Windowless room - which one?

[MH0084]

Hi - I’m in a bit of a conundrum about my new floor layout.
I’m about to do a full remodel of a victorian ground floor maisonette. The flat is long and narrow and even though I’m end of terrace, the neighbours have a tall fence and I don’t have a lot of light coming in on the side of the property.

Given the floorplan, one room will have to “windowless” which is not ideal but the reality. I have to choose between the living room and the dining room. Dining room is hold be the most obvious choice, however that is not the best use of space as I would end up with a huge dining area and very very tiny lounge/living area that will be sunken from the kitchen.

I’m now agonising what to do. I’ve tried to move the kitchen around - but because my property is split level, It would also end up being a bit weird.

The best use of space is indeed use the windowless area as the living room. I quite don’t mind as I’m only home in the evenings and like to chill in the dark away from light glares to watch my TV and read my book but I’m worried about re-selling the property (not planning to, but we never know…)

any views?

Not sure I've quite understood the layout, my preference would be that the dining room is adjacent to the kitchen.

could you post a floor plan?

Can you post the floor plan?
I'd say dining room, personally I don't like the thought of a living room with no window.

Floor plans for better visuals

I think unfortunately you are trying to cram in too many rooms to the space. Do you absolutely need 3 bedrooms and two toilets?

I wouldn't buy a house with a windowless room unless it was a loo.

Could bedroom 2 be the living room and have the dining g room next to the kitchen. Could you make the study smaller to create a larger bedroom next to it? A bedroom without a window would be no problem.

when you say you’re doing a full remodel are you moving.adding walls? Or just moving around what you use the space for?

both your floor plans look very awkward. You’re splitting your living and sleeping space and have the large dark space in the middle.

I’d probably put your main bathroom where the study is. Then use middle space/bed 2/toilet 2 area as kitchen/living/dining and current kitchen/dining space as bed 3

Move the living room to the front and have a large kitchen /dining room just behind, where study/bedroom 1/living room is currently. Bedroom 1 goes where kitchen /dining is currently. I don't think you need two toilets in a two bedroom flat - that frees up 2 small windows into the kitchen diner.

You will really really struggle to sell a flat with a windowless sitting room or dining room.

Is this for you to live in or rent out? Because I can see why you’d not worry about small living space if renting out, but if it’s for you wouldn’t you want more shared space for socialising as a family ?

Agree. Currently the best space is designated master bedroom. It should be for daytime usage.

Can you glass brick wall internally to let a bit more natural light to flow through?

With both plans the living space is completely inadequate for the number of bedrooms. You couldn’t have four people living there and comfortably using the communal areas at the same time.

Tbh I think you need to start again and either move the living/kitchen/dining space to the front of the house and have all the bedrooms to the back, or (if moving the kitchen services is out of budget) scrap bathroom 2 entirely and make bathroom 1 bigger to accommodate a larger and more regularly shaped living space.

Any room with no window bar a bathroom would really put me off. Sounds like my idea of hell. I'm not even that crazy about windowless loos.
I honestly don't think anyone would buy a Victorian flat with a windowless sitting room.

I think the whole thing needs a rethink. I watch a lot of architect videos about zoning in flats.

Right now you come out of the main bedroom at the front, into the entrance hall, walk through "public spaces" ie the study and dining room/living room to get to the toilet. You would also come out of the shower wrapped in a towel and walk through the lounge/dining area. Not a good layout at all.

For me it needs a major rethink of the entire space for that reason alone.

I’m another who agrees with making the room at the front the sitting room, kitchen / dining pace behind it and then bedrooms / bathroom (s) at the rear

Bedrooms have to have a window to pass building regulations

I do definitely need three bedrooms (we are 4 people and both me and my partner work from home) and current bathrooms already exist in current places. I could move one of the bathrooms to the study area.
Originally, the sitting room was in the front of the house but as I need another bedroom, that became the master bedroom.
Building regulations and insurance policies don’t let a room without a window to be classified as a bedroom, I could use it, but that may bring me problems in the future.
The flat is not so small, around 110sqm and the layout today is not so different.
Another option would be moving the kitchen to the front room and have a row of bedrooms at the back but that sounds way more weird than the current layout and I don’t think my budget would stretch that much.

Have you checked with planning?

Habitable rooms usually need a window under fire safety laws, that then really limits what can go in a windowless room. Usually it only allows for things like Kitchen, Bathroom, WC, Utility or Storage areas.

Could you post the current floor plan with room sizes, maybe someone else can think of a good option.

Current layout

I wouldn’t buy a place with a windowless public room. We have a windowless downstairs toilet and I hate it. Given any other option, I’d rather have a window in either a living or dining space. It would get so hot and stuffy otherwise and be so depressing during the day. I’m not actually sure you can call a windowless room a public room when you sell.

can the children share a room? Or can you get rid of a bathroom?

BUT if you have no intentions of selling then do whatever you like and then you can stage it for selling by taking out one bedroom and setting it up as a living space.

in the picture it seems obvious that you’d have public rooms at the front and sleeping space at the back but appreciate it might feel different in person.

Are you trying to reconfigure this yourselves or have you engaged an architect?

How about this? It means steels but it would be so much more liveable.
I wouldn't bother with the ensuite tho.