House - layout / no hall

[Goodfox]

A house has come up in a very desirable area, great garden, also a seperate work area detached from the house which would is a huge plus for us as I run my iwn business.

It's a georgian semi detached cottage. In a bit of a mess so needs work.

My main concern is the layout. I've never not had a hallway before. You currently enter tgrough a monstrosity of a lean to which we would immediately remove so discount that on the plan! That is the front of the house.

There is no real back garden, there is a pretty big front which leads to an massive double garage with lots of parking then the street. This is very appealing as I could run business from there, clients can park, it's away from house...

There are only 3 of us, me, partner and 12 year old. What would you do with layout? Upstairs fine. The '3rd' bedroom is a cupboard though, not a bedroom in my opinion 🤣

Thanks all!

Is the conservatory on the front what you mean by the "monstrosity of a lean to"? If so surely the simplest thing is to replace it with something less monstrous to serve the purpose of a hall/large front porch?

It's covering a big sash window and subsequently making the living room a bit dark. I did think a smaller porch though between the two windows? Do you think that would be enough? I just want somewhere for shoes and coats.

It’s an odd layout with conservatory at the front.

As you say that needs to go. I’d look to possibly build an extension on the front (to make a larger lounge/living space) if you wanted it as well as create a front porch which leads through to a newly created hallway removing that useless pantry!
Kitchen and Dining room existing knocked through as one to create open plan… you could even possibly have french or bi-folding doors on the back and have a kitchen island in the middle if that is your preference..

Upstairs requires no changes to be fair, probably cosmetic but can’t tell without seeing actual photos!!

Excuse my dodgy drawing…

And if you opted for bi folding doors at the back then you could actually get rid of the of rear porch and move the downstairs WC into the corner where door is now…

Thats major structural work and the stairs have vanished 🫣.

@Goodfox do you have any internal pics for more information?

Is it listed?

That's not a great layout at all. So when you come in, currently, you have to go through the living room and dining room to get into the kitchen?

Yep!

I don't think there is room to run the hall down the middle, even though I'd love to. There wouldn't be enough room to run kitchen units plus a table.

I think I’d knock down the conservatory then put a stud wall across at the line from the living room door to the edge of the chimney breast so you have someone for shoes and coats. Then knock out everything behind the new stud wall so you have a big kitchen/ diner with doors out to the garden (I’d guess you’d need a steel?). You’d have the stairs coming out kitchen but can you put a door on them or something like that?

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Or keep the dining room where it is and just make that your entrance place/ cloakroom IF you can extend the kitchen further out the back to make it big enough to dine?

upstairs I’d be tempted to make the box room a dressing area or en-suite for bedroom 2 and make bedroom 2 the master.

Is it listed?

Can you knock the conservatory, make the dining room the living room, move the front door to the old living room (now a smaller dining room) and do a hall down the middle extending to the rear porch?

Alternatively re do the kitchen, getting rid of where the pantry is to use that middle strip as a hall. Use the rear porch area to extend the size of the kitchen.

Don’t touch it. It doesn’t meet fire regs and trying to make any changes that meet fire regs will be a pain in the arse.

I’d just leave it as it is to be honest, minus the conservatory.

Have a dining hall. But to be honest most people in cottages like that use their back door and never the front.

We keep shoes and coats at the back and it works fine. Ours is a different layout but has front door in dining room.

I think it will cost a fortune and I know I still wouldn’t be happy with the layout. I would let this one go and keep looking.

I would get rid of lean too and replace with something solid with suitable storage. Bricking up the lounge window completely.

Then add a large side window in the lounge to let in light. Or depending on costs a similar corner window to the other end and the 2 tall and narrow windows flanking the fireplace.

Get rid of the conservatory to return it to its original attractive front. Lovely garden. Make a small square hall at the front door by taking some of the dining room.

Then make an open kitchen diner by removing as many walls between the kitchen, dining and pantry as you can. The stairs will stay where it is but now in the joined kitchen diner. Living room and upstairs stay as they are. No expensive extensions involved.

This! No brainer. Plus you can have a lovely formal dining hall for guests.

I’d probably just take down the conservatory and replace it with something less wide and more in keeping- a bit like these pics. That would be cheapest. Have a small bench, hooks etc in there and then a bigger cupboard in the dining room.

But I also might live with the house for a bit before doing anything major as probably what I’d want to do with the downstairs is turn the big room into a kitchen diner with a sofa, then the back into a snug and then the front into a hall/ second dining room with storage, then you might not need a porch at all.

But I love the house, definitely try to make it work.

Ahhh bugger! I was being very ambitious 🤣🤣 I mean you could move the kitchen to where the lounge is currently and extend out, still have the hallway if you want it and two separate reception rooms (although you could open them up with stair case in the middle…)