Which house would you choose, based on these floorplans?

[Whichhousetochoose]

Please help wise mumsnetters, as trying to decide which of these two houses is making my head hurt! Both new builds on the same development (next door to each other), both have pros and cons. I’ve attached the floor plans for each house.

Current living situation - me, DH and 4 year old DD, hopefully DC2 one day. Both work from home the majority of the time. My parents would come and stay several times a year (hopefully friends would too). Currently living in a tiny 3 bed end of terrace.

House 1 - large kitchen/dining/family area, with a separate lounge and small study. Bedrooms are good size, although beds 3 and 4 smaller (bed 2 is the biggest). No window in landing area.

House 2 - similar size kitchen & the diner area is smaller than house 1, but has a massive living room and a large family/playroom. All bedrooms are really good sizes, plus has large window on the landing so good amount of light.

So really, I cant decide between having a larger kitchen/diner and thus a smaller living room and study, and two smaller bedrooms (house 1). OR have a smaller kitchen/diner but have a huge living room and playroom/study and have all the bedrooms on the large side (house 2).

Both have garages and space to park two cars. House 2 is £15k more expensive.

Ive been looking at them for so long I can no longer see the woods for the trees! Help!!

Natural light on landing is just heat loss through windows

For 15k house 2 ALL DAY LONG.

I'd pay the extra myself out of savings if my husband wouldn't budge 😅

Another vote for 2. All the rooms are properly useful sizes and it looks as though it'll be much lighter throughout. No reason why you can't use a bedroom as another study.

House 2, the rooms are better shaped and more practically sized. You can easily use a 'family room' as a wfh space if you needed. I don't like that house 1 has a living space in the kitchen/dining room. Dining rooms are the least used space so are fine to be small and I wouldn't like sofas that are full of cooking smells

House 2, bigger bedrooms, and the family room is much more versatile than a small study. You could use it as a formal dining room, and still have space to WFH if needed, or it could be used as a downstairs bedroom or playroom, and you'd still have a decent sized living room.

House 1 based on the downstairs layout. Not so fussed about bedrooms.

are they roughly the same square footage overall?

House 2 without a doubt, 2 good sized receptions and the bedrooms are more equal (and also 2&3 are a little more seperated from the master which may be better when you have noisy teens)

I would have the second reception as a study/library with a comfy sofa. It would be a total no brainer for me for the sake of £15k, you couldn't extend to get the extra m² for that. X

House 2! I was sold at the laundry room

I like the layout for house 1 for my family, but given you said house 2 is only 15k more I’d buy house 2 in a heartbeat purely because it’s so much bigger. Or at least looks like it on the floor plan!

I like House 1, it's just a neater more sensible layout imo.

What are the dimensions. The obsession with more rooms in this country ignores the fact that additional partition walls don’t make up for smaller sq ft and rabbit hutch sized rooms.

House 2 but I'd be happy living in house 1 too.

House 2 for the upstairs but I’d be reconfiguring the downstairs fairly soon. I really don’t like long narrow rooms like that living room. What are the actual dimensions?

House 2 , we have a similar sized lounge to house one in a new build and it’s ok for the two of us but as a family home it would be too small

It is also brilliant with a family to have a sofa in the kitchen - we have a big kitchen / diner / family room and it works so well for entertaining I wouldn’t want to lose that. You could knock through the end of the dining room in kitchen 2 though to make it more open plan (but I wouldn’t want the whole space open either).

House 2 without a doubt.

I prefer house 2 although both are fine.

House 2, I think.
Do all the upstairs bedrooms have built in wardrobes? It looks like it in House 2 but only in two bedrooms in House 1 (however, I might be reading the plans wrong!). I'd definitely choose rooms with storage already there. Adding wardrobes suddenly makes the rooms so much smaller.
Eventually you could knock though part of the kitchen in to the end of the living room if you really waned to.

House 2. It flows better.

I prefer the ground layout in House 1 - though a walk though in RL may be different.

However if you really prefer house 2 for 15 K on a mortgage as long as you can get the extra really don't think it a huge amount and would buy the one you actually prefer.

House 2 - seems a better plan.

House 2.
What they label as 'family room' give you so many more options - in terms of if you ever needed a downstairs bedroom. Plus of course you can still use it as a home office. You will all fit comfortably in the living room when you have family or friends round. Downstairs toilet looks a bit bigger (helpful for mobility issues).
Just everything about it.

House 2

House 2. The return in kitchen 1 means you would have a very small actual kitchen area. My parents have just bought one like that. My comment is that it works for them as they have holidayed in a caravan for years. I would murder my husband in such a tiny area.