How important is bathroom size?

[Thelovelywhales]

We currently live in a house with a very small bathroom - big enough for a bath with shower over, and a sink but not a toilet. We have a separate toilet but no sink so you have to go into the bathroom to wash hands. It's also the only bathroom in the house (we have a downstairs loo). We have 2 small dcs and bath time is an important family time. When my husband is here there are four of us squashed in and when he isn't I am struggling to change and feed the baby in the space while the 3 year old is in the bath.

We are looking for a new house, and one contender is a lovely house with much more space than we have currently, and in a great location. It has an ensuite shower room with toilet off the master bedroom (different floor to other rooms) , a shower in the downstairs loo, but has the same family bathroom arrangement as our current house.

It is putting me off, but don't know whether I am being too fussy - we intend to be in our next house for a while, so obv there won't always be the family bath time! However we would like another dc so could be a while yet.

What do you think - is this a short term thing I should get over if the rest of the house is good, or is a decent family bathroom important to you?

[poocatcherchampion]

Could you knock through? It shouldn't be a big job.

[Thelovelywhales]

Not next to each other. Only thing we could do is swap the bathroom and one of the bedrooms, but would mean having a very small bedroom. Not a deal breaker but not ideal and might impact value if we wanted to sell

[wonkylegs]

When we bought our current house we had a small bathroom with a bath, shower and sink, a small shower room with just a shower, a loo on its own and a downstairs wc.
We gutted the bathroom, rearranged it managed to get a loo in, it's not huge but works well.
We then knocked down the wall between the shower room and seperate WC this made a fab room.
Try to work out if you can make it work for you with a bit of work or whether it's going to be something you resent in the long term

[Thelovelywhales]

Floor plan....

[SignoraStronza]

I actually quite like the arrangement of a separate toilet next door to the bathroom (means no-one has to wash in the lingering fent of someone's poo). Our bathroom does have a separate shower though, so eldest dc can have a shower while I bath the littlies.
The only thing I would really like is a washbasin in our loo and an additional loo downstairs.
Is it an ex council house by any chance op? They often have the separate but adjoining loo/bathroom.

[Thelovelywhales]

I could cope with the toilet being separate - it's more having space around the bath for 2/3 children and two adults without tripping over each other

[Postchildrenpregranny]

We have a relatively small bathroom in a relatively big 4 bed (and they are all doubles) house . Shower over bath . Its 1950's so I guess big bathrooms weren't 'in' .
When we had it rehashed we did consider knocking through to the adjacent loo but I would have lost the airing cupboard and I prefer separate toilets anyway . We could have taken a chunk of the adjoining bedroom but it's a lovely room and it would have spoiled it.We did have a small vanity unit put in the loo though . We have a downstairs loo . And a washbasin and shower 'cubicle' (it's not a proper ensuite) in the master bedroom .I do sometimes wish we'd had washbasins put in two of the other bedrooms.
Tbh its a fairly short term problem and it never bothered me that much .It is always warm too, as little heat loss . It would not put me off an otherwise nice house

[howabout]

I hate cleaning shower cubicles and would happily live without a shower. The thought of having 2 showers to clean with a too small bathroom would put me right off. I also cannot get my head around having no sink beside the toilet.

However if you are going to be there a while I would be reviewing the options to fix it as I am sure it would add value.

[DesertorDessert]

I can't read the dimensions. Could you take a chunk out of bed 3 to widen the bathroom, and put fitted wardrobes along the rest of that wall?

If you wanted rif of the toilet, I'd divide it in two, and put shelving/wardrobes opening into bed 4 and study.

[Copperspider]

How big is the bathroom?

It looks like you could fit the bath under the window - a standard 1700 one might fit, or you may need a slightly shorter one. That would make a big difference to the feel of the space.

I'd move the bath, and knock through the cupboard.

Our bathroom is 1.71 x 2.75, with bath, separate shower, basin and toilet. (Without the shower it would fit into 1.71 x 1.95.) Enough room to change a baby on the floor, and have 2 adults helping with bath time. (It gets used for lots of different bathtime combinations.) Not spacious, but works well for us.

[Openup41]

With dc, a spacious bathroom is handy. We have a tiny bathroom, probably 6sqft by 6sqft. There is barely any floor space and I cannot dry or change the dc in there.

I do not like the idea of separate toilet with no handbasin. It is unhygienic and means you still need access to the bathroom to wash your hands.

[Copperspider]

Also, how wide is the room with toilet but no sink? It looks very narrow, but you can get basins that project less than 22cm. If you move the door so that it's at an angle when shut (parallel to the angled bathroom cupboard wall), and hang from the other side, you might well squeeze one in. Less excuse for the DC to forget to wash their hands.

[PitilessYank]

We had small bathrooms when our kids were young. It was relatively low priority to me. I was always much more concerned with having outdoor space and a sizable living room.

[EarSlaps]

Not sure of dimensions or supporting walls, but could you widen current bathroom to level of toilet door, turn that into bedroom 4. Knock down wall between toilet and bedroom 4 and have bathroom in there?

[pashmina696]

I'd consider turning the study into a bathroom, then incorporating the toilet space into bedroom 4 bringing the door out to the hall, then you could turn the existing bathroom into a study - guess it depends on whats important but there is space there to re-gig.

[Thelovelywhales]

Thanks all - some good suggestions, I think moving the door out to the hall and removing the corridor to rejig the space inside could work, and make study into bathroom. Going back to see it again this week with some new ideas!

[bessiebumptious2]

I'd make the current bathroom an en-suite to B3 and turn B5 into a large bathroom. Yes, you lose a bedroom but do you really need it? Or, I'd just wait and find a house that I wouldn't need to do anything to!

[Flomple]

Generally bathroom size is a low priority for us but I would be put off by the separate loo.

To me it's crying out to have the study and loo knocked into a bathroom, and make bed4 bigger. You wouldn't need to move the soil pipe and you already have water going to the loo so it shouldn't be too awful to do. And you'd have the option of leaving a sink in bed4 to ease the toothbrushing queue if you wanted.

Our 6 and 8 year old now prefer to bath separately.

[NotCitrus]

What about simply re-hanging the bathroom door so it opens outwards?

Our bathroom is about 5' x 8' but with the bath along most of a long wall, the basin overlapping it a bit on the rest of that wall, and the loo at the far end on the short wall, it works OK - especially now youngest is out of nappies. Usually have max 2 children not 3 or only 1 adult in the room at the same time while the other fetches stuff.

Small bathrooms have the advantage of being easy to keep warm and to ventilate. No way would I lose one of our bedrooms for a larger bathroom.