[Closed] Knocking two lounges into one or leave as it ??

We have just done something along these lines , it really opened the house up , large front room ,large dinning room and large kitchen with conservatory , weve opened it all up added sliding doors between the front and dinning rooms , knocked the wall down between kitchen and dinning room ,and change the doors to sliding on the conservatory , before it was a maze /walk through hell now its all open plan when we want and cosy front room with the doors closed off ,

Love it , cost a bit but changed the house completely

One decent living space is more preferable, but only if it doesn't feel like a long thin corridor... Can you do anything with the corridor that runs front to back?

It's not really a corridor front to back.

You walk in the front door and the stairs are directly in front of you and you have a door to the right into the front room. You also have a door on the left into the second front room.

At the back of the house is a kitchen and dining room which we are going to knock the wall out between anyway.

Edit.... one thing to consider for us is that the staircase runs along the original outside wall so it will cost a lot of cash to move it and also for the rsj's to support the wall.

If I visualise it right, leave the stairs alone. Knock through front to back on the right hand side, leave a single room untouched. Open plan is great until someone plays GTA at volume while grandma has come to tea.

The larger lounge is on the right.

One idea we had was to knock the wall out between the kitchen and dining room and then also the wall between the small lounge and kitchen to have a big open plan l shape kitchen,diner and snug room ??

I work in quite a few houses , where the rooms have been knocked into one, and i go there to replace the dividing doors, people like the space but then realise its a huge space to heat, alsdo theres no privacy for the kids parents, to watch tv in room and snuggle up in the other or read a book ,study etc.

Best idea if you do want to have one big room is fit bi folding doors, not the cheap ones but the quality ones, preferably with glass to the top pannels and either obscure glass or a set of retractable blinds for privacy, keeps the noise down rooms stay warmer and looks cool.

We never ever use the front living room...

Hmmm how much would it cost?

Builder then plaster

One idea we had was to knock the wall out between the kitchen and dining room and then also the wall between the small lounge and kitchen to have a big open plan l shape kitchen,diner and snug room ??

This sounds like a better idea, then you keep a games/snug/play/office room. This will also help you sell the place at some point.

That's the problem. We don't know if by spending quite a bit of money doing g the work if it will add value to the house or not??

My personal like if there is room is one large open plan kitchen / diner / living area with one separate small living room for when a cosy room is needed or a bit of privacy e.t.c.

We knocked through...i don't really care if it has a positive impact on the resale value, it's what we want.

It looks much nicer, it's brighter and the stove (obvs) heats the whole open plan area.

do you have kids? if so keep the rooms seperate....gives you your space!!!!

If you don't....keep the the rooms for when you do have kids

We knocked through but put in sliding doors which seal off the room enough to cover the wifes inane ramblings on the phone. The doorway is larger than it appears in the photo s the rooms feel quite open

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, people like the space but then realise its a huge space to heat, alsdo theres no privacy for the kids parents, to watch tv in room and snuggle up in the other or read a book ,study etc.

^ This. I have kids and we have one big dining room/lounge...can drive each other mad all trying to do different things in 1 big room

This is a dodgy picture showing the current layout(not to scale).......
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Your L shaped kitchen / diner / snug idea for sure. Nice big space but still with a separate room for privacy.

Your L shaped kitchen / diner / snug idea for sure. Nice big space but still with a separate room for privacy.

Just to add. A friend has a similar layout to your current one. Means he has a lounge they never use and a kitchen that is isolated from the rest of the house. Not great for the chef. Worth doing, I'd say.

Convert one of the lounges into a bike room! 😀

One room for tv, one for music and books.

I'd go for the L-shape, in fact it's very similar in concept to what we're doing to momo towers, 1 big family space and a separate lounge for when you want to lock yourself away.

If it was me, I'd knock kitchen into diner to give a big kitchen/family room, but leave the rest. I'd use lounge 2 as the 'main' lounge, and lounge one as a office/study/library/kids-room.

I'd be tempted to combine kitchen and lounge two into a kitchen/diner/family room.

Also if re-jigging the downstairs I'd try and add a utility and downstairs loo.

My in-laws have a good size kitchen diner and it's where most of the family time is spent.

Edit: lounge one knocked into the diner with a utility/loo tucked in too.

Another thought following up from breadcrumb. Knock through between lounge 1 and diner. Make a nice big kitchen-diner with conservatory in that space. Then turn the existing kitchen into utility/boot room with a back door and a downstairs loo. Means you can come in mucky and use the loo, clean up etc. Another advantage of this is that you keep your existing kitchen working while the work is going on. Once the new kitchen is done decommission the old one and start work in that area. It's not that much structural work then, either.

Sounds like a good idea but lounge two isn't really big enough to be the main lounge.

The conservatory is getting knocked down as it blocks to much light and is a bit rickety

Our plan then was to knock through to the small window in the dining room from the existing patio door and put a big set of bi folding doors out onto the patio.

[i]That's the problem. We don't know if by spending quite a bit of money doing g the work if it will add value to the house or not?? [/i]

Who cares. Does it suit you better or not?

tbh I'd have already decided what I'd be doing before I bought the house, not asking random strangers... 🙄

Ah br I was wondering when you would turn up with some pointless post !!

We bought the house as a repo so got it at a good price knowing it would make us a bit of money,this has been confirmed by the estate agent in town asking g if we would consider selling already for quite a bit more than we paid.

We don't live in it yet. We currently have tenants in there.

Just trying to decide whether it's worth spending lots of cash moving it around or saving that cash for an onward purchase.

When will it be powder coated and sold for something new?? 😉

Ah here they come.

Cant I ask anyone's opinion on here without getting ridiculed??

Cant I ask anyone's opinion on here without getting ridiculed??

Can you start another thread to ask that?

😉

I'd combine the kitchen diner and put a full width conservatory on the back to make one very large and light area. Keep one lounge for a cosy room and the other for a office/study/kids room. Put a lavvy under the stairs as a downstairs cloakroom is very handy.

We never ever use the front living room...

Hmmm how much would it cost?

Builder then plaster

To have a structural wall removed and RSJ inserted and make good. OTO £2500 - £3500

You could DIY, it's really not that hard, just need to hire some Acrow Props and get a Structural Engineer to spec the RSJ for you.

[i]Ah br I was wondering when you would turn up with some pointless post !![/i]

Well, you did say:

[i]All opinions welcome. [/i]

And as I said I've never worried about what other folk would think before doing stuff to a house (I lived in). But now it's a BTL (and probable sell-on) then you need to do whatever will be best from a financial perspective - and I'd guess, it'd be leave it alone.

Cant I ask anyone's opinion on here without getting ridiculed??

This is STW so nope 😀

It's your house, do as you please. Are you planning on living in it or selling it?

Our plan is to rent it out for the next 2 to 3 years and then either spend some money on it to move the downstairs around or just put the money we were going to spend towards our next house.

To be honest we havent spent any time in it so it doesnt really feel like our home as such.

We got the keys late on the friday after completion and spent the weekend and the monday cracking on to get it in a liveable condition for our tenant to move into on tuesday.

If you aren't living in it yet, can you ask the people who are? I wouldn't plan to make changes until I'd tried living with it for a bit. As above, you may decide that you do actually want somewhere that's not open-plan (somewhere to hide from the in-laws?!).

I would just make it rentable and leave it alone.
And you still haven't considered what happens upstairs if you move the stairs.
I just can't believe that you apparently can't make a decision without asking completely random strangers.

[i]I just can't believe that you apparently can't make a decision without asking completely random strangers. [/i]

He's forces (or ex), can't fart without be told to 🙂

No I'm still forces thanks br and air force not army so I can make my own decisions.

As this is the chat forum what's wrong with asking people opinions.

I'm getting sick of it to be honest. This place isn't what it once used to be. It's full of keyboard warriors now.

Oh and thanks for your input ap