How narrow is too narrow for a snug??

[GF79]

So we've a (1st world) dilemma. 2 kids and 2 adults in a 4 bed house (3 big beds a boxroom which is also a permanent office for WFH husband) but it feels like we're outgrowing the space.

We LOVE the location, proximity to schools, local friends and neighbours etc and for other reasons would really rather not move if we can help it. The only option we have is a side extension, which could give us a cloakroom/WC, utility, snug and lower ground floor office, which would free up the much needed 4th bedroom and get a lot of stuff out of other rooms. BUT the maximum internal width would be 1.7m. I think this would be fine for the utility and for the cloakroom/WC but would it feel too pokey for a snug? It would have a sloping ceiling and skylight too...Im thinking of a comfy chair/sofa bed (a double would fit it mainly used as a sofa), some plants, possibly a flat screen TV and guitars mounted on the wall. Is this a ridiculous idea?!

If anyone has managed to make a decent room of a similar width I'd love to hear from you/see pics! Or if anyone has seen/done similar and would advise against it, I'd also love to hear from you! We don't want to spend a fortune to feel like we've an extra cupboard (as handy as that would be 😂).

I was thinking about 1.7 X 2.6 which is a similar size to our current box room which is used as an office. Hopefully feeling a bit bigger because of the sloping ceiling and skylight. We've a sofa bed that's 1.4m wide that I think would work. I'm going to attach the worst floorplan ever to hopefully give a bit more of an idea of what I was thinking...

@UnderTheStairs51 here's a VERY rough floor plan...

It looks like you could quite easily fit a small sofa across the 1.7 back wall and put a tv on the wall directly opposite?

😭 😭 I know what you mean! It's a temporary problem isn't it. I'm also mindful that plenty of people manage in houses much smaller than ours and as someone else has said, a massive clear out would probably help massively 😂

An extra space for music (husband), watching TV (anyone), guests if necessary hence a sofa bed)...

Yes that's kind of what I was thinking. Good work on deciphering my scrawl!

We can't really open up the kitchen/diner more - I've attached a very rough floorplan that may help you visualise!

Is the lower ground floor office going to be underground? It costs a fortune to dig down. We have a basement room and cellar on almost the same level. Looked at converting into a self contained flat by digging the cellar down a little (largely above ground by needed more headroom) and he costs were astronomical because it involved diffing down. So high we could have bought a flat for he same price and we already had the footprint/water electricity etc there.

I would do a garden office and ground level utility/boot room

What's the set up in your kitchen? If you could fit a small sofa and TV in there that would work as a second living space.

Could you open up the space under the stairs and use it for storage/bookshelf in the snug?

We really need the box room to be a bedroom (long story) but I agree that a declutter would work wonders! We were thinking about the financial costs of moving plus all the work likely to be required on any house we moved to (we'd buy bigger so likely need a bit of a project) but also the costs to our time and health. It's a really tricky one to weigh up!

I'm just thinking that if you try to add too much into the space it will feel cramped and cluttered and not actually make things any easier. Whereas a load of storage will make the rest of the house feel more spacious.

How old are the DC?

I think it’s big enough, depends what you want from it, two big armchairs, side table, book case, tv.

I have a 6ft x 7ft square off the kitchen next to French doors, it has a lamp, rug, side table, snuggler sofa and one of those small professor leather chairs. It’s actually my favourite place to sit (2 other receptions).

Hi yes we're a bit addicted to LIOLI at the moment! We get unreasonably annoyed at the fact that they do all the work THEN make the decision though, when all the lovely houses will have gone and they've spent loads of time and money on their current house 😂.

Yes you're correct about the proposed room use, plus occasional guest room. Not sure about the height of the ceiling yet. We'd definitely have a pocket door (I think that's what the sliding ones are called) to save space. Though it's just occured to me that ithe door would be along the wall where I was thinking a screen would hang...hmm well that's not going to work now is it 😂

I think it'll work, a snug is just meant to be a small tv room, the clue is in the name. My teens still use ours daily, they opt for it over their bedrooms most of the time. Great way of keeping consoles out of bedrooms too.

Are you fully utilising the space under your stairs? We had a joiner build proper storage under ours (pull out drawers and full height shelving) and now we store a huge amount of shoes under there. He also put a massive coat hook/rack in our utility so we have loads of coats in there and we just keep the ones that are currently being worn in our hallway.
Have you considered combining the toilet into the utility which would probably take up less space than having it separate and would mean your snug could then begin at the front of the house and would benefit from a normal window as well as a skylight.

Excellent idea about the shelf (false teeth, lol) and the heating. I was thinking one of those tall thin radiators as we have underfloor heating in other parts of the house but the costs to run it are now astronomical so it's rarely used! Thanks!

This is a great idea! Like a proper little den...thank you!

We'd love to get some extra living space with it, to justify the cost I guess.

No so the lower ground office is currently the steps down to the garden and a rockery so there's not much earth to be dug out. We already have cellars accessible by full sized doors from the back garden, that extend under most of the house. The quote we got from the builder (30k plus vat, before fixtures and fittings) included the downstairs space which we just may as well have if we're extending to the side anyway or it would be filled in, if that makes sense.

This is good to know!! Thanks

Haha yep we've had a joiner do similar. We've a pull out drawer with shelves for shoes (plus a 3 box storage box in the hall for shoes, plus shoes in out wardrobes. 3 girls in the house and a LOT of shoes!). Then there's a cupboard with shelves for infrequently used crockery etc and that's where the vacuum and mop etc go. Then the tallest 'under stairs' bit is actually a book off the kitchen that was a pantry but we put the fridge freezer there.

We did consider having the WC off the utility but it would then be accessible from the kitchen at her than the hall and I know if there's any distance to go from the hall to any kind of coat/shoe storage then coats will end up on the bannister!

It's definitely worth us thinking about the snug at the front though, as you say, then it could benefit from more natural light (it's south facing at the front too).

Lots to think about...thank you!

Apologies if I've misunderstood, but would the sofa bed be going along the longer wall? If so, you'd not be able to open it up as the room would be too narrow.

If it's going across the 1.7 m wall you'd surely not have enough room to get in and out of bed when it was being used as a bed, other than clambering up from the bottom end. Plus when being used as a sofa, even a small one, you would have no room either side for a table for drinks etc.

I second the idea of a home office in the garden. I have one and the physical separation from the house is good for the rest of the household not tiptoeing around while I'm working, and I have that feeling of leaving work behind when I leave for the day.