Floorplan Thoughts

HU-56364191

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Hi All,

I'm new here so I hope it's ok to post and ask for some advice/ideas?

I'm thinking of buying a house with the above floor plan.

I was just wondering if you might have any suggestions. I'm not a big fan of the kitchen and the upstairs toilet come wet room...

Ground Floor ideas

Ideally I think I'd like to put up a wall and create a separate lounge at the front of the house, shift the kitchen left and create a kitchen/dining area with it's own entrance from the front door. Then the reception room at the back could be another lounge area leading onto the garden.

The reason for this is that I have a medical condition which means I will likely end up with mobility problems in the future so I thought worst case scenario if in ten years I can't do the stairs I could turn the separate lounge into a bedroom and the storage room into a bathroom.

First Floor ideas

I would strip out the wet room from Bedroom 2. Ideally I'd like to turn Bedroom 4 into an ensuite but I suspect the expense of doing this wouldn't be worth it, so I will probably just turn the study into a second bathroom and use Bedroom 4 as a study.

Sorry to ask for the collective wisdom of Houzz on this, just I'm not too sure what's possible and I thought I'd throw it out for ideas and see what people think.

For some context, the reception room is actually a flat roof extension that the owners put in and the utility room, WC and storage is a former garage which they extended on top of giving you bedroom 2 and the study.

The biggest issue is that few houses on the market have the layout I am looking for (future proof mobility problems design) so I find myself having to work out if I can do what I will likely need to do before I buy.

This is what I'm thinking, although I'm not sure whether it's actually possible to do this...

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Comments (5)

Jonathan
3 years ago
I think you have to be realistic about how bad your mobility could be.

On paper this sounds like a big house because it’s 5 bedrooms but actually every room is smaller than you would expect in a 5 bed house. If you are future proofing it you need to consider if you need bigger spaces. You should consider if you would ever need wider doorways. You mention a study in a bedroom and I wonder if you couldn’t get upstairs then you wonder if you wouldn’t be able to work and earn an income.

You may conclude it’s better to buy a house with fewer but bigger rooms. Alternatively you might plan to spread out into this one.
Jonathan
3 years ago
Oops forgot to mention that a big part of spreading out is about you being able to use both floors- so I have shown a possible location for a lifted
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HU-56364191
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Thank you so much!! I hadn't even considered this. I just thought I would likely need to stick to the bottom floor. Wow. Thank you Jonathan. I expect it's financially beyond my ability to do something like you've drawn immediately but it has completely opened my eyes to what's possible and given me food for thought as I continue with my house search and try to plan accordingly. It's a tricky thing trying to design for something that is likely to happen but also, if you're lucky, might not happen at all! Thank you again!
Liz W
3 years ago
Hi! I’ve seen lots of home lifts in my job (community healthcare worker) and they have tended to go from a living room to the main bedroom as they’ve been an after thought/necessity at the time. If you could include it into your renovations, or at least room for it for later, you will be able to use your whole home in the future and it’ll fit in well.
pauldrowan
3 years ago
A different version for your consideration incorporating Jonathan’s lift idea 🙌. I’m assuming/hoping the downstairs WC and upstairs wet room align vertically in real life to use these spaces for the future lift. I’ve put the en-suite at the back next to the existing bathroom as I’m hoping it will be cheaper/easier to tap into existing pipework and drainage.

Floorplan Thoughts

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Floorplan Thoughts

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