I would make room 3 the main entrance, could work nice because it leads to all parts of the house and you could add some storage and chairs in there. I would make room one the office area, or formal dining. And leave room 2 as the living room. Of course this is all pending that you are not planning to reconfigure any of the room. IE moving the h vac. you could leave the office area in room three as well.

RL, thank you. I would be nice to move that HVAC. Right now DH doesn't want to do that it would be pretty major, and we do have a lot of other things to work on in this house, but I've learned to never say never with this house!

So you're suggesting if we keep the current configuration to use it as an entry way with a sitting room and storage or if we remove the closet with HVAC to also remove the doorway so that is a closed room? I hadn't thought of that. We don't have any other closest downstairs though, so if we took it out we'd have to find another area to put one in. I considered once using the door in room 3 as the main entrance and creating more of a large entryway with lots of storage in that room. Mostly because I hardily wish we had a mudroom! Right now it works out that my whole kitchen works as a mudroom, the dogs kennel, everyone's shoes and coats and sports bags end up in there. Drives me nuts! Of course part of that is because the only backdoor exit is in there as well. I'm going to think more about if we removed the closet. We might be able to remove the closet and not move the HVAC and just cover it, it doesn't stick out as far as the closet does.

Thanks for the suggestions!

HI,

No I am suggesting to use room three as the entry, because it leads to both the staircase, kitchen and other rooms. It makes the most sense to me when I look at it and becasue it is the smallest it would also make a good room for adding storage and not cluttering the other rooms.

room 1 as a dining or sitting and room 2 as the living room. But I would remove the door on room 1 so that it gains some more wall space.

But if you removed the HVAC then I would remove the closet and door in that room to make it the living room (ROOM 1) Thus adding some storage to room 3 in either case. Plus room 3's door is looking most centered to the house.

I agree with RL Relocation. Plus, you can do something with Room 3 to make it more of an entry.

RL, lol, I wasn't paying attention to my own numbers! Looks like my onetime thought wasn't as off the wall as I thought it was. It is a very central room and could be open or closed to the other rooms. Those two front doors are usually where people gravitate to when they're trying to figure out which door to knock on. Truthfully I often wish I could just go out that door but we've had it sealed off because it's drafty. I will have to look into whether we can find a true exterior door that would fit (all the doors but the kitchen are smaller than typical). If I did make room 3 the entry way then making room 2 the TV/living room makes the most sense. Unless I want a formal living room. Its too far from the kitchen to be a good dining room.

I think I will look into what it would take to move the HVAC. I think I'm leaning more towards room 2 as our living room but I suppose I really should consider all my options fully.

I appreciate the ideas, they're really helpful!

I'm liking the idea of making room 3 a main entry even more this morning, but it won't be as easy as deciding unfortunately. Along with a new door I realized we'd also have to run wiring to have a light switch put in next to the door and there is no crawl space open under that part of the house and the walls are old plaster. Its one of the subtle reasons we still use the kitchen door, there are light switches next to it. The only other door that has them is in room two, so it was obviously used as the main entrance once upon a time, but if we used that as an entry door then we lose furniture real estate, which we're already suffering for. So much space and no place to put anything! I love our house, but I'm always frustrated that every decision seems to lead to some major thing that needs done first!

Not sure if these would help with the light switch situation.

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Wireless-Light-Switch-Kit/dp/B005B0AY0K

Welcome to old (real) farmhouse land. I grew up in one lol. And my Grandparents have one in the family that has similar aches and pains. I think as to have a light by the door, could you possibly run outside conduit? and then simply have a dusk to dawn motion light there? Just a thought.

If you moved the HVAC then I would make that the living room and make room 2 the office sitting area.

I am really hoping we can find a solution to make room three the entry.

Could you post a picture of the front of the house?

Perhaps. I went down and looked myself and I actually think it wouldn't be too hard to get wiring to the right area. Of course I'm no expert but I don't think it's as bad as I thought. I don't know how hard it is to run wiring through plaster though! We just had to do a ton of that in the kitchen but it was drywall.

I was actually thinking I could start setting the room up as an entryway, with a bench, some cubbies, etc. even if it takes awhile to get the door and light figured out. It might help alleviate some of the stuff in the kitchen. Of course it would still end up there first but at least I'd have someplace to drag it all.

Its dark here now and I don't have a close up shot but I do have this photo that somewhat shows the front of the house. The door you can see clearly is the one to room 3. Room 2's door is right next to it. You can't see the door to the kitchen as its tucked around the corner.

The HVAC, a part of me doesn't even want to think about moving it, but the heat and air doesn't work real great upstairs either so there is an argument to be made for redoing it just for that. It probably isn't something that we could prioritize for awhile but I am very curious now what it would entail. That would be such a nice room without that closet!

omg she is lovely!!

Was this at one point a place that rented rooms maybe.. like way back and that's why all the doors where added? Have you ever tried doing any history on the house?

Oh, I am excited for you to be able to have a real entry way! If it was me I would remove the second door and make the room three door a standard size if that is the problem. But of course, that's a whole nother can of worms with the siding etc. I suppose the first cost is getting a good door you can use there, then the HVAC.............

oh Maybe it was a men's parlor and a women's parlor that could make sense too........ maid entrance to the back........im drawing at straws here lol.

I really wish I knew! The many doors really is a mystery. We've wondered about a servants entrance. That built-in cabinet in the room 1 has a little door inside it that opens to the old kitchen area (the area marked as informal dining area), so it makes me think Room 1 was once a dining area and the food could be served through that little door without having to see the servants. I never considered the room renting idea, but I doubt the doors would have been added for that, but who knows. There is only 3.5 acres of land with the house now, but there is still a HUGE old barn, so I'm sure at one time there was a good size working farm associated with the house, perhaps there was an area assigned for the workers to come eat etc and that is why the extra doors. It would be fun to learn the history of the house, if its possible, I haven't looked into it, just trying to keep up with it now has kept us pretty busy!

We are pretty sure the "informal dining area" (aka old kitchen) and rooms 1, 2, & 3 and our two front bedrooms upstairs are original to the house, its all the same old plaster. The area our kitchen is now and the door into it is obviously an add on and is drywall. I've often wondered why they added yet another door into the kitchen, it really made remodeling it recently hard because it stole wall space. I have a feeling they were going for symmetry and also, just wanting a full size door. The back rooms upstairs all have that 70's wood paneling (covered by wallpaper of course!) and the old chimney that went through the old kitchen was cut-off under the upstairs hallway, so we're sure those are also a later addition.

This is the east side of the house. I think, if you took the upstairs room in back off you'd be looking at the original (or at least a very early!) layout for the house. With a two-story front and a single story back. The downstairs back room would be room #1, the front window there looks into room #2.

This is the west side, all the rooms that come off from that corner where the porch turns were added on much later. The room with all the windows is a sunroom, of sorts, and though attached to the house cannot be entered from inside it, you have to go through that outside door.

I see two sidewalks. Where do they lead to? I think if there is a place where people park their cars, that would be the entry side, and one of the doors there should be the designated entry, unless that still makes your kitchen the main entrance. I would certainly want to enter the "sunroom" from inside, so that would be on my list of upgrades.

That back door off room 1 must have been maid entry, I have a feeling the main door was always the door to room three, and perhaps that other door was a parlor.....so very interesting. Is the barn in good shape?

Decoenthusiast, the sidewalk that goes to the front of the house leads to the road, it is not one you would park on, the only person who walks up it is the UPS guy! Though the bus picks up my kids there. The sidewalk to the side goes to the driveway, which is why I always thought I'd eventually make that door (in room 1) the main entrance. I've gotten used to walking around though and I don't think it matters much which door we chose I'm pretty sure I'll need signs to direct new people to the right one no matter what.

When we first looked at the house the first thing I wanted was to make a door to that sunroom but I realized once I started trying to fix the layout for the kitchen that there would not be room for another door in there. Plus the sunroom is lower than the rest of the house. We would have to build out onto either the porch or the back deck to make an interior way to it. I've considered it because then I could have my mudroom but we'd also be cutting off a lot of light to the kitchen which I've tried to avoid. Its a problem for another time for me.

RL, here's a couple pictures of room #3. I was thinking a long bench under the window by the door and some cubbies/lockers next to it and on the wall where that vanity is. That armoire looking thing is actually my desk. If we wanted to put in a closet it could go on that wall. Not sure yet if I'd want to change the actual footprint of the room that way or not.

RL, the barn is in decent shape. It needs painted but it's structurally sound still.

Ok, I've been rethinking room 1 with the idea of using room 3 as an entry way (eventually) and room 2 staying the TV room. I was messing around in powerpoint with my drawing and came up with some arrangements. Originally, I was thinking to either having a sitting area OR a dining area with some kind of console to separate the entry area off (see the first two pictures) but if we aren't going to use that door much then area between the closet and the front door is big enough for a dining table.. What do you guys think of this? (Picture 3)?

Have we seen a photo of the stairs yet? Since people are already using that side door to the kitchen, I wonder if there's a way to flip the door and that small window at the foot of the stairs. If there is only 3.5 feet between the wall and the foot of the stairs, it might be possible to bump out that wall just another 1.5 feet and people would enter, the door would swing toward the casual dining area, and they would step to their right, into the foyer (room #3) Just trying to think outside the boxes. I really tend to see #1 as a present and future family/TV/dining room combined with room #2 by a larger opening between them.

Deco, it would be pretty tight right there, I don't think there would even be enough room to stand there and open the door at the same time. Though it would solve the problem that we can't take long things that won't bend up those stairs! Lol.

I’d keep room 3 as the family room since it’s easiest to get to the kitchen , room 2 as the entry for visitors with a couple of chairs and hanging space you can make one if you don’t already have a closet... And continue using the kitchen one for the family entrance with groceries and what not... as the kids get older, if yo have them , the entrance room could be where there is a tv for them if they have friends over.

OR get rid of room 3 door all together and put plain wall up... use other door as front entrance for visitors, making couple chairs and build a closet for coats .. if you have kids as they get older you can put a tv in there for them to hang with their friends...

Five feet if you could bump the wall out onto the porch a bit. Would still like to see a photo of the stairs and that area.

First I realized in my original diagram I left out a window in room 2! Its to the right of the door in the center of the room.

Lisa - thanks. We are currently using room 2 as the family room. Room 3 is a little too narrow for a TV room we had a couch in there for a bit but you couldn't really get any other chairs in there. With room 2 being close to the kitchen and having a fireplace it would make a nice family room but TV placement in there is problematic, all we could do is stuff it in the corner. We could make it work but it would be awkward.

Deco- oh I see, you mean make a hallway of sorts. I think it would still be too narrow unless you widened or into room 3. Not really worth the effort in my opinion.

There is currently a swinging door from the stairway to the kitchen:

A view of some of the prettiest wallpaper and carpeting in the house! 😬

That's the kitchen door:

I am assuming for heating purposes you keep all the interior doors hung?

Looks like room3 is the perfect "mudroom" entry to me I mean its right off the kitchen and living area. I like it.

as to your layouts, I like 1 and 3 but I would probably use a smaller round table that could take a leaf when needed. It might also be a good spot for kids homework. I like the one with the cozy seating area.

btw the door casings are amazing!

remind me what all hubby wanted to put the stove on?

shrlpp - Its weird but I just got the notice for your post from 2 days ago! That is really neat idea. I'm going to show it to DH but this could help with a lot of things in this house. Every room has two entries but none of them have switches on both sides! Not cheap but once you've spent a day running wires through walls you realize what a great value something like this is! lol

RL- If you look at my diagram of Room 2, the top left corner wall is where he wants to put the stove. You'll see the chimney labeled in the little bump out in room 3. Its the only chimney that is still intact. The fireplace in room 1 is gas and the chimney isn't meant for woodburning (we checked). I don't want to lose the wall space, we have a loveseat there now which we don't use much when its just us, but do when there is company, without that wall the room loses its functionality as a TV room. Mostly though I don't want a woodburning stove. We've lived with them before and I don't like the smoke. The gas fireplace works in an emergency too. It worked for me when the furnace went out last year! If he presses the issue I guess I'll just tell him we've got to move the HVAC in room 1 first so we can move the family room in there! I've been trying to figure out how to convince him to move the stove down to the barn for storage for awhile now. It would be a major undertaking as it is seriously heavy so he won't want to as it would be accepting it may not happen.

Oh, we don't really need any of the doors hung. We never close them, but kind of like them I guess. The front of the house is the only part that has intake vents so it gets really warm, if we close off the doors the back of the house gets cold. We do currently have a large bi-fold door hung between rooms 1 & 2. DH put it up when we were redoing that room to keep kids and dogs out. I'd like to take it back off when we finally get it set up. Its such an awkward door. I think a pocket door would be nice there but DH was not enthused about the idea of doing that!

You could put the wood stove in room three, just as a decoration since it will mostly be a pass-through room. He could look at it there lol. We all know room 1 would be an awesome family room if you could remove the hvac and the closet.... what about just shifting the HVAC into the closet next to it, just to gain some wall space back? maybe then it would be just a little simpler.....idk just a thought.

I am glad that you received it.

RL, lol, that's all its doing now, sitting in room 3 and being decoration! Though its currently blocking the door. The HVAC is inside that closet already, but the ventilation ducts go up from there (through our bedroom closet into the attic) so moving it would entail cutting into the ceiling/floor to relocate those ducts.. It would be just as easy to move it across the room as a couple feet I think It might be something we can do someday, but we're in the middle of a kitchen remodel right now. It's on hold for the winter which is why I'm trying to focus on room layout, but we don't want to take on any other major remodeling before the kitchen is done. For now I have to work with what we've got, though I am trying to keep the future in mind. I do think a new door and light switches for room 3 is possible in the shorter term though.

You might want to find out which walls are weight bearing walls and see if removing some walls and doors within them, and/or closing up walls in rooms with multiple doors would help.

Really nice home and property.

You could simply remove any central vac system and invest in a Roomba -- that could get rid of one something along one wall and let you square room 1.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Roomba&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1l-Ll87bnAhXJSt8KHZjVD0QQsxh6BAgPECs&biw=1366&bih=628#spf=1580785213419

For heating purposes in a large old two story home, being able to close off the stairwell should be the primary concern since heat rises.

From personal experience ... if you have a wood stove, you'd be better much served putting it in a larger room or in a room open to multiple rooms. NOT in a small room such as room 3.

If you have a wood heater, you could put it either in or in front of your fireplace (with triple wall metal stove pipe lining the chimney for safety).

If you don't want to make room 3 your new Foyer/Entry ... but if you want the room 2&3 side of the house to be your front of the house ... another way to use the rooms is worth considering:

You have a tiny bathroom very close to the kitchen/eating area. Budget permitting, the best use of room three could well be closing it off from room 2 and creating a new full bath in room 3. That would enable you to square the informal dining room and move the bathroom farther away from the kitchen and dining area.

Once you've moved the bathroom, you could recreate the space between kitchen and informal dining with a pass thru kitchen cabinet "wall" that you can walk all the way around.

https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/remodeling/architectural-details/home-design-ideas-room-dividers/?slide=slide_2bf3e1c7-021a-4262-9de6-fd5daf3777a7#slide_2bf3e1c7-021a-4262-9de6-fd5daf3777a7

Keeping only one interior door to enter room 2 from room 3 means you could use room 2 as a bonus room -- usable as a bedroom or as you choose. It also means you can keep that one door to room 2 closed and not fully heat it all the time.

You could keep as is or alter or (if not load bearing) remove the wall between dining and informal living room to create a single elongated rectangle shaped "great room" -- kitchen, dining, family room. If you created a pony wall between dining wall and informal living, your wood heater in the fireplace could heat the entire great room area. You could keep as many posts as needed for support in that pony wall and, with a solid back on the informal living room room side, you can put any furnishings you choose by it with the back to the pony wall.

You could alter the porch beside room 2 between the window to room 2 and the door to room 1 to create a wider porch there that wraps around the side of room 1 several feet. You could even enclose that area and create a new foyer and make the rest of the porch on the right side of room 2 your front porch.

Then in that back corner off the kitchen at a right angle to room 3, remove the shallow/narrow open porch and create a square deck or patio there with a rail around it and steps exiting on the left side toward what would be the back of your home.

You might also consider a "green wall" -- row of shrubs -- all across the yard so guests are led to the new foyer on the right side of the home.

suezbell - thanks! I don't think we'll ever remove walls. If there was anything structurally I'd change it would be the enclosed staircase, but that will likely not ever be worth the effort to change either (unless I hit the lottery!) Something I have wrestled with is that if I just accept room 1 as closed off I could move furniture back along the wall/big doorway enough to have a TV right of the fireplace, basically on the closet wall. However, I just don't want it closed off, and even though we could comfortably have the TV in there then it still wouldn't be an attractive layout so I doubt I'd do it.

That isn't a central vacuum unit, its the heating/AC ductwork. Oddly, we have the problem in this house where the heat stays downstairs, with the thick plaster walls and the enclosed staircase it just doesn't make it upstairs. Its always about 10 degrees cooler upstairs (except for summer when it is hotter). Also, because all the intake vents are in the front two rooms (2 &3) they stay really hot if you close them off and the back of the house gets cool. So we try to keep the doors open to get the temperature to spread evenly. Honestly we should redo the the whole HVAC system in the house, and may one day, but its livable and we are frying other fish right now. Oh how I wish we could afford to have a contractor come in and remodel the whole house all at once! We talk about it all the time, but it would probably cost half as much as what we bought the house for, so we are just tackling it one project at a time.

I think we would have to tear out the chimney for the gas fireplace and replace it with a masonry one if we wanted to put the wood-burning stove there. We were told you could not just put a liner in it. Though honestly I'd rather do that then stick it in room 2. You are right, with our layout a wood stove just wouldn't heat efficiently. I've tried to talk DH into one of those outside woodburning furnaces that you plug into your heating system, they then supplement your furnace and it only kicks on if it has too. I don't think they are super efficient but better than having it in the house in my opinion. He's been open to the idea. He just likes the idea of being able to heat even if there is no power, which I can appreciate.

Ok so I still like your plan with the chairs by the fireplace and the table by the door. for room 1

I'm sorry if this has been already discussed, but do you use the exterior door in rm #1 a lot? My thought would be to put a tv there on an angle and then make an L-shaped layout with furniture and not use that closet. You could mess around with a small "reading" chair next to the fireplace too. Then you can make Rm3 the main entrance and Rm2 a study/office or formal dining.

Budget issues are something I understand.

You could certainly have a kitchen/dining/living room "great room" with a partial wall between dining and living.

Moving the bath and removing those walls would cost -- unless it was DIY ... even if it is DIY (just not as much)-- but I was thinking it would be worth it..

I was intending to also suggest you use room 3 not just for your bath but part of it for a closet for room 2 you would have been adding a wall between bath and closet rather than removing a wall ... and adding a closet door in the doorway between 2 & 3.

The thing about having a full bath and bedroom, preferably adjacent to each other, is that if you age in place, when you're an older "empty nester" couple (with arthritic knees that say don't climb the stairs any more than you have to do so), the downstairs bedroom/bathroom mean you don't need to heat/cool/clean the upstairs all the time.

To solve the open wide doorway issue, you might see if you can put a cabinet of some kind in one room and the back of a chair or other piece of furniture toward that in the adjoining room.

Something you might consider is having a talk with your electric company and see if they do free or low cost energy assessments. They might be able to help you with finding out the different issues that create the heating/cooling problems.

You might also see if adding insulation to the attic -- a bit at a time as you can afford it -- would help.

Also, IF the space is works (depending upon what you have/need to have there), you might see if you could put a wood heater against the outside wall between bath and kitchen -- or at another outside wall -- and vent it to the outside.

Because heat rises, if you were planning on enclosing the left corner between kitchen and room 3, then if you put a wood heater on a concrete floor LOWER than your floor of your home, you could open the doors and the heat would rise into the house. Depending upon your wood heater, you might use it to cook (or at least warm) food on it as well.

Hope it turns out well..

Recreating Room 3 as the Foyer (preferably with closet space) as RL Relocation LLC suggested is worth considering.

RL - I think that is my working plan right now. I have a fold down futon type couch in that room right now, its dimensions are similar to a 6ft table so I folded it out and put it in that space and it fit easily, even with chairs you'd be able to access the closet and the front door (unless people were sitting there). So now I start shopping. :)

Kathi09 - I have never considered that! That is a new idea. We don't use that door often, but when you have a door its really hard mentally to block it off. I might see how that would layout. I don't think I'd choose it as an option unless we really wanted the other rooms for something else, but I never would have considered that angle and it probably would be doable.

Suezbell - using some furniture to block the doorway is a good idea, I'd probably do something like a see through bookshelf if I chose to do that.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

Katie09, you're a genius! Haha, I guess because I'd always planned to use the door and didn't want to block it and the closet I never thought of putting furniture all the way over on that side of the room, but I was talking about putting a table there because it didn't seem like it would block it too much. I realized when I was looking at your idea that I could put a TV on the wall between the front door and the opening to room 2 and a couch in front of the closet right in front of it and a chair in front of the window (the closet wouldn't be super accessible but you could still get in it if you needed too) then set up another couch or chairs facing inwards over by the fireplace. You'd still be able to see the TV but it would also be it's own area. I think this could work!

DH could even get a ridiculously large TV like he wants, I've been against it because we haven't had the ability to get far enough back from it to make it a nice thing to have, but with this bigger would actually better. If I do this I'd probably look at putting the dining table and my amoire desk in room two and put a closet in room 3.

I'm excited, I think with careful arranging and the right furniture it can look nice. Thank you all so much, I never would have figured this out on my own!

If you go that way, just do 2 chairs instead of that love seat. that way it would seem more cohesive... that chair could swivel to face the fireplace.....thinking out loud.