How can I improve this layout?

2 years ago

I’ve been recommended to post on here so here goes…

I am trying to come up with a way of improving the layout of our house as there are some things that we are not so keen on.

We’d like to end up with a living room, dining kitchen, a utility room and a snug downstairs and we’d like 3 good size bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. We don't currently live in the house and are prepared to take on a full scale renovation if it makes the house perfect and more appealing to live in.

Main bug bears with the house are that the kitchen and dining room don’t get a lot of light, and upstairs the en-suite takes a big chunk out of an already small master bedroom and bedrooms three and four as quite small.

The original layout was that the 'study' and 'reception hall' were once the integral garage, with the only places to go from the front door being up the stairs or into the living room. The previous owners had converted the garage to a downstairs bedroom with en-suite but we had this opened up into what it is now, but the front door gets in the way. The front door used to swing the other way meaning we still really had to go into the living room so when we had a new door, we had it swing the way it does now so we could go straight into the hallway.

So...the lack of space inside the front door is frustrating. Would moving the staircase to a difference position give us a better layout overall or should we just move the front door to be in line with the front of the study?

In general, I just feel like the layout is rubbish and would love to do something with it, but don't really know where to start. I looked up a house we rented about 14 years ago and that house was about 1m narrower but had a much better layout.

Another thing we've considered is replacing the conservatory with a same sized extension and put the kitchen in there, but with costs what they are at present, I'm not sure that would be within our budget...one option would be two just replace the two end walls with full height brick walls and then put the kitchen against one of the new brick walls.

Any tips/thoughts/advice would be hugely appreciated.

Featured Answer

Jonathan

2 years ago

Personally I just can’t see how the numbers stack up to renovate this when you want to change pretty much everything, relocate the kitchen, move the stairs, and reconfigure the whole upstairs. Replacing the side walls of the conservatory is likely not the cost efficiency you are imagining and so you should consider selling instead.

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Comments (16)

Isla Cherry
2 years ago
i like your last idea for the kitchen/dining of the solid walls with a roof over. That would give you a really stunning kitchen with a garden view. It's frustrating as there are so many options. I take your point about the kitchen/dining not getting much light. I would just keep it simple. Convert the orangery to a kitchen diner with a few caveats. If it is south facing then you need to control the light as it might end up being too hot in summer. I agree about the entrance hall but it all comes down to budget. I like the idea of bringing the front door forward. That would give you a lot more space but compare costs between moving the stairs and moving the front door. I also like the current little alcove where the front door is situated. You could maybe change your type of stairs to something open. Do loads of research on Houzz and I always look at the Modern House website for ideas or if your house is period try Inigo.
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Devyra Atelier
2 years ago
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The rooms are really long and narrow (including the hall) so it may be worth considering whether you could reduce the hall size to half that and then have everything open around this and the stairs? You may not need to touch the garage unless you require an extra room but would make the space feel much more open and I think you would lose the narrow feel, by adding the extra 1m-1.2m that is currently the long hallway.
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I would measure the available space very carefully first. I think a small narrow desk with space for a computer or laptop and a chair would be plenty. Make sure you have enough room to comfortably pull the chair out. If you add too much it will cancel the benefit of moving the sofa forward. Some of the options suggested would look very crowded behind your sofa and would make the area feel dark. A light simple style desk with no storage and an upholstered chair may be all you need. I would store my files and books somewhere else so that it looks more open. You could always add one or two oak floating shelves above the desk later if you needed.
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Gareth Richards
Original Author
2 years ago
@Jonathan at the moment, we are not in a position to be able to buy something else. Mainly we are in a fixed term on our mortgage so would have a significant early repayment penalty to pay, plus our current interest rate (until mid 2027) is 2.06% whereas current interest rates are around 4% and it’s not portable unfortunately. There are a couple of other reasons as well but basically we have got to make the house work for a few years.

To be honest, the cost of doing the work isn’t so much an issue - not because we are rich (I wish!) but we are going to do a lot of the work ourselves to keep costs down, and we just want to make the house suitable for us at the moment. I’m aware that we likely won’t get any of the ‘spend’ back when we do sell the house and that is fine but we need to be able to make the house a comfortable home for the foreseeable future.
katlucy
2 years ago
Could you do this upstairs? move the bathroom into bed four and make the master and bed 3 bigger.
pauldrowan
2 years ago
Couple of smaller, simpler, cheaper changes that might help the downstairs. Depends on if you can lose the study or not.
Consider investing in professional lighting design for the darker areas.
Gareth Richards
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for this. I’m not sure whether we could lose the wall of the study but my thinking was along the lines of your first picture, bringing the front door forward but then losing the current front door. I’d also have to check the space where you’ve put the washer and drier as the boiler is there currently so wondering if it’s high enough for the washer and drier to go below.
Gareth Richards
Original Author
2 years ago
We’ve had quite a bit of feedback from other forums and people that we know that have basically advised us to leave upstairs as it is. I still think we need to do something with the en-suite as it makes the master bedroom too tight but will have a think on that.
rinked
2 years ago
Some ideas:

1. Kept the staircase as is, opened up the study and moved the front door. Large light hallway. Utility cupboard on the side, so the noise is furthest from the living areas. Side entrance made into a tiny hallway to keep out cold and wet boots, coats could go opposite. Downstairs wet room could stay or turned into wc. Orangerie replacement/insulation is always a good thing, in this layout i kept the exterior wall openings. Kitchen layout added just for scale. Glass doors between snug and lounge. Upstairs kept both smaller bedrooms, but moved the bathroom, could have separate wc. Master ensuite made smaller, 90 or 100cm wide shower and basin. Former bathroom could be a study and/or linen storage.

2. Similar to Devyra's layout, i suppose, but with the front door as is. Moved the livingroom door. New staircase (future loft extending?) with storage under. Small room in the front, could be storage, tiny office, coats, utility? Wc in a new spot, one soil pipe to upstairs bathroom. Side entrance aka bootroom. Opened up the back of the house. Kitchen with island copied from floorplan 1. First floor with 3 good sized bedrooms, shared bathroom and a bit of linen storage on the landing.
rinked
2 years ago
Removing the staircase wall would require the ceiling joists to be replaced by longer ones, as the current 'garage' joists likely rest on it. The wall in the middle, front to back, is quite certain loadbearing, though upstairs it seems the roof trusses are all supported by a king post, see red dot. Always get a survey from a structural engineer before making big plans. Big changes are often expensive ones. :)
Gareth Richards
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for those ideas @rinked. I love the way you’ve divided the downstairs on both ideas.

We are leaning towards leaving upstairs largely untouched but need to do something with the en-suite as the main bedroom is just too small with it there.
rinked
2 years ago
I completely agree, either shower or loo has to go (or the entire thing)
pauldrowan
2 years ago
.
Jonathan
2 years ago
Alternative where you don’t have to move the main bathroom.
tim_baker921
2 years ago
This is a small house for 4 bedrooms and as built arguably already top heavy. As a consequence the rooms are narrow so essentially I'm with Johnathan.

If you don't want a study, move the front door there which will give you a decent hallway. Open up kitchen to dining room and close off lounge to form snug. Use bedroom three as a dressing room to improve master suite.
blowdown
2 years ago
Keep the upstairs en-suite, but cut the corner off the doorway so that the door is at a 45degree angle in the room. i have this arrangement and it works fine!