"we'd like this to become a nice family bathroom... "

What is a family bathroom? A full bath? You will have a full bath on each bedroom floor. When would you anticipate showering washing kids on the first floor of your home?

Can you show pics of the back of your house? Can you make an exit from within your kitchen to the outside instead lf having to use the small utility room?

Where do you ideally want to do laundry? Bring it down from the fourth floor to first floor, cellar, a laundry on the second floor?

Where do you like to watch TV together? In bedrooms, a separate room, the living room, the basement?

Do you want a formal dining room or does having a nice dining area connected to the kitchen work? Do you want a separate formal living room or are you ok with a great room concept?

If you like a big open space, I'd consider taking down the wall (if you can) between the kitchen/ dining and the lounge. Make that entire half of the downstairs a kitchen eating living area. Keep the sitting area closed and use it as a study/office.

Just mean a main bathroom, so big enough for a bath and a shower. Not crazy big just a better one than current! All kids bath times would be on 1st floor, and guests (granny / granddad etc) would also use this bathroom. We would use our 2nd floor shower room
Pic of back of house is attached.

I’d like to reconfigure the back of the house so there’s nice big opening glass doors (bifold or similar) to make a connection between outside and inside… dining area in big kitchen area works, with separate snug / lounge for grown up TV time - family tv and sofa area in open plan space I think.

We'd like 4 x good sized bedrooms (the one in the attic being the main / master suite).

The cellar we're thinking laundry / utility as part of it, plus a playroom (there is a bit of natural light from a window at one end - it's a good size with decent headroom).

Any attic conversion will be a professional job to make sure it's all to code - most old buildings here in UK are actually structurally not bad - wiring / plumbing tend to be the biggest issues (although old plaster & lath is a PIA I'll be dealing with!).

Local regulations and availability of construction materials are important for remodelling houses. You may want to try https://www.houzz.co.uk/

We’re looking for ideas before approaching architects at the moment

You don't need to know exactly what you want to do before approaching an architect. You are far enough along in your thinking based on what you've told us. You do need a budget. It is the architects' job to get you as many of your wishlist items as they can within your budget. You present them with the problems and they supply the solutions. A local architect has likely already done many projects similar to yours if your house is a common example of local housing stock.

My experience with architects has been best if I'm not too specific when I'm interviewing them. Give them a budget and a list of very basic requirements. What they do with that in our walk through gives me an idea of whether they are a good listener, pie in the sky dreamer, the right person for the project. And, whether or not they can begin to identify structural barriers and what they know about code.

I love a basement laundry. Who does laundry in your house and are the practiced in and agreeable to walking from the fourth floor to the basement and back up with a basket of laundry?

What are your ceiling heights in the cellar. Yes to that becoming your new laundry utility room. Have you thought about closing up the exterior door near the wc/utility room and placing a window there. Then, downstairs in the cellar, you could create a dig out and have a wall of sliding doors or french doors to a patio there with steps up to your garden area. Then, on the other side, off the back bay window area, again, french doors to a garden room and step down to your garden. In other words, gain more space for the powder room. Gain access to the garden from both the cellar AND the first floor. Capturing space from Bedroom 4 for stairs to your attic AND a bigger, compartmentalized bath makes sense, too. Just a thought about the digging out of your back yard behind the cellar. My nephew in Canada did that and gained a big, light filled functional room in his cellar, as well as access to his yard. Good luck!

A quick question….do you have a coat closet anywhere near your entry? Is that required?

These are all brilliant thank you- the dig out is a great idea… a coat / shoe storage closet is a good idea so definitely would like to consider that

I like a coat area by the front door.I like the idea of a glass door to the back. You could have the kitchen more in the center of the first floor and a wide opeing to the living area. I don't see the need for a full bath on the first floor.

I would look to do two baths on the second using the samll bedroom space.

Kendrah, the street level is the ground floor, so the first floor bath he would like to expand is where the bedrooms are.

If bedroom four is going to be lost to stairs and bath expansion, you might consider putting a stacked washer/dryer there. It's closest to where the dirty clothes are generated.

Removing the laundry from the ground floor might allow you to add that space and part of the entry to make a better kitchen and eating area.

Just mean a main bathroom, so big enough for a bath and a shower. Not crazy big just a better one than current! All kids bath times would be on 1st floor,

Kendrah, the street level is the ground floor, so the first floor bath he would like to expand is where the bedrooms are.

I'm confused. I'd think the first floor is the kitchen floor and where Tim wants the kids to be bathed. Or, Tim, is the floor with the bedrooms where you want the kids to be bathed? If you want kids bathed on a the bedrooms floor and don't need a bathtub on the kitchen floor, then I'd keep the half bath and turn the utility room into a walk in coat closet. If you do intend to have a bathtub on the kitchen floor, then be thoughtful about where you will place the door to the bathroom so that you can potentially have a long wall available for a coat wardrobe.

In the UK, the street level is the ground floor; the first floor is one level up. The floor plan is labeled, albeit faintly.

Thanks for clarifying. This makes so much more sense now. I didn't see the labels nor know that floors are labeled differently in the UK! Interesting.

Hi all, yes - in UK the ground floor is street level (sorry for confusion). We will still need a toilet / wash basin on ground floor but the main family bathroom will be on the 1st floor where the kids sleep. I didn’t realise different countries describe this differently- interesting!