What can we do with this room....

FatVonD

I moved my kitchen into my dining room and I love it, the old kitchen (which was quite literally 6ft x 6ft) still has the old built in fridge freezer in it (that's our only freezer and our overspill fridge) and the old wall cupboards are still in there as extra storage. All the base cupboards came out though to make room for a bed for when my stepkids stay over.

As for a room that I'd like, I've always wanted one of those old fashioned writing beaureaus (I know i've spelt that wrong but I can't for the life of me think how to spell it!) so I'd have one of those if I had the space. I also saw on House Gift once where they bought an old plan chest and filled it with wrapping paper and ribbons and it became the present wrapping station, that was lovely

shegirl

I have a nice,large,shelving unit with photos,unique 'bits' and games along with a large fishtank in my dining room,along with the six seater table.Want a tub chair really!

We use it for playing games,technology escape,hobbies,relaxing and watching the fish,frogs and fish.It's the most social room in my house in a sense as it's free of distraction but has discussion/interest points and pics with memories.

Ds loves sitting in there watching the fish!

BritAbroad

I have a 13 x 8 foot long utility room which is great. We updated it last year and it's a very practical room. The only appliances in it are the washer and dryer, but there's also a built-in coat cupboard and lots of storage for cleaning materials - we used Ikea kitchen cabinets and put in a deep sink and solid surface counter. We've also got a bench with baskets for shoes - it's the access into our garage too so it makes sense.

You could also consider splitting your room into zones using furniture. Our basement is huge but because we've defined it into specific areas for different pastimes it feels much more welcoming and usable. Using rich colours for decorating also helped to draw the room in a bit.

neverdespairgirl

In our previous flat, our kitchen was small, and there wasn't any room for anyone in it apart from the person cooking.

When we bought our current place, we put in a kitchen which has a table and chairs, and it's so much nicer. It means that people can sit and chat without getting in the way of the person doing other stuff, and is just a much nicer place.

So I'd go for moving the kitchen, myself.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Get rid of the dining table and turn it into a warm, comfortable room. Instead of cold, pale colours, pick something with some depth to it, add more colour with a rug, cushions on a plain sofa or two, put brightly coloured, graphic type pictures on the wall (like movie posters) have a coffee table you can put your feet up on, stereo, musical instruments.....



...sorry, got carried away there. Thought it was my house for a moment

Treevo

Spend the money and knock through to create a family room. Don't lose a reception room because that will affect the value more than nearly anything else.

Don't stick to the usual British dining room set-up either. Go for luxurious low-back chairs and a solid wood plank table. Hang low lights from the ceiling above the table to create really nice lighting. Keep the walls a nice warm white and have some really nice original art on the walls to provide the main colour. Add in a few select pieces of furniture to place lamps on and you'll be good to go.

Then at the other end have a few large chairs and a sofa area and you've got a fantastic room.

pawsies

We have a similar layout and as there is only 2 of us in a 3 bedroom house, converted the dining room into another bedroom that we use and the bedrooms upstairs are used as a study and 2 spare rooms.

It's hard to work out what to do without adding clutter isn't it!

LondonDreamer

74jax wrote: »

How can we change this layout? We were thinking of making the current kitchen a utility, and making the large current 'dining room' a kitchen diner. But on measuring, due to windows, patio doors etc we would just be moving the same size kitchen into the dining room and having therefore just gaining the dining table in the same room.

Yes, it would be more iinviting, we could sit and cook etc, it would be more spacious, light and airey, but would you consider moving your whole kitchen into another room worth it, if you didn't gain more kitchen space?

You didn't say if you think your current kitchen is an adequate size (if I missed a follow up post, my apologies) but if given the choice, absolutely would move the kitchen. The openness will make you feel like you have a bigger kitchen, even if the actual dimensions of it don't change. Not knowing your kitchen now but if it's pretty basic, you could still improve the storage with better units. And gain a separate utility room, which you already know will be useful and also increase storage. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

If you did want a larger kitchen space, could you potentially move/replace the windows and doors to improve the room layout? My in-laws recently did this with a small window in their kitchen that was oddly placed so bugged them. Wasn't a big job for their house, but difficult to say for yours without knowing structural details. Maybe get a builder round and see what they think?

pigpen

Could you get dividing doors between the dining and lounge areas so you can open it up and enjoy the expanse of space?

Add a dresser to the dining area, display shelves or a large bookcase? A standard lamp and a comfy sofa and it can be a reading room?

What direction does it face? If it get a lot of sunshine it might be worth using that room as your every day summer room and the front room as your warm cosy evening/winter room.



Either way you need to get rid of one of the tables.. Can the bigger one not be made smaller? Mine seats 12 but we use it without the panels on a daily basis to seat 6.

74jax

pigpen wrote: »

Could you get dividing doors between the dining and lounge areas so you can open it up and enjoy the expanse of space? We could, but we don't really 'enjoy' the space. We want a use for the space. We aren't ones to sit and relax, we like to be out and about and so adding another room to be opened into the larger room wouldn't really help.

Add a dresser to the dining area, display shelves or a large bookcase? A standard lamp and a comfy sofa and it can be a reading room? I few people have suggested added things to the room and i'm going to consider this. However I don't like items for the sake of it. Our bookcase in the hall is great as it fills a space and has a purpose, but having display shelves would mean we have to display something, and I dont' like 'bits'. A reading room is a good idea but we have the lounge or conservatory for that.

What direction does it face? If it get a lot of sunshine it might be worth using that room as your every day summer room and the front room as your warm cosy evening/winter room.
faces north and leads through into the conservatory which leads to the garden.


Either way you need to get rid of one of the tables.. Can the bigger one not be made smaller? Mine seats 12 but we use it without the panels on a daily basis to seat 6.

yeah I know, I just can't bare to part with my big table :rotfl:it's a huge chunk of wood so doesn't fold in etc and I just love it. It looks really well made and a good table, but it has to go.

I think I'm settled on the utility and a kitchen/diner. I'm quite excited about having somewhere to cook and talk to H2B and DD rather than us be in seperate rooms.

Someone asked if I was happy with current kitchen....... it's ok, just very small. We have fridge/freezer, range cooker, washer/dryer and dishwasher and 1 wall cabinet and 1 floor (corener cabinet).

So in the wall cabinet we have the glasses and in the floor cabinet one side is plates and the other side is tins of tomatoes/beans etc but not a lot as no space.

I'd like to have a toaster/slow cooker/etc but we have no storage for anything so I'm excited at the prospect of cuboards.