Hi everyone. I would love to hear you thoughts on my house plans...
My wife and I have lived in our bungalow for 15 years (in the Isle of Wight) and it works well enough, but I would like to maximise its potential before we sell up and move away in 5 years or so. I enlarged the garage years ago, but had it made to living standards with underfloor heating so that I could convert it later on.
There are two options. The first would be much cheaper as it keeps the kitchen where it is now so there would be very little in the way of moving plumbing and electrics. However there is a lot of wasted space around the dining room table and the dining room splits the kitchen and lounge.
The second option has the lounge and kitchen diner next to each other and has the benefit of adding a utility room and toilet, but would be more expensive. I know I would much prefer option 2 for myself, but this is not about me, this is about appealing to buyers and adding value.
I would love to hear your thoughts...
option 1:
Option 2:
I put a question mark by the door from the garage to the rear kitchen/lounge as I'm not sure it is really needed (or even allowed by regs). You get more kitchen units without it.
Thanks
Comments (21)
Andrew Van Day
3 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (14)Thank you all for views! We had considered various options such as those suggested but then would always come back to one of our boxes not being ticked so I do agree we may have created more walls than needed and maybe cramped the space? However I did still think the kitchen would be spacious enough? And the living room wall, when building we could see how we feel about this. I do think a dining table could also work in that corner and playroom instead of the dining room BUT then we are without the living room that we wanted. In terms of dining and kids eating, in our current house we have a breakfast bar with 4 stools and a high chair and his does work well. Also I would use the dining area/table as a family too but realistically probably not everyday. Maybe a small round table could be put into the kitchen also? I would just have to see what fits without it’s being cramped. Utility I thought it would make sense to have access from the kitchen? In terms of the formal lounge, I think that’s all it is...we want it as a formal lounge, also as someone mentioned it will stay tidy and away from the noise. Id say a large chunk of the house is dedicated to me and the children and I thought that area could be a kid free zone in a sense. I also have a lot of nephews/nieces that would visit often. It’s more about it being formal than it being dedicated to my husbands entertainment as unfortunately he doesn’t have much time for this due to long work hours....See MoreI would like advice regarding the floor for my open plan kitchen
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Comments (58)Update january 2022 - Happy New Year everyone! Gosh, 18 months into our renovation now, still loving the house, still lots to do! We are currently having all the guttering and down pipes replaced which has pretty much eaten up the last of our budget, but it'll be worth it to stop the random leaks we've been getting. We have made good progress on the 'posh' living room at the front of the house. The biggest change is the fireplace. Like all the rest in the house it had been ripped out and replaced with a horrid 80's gas thing. We pulled out the 80's monstrosity and were excited to find... A horrible 40's monstrosity! The original was long gone. Luckily I came across an edwardian original on ebay and snapped it up for £99! Sadly it cost a lot more than that to get the flue lined and the fire reinstated but never mind. Hubs did a great job as ever removing wallpaper and fixing walls (two full layers of filler!) and we've even managed to get some colour on. Lot's still to do including all the woodwork but loving it so far!...See More
PROOnePlan
3 years ago
Zoe Kelly
3 years ago
C D
3 years agoJonathan
3 years agoAndrew Van Day
3 years agoThanks for all the comments. I will definitely consult a local estate agent nearer the time on how to maximise the house's potential. A forth bedroom would be pointless I think as we live on an estate of about 100 bungalows of which only 1 contains children, all the rest are elderly (55+) couples or widows/widowers - so not an area for families. However couples still like up to three bedrooms to accommodate visiting family. Some have extended into the roof, but the orientation of our roof is the wrong way on ours for that.
Incidentally, re light in the kitchen for option 2, when I built the extension I included a skylight above where the island is for natural light.
In case you're curious as to why I have built such a large garage, I am a classic car enthusiast and that Aston Martin pictured in the garage is currently a bare shell, and its restoration will take me another year or two (or three)!
Andrew
- PRO
OnePlan
3 years ago Zoe Kelly
3 years agoAndrew Van Day
3 years agoWow! Thanks Jonathan - some work went into that! :) If we were going to live in it permanently that would be a good plan to consider, but I think it involves even more radical change of plumbing, electrics and even stonework of the exterior walls, that would be difficult to claw back in resale value. (Then again we might not move away if we like our house that much after the work.) But I will sit and look at it over and over along with my plans (or possibly use it as a base for another version) and perhaps it will grow on me more. I think though (just a personal preference) I would prefer to walk through a lounge to get to the kitchen than walk through the kitchen to get to the lounge (we don't alwaysdo the washing/clearing up right after a meal, so heading off to bed through the messy kitchen would make me feel very guilty). I would be interested to know what software you use for that as I'm thinking it must be fairly quick to produce - you wouldn't take 3 hours on a plan for someone you don't even know (would you?)
As for walking through a dining room as opposed to a lounge - for me I see the down side of walking through a dining room is that you have to walk around the furniture in the middle, but walking through a lounge you can go straight through the middle as lounge furniture sits on the outside edge, which I see as preferable (the option 2 plan shows a coffee table, but we don't have one as it's in the way when the sofa recliner leg bit goes up).
I did do a version of option 2 where the garage was squeezed down and the kitchen enlarged (although, as a 'car guy' I hate tiny British garages and wish they were all more like the American's).
Thanks again for your kind replies.Lynn Baba
3 years agoHU-555780099
3 years agoZoe Kelly
3 years ago
Victoria
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJonathan
3 years agoI love that my plan inspired you.
If it were me I think I would swap the island for a peninsula.
I think an extra shower room with laundry area will add more to the value than a big utility room.
Andrew Van Day
3 years agoJonathan
3 years agoAndrew Van Day
3 years ago
Andrew Van DayOriginal Author