Floorplan/layout ideas

[Katiehod]

Hello,

Looking for ideas to see if there's anything I've been missing. Hoping to maximise our space over the next few years and have 2 little ones (7 months and nearly 3). We will be doing the garden next year and removing the conservatory, replacing it with smaller doors as it has a huge, old fashioned sliding patio door at the moment.

I wondered about shortening the living room, by adding a stud wall, and making the kitchen longer. Are they any other ideas to maximise our space? Thank you!

Make the kitchen and living room into one L shaped family room and turn the dining room into a cosy lounge free of kids clutter. Don’t make the mistake of turning it into a playroom - the kids will not go on there and just clutter up other spaces with their crap.

I think extending the kitchen would just make it look even more long and thin. Perhaps swap the kitchen and dining room. Then you could knock out the wall between the two and you can remove one of the doors so you have more wall space.

Then knock out the wall between the new dining room and living room so you have a more logical progression of space and the dining room will actually get used. The smell and noise of the kitchen will be more contained etc.

If course In an ideal world I would build one of those big single level extension along the whole back so you can put a light and airy kitchen diner in. The old dining room becomes and office/snug but I'm guessing you don't have 60k lying around!?

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The more I look at it, this is a great idea, thank you! The space at the back of the living room is dead space at the moment and just has toys in it. I agree - no playroom! Thinking the dining room can become a snug for when the kids are older and their friends hang out more here. That's a long time away of course!

I agree it would look long and thin. I'd hate to do it and not be happy with it!

An extension would be so lovely but yep, no 60k hanging about, and I'm not sure I could cope with the upheaval it brings. Maybe if I win the lottery though!

I'd just put a door in between living room and kitchen so you can access it more easily. As the dc get older the open plan thing becomes less useful.

Do you need a home office /study?

Personally this is what I would do:
Halve the dining room - front half study, back half utility room. If big enough I would put a downstairs shower in as you only have 1 bathroom.
Make the lounge smaller giving kitchen a small L so you can put a dining table in there, potentially a sofa in if there's room.

I hate totally open plan kitchen /lounge /diner - I have always liked a separate lounge so people can have a bit of peace

How many are in your household and ages?

Depending on this answer would dictate whether I prioritized putting in another bathroom/shower room.

You could put your kitchen where your lounge is. Utility where the kitchen is.

Small study.

Put your lounge where your dining room is

Sorry, just read your first post again. So you have little ones so you can probably cope with 1 bathroom. If this is your long term home, I would seriously consider getting another bathroom/ shower room in

Mine are slightly older 13 and 10. We definitely need the extra bathroom now.

Do you have room to go into the attic space? I know that's ££££ but you wouldn't need to do it now and could save - you could have your own suite up there

Thank you - that's an interesting idea and one I'd not considered! So helpful to get outside perspectives. I am not a huge fan of open plan spaces either. My husband uses one of the upstairs bedrooms as an office at present but it would be nice to get that back eventually. I love the idea of a utility room. We had one at our old house and I miss it! We can't do anything for a while but it's exciting having a think how it could work better for us all.