Sunnymead Road, Birmingham

A Home That Has Evolved With Family Life

Some homes are bought, lived in and eventually sold.

Others are shaped over decades. This is the latter, with the 1930s charm we all know & love still very much intact. 

This extended, 1930s semi-detached home on Sunnymead Road has been in the same family for 36 years, and during that time it has been carefully adapted around the way they actually wanted to live.

The result is a house that feels immediately more substantial than expected.

A wide entrance hallway gives the first clue. Then the ground floor opens out in front of you, with a generous through lounge and dining room to one side and an extended kitchen/breakfast room to the rear, all designed around family life, light and space.

“People are always surprised by the size. You walk into the hallway and immediately see what the extension has achieved - it just opens up in front of you.”

'The extension changed the way the home can be lived in'

The standout improvement is the full-width side extension.

It created a much larger kitchen/breakfast room, additional ground-floor space and a useful downstairs WC, and a substantial third bedroom, transforming what was already a traditional family home into something far more ambitious.

The kitchen is bright, sociable and large enough to genuinely spend time in, rather than simply cook in.

French doors lead directly onto the garden, while the layout allows room for seating and breakfast space without compromising the practical side of the kitchen.

For the sellers, this was always the improvement that mattered most.

“We project-managed a lot of the extension ourselves. It completely changed the way we lived and made it feel much more like a proper family home.”

 
Two Sides to the Way You Live

The through lounge and dining room creates a long, elegant living space, with the front bay bringing character to the dining end and the rear lounge looking directly across the garden through an impressive full-width picture window.

It is a room that works differently throughout the day.

The kitchen is where mornings and afternoons naturally happen.

Then, as the day winds down, the lounge becomes the place to settle.

“We spend the mornings and early afternoons in the kitchen, then the evenings are usually in the living room. We like having both.”

 
Where the House Meets the Garden

The south-east-facing rear garden is another part of the home that has clearly been lived in and enjoyed.

French doors from the kitchen lead straight onto the seating area, creating an easy connection between inside and out.

Beyond that, the garden stretches away with lawn, mature planting and established boundaries, giving it a much more private feel than many neighboring homes.

The sellers have deliberately added fencing and shrubs over the years to preserve that privacy.

When the weather allows, it becomes a genuine extension of the living space.

“When it is sunny, we spend loads of time out there. We just sit, relax, do a bit of gardening and soak in the sunshine.”

 
Sunshine From Breakfast to Late Afternoon

The garden receives sunshine from early in the day and continues to benefit through much of the afternoon, making the patio outside the kitchen a particularly good place to sit.

It is also productive rather than purely decorative, with blackberries and raspberries grown in the garden over the years.

There is useful storage too, including a garden shed that the sellers added themselves.

“You get the sun from early morning until around four or five in the afternoon. Later in the day, when it is not quite as hot, it is lovely out there.”

 
Three Bedrooms Without the Usual Compromise

All three bedrooms are well sized, but the third bedroom is especially notable.

Rather than the typical compact box room found in many three-bedroom semis, this is a genuinely substantial room and compares extremely well with similarly priced homes nearby.

That flexibility matters.

It could work just as comfortably as a child's bedroom, teenager's room, guest room or generous home office.

The family bathroom is also unusually spacious, with both a separate shower and distinctive corner bath.

“We have always loved how much usable space there is. Even upstairs, the rooms feel like proper rooms rather than compromises.”

 
Thoughtful Improvements, Made to Be Lived With

Over the years, the sellers have made a series of practical improvements rather than simply cosmetic ones.

The front has been updated with modern cladding, the porch has been improved, the driveway has been enlarged and the garden has been shaped around how the family wanted to use it.

The former front lawn was replaced to create significantly more parking, meaning there is comfortable space for at least two cars and room for three when family visits.

Fold-down security bollards have also been installed at the front of the driveway for additional peace of mind.

“We changed the drive because when everyone came over at Christmas & we wanted enough room. We can get three cars on when the family is here!”

 
A Road Where People Put Down Roots
The location was one of the main reasons the sellers originally chose the home.

Sunnymead Road has an established, residential feel, with many neighbouring families having lived locally for decades.

That longevity has created something that is difficult to manufacture in a newer development: people knowing one another.

For the sellers, that sense of familiarity has been a huge part of making this feel like home.

“A lot of the neighbours have been here for 40 years or more. People know each other and look out for each other. Next door moved in when the houses only 30 years old.”

 
Connected to Everything, Without Feeling Busy

Local shops and supermarkets are easily accessible, with Morrisons, Tesco and Asda among the options nearby.

There are well-regarded schools within the surrounding area, while bus and rail connections make travelling further afield straightforward.

Birmingham city centre, entertainment venues, cinemas and Birmingham Airport are all easily reachable, which has allowed the sellers to enjoy being close to everything without sacrificing the feeling of living in an established family neighbourhood.

“It has always been really convenient. Work, shops, the city, the airport - everything is easy to get to from here.”

 
Thirty-Six Years of Calling It Home

Perhaps the strongest endorsement of the house is simply how long its owners have stayed.

They did not remain here because they had to.

They stayed because the house worked.

It was somewhere they could adapt, extend and improve as family life changed, while remaining in an area that continued to give them everything they needed.

Even now, as they move on, they are looking for something with a remarkably similar layout.

That feels significant.

“The house we are buying has a really similar set-up. Bright, lots of seating space - we are almost trying to pick this house up and move it with us.”

 
What will they miss?
After more than three decades, there is plenty.

The garden.

The neighbours.

The convenience.

The familiarity of the road.

But perhaps most of all, it is the ability to be close to so much without feeling like you are right in the middle of it.

“We will miss how close we are to everything - the theatres, the airport, the city. It has just been home for such a long time.”

For its next owners, this is an opportunity to buy more than simply a three-bedroom semi.

It is an extended, established family home with unusually generous proportions, a large third bedroom, substantial driveway, private south-east-facing garden and a layout that has already been tested by 36 years of family life.

And now it is ready for the next chapter.

I cannot wait to show you around! 

Ground Floor

Entrance Hall
Lounge — 14'9" x 11'0" / 4.5m x 3.4m
Dining Room — 12'3" x 11'0" / 3.7m x 3.4m
Kitchen / Breakfast Room — 12'9" x 12'6" / 3.9m x 3.8m
Guest WC — 5'3" x 4'11" / 1.6m x 1.5m
First Floor

Bedroom One — 12'6" x 10'10" / 3.8m x 3.3m
Bedroom Two — 12'2" x 10'6" / 3.7m x 3.2m
Bedroom Three — 12'6" x 8'8" / 3.8m x 2.6m
Bathroom — 12'6" x 6'3" / 3.8m x 1.9m