleans his bike in garden) so not ideal going through a utility and then office space but better than going all way through kitchen….we was going to have hard flooring down anyway.

is there room in garden to have a garden office? if so lose the study, DH uses 3rd bedroom for a few years while DDs are young and can share. later do garden office etc.

i would also be inclined to delay the downstairs WC for a while if that wd enable you to put in the steel and open up the kitchen / diner

I'd keep the additional room. I think your DH is right being able to get from front to back without going through the main house as it were. You'll get a feel for how big the room is from just standing on your patio now. You can mark it out, even put a desk/chair out there to get a feel for it.

If you had more width you could run a corridor front to back but that would make the study needlessly small.

It might be nice having French windows there instead of a single door?

There's nothing stopping you having the toilet as part of the utility but think about views into the utility if doors are left open.

I'd enclose it with stud walls but use a pocket sliding door so that you are not wasting space with a door swing. Not sure what f do pace the boiler takes up but if you can work around it in the current position great, if not, maybe just raising it higher up on the wall would give you room? You can always box the pipes in and got a small sink underneath.

option 1 looks good but definitely with a solid door and soundproofing between the study and the utility / loo.

DH has an office next door to our utility which means he can't do laundry which might spin during work calls.