Utility area in reception room…bonkers?

[Optimac]

Hello,

Me, DH and 2 small kids live in a traditional Victorian terrace.
It doesn’t feel like my forever home but equally likely to be here for next 3-5 years I think.

Main issue is that we don’t have a table in the kitchen as currently no room. Id love to keep the downstairs loo (have two bathrooms upstairs so no need for shower on ground floor) and have a separate utility area (rather than part of the kitchen). Obviously a side return extension etc would solve all this but it just doesn’t make sense considering it isn’t our forever home and Idon’t want to go over ceiling price of the road.

Im thinking of making downstairs loo area smaller so it is just a small toilet and sink, putting a kitchen table where the current ‘utility’ area is in the kitchen. Then I’d change the window in the middle reception room to a door so have outside access so can come in this way with muddy boots from football etc, and put a utility cupboard next to this new door in the reception room. This would then be a playroom/ utility room.

So questions for the wise people of mumsnet:

1. Is a playroom / utility room bonkers? Would this put you off as a potential buyer? I like having a vented tumble dryer and can’t think of anywhere else it could go which isn’t in the kitchen.
2. Would a toilet off the kitchen put you off? Granted it’s what we have already now and seems to work fine. I like having a window in the downstairs loo (which if we moved to say the cupboard under the stairs we wouldn’t have).

Current downstairs floorplan attached!

It shouldn’t be difficult to open up the old door to the reception . I can’t see why anyone would remove the beam above the door, so the support for the space would still be there. Can you hear where the door was by tapping the wall? If it’s is noticeably different, it’s probably only boarded over and plastered.

I don’t know if it’s the same in England, but Scottish building standards won’t allow a toilet to open off a kitchen. You have to have a room in between (ie, as you already have with your utility). I think that’s for hygiene reasons.

Agreed, I would also do this.

A friend had the exact same house-style as you, and she did this to great impact. Formal living room at the front with its own door.

Then middle room was the dining room (but not formal, so easy for kids to sit and craft there, plus a desk in the corner), then an open step down to the kitchen. And she had shallow bookcases all down the wall of the staircase - so good use of wall space, but also not so deep that you had to walk round them to get to the kitchen.

If I imagine now what it would be like if she put up a wall on her middle room to create a corridor down to the kitchen, it would feel pretty small, dark, and narrow on both sides.

Could you swap the second reception room and kitchen? You could probably get a table in then.

Assuming the drainage is in the side return?

Put double doors between this and lounge that can be open or closed so you can have a big living space or divide it up.

Turn the kitchen into a snug. I've seen them do lovely things with a big window onto the side return.

It would give flexibility to a future buyer as with the downstairs toilet you could have a sofa bed in there and guest room effectively en suite.

Depending on whether the house has a loft conversion, it might not be possible to remove the wall to the stairs because of fire safety. Also, you would lose all you heat up the stairs which can be a real issue in a Victorian house with the high ceilings.

Just noticed that this is only a 3-5 year house in which case you will probably lose money if you do much work so I would maybe just sit on it and make do.