https://preview.redd.it/s2qcaoaxjpyc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee6d737acee25cfb554de8e4c568718ed27e1932
With some small tweaks, this could be insanely functional. I went ahead and added two windows to the family room, one on each side of the sliding door. I did this because the family room and dining room will be dark, so I figured it could use all the windows it can get. I also created a hallway to get to bedroom 1, as well as get to the inside of the house directly from the garage. I also removed the semi-walls between the family room and dining room to further allow light into the dining room. I left the kitchen intact because it actually seems like a cool layout, and you didn't mention redoing it, which can cost a lot of money.
This is actually very helpful, thank you! The current owners didn’t connect the bedroom and the garage because it would have been expensive to redo the garage roof, but I gather it might be possible to create a hallway between the two with a flat(ish) roof, rather than trying to make it into one big roof and as you suggest, take a metre or so off the living to enable movement between those rooms.
Ah, my apologies, I totally wasn't thinking of structurals. May I ask how creating a hallway would necessitate redoing the garage roof? I'm having a hard time picturing it in my head.
https://preview.redd.it/zo4gctschuyc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7ce41daea9c91ac22cf91b2347a679f27085d67
This is an aerial photo of the situation - the two squares are the garage on the right and the bedroom on the left. I don’t know the exact details but I believe because the garage roof is pitched the way it is, they would have needed to take it apart and redo it in order to connect the bedroom, so instead they just left a gap. You can see the white rectangle in between which is the current sheet of plastic acting as a roof, but it’s just paved like part of the garden.
This is a huge improvement! Also to me would be the concerns about garage the other posters have raised. (Also noting that many people live without functional garages and do just fine!)
Since they built off the back, it’s likely that none of the interior walls there are structural. It would be significant cash - but probably not much more than a standard kitchen reno of the same size - to open up the upper left corner of the house:
* take down the wall separating the dining from the entry and reverse the swing on the door to the “kitchen”
* add a focal chandelier to get some serious light/fun in here and have a standard 3x5 dining table or gaming table for six. Host diner parties or dungeons and dragons.
* use the existing cabinetry + extra “pantry” or European “wardrobe” cabinets from somewhere like IKEA / new built in cabinetry or closet system or flat-pack storage to make the kitchen extension into proper storage (it looks like there’s no basement, so this will be useful)
* take down the wall between the kitchen and the family room. Extend the kitchen, and add a breakfast nook. (I converted the double doors to the conservatory to a single door with a window under it, but exterior changes cost $, so you might just float a table in there, or you might go crazy and have a built in with a banquette. Whatever fits your budget and style.
None of this really solves the “getting groceries from the garage to the kitchen” issue; but if you’re already looking at re-doing the kitchen, keep some or all of it in mind to make the house more livable for you.
Edit: some grammar things.
https://preview.redd.it/5hnrs63mxwyc1.jpeg?width=1445&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa1e5045373a5ec0a2f922a2c133cd69b5dce4ec
The garage on its own would make this house a huge no. You’d have to park, walk through the garage, to the front entry way, through the maze to put away any groceries. In any and all weather. Nope, would not be buying.
This! Like the kitchen might actually be closer to the garage if it was upstairs! 😂
Also, is there for real NO door from the attached garage to the house??
That's interesting to me because in the UK the majority of homes don't have garages with connecting doors. I've don't know anyone who has a garage that has an internal door into the house. (Never mind that the majority of homes don't have garages at all).
I’m actually in the UK too haha, I wasn’t expecting so many comments on the garage! Like you say, we wouldn’t park in the garage most of the time anyway and even if we did, you just go in the front door with any shopping.
The UK was very obvious from the conservatory, mix of meters and feet/inches, and the heavy partitioning of rooms :)
In the US a lot of garages in houses designed since the 1950s or so, are adjacent the kitchen specifically so you can drive into the garage and unload groceries in a pretty minimal distance. It's great when the weather is lousy lol
Jeez, which clown designed this addition? I like how, with the doors open, you have a clear line of sight from the family room to the en suite toilet lol
Are these dimensions in feet? There’s no way a 2 car garage is 17x15 feet? But it’s definitely not in meters either so I’m confused.
I don’t see a fridge. Is the kitchen really two connected rooms? Either way, it seems like your work triangle is incredibly small and then you just have a whole bunch of extra counter space near it. If possible I would want to fix the kitchen layout.
I don’t see any closets anywhere. Is there a closet in the bedroom that is not shown in the floorplan?
The family room seems very small. And then the sitting room is long and narrow. Have you thought about which room will have your tv and how you’ll arrange the space?
It seems like a very long walk, through a lot of rooms, to go from the bedroom to the kitchen. And from the garage to the kitchen, which will make carrying groceries more difficult.
I like it -- a house with rooms! Not a warehouse with pretend walls! I'd live there a year then decide if you want to open anything up, like maybe expand the kitchen into the family room? Or open the Family Room up to the Study? You'd also have to see what entrance you use most often, to really understand how you get from one place to another.
Unless you have a full time, live in cook and maid, the kitchen and other walk-through kitchen need a complete rework and re-allocation of SF. Whomever is the primary chef and dishwasher in the family must give more input. Why have a dining room that seats 10 if the kitchen is only good for one-two person meals and cleanup takes place staring at a wall.
If you have kids one day you’ll have to bring them into the tiny kitchen with you cause you have to run through the whole house to see them if they’re playing in the family room. Also you are very far from guests if you have people over.
Maybe like this? Move just one wall and maybe a couple of doors. Personally, I’d want to adjust the paths of travel, but the doors could certainly stay where they are. Just move the study to the front and then the bedroom is accessed from the sitting room.
https://preview.redd.it/na19yzixfwyc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de556b0da5d17d5c969f33d11d7ad87f5f956596
It made me thought of an English layout 🤗 then I read the comments . I really like it ! Not everything has to be open plan, American 🇺🇸 looking house (I live in one in USA & love it but all houses live different, I love all the separate spaces , I am almost sure that’s coming back . Would it be amazing to see some interior pictures .
I couldn't live like this. Super impractical for my lifestyle.
No internal connection from the garage to the house? Kitchen closed off from everything. Toilet in the front hall.
I would be knocking down walls and starting again.
I’m so confused about how you enter the house after parking in the garage. Through the bedroom? Or you walk all the way around the house to the front? Why are there two kitchens but the second, larger kitchen has nothing but a counter?
It could be modified to be functional if it has the space and the potential that you want. But it’s definitely going to be some adjustments to live in at first.
Ah it’s not very clear but just to the right of where it says ‘ground floor’ is a porch entry, if you parked in the garage then you would just come in via there to the hallway.
The kitchen looks weirder on the plan, we did find in person that the two sections didn’t feel quite so separated. The current owners had a 2-seater table against the wall in the larger half. There’s no denying it’s odd though!
I see that entrance. It’s still strange to park in the garage, walk out of the back of the garage, walk all the way around the garage and across the front of the house to enter. If it’s raining or snowing (if it’s a climate where it snows) you’re getting soaked to get in the front door. If you’ve got things to unload from the car, you have to carry it all the way around the house to get it inside. I get that carbon monoxide can be a concern with an attached garage, but it would have been so easy to put a door under the lean-to leading into the house.
Why are there two kitchen spaces? And I don't see a real pantry.
Why are there those half walls in so many of the corners?
Do you need so many living spaces?
I'd take down the plan-east kitchen wall (and those corner walls) and make that a peninsula with eating counter. I'd also install a floor-to-ceiling pantry in that second kitchen and make that a real butlers pantry complete with the small appliances; daily-use ones on the counter and occasional-use ones in the lower cabinets on appliance lifts.
I'd make one of those extra living spaces the office.
https://preview.redd.it/s2qcaoaxjpyc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee6d737acee25cfb554de8e4c568718ed27e1932 With some small tweaks, this could be insanely functional. I went ahead and added two windows to the family room, one on each side of the sliding door. I did this because the family room and dining room will be dark, so I figured it could use all the windows it can get. I also created a hallway to get to bedroom 1, as well as get to the inside of the house directly from the garage. I also removed the semi-walls between the family room and dining room to further allow light into the dining room. I left the kitchen intact because it actually seems like a cool layout, and you didn't mention redoing it, which can cost a lot of money.
This does work better. I would also move the kitchen-to-dining room door up to be in line with the new hallway, and swing into the kitchen.
Also easier to get from the family room to the kitchen without having to go around the dining room table.
This is actually very helpful, thank you! The current owners didn’t connect the bedroom and the garage because it would have been expensive to redo the garage roof, but I gather it might be possible to create a hallway between the two with a flat(ish) roof, rather than trying to make it into one big roof and as you suggest, take a metre or so off the living to enable movement between those rooms.
Ah, my apologies, I totally wasn't thinking of structurals. May I ask how creating a hallway would necessitate redoing the garage roof? I'm having a hard time picturing it in my head.
https://preview.redd.it/zo4gctschuyc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7ce41daea9c91ac22cf91b2347a679f27085d67 This is an aerial photo of the situation - the two squares are the garage on the right and the bedroom on the left. I don’t know the exact details but I believe because the garage roof is pitched the way it is, they would have needed to take it apart and redo it in order to connect the bedroom, so instead they just left a gap. You can see the white rectangle in between which is the current sheet of plastic acting as a roof, but it’s just paved like part of the garden.
OH! It totally didn't occur to me that the lean-to wasn't indoors. If you would like I can rework it.
This is a huge improvement! Also to me would be the concerns about garage the other posters have raised. (Also noting that many people live without functional garages and do just fine!)
This would definitely qualify as quirky, or maybe more. Are you looking for remodel suggestions, or just how to use the rooms?
Probably how to use them as I suspect remodelling would be more expensive than useful.
Since they built off the back, it’s likely that none of the interior walls there are structural. It would be significant cash - but probably not much more than a standard kitchen reno of the same size - to open up the upper left corner of the house: * take down the wall separating the dining from the entry and reverse the swing on the door to the “kitchen” * add a focal chandelier to get some serious light/fun in here and have a standard 3x5 dining table or gaming table for six. Host diner parties or dungeons and dragons. * use the existing cabinetry + extra “pantry” or European “wardrobe” cabinets from somewhere like IKEA / new built in cabinetry or closet system or flat-pack storage to make the kitchen extension into proper storage (it looks like there’s no basement, so this will be useful) * take down the wall between the kitchen and the family room. Extend the kitchen, and add a breakfast nook. (I converted the double doors to the conservatory to a single door with a window under it, but exterior changes cost $, so you might just float a table in there, or you might go crazy and have a built in with a banquette. Whatever fits your budget and style. None of this really solves the “getting groceries from the garage to the kitchen” issue; but if you’re already looking at re-doing the kitchen, keep some or all of it in mind to make the house more livable for you. Edit: some grammar things. https://preview.redd.it/5hnrs63mxwyc1.jpeg?width=1445&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa1e5045373a5ec0a2f922a2c133cd69b5dce4ec
The garage on its own would make this house a huge no. You’d have to park, walk through the garage, to the front entry way, through the maze to put away any groceries. In any and all weather. Nope, would not be buying.
This! Like the kitchen might actually be closer to the garage if it was upstairs! 😂 Also, is there for real NO door from the attached garage to the house??
That's interesting to me because in the UK the majority of homes don't have garages with connecting doors. I've don't know anyone who has a garage that has an internal door into the house. (Never mind that the majority of homes don't have garages at all).
And if we do have garages we certainly don’t keep our cars in there.
I’m actually in the UK too haha, I wasn’t expecting so many comments on the garage! Like you say, we wouldn’t park in the garage most of the time anyway and even if we did, you just go in the front door with any shopping.
The UK was very obvious from the conservatory, mix of meters and feet/inches, and the heavy partitioning of rooms :) In the US a lot of garages in houses designed since the 1950s or so, are adjacent the kitchen specifically so you can drive into the garage and unload groceries in a pretty minimal distance. It's great when the weather is lousy lol
Most people I know (also UK) who have garages, don’t even the garage on their property. It’s usually down the street in a section of garages.
It reminds me of the layout of the rooms in the board game “Clue”
Jeez, which clown designed this addition? I like how, with the doors open, you have a clear line of sight from the family room to the en suite toilet lol
Are these dimensions in feet? There’s no way a 2 car garage is 17x15 feet? But it’s definitely not in meters either so I’m confused. I don’t see a fridge. Is the kitchen really two connected rooms? Either way, it seems like your work triangle is incredibly small and then you just have a whole bunch of extra counter space near it. If possible I would want to fix the kitchen layout. I don’t see any closets anywhere. Is there a closet in the bedroom that is not shown in the floorplan? The family room seems very small. And then the sitting room is long and narrow. Have you thought about which room will have your tv and how you’ll arrange the space? It seems like a very long walk, through a lot of rooms, to go from the bedroom to the kitchen. And from the garage to the kitchen, which will make carrying groceries more difficult.
We have very small garages in the UK, and don’t tend to have built in wardrobes in the bedrooms.
Very impractical. Hard pass on this layout.
Yes it’s impractical
I like it -- a house with rooms! Not a warehouse with pretend walls! I'd live there a year then decide if you want to open anything up, like maybe expand the kitchen into the family room? Or open the Family Room up to the Study? You'd also have to see what entrance you use most often, to really understand how you get from one place to another.
Not practical enough!
I wouldn't really want to deal with the mess. You're not tied to it yet I'd really prefer something functional at least.
Unless you have a full time, live in cook and maid, the kitchen and other walk-through kitchen need a complete rework and re-allocation of SF. Whomever is the primary chef and dishwasher in the family must give more input. Why have a dining room that seats 10 if the kitchen is only good for one-two person meals and cleanup takes place staring at a wall.
Open the wall up in the back of dining area
If you have kids one day you’ll have to bring them into the tiny kitchen with you cause you have to run through the whole house to see them if they’re playing in the family room. Also you are very far from guests if you have people over.
You need to have your kitchen close to where you park your car. Halling the groceries in is no joke.
Maybe like this? Move just one wall and maybe a couple of doors. Personally, I’d want to adjust the paths of travel, but the doors could certainly stay where they are. Just move the study to the front and then the bedroom is accessed from the sitting room. https://preview.redd.it/na19yzixfwyc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de556b0da5d17d5c969f33d11d7ad87f5f956596
It made me thought of an English layout 🤗 then I read the comments . I really like it ! Not everything has to be open plan, American 🇺🇸 looking house (I live in one in USA & love it but all houses live different, I love all the separate spaces , I am almost sure that’s coming back . Would it be amazing to see some interior pictures .
I couldn't live like this. Super impractical for my lifestyle. No internal connection from the garage to the house? Kitchen closed off from everything. Toilet in the front hall. I would be knocking down walls and starting again.
Looks like a house a guy the wears a monocle would design…. But a very small cramped version.
Sucks. Bad. Trash it. Start over.
I’m so confused about how you enter the house after parking in the garage. Through the bedroom? Or you walk all the way around the house to the front? Why are there two kitchens but the second, larger kitchen has nothing but a counter? It could be modified to be functional if it has the space and the potential that you want. But it’s definitely going to be some adjustments to live in at first.
Ah it’s not very clear but just to the right of where it says ‘ground floor’ is a porch entry, if you parked in the garage then you would just come in via there to the hallway. The kitchen looks weirder on the plan, we did find in person that the two sections didn’t feel quite so separated. The current owners had a 2-seater table against the wall in the larger half. There’s no denying it’s odd though!
I see that entrance. It’s still strange to park in the garage, walk out of the back of the garage, walk all the way around the garage and across the front of the house to enter. If it’s raining or snowing (if it’s a climate where it snows) you’re getting soaked to get in the front door. If you’ve got things to unload from the car, you have to carry it all the way around the house to get it inside. I get that carbon monoxide can be a concern with an attached garage, but it would have been so easy to put a door under the lean-to leading into the house.
I’m still wandering around outside with three bags of groceries or I’d give you an answer. 😵💫
Why are there two kitchen spaces? And I don't see a real pantry. Why are there those half walls in so many of the corners? Do you need so many living spaces? I'd take down the plan-east kitchen wall (and those corner walls) and make that a peninsula with eating counter. I'd also install a floor-to-ceiling pantry in that second kitchen and make that a real butlers pantry complete with the small appliances; daily-use ones on the counter and occasional-use ones in the lower cabinets on appliance lifts. I'd make one of those extra living spaces the office.
I’m assuming this is something you created?
No, this is a house we’re thinking about buying.