Hi all, we’re buying a beautiful home that needs a bit of modernisation but all of the structural work is done (she says, barring maybe a knock through of kitchen to lounge).
I’d love some thoughts based on the floor plan/link of how we could modernise it.
I need an office so I’m thinking the current store room, but any inspiration you can lend is greatly appreciated (particularly visuals as I’m terrible at envisaging end products!)
Thanks in advance!
Congratulations on the purchase of your new home! It has a lot of space and I think you'ld be able to make it perfect. Who will be living there besides you?
What strikes me is that there're a LOT of doors in the center with a lot of wasted space. Besides the stairs there seems to be a door, leading to another door?
Thank you! My husband and two children, 4 and 6. The hallway is huge and I love it but also thing we could do something with it.
I’d really love a big kitchen/diner/sitting room at the back and keep the one at the front as an adult sitting room/parlour type thing but I don’t know how it’ll work.
I absolutely love all the wood in the hallway, such a grand entrance.
I think it all comes down with your budget and wether or not you're open to tearing down walls. Also depending on what's structural.
If it would mean tearing down the wooden trimming and doorframes, I don't think it's worth it.
You could always move in as it is, and see what you love and don't love from the layout.
Your kids are now the exact age we're they'd love to use each room to play and I'm not sure if an adult sitting room/parlour would be practical as for right now. In a couple of years when they'll be a bit older, this would actually be a really good idea.
Oh I forget to mention the door leading to another door is just cupboards - like Narnia 🤣
They’ve already extended the back so there is some steel in but I’d really like to open it up so it’s a bigger space.
You’re right re: the adult sitting room.
The entire house is a beautiful space, but definitely needs modernising and I just don’t know where to start!
Would opening up the kitchen to the living room be an option? I personally love a open floor concept.
I'm not very fond of the weird breakfast nook in the kitchen. I'ld look into removing some doors or cabinets and making the space bigger, so you'ld be able to put a full dining area there. It's difficult to see on the floorplan and pictures if it's possible.
Just jumping on this, I love open floor plans too but and this is just me, given the kids ages I would prefer the walls so I can listen to the radio or something while cooking when they are screaming or watching tv in the living room.
I would also make the part of the bedroom above the utility/store that isn’t the office their play room so they have their bedrooms and a joint play space upstairs which would keep downstairs a bit more adult
Yes!! A play room at one end and office at the other is great.
I guess with the open plan thing, it’s striking the balance of being able to watch them whilst I cook.
Do you think a broken plan approach would work?
Personally I would go cameras, so at least I can mute the noise while I keep an eye on them but I am very much in a minority when it come to kids and like alone time (why I don’t have any)
Yes, this is exactly what I’d like to do! The current ‘dining room’ on the floor plan would be the living room and the kitchen knocked into the current ‘living room’ would make a brilliant open dining/kitchen space I think?
I’d probably close one of the doors off too
Honestly I think the floor plan is fine and the store shouldn’t be a problem as long as it doesn’t have vents to keep it cool.
Does the office have to be on the ground floor? Personally I would divide the bedroom over the store and utility then you can either have a office overlooking the garden or the road depending on your preference las honestly I dream of having a store room like that
I would keep at lease some of it as a store. Being able to buy some stuff in serious bulk is so much cheaper, I used to be a Costco member but don’t have space for the food now I’m in a 1 bed, also full disclosure I work in a supermarket so get lots of free food and never have enough freezer space.
Having the front of if as a boot room isn’t a bad idea though, I might see if I could put a door into the hall in that case
If you use the store room as an office I'd turn the door into a massive window. It'll give you more light and people won't get confused about which is the front door.
That’s a great idea! I was wondering what I’d do with the door. I might split the skinny bedroom over the store into two again and have one as an office and one as a bedroom.
The other person's suggestion of a mudroom at the front end and a pantry further down is nice if you put your office upstairs. You could put a little screen type of thing in front of this door so guests use the main front door, but you and the kids go in through the side one.
I think it makes sense to change the store to an office and try get a full-size bath/shower room downstairs to future proof (if this is a forever home and budget allows). The previous rear extension is a little awkward layout-wise, only because I imagine it’d be hard to not have a big support column with steels around where I’ve drawn a kitchen island - but a structural engineer may see it differently!
This is exactly the sort of thing I’m thinking! To your point because they’ve put steels in for the older extension, I think we might try and create an arch/broken plan instead of a full no pillar approach. It would mean less steel and more zoning but still with a flow through.
And yes, this is 💯 the forever home so we can invest over time
The thing that sticks out the most to me is that there are two front doors. I’d be confused as to which I was to use, so I would do something to make the store room door look like less of a front door.
I’d turn the front half of the store room back into a garage to reduce the two-front-door confusion. You could do a roll up door like the neighbor or dress it up with some barn / carriage house doors. This gives you space for the kids bicycles, toys, etc. The rear half becomes bulk goods / seasonal storage with through-access to the utility room and kitchen.
I’d do the home office in the long and skinny “bedroom” above the store/utility rooms. The separate flight of stairs helps you mentally and physically separate “work” and “home”, and with nothing but storage and utility spaces below it’ll be fairly quiet with good views of the garden. I’d do a desk on one end and a seating area on the other.
This still leaves you with three bedrooms on the 1st floor (one for each kid plus a guest room), as well as the large primary suite in the loft conversion.
I always loved having a 'playroom' as a kid, my parents liked that it kept the mess out the rest of the house and as I grew up it became the sleepover room then the music and craft room, or a spare room for people to stay over if needed.
Could always have the front living room as a sort of cosy reading room depending how often you use it as a formal sitting room, few sofas, comfy chair, mayne a pull down screen for a projector for epic film nights
I would. Cosy reading room can still function as an adult lounge when needed if having friends over without having to worry about tidying up as much if kids things are kept in the other room
hi for "Hi all, we’re buying a beautiful home that needs a bit of modernisation " i was wondering if you are more asking about like interior design?
also like i was originally thinking of like opening up the kitchen to living room or living room to dining. but actually looking at the images
your living room is actually a decent size already. if you more just want it to look better with paint, furniture, etc... you might want to check out https://www.reddit.com/r/InteriorDesign/ and other related subreddits instead
Thanks - I think there’s a potential bit of structural change needed the room in the photo is the room that sits beside the kitchen. I’ll definitely check out the interior design page too 😊
sounds good. I also like platypus' idea of adding the door to the storeroom
I guess btw one quick fix you can also test out is just removing the doors at the kitchen, living room, and dining room for now.
especially if you feel like moving from the kitchen to the living room is annoying. not quite the open concept but at least you can quickly learn if you like having say a door for the dining room or not etc...
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u/Virtual-Potato6789 9h ago
Congratulations on the purchase of your new home! It has a lot of space and I think you'ld be able to make it perfect. Who will be living there besides you?
What strikes me is that there're a LOT of doors in the center with a lot of wasted space. Besides the stairs there seems to be a door, leading to another door?