I’ve heard that as a general rule of thumb reducing the number of rooms in a house is not always the greatest idea in terms of adding value, however I’m thinking of doing this to add a downstairs toilet / shower, and possible utility room, at the expense of knocking through the kitchen to the lounge to make a kitchen diner. We’d also create internal access to the garage from these rooms, which we currently don’t have (have to go outside) where we have washing machine / dryer / freezer.

The house is a typical 1930s semi that has had the lounge (at the rear) extended by 2 metres in to the garden, and the small box kitchen extended by 2 metres in to the side garden.

Ideally we’d extend the kitchen out to match the extension of the lounge, but this will probably be too expensive. Instead we’re thinking of building a toilet / shower (possible utility) in to the kitchen extension, then knocking the wall through between the original kitchen in to the lounge, move the kitchen into the longest corners of the lounge to create an L shaped dining kitchen.

We have a dining room at the front of the house which could be another lounge.
The house only has one bathroom / toilet at the moment. I figure that the changes will add value to the property (which we don’t expect to be an issue as we’re planning to stay) but just wanted to check that this wasn’t totally bonkers.

Doesn’t sound bonkers at all. If you’re planning on staying there for a good while anyway just spend your money on things that’ll make your time there more pleasant and ‘liveable’

Anywya, open plan is all the rage these days, isnt it?

More or less exactly what we did in our typical 1930s Semi. You’re not really losing a room there, as the box kitchen is not exactly a selling feature. People want large kitchen/diners these days.

We divided the kitchen in two for a downstairs toilet and utility room.

A downstairs shower, while probably of interest to mucky bikers, is a weird choice in general.

If you’re planning to stay, build the house you want to live in.

The number of bedrooms is what matters. I’d see a downstairs shower/utility/WC as a plus point if i was buying, especially if i was a bit older and had trouble getting up stairs or I had large dogs that need cleaning after going walkies!!

A downstairs shower, while probably of interest to mucky bikers, is a weird choice in general.

This. I’ve got a downstairs shower (the previous owner put it in) and it’s very rarely used. If you were putting in a guest bedroom downstairs it might make a bit more sense, but in that case I’d be looking at putting it in en-suite.

A second downstairs toilet is a completely different matter – that is a definite must and would also (IME) add value to your house.

I’m looking around at places at the moment and even if it turns out to be a place just for me I always look at whether it has a second toilet or I’m checking the floor plans and looking where one might be added.

I actually quite like the idea of a downstairs shower and I’d build that in too if it were practical to do so.

I’d never thought a downstairs shower was that odd. The main purpose is for coming in form mucky bike rides / runs – as I’ll be able to get to it through the garage and then in to the clean house. But its also useful for when we have guests round or the early morning competition to get ready.

Sounds like a reasonable plan. We’ve got a standard 30s house too. I’ve extended off the back to build a kitchen. This opens onto the dining room ( lounge in your house) to give a large kitchen-diner. We’ve kept the old kitchen as a laundry room with a toilet. Its quite big as laundry rooms go but gives room for bikes or a range of other stuff. Big kitchen diner, separate cosy lounge, with additional space like utility and loo is the optimum layout for us.

Actually knocked through the old coal shed to make the loo a bit longer and gave it a rear window.

1930’s semi here too

Kitchen is a bit bigger due to a minor extension out to the side (takes up half the width of a small garage, allowing rear access), we don’t have a downstairs toilet. Didn’t want to put one in as the space under the stairs is so useful. We did a kitchen diner conversion last summer, made such a difference with 2 kids. We spend a lot more time in the back of the house now

We don’t need the toilet as we have a loft conversion so have more 2 rooms upstairs, 1 proper and 1 tiny but great for storage, plus an extra bathroom. The extra bathroom has made life easier

We spend a lot more time in the back of the house now

That is true for us too since doing the kitchen-diner. The wife has now moved from the spare room to the kitchen table for work and we both spend a lot more time in there and consequently enjoy the garden more too.

That is true for us too since doing the kitchen-diner. The wife has now moved from the spare room to the kitchen table for work and we both spend a lot more time in there and consequently enjoy the garden more too.

Yup – same for us – we had a kitchen with tiny annexe off it (no idea what purpose it served) and a dining room. We knocked the whole thing into one big kitchen/diner with bi-folds into the garden and it is wonderful. Even with the pretty disappointing weather so far this summer, it has often been pleasant enough to open the doors and we all use the space so much more than we did – either sat at the table or on the ‘peninsula’ (we didn’t have room for an island) and our little girls are in and out playing in the garden – something that didn’t happen at all before.

Pieface – Member

I’d never thought a downstairs shower was that odd. The main purpose is for coming in form mucky bike rides / runs – as I’ll be able to get to it through the garage and then in to the clean house. But its also useful for when we have guests round or the early morning competition to get ready.

I get your point, I totally plan to add a downstairs shower off the utility when I do my extension for the post ride rinse, but then I dont care about ‘value’ as you initially asked about.

However any average punter (or more likely their wife) would not consider traipsing downstairs and through the house to a downstairs shower a sensible option, downstairs bathrooms/shower-rooms are a no-go on the housing market! (however washroom/toilet is a definite yes).

So therefore its not really the best way to use the space to add ‘value’, id still do it if you were planning to stay long enough to make good use of it though.

Convert under the stairs instead, for a loo and sink?

I have a downstairs bog with shower, backs onto utility. Run or bike home, bike in garage, into house, wet gear off and into machine, towel off stack in utility, into shower, done, well back outside into spa normally but that’s optional !

Convert under the stairs instead, for a loo and sink?

I was going to suggest that but assumed this had already been considered. I did it at my last house and it was a squeeze but usable.

Loo under the stairs would require moving the Consumer Unit and associated gubbins, which in the grands scheme of things isn’t the biggest job. The current kitchen is an Ok size but not really as big as we’d like and is in need of replacement. Also the dining room at the front is somewhat redundant and like the idea of the dining kitchen, which would open out to the garden.

Convert under the stairs instead, for a loo and sink?

But where does that leave you to lock up the children?

Or the gimp if that’s your thing.

The alternative is to build the toilet & shower in to the existing garage, but wife thinks that keeping the garage as a garage would be smart for future resale, even though we’re not planning on moving any time soon.

You can get stand alone shower units if you just want a shower downstairs, easy enough to fit if you have drain access and water pipes near. Equally though, if you dont need garage space for clutter (i.e. it can go in a shed) then convert away, but be aware of planning. I plan to build a my utility into half the garage space, leaving the front half as space for the commuter bike, recycling bins and lawnmower.

My grandparents halfed their garage size years ago to extend the kitchen, much nicer and not like they were ever going to put a car it it, I mean, who does that!

Pretty much the only rule we have, is the garage is off limits and mine!

I get to put anything I want in there, but it’s firmly daddy’s space – workshop, tools, motorbike, bicycles

With the kitchen diner I usually work at the dining table (WFH once a week) rather than the office in the loft, as I’m then part of the family goings on (when they’re home from school/nursery)

I love the back of the house now it’s more open plan. I’m really glad we still have a contained front room though, nice to be able to shut things out when you want to. It’s also given the kids a nice open area to play around in, and it’s very central to the way we live which is ace

When the kids are up the kitchen is a real hub

Loo under the stairs would require moving the Consumer Unit and associated gubbins, which in the grands scheme of things isn’t the biggest job.

We had to do that – the consumer unit is allowed to stay in there (assuming you can get it far enough away from water) – we just had to move the meter elsewhere (as of was 7 years ago – no idea if the regs are still the same).