Front Door in Living Room

MikeJXE

Martin_the_Unjust said:

ProDave said:

DarrenNorthEast said:

ProDave said:

That's an odd floorplan, what it in that "void" to the right of the living room?  i.e. why is the house wider at the back than at the front?

That’s the garage.

That is crying out for the space under the tiled canopy to be made into a porch by the addition of another door in line with the front of the bay window.

It’s crying out for that junk storage room (aka garage) to be converted into a proper lounge.

I agree but, is that even possible ? The porch could be extended under the roof but, why didn't the builders do that ? Is there clauses somewhere in the fine print thats doesn't allow you to make changes to the front elevation for many years or ever. 

user1977

MikeJXE said:

Martin_the_Unjust said:

ProDave said:

DarrenNorthEast said:

ProDave said:

That's an odd floorplan, what it in that "void" to the right of the living room?  i.e. why is the house wider at the back than at the front?

That’s the garage.

That is crying out for the space under the tiled canopy to be made into a porch by the addition of another door in line with the front of the bay window.

It’s crying out for that junk storage room (aka garage) to be converted into a proper lounge.

I agree but, is that even possible ? The porch could be extended under the roof but, why didn't the builders do that ? Is there clauses somewhere in the fine print thats doesn't allow you to make changes to the front elevation for many years or ever. 

As I said above, it's almost certain that the developers won't have built their shiny new estate and given everybody the right to immediately change the frontages. Planning might be required as well (a specific point already mentioned is that the garage may count towards off-street parking provision).

FreeBear

ProDave said:

DarrenNorthEast said:

ProDave said:

That's an odd floorplan, what it in that "void" to the right of the living room?  i.e. why is the house wider at the back than at the front?

That’s the garage.

That is crying out for the space under the tiled canopy to be made into a porch by the addition of another door in line with the front of the bay window.

If the bay is deep enough for a door to swing inwards comfortably, that would work. Else the door would have to swing outwards, which can be an advantage sometimes... A double glazing door knocker would get a bloodied nose for his/her efforts.

That aside, there is an awful lot of plastic in the roof (verges & dry ridge) - Much of that will need replacing in 10-15 years time. So if this is going to be a long term home, you need to be saving up for some hefty repair bills.

badmemory

I certainly wouldn't move the media wall to the other side as it would leave you sitting in the throughway from the front door subject to every draught.

otb666

we have the telly in the corner near the bay window and the settee is in the throughway so you can watch telly uninterrupted. We dont use the front door and put coats and shoes  on pegs set up in downstairs toilet. We have a small hall but front door is only ever opened for deliveries and lounge door is permanently open.  We are always warm enough although i did use cardboard from deliveries this winter in the bay window to keep pet tortoise warmer

Ramouth

We have the front door coming straight into our living room.  I wasn’t keen before we moved here but we generally use the back door and there are only two of us so it is fine.  The stairs being off the living room would bother me more.  

There are not any dimensions on the plan, but if there was room I would be tempted to do this creating an internal hallway:

lika_86

Ramouth said:

We have the front door coming straight into our living room.  I wasn’t keen before we moved here but we generally use the back door and there are only two of us so it is fine.  The stairs being off the living room would bother me more.  

There are not any dimensions on the plan, but if there was room I would be tempted to do this creating an internal hallway:

The dimensions are in the first post - Living Room: 12’ 6” x 15’ 8”.

This would make it way too small for a living room.

If there was sufficient room out back I'd do what you suggest to create a formal dining room with the window to the front, move the toilet between the new dining room and kitchen and then expand out back to create a big open plan living room and kitchen with island. However, if I was doing all that, then I'd actually just buy a different house.

user1977

lika_86 said:

Ramouth said:

We have the front door coming straight into our living room.  I wasn’t keen before we moved here but we generally use the back door and there are only two of us so it is fine.  The stairs being off the living room would bother me more.  

There are not any dimensions on the plan, but if there was room I would be tempted to do this creating an internal hallway:

The dimensions are in the first post - Living Room: 12’ 6” x 15’ 8”.

This would make it way too small for a living room.

Really? I would say that's a fairly normal size for a living room.

18.2 square metres by my calculations (if we ignore whatever the odd shapes do to it), which is slightly above the latest averages here:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056003/average-living-room-sizes-new-british-houses-1930-2020/

MalMonroe

The house looks lovely from the outside but I don't like the layout.

 When first married I lived in a small terraced house with a front door into the lounge but many terraced houses are like that. We had a curtain over it and never used it. My ex and I actually loved that house and it was ideal for a 'starter home' - but then we went to live overseas. 

However, when you're thinking of moving into a family home - and detached to boot - you don't really want the front door leading straight into the living room, what planner would do such a thing? Open it in winter and the cold will come whistling straight through. Open it in summer and yes, I do believe people will look in. 

Sad to say I'd have to give this one a miss. A detached house like that needs a proper hallway. There's not much point moving into a new build and then starting to build porches and extensions yourself. Moving to a new build to me meant moving in and having nothing to do - except wait until everything settles down and all the snags are fixed.  

lika_86

user1977 said:

lika_86 said:

Ramouth said:

We have the front door coming straight into our living room.  I wasn’t keen before we moved here but we generally use the back door and there are only two of us so it is fine.  The stairs being off the living room would bother me more.  

There are not any dimensions on the plan, but if there was room I would be tempted to do this creating an internal hallway:

The dimensions are in the first post - Living Room: 12’ 6” x 15’ 8”.

This would make it way too small for a living room.

Really? I would say that's a fairly normal size for a living room.

18.2 square metres by my calculations (if we ignore whatever the odd shapes do to it), which is slightly above the latest averages here:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056003/average-living-room-sizes-new-british-houses-1930-2020/

I'm talking about how it would be too small to create a closed in room as Ramouth suggested.

12' 6" is from wall to wall at present. If you were to create a hallway then that's about 3 feet or so, so you're down to 9' 6" not including the depth of a new wall dividing wall, so probably a maximum of 9' 3". It would be really tight. If you imaging a new wall where the edge of the door is on the visualisation they've done, there wouldn't be much room at all.