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mandyann_

Can the awkward layout in my little old house be fixed?

10 years ago

I know there are a lot of great, knowledgeable, and helpful folks out in the GW universe...hopefully some of you can help me with my dilemma. I'll try to keep this as brief as I can.

I'm trying to determine if the layout in my house can be improved as to be more functional and useful. The house is 75 years old. We have lived here for over 10 years so I have had plenty of time to mull over things and get a sense of what I'm really hoping to achieve with a remodel. Here is a picture of the floor plan of the area that I'm looking to remodel. The breakfast nook is on the north end of the house - living room is on the south. One block is approximately 1' per the drawing. There are two bedrooms & a bathroom on the east side of the house - these are accessed through the small hallway at the southeast corner of the Dining Room.

The west wall of the kitchen/living room used to be an exterior wall; but a number of years ago the laundry/mechanical rooms were added on, along with the garage (garage is west of the laundry room). There is no basement, as the water table is high here. We have a 4' or so deep crawl space.

Issues I'm hoping to address:

* Due to the layout of our property/driveway, the front door is never used. We always come in through the garage/laundry room and visitors either come in through the garage or the patio door (north wall of dining room). I would like to have a nicer/more welcoming entrance for visitors than my garage or washer/dryer.

* The kitchen is a galley kitchen and has lots of cabinet space (cabinets go up to the ceiling), but is lacking in countertop space. The only dishwasher in the kitchen is me. Anyone coming into the house from the garage has to pass right through the middle of the kitchen "work triangle" to get to the rest of the house. The kitchen is small and cramped for any more than two people.

* The "dining room" seems like wasted space that could be better used. We eat all of our meals at the kitchen table in the breakfast nook (family of 4). We have a piano in that room (along the west wall) but that's it.

* The stairs in the living room (accessing the rooms/bathroom upstairs) were added about 20 years ago when the attic space was converted to useable space. The upper part of the staircase partially blocks the doorway from the dining room to the living room, and creates an awkward under-the-stairs space that can't really be used very well.

Can I move/open up a few walls and make this space work better for my family, or am I looking at something so expensive that I'm almost better off just building a new house elsewhere that works better for us? Both DH's & my families think we should just build something new, but we really like the location, neighbors, character, mature trees, etc. that we have here. Not to mention that this house is a lot less expensive that anything we could build new.

Any suggestions/advice is appreciated!



Comments (7)

  • 10 years ago

    Do you know what walls are load bearing? I would post this over on Home Decorating where you will probably get more feedback.


  • 10 years ago

    Thank you for the comment, RNmom. I don't know which walls are load bearing but I think that the north wall of the living room is a load bearing wall.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Laundry room looks excessive. Make an opening in the wall south of the kitchen, move pantry into laundry room remove wall where pantry was. Expand kitchen south for more countertop space. You wont be able to completely get rid of that wall separating kitchen from living room, but you can get a decent opening with a beam put in there and get more flow through the house.

    If you want a larger reno expanding the kitchen into the dining room would allow more opportunities possibly a penninsula with seating or an island.

  • 10 years ago

    Are you thinking kitchen remodel to improve flow...if so, cross post to "Kitchens" too.

    Are you willing to move the entrance door into the laundry room?

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    is expanding the mechanical room an option? if so, then move the laundry room to there. your pantry has plumbing access, so moving the sink along the center wall may be an option. this would allow you to move the work triangle out of the line of entry traffic from the garage.

    i would definitely look into moving or expanding the living room door towards the left.

    go into your basement, and look at where the pipes and gas lines are. this will give you a better idea of where the appliances can be moved to.

  • 10 years ago

    At first glance I would blow the kitchen out to the laundry room and or the pantry.

    The wall between the sink and the laundry room could become a generous sink island, (you'd be standing in the laundry room facing the living room i imagine)

    and the long exterior wall of the laundry room could have a narrow depth floor to ceiling storage wall.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Close off walk way between dining room and living room. That area sounds awkward. Shift your entire kitchen to the current dining room. Create new larger walk way into living room.