Configuration of terraced house

[TaupePanda]

I went to see a house on a street that we have always wanted to live on. It has an enormous garden by city standards and the advantage (we think) of being built in the 50s, to replace an old victorian terrace that was bomb damaged. This puts lots of people off, because its not quite the same look, but houses built in the 50s are much more sound structurally and I don't care about bath stone mullions and stuff like that, personally.

The big challenge is that, without building, the downstairs isn't quite what we'd want. But, the same can be said for many houses locally and we are absolutely wedded to the area - that is my number one priority. So, we know we'll have to make a compromise.

It is my opinion that the current kitchen isn't big enough to be a diner too - its just shy of 19 x 9 foot (according to my measurements today, with a tape).

What do people think to making that a family room? Would that be too long and narrow? We intend to have three bedrooms upstairs and then go into the loft to create a large spare / upstairs living where the TV would sit, so it wouldn't be the only reception space we have.

We would then move the kitchen into the existing back reception, and the existing front reception would be a dining space. This would be much better for larger groups of people - which is surprisingly frequent and something we really value in our current rental. We also have an upstairs TV room right now and love it - essentially, I think we would like to replicate our current living situation but it could turn out to be an £800k mistake.

The below is the floor plan - the room marked kitchen is the proposed family room. A side return isn't an option - I never think they look that great and I don't think it is worth paying £80k for. Thoughts?

OP- you said the house is currently unlivable. Has it been empty 2+ yrs? If so, there is a little known government scheme to get homes into livable states again. We did this 3yrs ago and it meant that all building materials/trades, we only paid 5% VAT on. Its NOT the same as those new build schemes where the home owner claims the vat back though. Happy to provide more details if it has indeed been empty over 2yrs.

In addition to the other suggestions, could you fit a toilet under the stairs, to have a downstairs loo. Especially with small children, this would be very handy. Even a really compact one like the pic?

We live in a terrace - I'd hate the living space to be upstairs - but I'm sure what you're suggesting would be easy to convert back to a bedroom.
Downstairs I think you need a loo - all that entertaining and people going upstairs would annoy me - the buggers never take their shoes off - especially the garden party people. We ending up paying £25k to put a cloakroom under the stairs - it was a complicated job involving moving the boiler etc. but I don't regret it one bit! I know what you mean about teenagers needing their own space but I think your proposed layout downstairs needs a side return to make the family room a decent livable size - I think the side return is worth it. Another thing you could consider is have an outdoor building in your large garden for home office - kid's hang out.

Only you know what layout would suit the way your family live. And if you want most of your ground floor as a kitchen/diner, then there's no reason why you shouldn't. You will need to move services - water, drains etc, which will make it more expensive than just refitting the existing kitchen, and the size of those rooms is still not massive, so you will very much have a kitchen diner, not one of those kitchens with table and sofas set-ups. I don't really know what goes in a "family room", but the current kitchen does have those railway carriage kind of proportions and you'd have to think carefully about how to position furniture.
Personally, I can't see the point in giving kids a playroom in a house that size. Seems a waste of fairly limited space.

A lot of terraces near me have this layout. They put a bedroom in the loft and make what's marked as bedroom 1on your floor plan another reception room/playroom/office.

I would move the door to the kitchen to be off the back reception room and put dining table there so near the kitchen. So you have a large lounge-dining room. Agree with PP that closing the door to the kitchen is necessary so smell's don't go up through the whole house.

I'd put the wall back up and make a nice cosy living room at the front. Move the kitchen into and L shape in the back half of what was the living room to make it a kitchen dining area, and make the old kitchen into a large utility room with a downstairs loo, washer dryer and large fridge freezer, room to put up drying rack in the winter.

Living space in a loft is a nightmare if the kitchen is on the ground floor. It’s too separated out if you expect dc to go up there, never mind guests. It would be a definite case of “you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties”.

As a result I’d just extend out the back. Add in a cloakroom and utility. It’s not a side return. With cloakroom, utility and kitchen altogether at the rear of the house you have services readily available, so cheaper. It’s easier to have a sitting area on the first floor, not in the loft. Where are the loft stairs going? Don’t forget fire regulations. Plus have you checked out the roof structure?

Thanks all.
It's useful and interesting to get everyone's thoughts. Unfortunately it looks like a moot point - it's on for £500k and our offer of £540k has been rejected as too low. 15% over isn't unusual around here but that's oor limit for a total renovation project. So unless some others drop out of the race, we are moving on. But lots of local houses are the same so the question may well be raised again.

Sorry to hear you lost out - It's interesting that houses are still going for over asking price.