What would you prefer

MovingForwards

I like hallways from the front door, gives somewhere to abandon soggy shoes and coats, also keeps the cold air from opening the door in the hall and not having the lounge temperature drop.

South facing garden is good. Mine is mostly south and I've got a tan since moving in May (Scotland).

ripley81

I have a south west facing garden and it’s way too hot for me! If you’re a sun worshipper you’ll love it. I like the sun but not in my face all day! 

I also have a long downstairs hall with doors coming off and it’s just a waste of space, cold and depressing. Would rather a little vestibule and a door into a the rest of the home. 

I have 4 kids and desperately need a utility room. The kitchen is too busy and there’s nowhere to dry anything! 

So bigger downstairs no hall (as long as there’s a little entrance, not straight into the living room), utility room, smaller bedrooms bigger kitchen. 

En suites can do one as well - tired of cleaning 3 toilets! 

getmore4less

If the front access is straight into the living space you easy access to the house by another door.
Often not an option with a terrace but side/back access on semi&detached. 

Carl2510

ripley81 said:

I have a south west facing garden and it’s way too hot for me! If you’re a sun worshipper you’ll love it. I like the sun but not in my face all day! 

I also have a long downstairs hall with doors coming off and it’s just a waste of space, cold and depressing. Would rather a little vestibule and a door into a the rest of the home. 

I have 4 kids and desperately need a utility room. The kitchen is too busy and there’s nowhere to dry anything! 

So bigger downstairs no hall (as long as there’s a little entrance, not straight into the living room), utility room, smaller bedrooms bigger kitchen. 

En suites can do one as well - tired of cleaning 3 toilets! 

Hi,

thanks for your input I think over time I’ll deal with the no hallway.

utility room would be nice I’m hoping I can do something with the garage and get something put in there.

Davesnave

Carl2510 said:

What’s everyone’s view on south facing garden? A must or not

It's very useful if the rear roof faces south. Solar is the way to go in the future. You'll be plugging your car in too.

Davesnave

In the country, you need a boot/drying room, then utility room, then hallway....and even then grass and wood chips from the chain saw end up in the kitchen!

GDB2222

Davesnave said:

In the country, you need a boot/drying room, then utility room, then hallway....and even then grass and wood chips from the chain saw end up in the kitchen!

In an ideal world, you want all that, and more. But, the OP is having to make compromises. Does she want a larger living room and a small porch, or a decent sized hall and smaller living room?

I'm surprised by the answers here, because I'm used to a house where the front door opens straight onto the living room, and it works fine for us. Other people have added a closed-in porch, but we felt no need, as the front door is quite sheltered. We used to live in a small-ish house with a separate hallway, and we'd rather have had the extra living space.  

RelievedSheff

GDB2222 said:

Davesnave said:

In the country, you need a boot/drying room, then utility room, then hallway....and even then grass and wood chips from the chain saw end up in the kitchen!

In an ideal world, you want all that, and more. But, the OP is having to make compromises. Does she want a larger living room and a small porch, or a decent sized hall and smaller living room?

I'm surprised by the answers here, because I'm used to a house where the front door opens straight onto the living room, and it works fine for us. Other people have added a closed-in porch, but we felt no need, as the front door is quite sheltered. We used to live in a small-ish house with a separate hallway, and we'd rather have had the extra living space.  

For us having the dog it works better for us to have a hallway where we can dry him off and chuck our muddy boots off before entering any living space. We would have ideally had a separate utility room with an external door for this purpose but to get that on top of the living space we already had in this house would have meant going to a large four bedroom house which would have pushed us to the limit with our budget and we would have ended up with a house where we didn't use half of it!!

Having a separate hallway wouldn't really make much difference to most houses with a walk through lounge as the furniture has to be arranged to allow for a "corridor" to walk through anyway. You then also wouldn't have the heat loss from the living space every time the front door is opened.

Posts like this one do really indicate just how subjective houses and property really are and what suits one person really wouldn't suit another.

Davesnave

GDB2222 said:

Davesnave said:

In the country, you need a boot/drying room, then utility room, then hallway....and even then grass and wood chips from the chain saw end up in the kitchen!

In an ideal world, you want all that, and more. But, the OP is having to make compromises. Does she want a larger living room and a small porch, or a decent sized hall and smaller living room? 

To be fair to us, we compromised with the first buffer being a shed for about 7 years, then built the porch....far too large, but the building inspector seems not to have noticed.

Carl2510

What’s people’s opinions on flooring for the kitchen and bathrooms if you had the choice at the same price Vinyl or Tiles?