Utility room or kitchen

sam110xox

Hello, I’m looking for advice. We currently love in a 2 bed house that is generally a good size our daughter is getting bigger and her toys are taking over which o don’t mind. We find however that having living and dining in the same room is a bit of a squash. We are considering knocking down the wall between the utility and kitchen, getting rid of the toilet and opening it up to a kitchen/dining room. Do you think this is likely to devalue the house for when we come to sell in a few years,? Have attached a floor plan to visualise  I Thanks 

elsien

Have you got space in your kitchen for any white goods currently in the utility room?

FreeBear

A new, or fairly recent build - A toilet on the ground floor is pretty much a requirement nowadays. Removing it could well impact on the value of the property ad well as put some potential buyers off.

The toys will be a short term problem that can be solved in multiple ways - A well insulated shed (overgrown Wendy House), a conservatory, or a less materialistic approach...

Doozergirl

As above, it would have been
a building regulations requirement and shouldn't be removed.  Developers can be so lazy with their designs though.  I'm not sure the washing machine, dryer and a loo needed quite that much space. It would be interesting to see the upstairs floorplan.  

Good storage would be fitted floor to ceiling and need not be too deep.  A trip around Ikea,
looking at the room sets and how they approach storage would be a good idea - the Besta range could fill an entire wall and only take 40cm depth.  You can put furniture in front of it too, don't be afraid to block a bit of it.  I'd planned initially to build in bookshelves behind the sofa and hide long term storage behind it, but I'm
now making the entire TV wall with storage.  

Look for storage ideas and 'Ikea Hacks' on Pinterest too.  

It doesn't need to be just focussed on toys. The more storage you have around the house, the easier it is to free up space in other places so you eventually gain even more space for toys.   Perhaps the doors to the understairs
cupboard could be distributed under the stairs rather than into the dining area for example, giving you bit more accessible storage under the stairs and freeing up the wall where the door is for another piece of floor to ceiling storage or just a bit more circulating space.  

And have a proper clear out.  It won't just be toys that are taking over.  The longer we stay in a house, we bring more and more in and don't match that with the amount leaving the house. 

I highly recommend reading Marie Kondo's "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up".  It really helped me a while back.
 

We've just moved house and I put so much fitted storage into the design in every room and there's more coming.  It's delighting,
having a place for everything and it doesn't take up too much space when you really plan it well.  Drawers also work better than shelves and hanging space.  

As freebear says, the toys aren't a permanent thing, don't let them run the house.  There's also only so many one can play with at a time.