How to design a long 1930s semi reception room

2 years ago

Hi.
We had an extension a couple of years ago, with a kitchen diner extension. This left the long reception room which had already had the wall taken out in between before we bought the house. The plan is to get a fire in the chimney to make it a nice kitchen diner living space. We deliberately created a play room near the front bay window and left it all open so that we could watch the children play. However, in terms of future proofing it when the children are older, I could do with some advice on what to turn the play area into and how we do it? My initial thoughts are closing up the space and putting glass doors in, as we get a lot of south facing light through the window. Then the room can become multifunctional, close it off when want to and have a separate living room with tv etc, or a reading relaxation room. Thoughts are very welcome. I have added photos for context. Thank you

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Comments (10)

rinked
2 years ago
Are both doors still there? (Reception and former dining)
Tom Woolgar
Original Author
2 years ago
Just one door into the front reception room. You can access the room near fire by walking straight through to the kitchen at the back. It is in a kind of L shape!
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Well it's great to have the comments. It's actually taken away my anxiety about the room and I can think clearly now. Sandra your advice about what makes you happy in a room made me smile.. you are right. You also confirmed my thoughts on a cast iron fireplace, it would be too imposing, and I think a wood burner would become a burden after a while as well as being a bit "cottagy," I have thought about a gas stove, a slightly more contemporary looking one in a rendered, painted recess, with a reclaimed surround, or open gas fire? I'd love to see your fireplace Sandra when you get the time to post a photo. Minnie, thank you for the link. The ideas are so good I do like the white fireplace, and the nod to the 1930's is good advice. I think now I will start to enjoy this renovation. I am going to try the tv in another area of the room, although my husband doesn't like them on the wall. It is a good idea on the wall near the alcove though, I need to have a good look at the room with fresh eyes. Love the idea of the curtains and slimline sofas. It's all great advice and Nicola thank you for your offer with information regarding the bay pole from Fabricant. I am based in the South East so I will be very interested when it comes to doing the curtains... which I think will be a long way off yet. I feel I'm getting somewhere now by eliminating the wood burner and the cast iron fireplace. I am so glad I posted on here! I'll be planning and researching this week end. Much appreciated.
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We’re doing one sort of similar, our layout is slightly different as in the kitchen is a galley on the right hand side. The architect is doing plans at the minute. In your drawing, we’d be taking down the garden room/kitchen wall, dining/kitchen and opening the whole lot. A pillar will also be left where your kitchen entrance is at the left side and we’ll make a breakfast bar here. It’s over our 20k> budget to put in more beams and planning is more of a headache. We’ll see what the plans look like for this first though as this may very well change. We’re going to try for a utility also. The architect mentioned going out into the side driveway a little. I’d make your kitchen the whole back room area (cabinets on the far left) and make the sitting room a snug or even a utility room. I’d even widen those walls at the dining/kitchen doorway and you can put doors there for privacy if needed. Close up one of those hallway doors entering the kitchen diner. Have the kitchen open out into the garden for a feel of more space. Excuse the doodle ha ha.
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Ah, I didn't realise the stairs comes up in line with the bathroom wall so yeah, you can't move the bathroom wall out really as there won't be enough head space walking down the stairs. I think your only option is to either live with the small bathroom - or extend out over your GF extension (if that is even possible - depends on your extended roof and also the footings as they might not be deep enough to take the weight of a 2 storey extension). The cost of a loft conversion is hefty and especially if you don't have decent head height in there as you will end up with a tiny room in the middle (I'm guessing??). Our loft is original (bungalow) and was always a room but it cost us £20k just to re-tile, reboard/plaster/insulate and put an en-suite in! An extra £6k if we pushed out the hip (which we didn't end up doing). Dormers are possible to gain headspace but it's the overall roof height that is the issue. Sometimes you could lower your floor level to gain head height but for the cost involved, you really would be better moving.
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Hi Peter, thanks for the dimensions . Swapping the kitchen into the dining room and having an island is going to be a squeeze but if you’re up for moving the wall between the old kitchen and dining room then you could gain a little space that might make it work. If you go for this sort of layout, using a reduced depth cabinet for the storage by the back doors could give you a lovely long run of cabinets straight from kitchen into dining room. Also I would look at using a pocket door into the WC from the utility to enable a longer run of utility units under the side window.
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rinked
2 years ago
I'm trying to get the full image, some extra photos of the other wall might help. But if I understand correctly, you enter the room near/in the 'playroom', then pass the lounge to get into the dining? Or is the kitchen open at the back?
Tom Woolgar
Original Author
2 years ago
Here is the plan. You can walk through the hallway past the utility into the kitchen as we didn’t put that door in. You are right in that you can go in where the playroom is and also walk to the back. Thanks for your advice
Tom Woolgar
Original Author
2 years ago
The living area is actually where it says dining as we want it to be cosy around the fire when we eventually have it done
Tom Woolgar
Original Author
2 years ago
There are two ways to the back essentially as we didn’t want only one way in
rinked
2 years ago
Add dividing doors (pocket, glazed) right next to the lounge door, flip the hinges and enjoy guests coming in through there (and not via utility).

Sidenote: with a lovely floor like that, I can really recommend a wood burner stove.

(to return a favour paypal.me/rinkedit)
Tom Woolgar
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you. Looking at what you have drawn, which is cool by the way, having the dividing doors the other side of the door would result in having a small room at the front (approx 2x3m). Preferably would like it where it used to be which is the beam on one of the photos. If room so small not sure how we would use it?
rinked
2 years ago
Big enough as playroom or quiet reading spot in the sun. Perhaps make those doors bifolds that can be completely folded against the walls. When I copy the measurements from your floorplan it'd be about 240/250cm (without bay), am I correct? A 3 seater sofa is about 220. Should be fine.
Tom Woolgar
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you for advice.

How to design a long 1930s semi reception room

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How to design a long 1930s semi reception room

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