Floorplan suggestions

[FunPinkSwan]

1930s house with very awkward , small (IMO) rooms for the lounge and dining room.

If I moved the lounge to the now dining room at the front I could maybe fit a small sofa in and even if I knocked the wall down from kitchen to the lounge ( notice there’s a zigzag wall which may be difficult for rsj) I don’t think a lounge would suit because you would normally have a kitchen come diner …

in your opinion, is this to much of a big job to try and get more space (if even possible? )

welcome to any ideas as I’m not the most creative :)

Yes, that’s a bad layout. It can definitely be improved by opening up some walls and swapping the l/r and d/r.

How much money do you want to spend? Would you recoup it in a sale, I.e. what are property prices where you live? Can you extend at the back? The external toilet is a dying feature…

Have you looked at neighbouring homes’ floor plans? When I did a big refurb a few years ago, I spent way too much time looking at drawings and plans on the planning portal and on rightmove, to see how houses are being updated in my area. It’s helpful as it shows what can be done.

What's the first floor layout? Do the first floor joists sit on the kitchen/ living room wall? If the wall doesn't support the first floor then it's an easier job to remove the wall even if you need to leave part of it opening up would be a better layout.

Make the dining room the living room. Make the living room the kitchen with a small kitch table. Make the kitchen a large utility/boot room. Don’t knock any walls down. All depends on what you need/priorities are/how many in the household?

@Koulibiak just been looking at neighbouring houses, great idea ! unfortunately (so far) for the ones I’m able to gain access to floor plans , they don’t seem to have the the same issue downstairs with the corner piece in the diner lounge and or general layout. Unable to find the next door neighbours which would have helped. But great shout so thank you. Yes I would want to get get rid of the two blocks out back with plans of having an extension at some point . I just don’t know if I can live with it as is..

@LikeABat thanks , the upstairs wall layout matches exactly the ground floor bar the point where the red arrow is … everything in blue matches the upstairs walls..

@Sherararara thanks, small household however we tend to spend most of our time in the lounge so the small lounge is concerning unless I see potential to extend out back ( I can as big garden and stpp ) but if I still can’t knock that wall down between kitchen and the now lounge I’m not sure I’d want to extend as I think it would flow better..

Extending is way more expensive than just buying more space at the moment because building costs are really high. I think you either need to find a house with a different layout or accept that you can't afford as much space as you want and make do with something like this house (if you are renting) or make do with your current place, pay down your mortgage and buy somewhere in a couple of years when you have more saved if you own.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but it is said in the spirit of trying to be helpful and is the advice I would give either of my siblings if they were you.

I'd do the same

Make dining room living room then knock wall down build new wall where blue line is
for living room/kitchen

@Geneticsbunny thank you , not harsh I welcome all ideas and suggestions:)

@rwalker never thought of that idea , good shout !

Thanks everybody for all your responses

I'd put living room in the front, toilet under stairs, build a cupboard where the current living room door is. Then take the wall out between the kitchen and current living room to make a kitchen / diner/ family room.

I think you must be neighbours with whoever has the "everyone has a room to themselves except me" thread - her floorplan is near identical except hers is open plan

If you look on zoopla you can often find all previous sales history for houses - so can see how they've been developed over the years (obviously if they've not been sold for 20-30 years there's limited info as RightMove and other online sales sites didn't exist) I've done that for many of the houses on my road before starting work just to get ideas of different possible layouts

@JimHalpertsWife 😂! I’ve been trying to find the thread as I recall coming across it too but no joy !!

@Thunderpunt thanks , both mine and the attached immediate next door neighbour has no record of previous sales , the houses on the rest of the road are similar however they don’t have the triangle chimney in the lounge and they have made theirs open plan.

@Rollercoaster1920 thank you for the ideas :)

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5248479-everyone-has-a-room-of-their-own-except-me-and-its-bothering-me?page=9&reply=141232443

What @rwalker suggests, though I'd be inclined to jiggle things a bit to fit a loo under the stairs. I'd also incorporate the outside storage as a cool larder for the kitchen, or as a small utility space for the washer and drier. That would give you a good-sized kitchen-diner, with scope to extend into the garden at a later date.

The outside loo would go, and that space would become your outside store.

@JimHalpertsWife thanks for sending!! And yes quite similar 🤣🤣

@EdithStourton thank you , more brilliant ideas !!!

I’ve been through v similar layout issue with my purchase. Ive done a couple of renovations already. But not since 2019. When it struck me it would now cost about £100k to add a loft, hallway, upstairs bathroom and larger kitchen to the Victorian terrace I was looking at I gave up on Victorian/Edwardian houses. I’m buying a less nice semi that already has 1200 sq ft and the right layout for us. I will save about £40k.

My old house had similar layout and we did exactly this. Knocking through kitchen and changing dining to lounge.

Switch over sitting room / dining room /kitchen (realise moving kitchen is more expensive, but I'd personally prefer the view/light in the dining area/table)

New glazing/doors overlooking the garden/patio

New internal door turning old WC area into utility/wc.

Depends on your budget, if you can find a decent builder & your tolerance of building work

Like this?

I like being able to see through the entire house to the back garden (providing you have a nice patio/garden) when you walk in through the front door if your have a modest size house I think it gives a sense of light/space no matter where the sun is during the day/evening but esp if you are north facing

@sisisisisisi wow, thanks ! Another great example of what I can do and yes I do too , like having the view of garden as walking in.

thanks :)

@ohsitdownnextome yes it all adds up now which is a little worrying! I thought by knocking a couple of the walls down instead of doing an Extension may save on the costs and as a FTB this is all new to me anyhow . Lots of decisions to make