Knock 2 reception rooms into 1 or leave as is ?

bikingbarney

Which is preferable???

We have recently bought a four bed house which was originally a two bedroom house that has had big extension on the side to make it a large four bed.

Unfortunately the people that did the extension didn't do anything downstairs so now we have a four bed house with a two bed size living room and also another separate living/games room the other side.

We are considering spending a fair bit of money moving the down stairs around and having just one big lounge.

Before we commit lots of money I was just wondering which would be preferable, one lounge or two.

Would one big lounge make the house worth more or not ?


All opinions welcome.

Kim_kim

I would rather less big rooms than more small rooms - footprint being the same.

bikingbarney

It will cost quite a lot to move the staircase as its against the original outside wall.

Just wondering if it will add any value to the house by doing it or not ?

Hoploz

The modern way is to have a large kitchen/dining room and a separate lounge. But if you don't have the option of knocking the kitchen in to another room then still 2 separate receps which can then be used as either dining room, playroom, teenagers den, office or study, spare room etc.

bikingbarney

Hoploz wrote: »

The modern way is to have a large kitchen/dining room and a separate lounge. But if you don't have the option of knocking the kitchen in to another room then still 2 separate receps which can then be used as either dining room, playroom, teenagers den, office or study, spare room etc.

Sorry I should of explained that the house has a large kitchen and separate dining room already at the back of the house.

We are planning to knock the wall out between the kitchen and dining room anyway.

Another idea was to also knock the wall out between the smaller lounge and kitchen to have a massive open plan kitchen,diner and snug and then keep the larger lounge separate.

firebird082

Depends how your family works! My parents house is a victorian semi with 3 good sized reception rooms plus large kitchen downstairs. This layout really suited us as a family, so each can retire to a separate room if we want! I wish my current house had a similar layout! Mind you, lots of other strange people seem to like open-plan living...

Hedgehog99

Keep the two rooms - useful for separate TV viewing or if someone has homework / bills / admin stuff to do uninterrupted. Cheaper heating too - needn't heat the second room as much on days you're not using it. Somewhere to shut in the dog / cat etc if you have tradesmen working elsewhere in the house.

Hoploz

OK it's a bit bigger than I imagined then! I have a large open plan kitchen/diner/sitting room which is where we spend the daytime, then we have a separate lounge which is cosy and is mainly used in the evenings (the grown-ups room). My last house was the same kind of layout, which I planned as we built it all on to the back of the original house.

bikingbarney

Here is a picture showing the current layout ......


Both lounges are big enough to fit a 3/4 seater sofa and also the larger room also comfortably fits another two seater. The wall to the left of the staircase is the original outside wall.

Kim_kim

bikingbarney wrote: »

Here is a picture showing the current layout ......


Both lounges are big enough to fit a 3/4 seater sofa and also the larger room also comfortably fits another two seater. The wall to the left of the staircase is the original outside wall.

Instead of knocking it out across the back, why don't you do each room front to back?
Both rooms could benefit from french doors to garden?
Be lovely.
Large family kitchen diner
Large lounge & more formal dining area.
And major plus, stairs can stay where they are.

Carer

I would keep them separate. I would never buy a house with only one downstairs room other than the kitchen. I think it would lose value if you did it and limit your market. What use is a bigger room? What would you be able to do in it when it's bigger that you can't do now?

We use both living rooms loads, second one is great for teenagers and their mates. When they were smaller it was somewhere to play in, get lego out, set up train set etc etc without them having to put it all away or us having to look at it all night when they had gone to bed.

It's also really useful having somewhere for occasional guests to sleep if you have no spare room.

My sister who has similar age children lived in bigger house than us until recently, but with only one downstairs living room and spent years complaining about wanting somewhere for the kids to play etc.