u/NotDifferent2023

Floor plan - https://ibb.co/DDwCw5Rx

Hi everyone,

We’re planning the layout of a combined 2BHK + 2BHK Jodi apartment in Mumbai. The attached plan shows the existing layout. Red-marked walls/blocks cannot be modified; other internal walls can be changed.

We are a family of five: my wife and me, our 4-month-old daughter, and my parents.

Current plan

• Left master: For my wife, daughter and me.
• Left Bedroom-2: Wardrobe/storage + WFH room.
• Right master: For my parents.
• Right Bedroom-2: Some wardrobe depth borrowed by the parents’ master, plus storage and a Murphy bed for guests/family activities.
• Former left kitchen: Potential future kids’ room.
• Right kitchen: Main kitchen.

Our priorities are good hidden storage, spacious rooms, low maintenance, comfortable circulation for my parents, WFH space and long-term flexibility.

Main dilemma: kids’ room

The proposed kids’ room/former kitchen is approximately 11' × 7'11", which feels narrow. We could extend it 1.5–2 feet into the living room, but that may make one end of the 22' × 15'5" living/dining room feel pinched and irregular.

Our daughter will probably sleep in our room for the next 5–7 years. We may also move around that time, so constructing an enlarged bedroom now could mean sacrificing living space for a room that is barely used.

We are considering:

1. Build the expanded kids’ room now and initially use it as a play/activity room.
2. Remove the current partitions, enjoy a larger living/play area, and build a lightweight partition later if needed.
3. Eventually give our daughter the proper 10' × 11' left Bedroom-2 and convert the smaller former-kitchen area into a WFH room.

If we postpone the room, we would still pre-plan its future wall line, AC, electrical points, flooring and ceiling so it can be built later with less disruption.

Bathroom question

The left common bathroom is beside the proposed kids’ room. Should we:

• Keep it common?
• Eventually attach it to the kids’ room?
• Make it dual-access?
• Remove or reduce it and use some of its 8' × 5' area for the left Bedroom-2/storage zone?

Removing it would still leave us with three bathrooms—two attached and one common—but I’m concerned about convenience, future child requirements and resale.

Questions

• Would you build/extend the kids’ room now or preserve the larger living room?
• Can an 11' × 7'11" room work comfortably for one child without extension?
• Is constructing the partition after 5–7 years realistically manageable?
• Would the proper 10' × 11' Bedroom-2 be a better future kids’ room?
• Should we retain, reduce or remove the left common bathroom?
• Is there a better or more unconventional way to allocate these spaces?

We will engage an architect and structural professional for the actual changes. At this stage, we’re looking for practical space-planning ideas.

Thanks!

(Thoughts and concerns my own, used ChatGPT for better phrasing)