Creative ideas for playing around with living space please!

Comments (9)

PRO
Studio Hummingbird
2 years ago
Hello,

First, I must say that you have a really lovely property. It reminds me of our first home in London, the layout was pretty similar. I do agree, that a side return extension is a great idea in this case. You can pull the kitchen including an island towards the reception room and have a big space at the back towards the garden. Hope that makes sense. This will open the kitchen/living space and you have a lovely view into the garden by using sliding doors or bi-folds. The front is a bit trickier with the entryway/porch coming straight into the living room (front room). I'm not an architect or structural engineer but I guess it might be a challenge or costly to move the stairway from the reception room into the living room. This way you would gain more space in the reception room. It's worth talking that through with an architect. I've written about my own renovation here Kitchen make-over scandi-style, maybe it's interesting to you. If you have further questions, just drop me a message.
DJT2021
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree: the front is trickier - I keep seeing other houses but none have this layout so it's so difficult to see whether it is even possible (& I get rather pessimistic!). Thank you for your link too, you've done an incredible job with your changes. What a lovely space!
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PRO
OnePlan
2 years ago
Hi - sorry this is just a quick ‘while I have my lunch’ post …

The stairs are tricky to move due to them providing head space for the top set of stairs into the loft. And because of the three story status it means your stairs and a route out of the house need to be protected - so opening your kitchen up into the middle reception room could only be done if you install a sprinkler system to allow that part of the route out to remain safe. It all gets a bit complex when three levels of home are involved. It looks a fab purchase though ! Congrats !
DJT2021
Original Author
2 years ago
@OnePlan - please never apologise for providing free advice on your lunch break! That's interesting, I hadn't realised that about exit routes but it makes perfect sense. Tbh I wasn't that obsessed about moving them, but did wonder whether it might be possible to nevertheless some how open up (at least a bit more) between the first and second reception rooms whilst leaving staircase location as is. I've seen some people do it where the stairs are sort of 'exposed' in the space between the two rooms, if that makes sense. Do you think (with apologies for exploiting your generosity...) that might be worth exploring, or is it too far fetched? My concern is that it all feels a bit 'poky' and I'm trying to work out how to open up some space without being ridiculously unrealistic.
Jonathan
2 years ago
You could turn the bottom of the stairs in order to protect your fire route to the front door.
PRO
OnePlan
2 years ago
As Jonathan mentioned, if there’s sufficient height - you might be able to turn the stairs to open into front reception room - but obviously not if there’s a log burner or open fire in that room.

I’ve seen some interesting glass sided under stair wine cellars that could keep things supported but with more of an open feel to the space ?!
CWD
2 years ago
It looks like there is a window between Living and Reception? Could this be extended to make a door-height panel of glass to at least provide light and views through the house? You could replace the door between the rooms with a glass door and then you'll open it all up visually but with minimal work really. Looks like there is a pillar just inside the Reception though, presumably to suport the stairs, so maybe it's weird to open up view and see that though. Also, be careful about losing character by adding glass door - it's a good idea for light/views but might take away from the character of the house if it's got original wooden doors throughout.

Otherwise I say embrace the rooms in their original proportions, at least until you do side return extension - but you'll still have the little front Living room so make the most of it. Depending on whether you have kids and their ages, I'd suggest making the Living room into a TV-free snug, with couple of small sofas or one sofa and one or two comfy chair(s) - keep the size of furniture in proportion to the room, have legs on the sofa/chairs so you can see more floor space, have a big rug to zone the seating area - keep a 'hallway' free running from front door through to Reception, to visually separate the seating/snug from the throughway. Try and get some clever storage solutions for this entryway - slim console table, hooks for coats, but try and keep everything neat and simple so it doesn't get cluttered and make the room feel even smaller. Use big mirror somewhere to maximise light and open up the space.

If you don't need a TV-free snug then perhaps have a table and chairs in the Living room? Could be for dinner parties if you ever have them and/or for messy arts/crafts if you have kids - or just a spot for kids to do homework or someone to work from home. Similar to the TV-free snug, it might just be a lovely room that doesn't actually get used that much other than as a hallway, but it looks nice and gives the impression that you could host a dinner party or have friends over for coffee and have somewhere nice to sit - and quite often that is worth having even if you always end up standing in the kitchen chatting to everyone who visits!

Other option is to turn Living room into a really lovely hall/entryway and get it kitted out as such - storage for anything and everything that comes into the house, somewhere to sit and put on and take off shoes, small desk/filing system for dealing with mail, noticeboard for house/kid/school admin, pet stuff, build in utility cupboard and hide washer/dryer behind cabinet doors. Given that it's your front door entrance you'd want it to be neat and tidy and everything to have a space, but no reason why it can't also be a lovely room to enter into. And turning the stair to enter from this space would make sense too. I am seeing it with wood panelling and Shaker pegs, fitted bench seating and fitted cupboards, all in a warm deep colour, round vintage rug on the floor, with views through open doorway to something lighter and more modern ahead.

Any of those options leaves you with Reception as TV room/lounge, and dining table in kitchen for dining - with possibility of side return to open all that up later to provide large open plan space.
DJT2021
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks colourwise design. Those are also some helpful ideas / new ways of thinking about the room. The 'window' you mention is actually just a random circular hole in the wall...part of the character of the house, much like the supporting beam, I guess...but I like the idea of making more of it to lighten both rooms, if it works with the stairwell which we'd have to see.

The kitchen dining space is quite small just fitting a small table, so I'd have thought that we'd need to make the living a dining room and reception a living area with TV etc but maybe that needs a rethink.

No children at this point but future thinking is one of the things that has been really on my mind in all these ideas.

Thanks for all your thoughts, I appreciate you taking the time.

United Kingdom

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Creative ideas for playing around with living space please!

DJT2021
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Studio Hummingbird

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Creative ideas for playing around with living space please!

DJT2021Original Author

Comments (9)

Studio Hummingbird

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OnePlan

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Jonathan

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DJT2021
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