Choice of big bathroom, 3 bedrooms or tiny bathroom, 4 bedrooms.
Hellooo
My wife and I just purchased a major do-er upper. Its a 3 bed house from 1920-30s in South Wales.
The house needs a bunch of structural work, installation of central heating, damproofing, new roof on the rear extension, new kitchen and total redecoration among other things.
We keep getting caught up with our floor plan though.. going round and round in circles. Now we need to finalise our plan and get the builders in.
The main decision that has us scratching our heads regards the upstairs. There is master bedroom, bedrooms 2 and 3, a shower room and a overly large bathroom, all accessible from the landing.
We intend on converting part of the shower room into an ensuite to the master bedroom. The choice that we've narrowed it down to then is either slightly extending the remaining area that used to be the shower room and making that a very compact family bathroom. Just enough room for toilet, basin and bath, then converting the generous bathroom to be a fourth bedroom (likely used as a study in the short term). This first option also infringes on more landing space. Versus, we keep the family bathroom large and beautiful, our ensuite becomes slightly larger and we use the remainder of the old shower room as storage for towels, sheets and all that good stuff. The added room in the main bathroom would be excellent for providing some further storage
We have considered carving an ensuite out of the footprint of the master bedroom itself but we really value the space that bedroom currently provides highly.
Overall with our day to day lives and how we see our lives changing over the next ten years, we think having 3 bedrooms, large family bathroom, ensuite and more storage will suit us better. The roof will need replacing in 10 years at which point we'll plan to go into the loft for the 4th bedroom.
However we are concerned that using all that space for a family bathroom is a bit wasteful and would devalue the property relatively speaking.
We'd be very interested to hear your thoughts!
Please see drawings and photos below.
Thank you for reading
TL;DR = likely impact of value of house between these designs.
The house.
The shower room
The bathroom
Existing upstairs
Proposed with compact family bathroom and ensuite to master
(Ok we haven't finished this drawing) but the idea we are leaning towards now -
Carving out plan that we feel reduces size of bedroom too much
Comments (13)
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Bigger bathroom v 4th bedroom?
Comments (11)Hi guys, thanks for the comments. We have 2 young children aged 4 and 18 months. We really like the area but it is far from home for my wife and I as we moved down for my work. Whilst we are settled, there is potential that we could move again in the future due to my job which is why resale is in our mind (we only moved here 2 years ago and took a hit on our previous 2 properties which we lived in for 3 yrs and 4yrs respectively). The total build costs will be in the region of £100k. We have spoken to a local agent which is what has caused us to rethink! The current plans would add £80k value to house whereas a 4 bed would take it closer to £100k so if we did move in the next couple of years we should get our money back. We will be also be installing a WC downstairs under the stairs so we would at least have 2 toilets in the house if we don't do en-suite....See MoreBigger bathroom or bigger 3rd bedroom?
Comments (5)Charlotte, from a buyer’s point of view, if the house has 3 bedrooms and a big bathroom, sounds better than a 3 bedroom house with a small bathroom. So we recommend you go for the big bathroom with a separate shower and bath. Bathrooms and kitchens are first thing a buyer notices and are definitely worth the investment. A bedroom is just a bedroom and only the number of them count. Please let us know if you would need help with your house/bathroom renovation. We can provide you with a professional survey, free design and complete renovation/installation....See MoreHow to reconfigure the layout from 3 to 4 bedrooms
Comments (15)Yes the idea is to make better use of the space, even an utility room may work, as I said I find it a waste to have that size of bathroom. One of my concerns is that the wall between the bedroom and bathroom may be a bearing wall, something I need to find out. Here is the plan with the dimensions, sorry handwritten:...See Moreextending 2 bedroom detached chalet bungalow into 4 bedrooms
Comments (6)I also don’t think you can live there while it’s being done. I think you should look into raising the roof then connecting the main house roof to the roof of the kitchen wing. I also don’t think you need to remove what looks like a top end conservatory. But you do need to find a good architect to help discuss what is possible and you need to think about your budget as it’s a big undertaking. For what it’s worth this is what I would do....See MoreGeorge P
2 years agoGeorge P
2 years ago
Jonathan
2 years agoIf you intend staying here for a decade then you should make this house work for you and not the next people. I think that since you have already flagged extending in 10 years you should also future proof your plans now.
If it were me I would have a bedroom where the current big bathroom is in order to give you the possibility of later extending over the ground floor extension. I would also want a super sized bathroom for my use - I have always believe the person paying the mortgage should have a better bathroom than people who visit three times a year. And I would take the view that when a loft bedroom is later added it won’t matter if one of the four bedrooms is compact.
So I offer an alternative.
George P thanked JonathanJonathan
2 years agoI think I might have underestimated the size and on reflection I think the layout would still be three double bedrooms
George P thanked Jonathan- George P thanked Jonathan
Jonathan
2 years ago
PROEarl & Calam Design and Build Ltd
9 months ago
George POriginal Author