Whats better … 4 bed + small bathroom or 3 bed + big bathroom ?

As title.

What would you prefer when looking at a house ?

A 4 bedroom with a bathroom that is only 4 foot 7 inches wide or a 3 bed with a much bigger bathroom ?

Our house was originally a 2 bed and as such has a bathroom sized for a two bed.

When they did the extension they didn’t extend the bathroom which I feel is a bit of an oversight.

We are thinking of moving the bathroom into the smallest bedroom which is 8foot 2 by 9 foot 3 and then changing the current bathroom into a study.

What do you think ?

Any pitfalls ?

Big bathroom wins if you dont need the bedrooms.

Depends on how many living in the house, plans for further people, guests etc.

But if you are talking about changing the layout of your current house – will it be economically viable? How much will it cost and will it put any value on the house?

Ensuite with the master bedroom and family sized for the other two.

There will be me, the wife and two boys. Local to family so don’t need the space for relatives visiting.

I was thinking more long term and resale values.

It is a tricky one – with 4 beds, people want en-suites and big bathrooms so your plan to make a bigger bathroomed 3 bed sounds good in principle, but removing a bedroom will reduce the value of the house I’d say, no matter now big the bathroom is.

Two bedder with two en suites and a walk in wardrobe.

Seriously though, set the house out the way that works best for you. Since you’re thinking of switching it around, you know the next owners can too.

I don’t see the point of a large bathroom, and most house builders don’t either.

IMO a bathroom should be the length of the bath, plus 1 metre MAX. And wide enough for the width of the bath, wash basin, and pan.

Anymore than that is pointless imo. Obviously people with more money than they need will buy properties with 2 wash basins in the bathroom but that’s another issue – it’s a completely unnecessary luxury.

Extra bedrooms are useful and do add value if reasonably sized.

En-suites on the other hand are very highly desirable imo and can add significant value to a property.

imho

The extra bedroom would be better when you intend to sell and will add value.

Extra bedroom will carry the value, not the size of the bathroom.

Though, having said that – 4ft 7ins wide? That’s an alley, not a bathroom. Could you shift a wall to make one of the bedrooms a tad smaller, but still child-sized, and give you enough room in the bathroom?

That’s the other option. Move a wall over between the bathroom and bedroom a foot making the bathroom around 5 foot 7 and the bedroom 7 foot 2 both by around 13 foot 6.

Would that bedroom still be big enough.

I’d rather have an extra bedroom/study and a smaller bathroom. Our previous home had a tiny bathroom, in which the floor area was literally the size of the bathmat and that was a bit too small. I don’t see the attraction of a big bathroom though- it’s a waste of space.

Weirdly our place has two large bathrooms(both 4x4m!) and while one is great, two is nuts and one is going to be my study with a ensuite when I get round to it!. I would def go for the 4 beds, spare room/study. You have lads so I am assuming bathroom time is minimal, unlike here with 3 daughters and a wife….

“I don’t see the attraction of a big bathroom though- it’s a waste of space.”

But where do you lie to let the underfloor heating air dry you off? Granted, it takes 40-50 minutes, but if you plan for that then it’s lovely…

DrP

The big question is regarding the availability of wifi in the bathroom. The rest you can live with

IMO a bathroom should be the length of the bath, plus 1 metre MAX. And wide enough for the width of the bath, wash basin, and pan.

Our bathroom is the length of the bath minus 2″ (the bath is set into the wall)….

In all seriousness – our previous place (rented) had a tiny bathroom. They still managed to shoehorn a ruddy bidet in there, so there was minimal useable floorspace.
It made washing/hosing down 2 kids a nightmare as they were forever smashing their faces on the loo/bidet etc when drying off…

So, for us, a sizeable bathroom is/was a must… Just so there’s space to wrestle the kids into their night clothes…

DrP

Who needs a bath? I can’t believe people still take baths. Lounging around in dirty water with a thick layer of scum on top. eeugh, filfy!

Having said that, We’re looking for a house, and the number that have only a bath with a hand held shower, but no screen…

I kind of agree… A shower to keep clean…But a nice big bath to, erm, well..

..wash the kids in!

DrP

Our bathroom is the length of the bath minus 2″ (the bath is set into the wall)….

Old house ? There was a time when cutting a bath into the walls was considered to be the correct procedure – to allow any splashes to drip back into the bath. It’s no longer considered to be correct, I guess because the advent of silicon sealers makes it less necessary, and the much more widespread use of plasterboard on walls – cutting into plasterboard undermines its integrity and isn’t really feasible.

Of course it could just be poor design……..these things happen ! 🙂

This is how the bathroom looks currently. Yes that is a corner bath !!!

As you can see its not very wide at all.

I like a bath when I get home exhausted, sweaty and muddy after a big MTB ride.

There would be more space in there if you got rid of the spare leg which has been left on the floor…

I would leave the room size as it is and replace the corner bath with a conventional bath with a shower attached.

Was the house a repo?

Was the house a repo?

stickers over everything are a tell tale sign

that looks like a single bedroom to me, its been switched around at some point and the corner bath was the only way to make it work…..

switch it back?

To live in or sell?

More bedrooms gets you into a different price bracket.

If you did something about the massive box with the pipes on the left, put in a very slightly narrower bath, you could put WC facing the door under the window. But I would do all that, plus grab a foot (or less) from the room next door, put in a conventional bath/shower, shift the door.

I’d want a bathroom the right size for a bath and a shower cubical. I despise showing in a bath

I once knew a lad who lived in a big old farmouse, tons of space, some of which was condemned, but that’s another story. The bathroom was maybe 15×20 feet, a pretty big room. The bog was in one corner, the sink halfway along the opposite wall, the bath in another corner. Sitting on the crapper I felt hilarously exposed.. very disconcerting!

So from me, that’s no to the big bathroom.

It seems to me that the rest of the world price houses on square feet, square meters or tatami. In the UK, we obsess over number of bedrooms. We’re currently looking in a price bracket that “forces” us into either a suburban 4 bed family home or a poncy city living executive apartment. City living isn’t for us so 4 bed it is. We don’t need 4 bedrooms though as there’s only two of us. Whatever we do inside to suit us, we know we’ll have to put it back to sell it.

You need to decide if your question is about what works best for you now or what increases the value of the house the most.

it’s a completely unnecessary luxury.

Is there any other sort? 😀

It seems to me that the rest of the world price houses on square feet, square meters or tatami. In the UK, we obsess over number of bedrooms

No need to use the word ‘obsess’ to add negativity, but for me, more rooms is more useful than fewer bigger rooms.

The room has always been the bathroom. Originally the toilet would of been where the bath is and the bath should run along the wall where the toilet is now.

For some reason the previous owners stuck the massive corner bath in and had to box the toilet waste pipe in so now the room looks tiny.

Oh and yep it was a repo.

I despise showing in a bath

I always show in the bath. Do you not take your clothes off?

I’d keep the current bathroom but get it all moved round. My bathroom isn’t a lot bigger When I moved in the previous owner was a some what small lady. I couldn’t sit comfortably on the shitter, had a radiator against my knee and the sink against my shoulder.
I kept the layout but put a smaller sink with storage underneath, towel rail inplace of the radiator and swopped the door to open outwards.

Open plan living is where it’s at these days
Knock all the internal walls down and just have one big, double height room

Seriously though bathroom size looks fine, just a poor choice of suite and badly laid out

the sink against my shoulder

Sounds ideal for a dodgy curry inspired clear-out.

And it may also have been said, but look for compact versions of toilets, basins etc.

At my old house we converted an understairs cupboard into a toilet and standard-sized stuff wouldn’t work, however the compact versions were fine and you couldn’t tell the difference at all (ie, they didn’t feel particularly small).

At our current place we have refitted our en-suite and have gone for a wall-hung loo (again a compact design) with a super slimline cistern that fits in the cavity between the dividing wall which gives us that little bit more space.

At our last place my wife drew the line at this idea, but I thought it was another great space saving idea….

Looks to be a bad design/layout what about this for a compromise, Convert it into a wet room complete with Toilet and sink it will feel far larger and more useable, then stick a hot-tub in the garden as a better replacement for a bath.

Win Win.