Thanks all! Unfortunately it's not really possible to notmodernise fairly soonish. I don't think the house has been touched since it was built (20s/30s), which means electrics are really old and the house needs to be re-wired, which in itself is a large job so we may as well do some internal work at the same time. I'm warming to the idea of a shower room downstairs, but I can't see where it would fit. We'd be keeping the doorway out to the side, but I think it'd be weird to walk into a shower room from there. Preferably you'd walk into the utility and the shower room would be off that, but I just can't figure it out floor plan-wise. Any ideas? titiankim - well spotted RE the windows in the rear reception. There's actually a window on the right leading towards the current "garden room" and there are two internal windows too. Funnily enough the rear reception room is really light currently. If we went with the sketch I drew, we'd keep it so that there are windows going all the way around that side and into the kitchen/diner. I also like the idea of keeping the two internal windows, plus the double doors to the kitchen would have windows too, so it'd still be quite bright. I think it's a wise idea to keep both reception rooms as I do think my mother's partner and his father would like their own space (plus the rear reception would make a great play room for future families). I've attached a photo of this room so you get a better idea.

Thanks urban space - we don't have under floor heating and the wood floor we had fitted about 5/6 yrs ago has been a nightmare. We did have an expansion joint but had so much movement and warping. We had the company back out beginning of this year and we had wanted to have a new floor at that stage but they said they could put right the existing one. Not sure on the technical term for what they did but they effectively relaid/ straightened it and used a resin with wood chips in to fill the gaps so you couldn't see them but within 5/6 months we have movement again and now all this resin is starting to rise out the top. For that reason I'm just not prepared to have a proper wood floor again - it might be down to the fitters but it has been extremely costly. By the time you add our dog into the mix and the scratches he has added to it I think a fake wood effect is the way to go for us

It looks like the simplest thing to do would be just add one bedroom (so 2 bed one bath). Keep the current bedroom and reception as they are. Knock down between kitchen and bathroom to make a large kitchen diner. Leave a small courtyard to allow for light for the bedroom, then behind this build another bedroom and bathroom, order depending on soil pipe access, but it would be nice to have the bathroom between the bedrooms and master bedroom at the back overlooking garden if possible...

Hello sarahmccann72, I think that a toilet where you propose would be really problematic, for two reasons. One is obviously how to vent it, especially since its on the ground floor. And even if you were to somehow be able to vent it, the particular positioning is just off, and you would really end up sending much more on plumbing. What do you think about adjusting the utility area to hive off a guest's bath? That would solve both of these problems actually. Check me out Here for some help.