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Design Dilemma Polls

Changing the layout

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Background: location France. Two adults live here. Occasional family/friends visit.
Problem: We moved here in July and can’t see the wood for the trees… we feel as though the current layout ‘wastes’ space, but on a limited budget, we’re struggling to decide on our starting point/priority.
We can only afford to do one big job and these are our muddled thoughts:

Knock the two small bedrooms into one. Involves removing a supporting wall (was external before this room added - long before our purchase), expensive bespoke new glazing.
Add extra living room space by opening up the office to existing living room. Involves removing part of an internal (supporting) wall. Existing (huge) replace is already destined to be removed and replaced with a Rocal Oval log burner.
Do neither 1 or 2 and use our budget to turn the garage roof space into guest bedroom and bathroom.
Photos below of floorplan, area for bespoke glazing (option 1), wall to remove in yellow (please don’t judge the decor - photo from previous owners sale particulars!) monster fireplace to be removed (option 2), and (option 3) garage that we could add external stairs into roof space.
On top of this we have a kitchen and bathroom to refit. Separate budget.
Thoughts/suggestions?

PLEASE DON'T REPLY TO POLL IT WAS AN ACCIDENT AND I CAN'T REMOVE IT

PLEASE DON'T REPLY TO POLL IT WAS AN ACCIDENT AND I CAN'T REMOVE IT

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Comments (5)

katlucy
2 years ago
Hi Ann,

Would it be possible to move the kitchen to the office and open it to the covered outdoor area? (perhaps glazing the walls/bifolds) Possibly an opening to the left of the big fireplace would add to the flow and bring more light.

Is opening the dining hall to the sitting room to give more usable space a possibility too, if budget allowed?

Would the current kitchen then be suitable as a guest bedroom, enlarging the wc to a shower room….

Possibly an ensuite to bedroom one?
Ann Byrne
Original Author
2 years ago
Hi, thanks for your suggestions. We've though about moving the kitchen to the office but on reflection because we've both got older parents, we're now thinking that making the office a guest bedroom and turning the downstairs loo into a shower room might be a more practical idea.

A serious consideration is that all walls are supporting and so removing any wall is at a significant cost, also because we're in France and the property market is certainly not like the uk, we have to be careful that we spend sensibly for what we need whilst thinking about not limiting the house if we sold in the future. It's very unlikely that we would see any return on our improvements so we have to be really careful that they add value.

I'm thinking maybe, office/guest bedroom and downstairs shower room as mentioned above and then forget layout changes, instead putting our budget into new downstairs flooring (ours is very orange!), a new kitchen and upstairs family bathroom. I'm sooo confused!!
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Jonathan
2 years ago
One option
whizzywig
2 years ago
Another option for you…
tab darcy
2 years ago
Think about how you use the house, I see crocs outside your living room door - is that the de-facto back door? If so, where do your visitors naturally approach the house? It looks in the photo like this is from the office side? The current front door with tight turns doesn't seem as welcoming as it could be. Where do you get your preferred light, assuming there's plenty of sunshine, that might be a shady mid day spot or bright morning light for breakfast - is the current kitchen corner getting that? With the slope of the roof upstairs, the usable space must be quite tight, I'd opt for two larger rooms: bedroom 1 running in with with current bathroom as ensuite ( for guests) and then the rest becoming a bedroom, ensuite and dressing room or office. Both upstairs rooms entered from the reduced landing.

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