Snug

[kaz]

What exactly is a snug? I’ve looked it up and the general description is that of a cosy space. Does anyone here have a snug… (photos would be greatly appreciated)?

Or… does anyone have suggestions on what to do with a ‘spare’ downstairs room? It’s about 16’ by 14’… I’m currently using it as a junk room / library (with pathetic shelving) / and home for the treadmill, a TV and stereo system. The room is tucked well out of the way (it can only be accessed via the study).

I’d really like to smarten this area up and give the room a purpose… but I’m brain dead on this. The room is basically a box (there is no fireplace… just a couple of wall beams). I’m quite desperate to sort this area out as I’m seriously considering a move nearer to the parents (hence the interest I had in the 16th century cottage) and don't think estate agent's use the term 'junk room'.

Many thanks

Kaz

 

[Feltwell]

I certainly wouldn't worry about estate agents finding a term for a room - they are well versed in bull**** in my experience!
:wink:

We have a "sun room" according to the estate agents when we bought this house (it's the old scullery - now used as the kids toy room).

I presume this room has got a window? The "one room accessed off another" layout is always a bit of a problem. Could it be turned into a study, and your current study used as something else? Extra living room (thinking of couples with older kids with dreaded Playstations etc)? Kids play room? Man's "beer fridge and telly to watch football" room?

If it's presented as something, not just left full of junk, people will use their imagination to make it what they want it to be. Our "sun room" scullery is a long thin room, 6' wide and 20' long - doesn't sound very useable, but it does have lots of natural light. We've got young kids and as it's just off the kitchen it's a great place for them to have a little table to eat at during the day, while mum is in the kitchen, as well as to store all their toys in a big storage unit along 1 wall.

Friends with older kids looked at it as a good place to have a day-to-day family dining table, keeping the dining room for larger family gatherings and Sunday lunches, as the scullery has a nice view of the garden and opens onto the kitchen so they can talk to whoever's cooking (no room in the kitchen for a table).

My mum, as one half of an older couple who's children are all adults now, looked at it and instantly said "what a great place as a hobby room, it would be perfect for my embroidery, sewing machine and knitting machine".

When we bought the place it was full of hats, the previous owner being a milliner! It was her work room. The point I'm making is I think people do use their imagination if it's extra space and is presented neatly.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Home gymn is what some people would like.

 

[yamin]

I tend to think of a 'snug' as a place which is not as formal as a sitting room/drawing room/lounge, and is often very close to the kitchen to flop into without being smart!!! Thats just my interpretation of course. Our snug is right next to kitchen, has old sofa in it, and is where we go to watch TV. Its kind of a corridor room too, as both kitchen, smarter sitting room and conservatory all open off it. You've had good suggestions so far - my vote would be for it to be a study, and change your current study into a more family or whatever room. Its OK in my house viewing book to have a study opening off another room, whereas a snug that you have to walk through a study to get through doesn't make so much sense. As was mentioned though, get it at least tidy and I'm sure any estate agent worth his weight in bull**** would easily find a name for it!

Good luck!

p.s. Our snug is darkish, smallish and, well, snug! Flagstone floor, dark green and dark red seating, not matched, log burner etc.

 

[Hatster]

Yes, if you have a nice, clean, useful looking room people will turn it into something that they need - my sister was sold her house as having a 'sun room', and just like Feltwell's mum, put her sewing machine and gear in it.

 

[worms]

Well if it was mine, that room would be a library, since it is off the study - somewhere to actually shelve all the books that are in boxes in the attic! But as mentioned above every potential purchaser will see it as their own personal nirvana, be it library, snug or gym!

Schoolmarm, as one of this forum's apprentice pedants, I take my hat off to the addition of the 'n' to gym, shows a true understanding of the derivation - unless you have something completely different in mind for the use of this room!

 

[kaz]

Many thanks for the suggestions... I'm having great difficulty seeing beyond it's multi-use arrangement at the moment. I've been looking at properties in Sussex and have felt quite envious of some peoples' ability to make their homes look so attractive. I have tons of books (mostly practical reference type - so don't want to get rid of them)... they are currently crammed in 3 grotty shelf units in that room. I think that if I change the shelves it would look a million times better (are fitted floor to ceiling shelves expensive?)... then maybe a couple of old chairs and small table... chuck the treadmill in the garage... sigh! I'm honestly useless with interior design and such. There is a window, but it's not a sunny room.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Well if it was mine, that room would be a library, since it is off the study - somewhere to actually shelve all the books that are in boxes in the attic! But as mentioned above every potential purchaser will see it as their own personal nirvana, be it library, snug or gym!

Schoolmarm, as one of this forum's apprentice pedants, I take my hat off to the addition of the 'n' to gym, shows a true understanding of the derivation - unless you have something completely different in mind for the use of this room!

Both of my daughters think it is really funny if I text that word to them but I always say the full word in my head and can't leave the "n" off. :lol: :lol:

 

[Cloudscape]

I have a room that was called a snug, but it's also a two-level ground-floor bedroom, and currently a storeroom. It could also be an office, a hobby room (some people locally have one of those), another lounge (for kids, for a live-in relative, as a less-posh room that guests/visitors don't normally see). The bedroom idea would work for many people, if the scale of the house would accommodate a live-in relative. It sounds as though, in your house, they would have a suite of two rooms - bedroom and lounge?

I think my snug was listed on the estate agent's details as Lounge 3 / Bedroom 5. So it could be listed in a way that shows that it offers choice on how it's used.

 

[Hatster]

The advice I gave to my mum (selling at the moment) was not to make the rooms look apologetic - i.e. don't feel embarassed about having a pink bathroom, but instead celebrate it as a romantic and luxurious space with lots of candles and so on. I haven't actually seen the results, but she says it looks wonderful, and at least when she takes people round she can feel she's showing it off.

Why not turn it into a library - or have books on one wall at least, and some vaguely intellectual-looking paintings on the others? I think built in shelves are expensive to have made, but if you could DIY some out of shelf brackets and planks and paint them.

But then I'm about to turn a corridor into a library by ripping out cupboards and (hopefully) moving a bathroom 80cm to the left, putting shelves up, and finding room for a chair and lamp table. This will of course be the second library at Hatster Towers, where we have our priorities firmly fixed!

Really, I don't think it matters what you do with it so long as you do something definite.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I agree with the above advice.

Nice fitted shelving is expensive. We currently have Blue Peteresque ancient bits of wood on antique bricks; I'm trying to persuade myself they have a rustic charm.

If it were mine I'd pack up everything in there, books, shelves, the lot: and start again with my clutter in storage. I'd put in a comfy armchair or two, a nice rug, a vase of blossom or garden blooms on a little table. If I didn't have a nice freestanding bookcase (displaying antiquarian books) I'd put 2 or 3 very carefully chosen books on a table by the armchair (all trashy reading banned from sight!!) I'd hang a lovely mirror on the wall opposite that window to throw light in the room. And I'd make sure it was all clean and sparkling, and smelt lovely.

The snugs in pubs are wonderful enclosed spaces with wooden panelling, oak settles, roaring fires and flagstone floors. I'd love to re-create that here, but the basic elements are lacking.

RE selling: you have to pack up half your stuff. Visible clutter is so off putting. It's so much easier to imagine yourself in a house that is not a sea of kids' toys, electronic equipment, papers, CDs... things like matching Molton Brown handwash/moisturiser in the loos speak volumes.

Make sure you sell a lifestyle as well as a house.

But I'm a terrible picky purist when it comes to interiors. I'm packing up all the technical reading and scruffy literature, and now choose books purely on the basis of their covers. I love how Reprint Society books from the 40s and 50s look together with their muted tones; an idea I stole from Marylebone High St.

 

[Pford75]

As Schoolmarm referred to, ours is now a fully functioning home gymn which gets a lot of use now as my kids are growing up....maybe I should have linked the bike and treadmill to a generator?

Another spare room will be converted into a 'media room' with space for an excessively large screen/projector and some comfy seats. Avoids having to spoil the morning room and drawing room with large consumer electronics

 

[Moo]

RE selling: you have to pack up half your stuff.

Wise words indeed. When we put our last house on the market we did exactly that, and it made a huge difference.

Six months after the move we decided that it was ridiculous paying for the storage, so I went to the depository to arrange for our goods to be returned. Interestingly, after we had sorted it all into three groups (tip, auction, home) we only needed a small van to bring the stuff back.
Which just goes to show how much junk we'd been living with for the past ten years.

 

[AMc]

I've been looking at properties in Sussex and have felt quite envious of some peoples' ability to make their homes look so attractive.

Put everything you don't need often into storage. Your house will feel bigger and look better with almost no effort. When you move you'll have to box everything anyway so start now.
Also move stuff into small rooms that won't be photographed for the agent's pictures and 'arrange' the best rooms for the photos. It makes a massive difference.

 

[DaveBrigg]

We have a drawing room - a table and shelves covered in pens, pencils and pieces of paper.

 

[Aidan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_snug#The_snug

Draught Guinness, turf fire, pipe, sorted.

 

[yamin]

Bit like you might find in this place then! And I can highly recommend it - esp for an folk night in the old barn, well oiled with a few od the landlords finest ales!

http://www.thefleeceinn.co.uk/

photos

http://thefleeceinn.co.uk/gals/fleece.html

 

[kaz]

Thanks again for offering suggestions... I must get my finger out now and transform the room!

 

[Penners]

I always say the full word in my head and can't leave the "n" off.

Top of the class, 'Marm. We pedants are a dying breed (but it's nice to see that we have at least one apprentice).

Kaz - I think the best use for your "redundant" room very much depends on what other rooms you already have. For example, I presume you have a sitting room? Does it have a TV in it? If so, why not remove it and put it into the unused room. I hate the look of a TV in your "best" room - that great blank, black box.

And when you entertain, it'll give people the impression that you don't have a TV. Which is fraightfully smart! :wink:

Otherwise, I like the library idea.

 

[Schoolmarm]

And when you entertain, it'll give people the impression that you don't have a TV. Which is fraightfully smart!

:lol: :lol: