Moved from a lovely 2 bed flat in Ealing to a 3 bed Victorian mid terrace in Hitchin in North Herts on the train line into Kings Cross/Moorgate in 2011. I struggled to leave the city but our town is v lovely and unique for commuterville in that there is a lots on offer on our high street both for shopping and entertainment. That said, we've sold to move a little closer to a big city again. Moving 10 miles north of Brighton later this year. I love our house and the space but after 5 years I feel I need more than there is on offer here and once we leave this town, it's a 30 minute (usually more) drive minimum to get anywhere with more on offer. I'm a city girl through and through and though I can no longer afford to live in one, I need to be close to one. Space is great, but think of what you do with your spare time, though it's pretty fab for where we are, I feel I outgrew this town of 35,000 people in less than 5 years.

Perhaps you could make the front room a bedroom, with split your bedroom in two to create a second bedroom, then create a large open plan kitchen - diner - lounge through the middle, and put the bathroom at the back where the current second bedroom is. That way you get 2 bedrooms (second bedroom would be a bit bigger than the current one and in a better location), plus the whole space will feel a lot bigger. This is just a suggestion based on how I would alter it if it was mine. But it's your home so it needs to work for you! I always recommend that you start off by defining your vision for how you want to live before designing the floorplan. A good taster of my recommended way of doing this is with my free Design Your Home Vision Checklist. You can get that here: https://www.i-architect.co.uk/dyhvchecklist.html For helpful videos watch my YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@iarchitect Best wishes with your home redesign! Jane chartered architect, eco-home and conservation area specialist www.i-architect.co.uk

I'm stumped. Can't see how to do it well. So offering an alternative, though you probably already have this as a back up plan. How about dividing a room with furniture and curtains? Ikea do a sound absorbing curtain (mixed reviews) and googling "bunk bed room divider" finds some interesting images, also shows there are lots of people trying to give children their own space in a shared bedroom.

"Possible" is a lot. To start with though, consider: changing the internal layout of a flat requires freeholder approval performing works inside a flat likely requires a party wall agreement extending a flat (making external alterations) requires planning permission many alterations ("opening up" / extending) require work by a structural engineer So even if you own a flat ... you can redecorate, refurnish, change joinery ... but touch the walls, windows, or outside, and you still have to get more than one other party to agree on it, and likely require building control approval during/after the work. If you're on great terms with your neighbours as well as own (at least a share of) the freehold, the first two can be "small items" alright. If even one of your neighbours is adamantly against it, you may well get scarred in that process... if your freeholder is able and greedy, they'll charge you for the lease alteration big time because the size of the flat will grow notably. The floorspace, especially if you'd be able to create a wraparound rear extension, could grow by almost 50% (about 5sqm on the current lean-to/side passage, and another 20sqm from a 5m rear extension). There would be some "space to play with" for sure. Whether the value of that space exceeds the construction costs, I'm not qualified to say. Do you have a budget ?