Reconfiguration without extension - so narrow!

Reni Baz

3 years ago

The narrow kitchen and bedrooms frustrate - can't get a decent size bed into the bedrooms. What would you do??

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Comments (7)

Daisy England
3 years ago
They are rather narrow. I think you’d have to shove a standard double bed up against the wall in bedroom one and then have singles/bunk beds in both of the other 2 bedrooms.

The only other way to make them bigger is to get rid of bedroom 3 and include that within the other 2 bedrooms which personally I wouldn’t do as I think it could devalue the property.
Reni Baz
Original Author
3 years ago
Yeah, I'm wondering if re-doing the first floor layout would help. Trying to figure out a way to move the stairs or the cupboards to have 3 more workable bedrooms and a bathroom...it's hurting my head haha!!
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Hi. I like the suggestions already here, but, for what it's worth, I have a few thoughts to add too… I think your priority should be removing the angled walls between the hallway, family room and utility spaces as well as those between your existing kitchen and family room. These little walls divide up your space into pieces that just don't work - they create an incredible loss of useable space. Personally, I would leave the access to the kitchen/ diner from the hallway completely open. I.e. I have no doors/ walls to this space from the hall. This gives a lovely long-line of sight from your front door all the way to the back of the garden and will allow all the beautiful sunlight from your back garden to flow right through your home. If you would prefer to close off this space from the hall, I would consider putting the door in line with the back wall of the sitting room. This will give you nice square walls/ spaces to work with. Now that you have good usable space, you can pick and choose how to use your budget to improve it. In my opinion, the following suggestions would really transform your space and how you access/ use it: As you like to entertain, I would consider moving the wood-burner to the back room (currently your kitchen) and turn your current kitchen into your family room - It’s in a great position to enjoy the garden and a great size for a snug. The wood-burner would become a great feature in this space. Once the wood burner has moved here, the current family room could then be converted into a wonderful kitchen/ diner, perfect for entertaining. The left hand side of this room would make a perfect gallery kitchen. I would forgo an island in favour of an extra-long and hardworking dining table – the space may even accommodate one that seats 10!This long table would become the heart of your home - somewhere you can prep meals, have a casual natter with friends over a cup of tea, help the kids with their homework AND put on extravagant dinners. To enhance the space, consider creating a doorway between the existing family room and back garden – this area of the garden would be a great place for some outdoor seating/ dining by the way - You can then enjoy the simple pleasure of stepping out of your kitchen to enjoy your morning cup of coffee as your mood takes you. It will also extend the possibilities of entertaining to the outside. Transform your new family living space by creating doorways between the existing kitchen and back garden. I would encourage you to open up both walls as much as possible –blur the lines between the inside and out. This allows you to extend your family space to the garden and will flood your downstairs space with light. You have a variety of options available to you as to how you might achieve this – bi-folds, French doors or sliding doors are all great options, but you could stretch to fully retractable walls of glass - if your budget allows! Given its position, your new family room will feel like a well-lit sun room most of the year. Its size and position, away from the central spaces of your house, also makes it a great place for a snug – even more reason to reposition your fire burning stove here! To finish off the room, place a good sectional sofa along the boundary walls to cosy up on and dot with occasional tables. Explore options for floor to ceiling blinds/ curtains to draw over your new expansive windows, so that the room can easily transform from day room to cosy retreat at night. Play up the textures, rugs, cushions and upholstery in this room so it invites you to snuggle up. Adding a lightweight, sheer layer to the window treatments might be a nice addition for the summer - allowing you to open the doors to get air in, but shield from the sun. If you have also opened your new kitchen to the garden, your new kitchen/ diner will now connect to the family/snug via the outside too. This means you have a warm cosy space to retreat to from the garden when the cooler evening temperatures set in, and can just as easily pop into get some extra ice, for example, without having to break up the party. There are some changes you might want to do to enhance the practicality of day to day life too. If you were to create a doorway to the utility space from your new kitchen/ diner via the space under the stairs, for example, you would be able to access the utility without having to go through the shower room! If you like clean lines – consider concealing the entrance to the utility by running a long line of fitted floor to ceiling* storage unitsalong this right hand wall and across the utility room doorway. Keep the units in line with the width of the stairs so that you have an unbroken view down from the hall and really great storage! Most homes can never have enough storage, however, if storage isn’t your concern, you could also use the space to house an American-style fridge/freezer, home office space or even a wine fridge – handy for when entertaining and conveniently located for you to stop off at, on your way to the snug. *I suggest floor to ceiling cabinetry, as I would consider blocking up the window here - it doesn’t appear to have any great view, has limited light exposure (it is surrounded by buildings on all 4-sides) and its north westerly light anyway. In our home it would better serve as a giant wall of storage, however, you can keep the window if you want by having upper and lower cabinets and building in some worktop space. If after the above, you can stretch an extra few hundred pounds, you may want to create a doorway between the sitting room and new kitchen/ diner: Placing doors in between these two rooms gives you the flexibility of opening up the space for entertaining, and/ or keeping the spaces separate when you want to keep things cosy/ formal or just keeping the mess in your kitchen from view! Imagine opening them up as you invite guests seated in your sitting room over to your table… or opening them from the kitchen to retreat back to the sitting room for a nightcap. Make the opening extra wide/ tall to create drama. Keeping the opening wide will also be great for parties. When your doors are fully open, the two rooms will join seamlessly, providing good natural flow/ circulation space through your home - guests can socialise and move throughout the downstairs - not be stuck in different rooms - much more sociable! I don't see much value in reconfiguring the shower room/ utility spaces. It is definitely handy to have a downstairs loo in a family home. So only consider the expense of changing these if you wanted to make space for an office, as someone has suggested. However, you could block off the doorway from the shower room to the utility if you have opened this up from the understair and don’t like the idea of being on the loo and having to ensure both doors are locked!
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Zoe Kelly
3 years ago
Does the window on the right mean there’s not a house attached? One option might be to make the bottom half of bed 2 the smallest room, say 2.2x2.2m (small single), and then knock together the rest of it with bed 3 (which then ought to be big enough for a double bed with room either side and wardrobes at the end... lots of faff as you’d have to put a new window in but would give at least one decent bedroom?

If you wanted to go all out on that you could also move the stairs across to where the cupboards are, but that would involve moving the downstairs loo and probably the front door so I suspect not financially sensible unless you’re a builder (or have one in the family :p)
Reni Baz
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Hi Zoe, yes there's no house on that side, it overlooks a street. Hmm that's an idea alright! I guess I had hesitated because I read the smallest room should be minimum 6m2....

No builders in the fam to speak of. I am doing a full renovation as have just bought, but need to make sensible decisions! Not entirely sure what the original developers were thinking with this 😅
Gloria GR
3 years ago
I would say transform the 3 bedrooms into 2 bedrooms of approx. 12 m2 each. Change the stairs so that landing is more to the back of the house. Transform the cupboards into a bathroom where I guess you could add a window at the same level than the downstairs loo. Transform the bathroom into the third bedroom. A major change! It seems possible to get decent sized rooms (say 12, 11 and 6 m2). I don’t know if it’s worth
Jonathan
3 years ago
Alternative
nancyorford
3 years ago
I like the new plan from Jonathan, v clever. You could also confirm/discuss etc this idea with designer or similar - a cost but may save you money in the long run.

Reconfiguration without extension - so narrow!

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Daisy England

Reni Baz
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Reconfiguration without extension - so narrow!

Comments (7)

Daisy England

Reni BazOriginal Author

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Zoe Kelly

Reni BazOriginal Author

Gloria GR

Jonathan

nancyorford

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Reni Baz
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Original Author