We come across all types of obstacles through our work as home renovation specialists, but that is where the extensive experience of our Home Tales design team comes in. Sometimes a renovation or home extension project may be unexpectedly affected by a planning, building, or design issue, at no one’s fault. We ensure all our clients are armed with the best team of professionals to tackle any of these matters that may arise.

Victorian terraces can be seen on the streets of most London boroughs, standing proudly with their ornate detailing and vibrant exteriors. Many of our clients come to us wanting to modernise their beautiful, traditional home, whether they’d like to open the ground floor plan up or extend the structure. In this post, we explore the conundrum of the middle room in a Victorian terrace house. This is the normal ground floor layout for this type of property, but nowadays we have seen the issues it can cause and have techniques to mitigate them.

What is the conundrum?

As shown in the example above, traditional Victorian terraces are often long and narrow. The middle room usually has no windows and is separated from the front/back rooms. This consequently means the room is left in the dark, with only artificial lighting to rely on. Due to its lack of lighting, the room was originally used as a dining space or spare living area. Even worse, the room can remain neglected and wasted due to its awkward positioning. Typically more rooms would mean more value, but it can be argued that making better use of this dingy middle room can add much greater value to your property and make everyday life a lot more comfortable.

Open plan living

An option that London homeowners are seemingly enamoured by is open plan living. This is defined as a large space with no physical dividers such as internal walls. Open plan living has become incredibly popular as it fabulously complements a modern interior, making the entire ground floor large, open, and bright. Rather than retaining the dark middle room, opening the floor up allows light to permeate through the entire floor area. This gives the feeling of a larger home, makes the space versatile, and creates a highly social environment.

There are a few smart tricks to zone an open floor plan which we think you shoulder consider. Zoning involves utilising interior design to create the illusion of a dedicated area without putting any physical barriers in place. Retain part of the middle room’s internal walls to create wide doorways. The change in levels give an indication of a separate space that would be perfect for a dining area or kitchen. A strong coherence and connection between the rooms is well-maintained. Alternatively, knock back chimney breasts to streamline the whole space and use the space to channel light from one side of the house to the other. Lighting changes depending on the season and time of day, so if your front room seems to darken in the Winter, natural light can be borrowed from incoming light in the back room.

Similarly, a broken plan layout works well in a Victorian terrace. Knock back one of the walls to the middle room and partially retain the second wall. By adding pockets door/French doors, you can gain a lot of versatility within your ground floor. Open the doors to benefit from an entirely open space, and close it up when you need privacy. On the other hand, by adding a side extension and positioning the kitchen in the middle, a clear connection/transition zone is created to connect the original property with the new extension.

Kitchen extension

If you’re not a fan of having an open plan ground floor plan, consider knocking back just one of the middle room walls. By removing the rear facing internal wall, you can make ample space for a kitchen extension and make an open plan kitchen and dining area. Placing your kitchen further into your house allows the entire back room to be used for leisure space. The darkest area of the room can be the “cooking zone”, and a kitchen designer can help position your cooker to slot into the chimney breast. This option lets you preserve a lot of character that is unique to traditional properties. Position your food preparation station to face the back room to create a cosy peninsula and interactive zone between the kitchen and dining area.

Reception

Are you already happy with the size of your kitchen and do not wish to make any changes to the back half of your home? Why not remove the internal wall between the middle room and your front reception. This adds valuable floor area to your social space, which you can make into an incredible entertainment room to welcome guests. In the example above, our client turned the middle room space into a cosy snug for watching TV, leaving the rest of the living room great for a lengthy catch up with friends.

Sharing is caring

Lastly, if none of these option appeal to you, why not divide the middle room so that both the front and back rooms can gain a bit more floor space? The half dedicated to the kitchen can be used as a utility/large pantry to hide away any unsightly tasks, appliances, and food packs. This would add to a modern interior as the large and clunky appliances would no longer intrude on the clean, sleek décor. The half connected to the front living room can be used to add extra leg room, or be repurposed as a home office or even a playroom for the little ones. You could even use part of the middle room to add extra space to the entrance way. This would allow the widening of the hallway, creating a brightened, welcoming entryway.

If you are considering undertaking works to your own Victorian terrace, we would love to hear from you! We can help with all types of home improvement projects, whether it’s a refurbishment, home extension or complete renovation. You can give us a call on 02070432378 or contact us via email at hello@hometales.co.uk. Alternatively, book in a telephone consultation with a senior member of our team by clicking here. We offer 2 types of consultations, our standard call, and our Consultation Plus.