1930 design ideas

[Extraordinarytimes]

After some redesign ideas from the mumsnet hive mind! I live in a 1930s house, with 4 rooms on the ground floor of roughly the same size, matched by 4 rooms above. Upstairs bathroom is over downstairs WC/cupboard. Each room is around 13.5ft square; the front rooms have the addition of bay windows.

We adore the house, but feel that none of the rooms are really big enough. What would you do if it was your house? Garden not very large (there is space all around the house; it’s in the middle of the plot, but the plot isn’t big, considering the size of house. So it’s not as simple as extending into the garden; we couldn’t extend at all directly from the back as this is the gardens smallest point. Could do at the side, but it would ruin the symmetry (house is very symmetrical at the front), plus we don’t have much of a budget. So. I’m looking for out there ideas!

We currently use the space as:
Left front room overlooks front garden. Adult living room; snug and cosy. Perfect for just us, difficult when entertaining.
Right front room playroom. Morphing into a games console room as children become older. Used all the time, lovely to have a space where we can leave a jigsaw or family game out. Great that the kids can game whilst I read in the main room, and it also houses all the toy mess.
Left back room - dining room. Favourite room; we also use it as a music room and it’s a little too small for both, and to play board games when others are gaming in the playroom. We eat in here at least once a week; lots in the holidays when everyone’s here, and always when entertaining. Last Christmas was crowded with 12 at the table. Conservatory needs replacing; currently used as a drying rack and as an overflow for parties.
Right back room - kitchen. Large island in the middle which is used daily to eat at. Room is too small for our stuff, and also for us to comfortably have a meal in. Constantly kicking bar stools! we love to cook and previously had a huge kitchen which we were always in, cooking. I definitely avoid this room now.

Im Particularly keen to hear from anyone who had this layout, changed it, and whether they felt it worked for them? In case it’s not clear from my post; we entertain a lot! Large family and we are the designated hosts…

I'd knock the kitchen through to the front reception room. Larger kitchen with dining space within the reception room area. Can use this space for parties too.

Keep sitting room where it is.

Dining room at the back as second reception room, extended out into the conservatory area with direct link to garden, or create covered outdoor space instead of a conservatory? Can still use this for board games etc.

Do you need to have gaming consoles/play area downstairs?

I’d knock through the whole left hand side and have a big kitchen diner with seating (I’d put the kitchen in the middle- so the current dining room- and then 2 snugs or 1 snug and an office on the right. You’d probably need to leave the doors into the conservatory for building regs/ to stop the kitchen being freezing for the time being unless you replace the conservatory with a proper insulated room.

I’d leave the downstairs loo where it is but change the door to coming off the hall and incorporating the cupboard and maybe some of the hall area, then you could have a loo-tility so no washer/ dryer in the entertaining room.

Depending on budget you might not need to take the chimney out- you could just open up both sides and have a 2 way fireplace. This is likely to be cheaper than taking the chimney breast/ stack out.

Again depending on budget you could replace the conservatory with a proper room eventually and have all 3 rooms open (or with French doors you can open and close).

This house (which I love) has a good example of a sitting room, kitchen and conservatory dining area.

https://people.com/food/dominic-west-look-inside-the-affair-actors-london-home-photos/

Thanks both, and really interested looking at Dominic West’s home. I have wondered about switching the kitchen to the left, so putting it into the dining room. Main thing that’s stopping me is that I love the dining room so much I don’t want to change it! Maybe I need to think about why, so I can replicate it instead 😂 The other benefit of moving the kitchen is that one of the hall cupboards could have the opening flipped and be turned into a pantry or even just house the fridge. But Heronwatcher that’s a really interesting idea about flipping the WC into a loo-tility. I would really like one; such a pain having the washing machine in the kitchen. At the moment one of the cupboards is an essential coat cupboard, but I have been thinking about moving this closer to the front door in any case as it’s a bit inconvenient where it is.

AnOldCynic - Do we need a gaming space downstairs? Good question. Answer is no; there is a loft space we could use instead. At the moment I don’t want the children so far away but I suppose that will change over the next few years. I have been a bit put off by considering knocking kitchen into playroom as mumsnet is always staunchly against a kitchen at the front, and although we are not planning to, we may need to move at some point. However you can’t see into the front rooms from the street so perhaps it’s immaterial. This would be ideal; there is a chimney in the playroom but it isn’t used so we wouldn’t miss it if it is knocked through.

The main kitchen area could stay where it is maybe just reconfigured with the dining area at the front.

I like @Heronwatcher's idea of the lootility.

You could instead sort of knock the dining and kitchen through, which would mean large archways into each room across the rear hallway space, not one big room but a wider uninterrupted flow between the two?

I’d either knock down the conservatory and have a bigger garden or replace with small extension. Is it possible to knock through rear hall so you have one space at the rear divided into kitchen, snug and diner? ESP if you add extension-that could be your dining area to view the garden. The separate spaces would be designated by the lintels-that’s what our 1930s house is like.