One large bathroom or smaller bathroom plus en-suite - WWYD?

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

We have just moved into a lovely, untouched 1930's semi.

It currently has an ok sized bathroom (9ft by 6ft) which has a shower cubicle, bath and sink in. Next door is a separate loo (9ft by 3ft).

My plan was to turn the separate loo into an en-suite shower room and to put an additional loo in the main bathroom, but have the shower over the bath.

DH thinks it may be better to have one large bathroom as we only occasionally have overnight guests.

DC's are currently 3 and 1 and we don't have any plans to move for next 10 years at least, so am thinking that as they are teenagers the en-suite will be more useful.

Any thoughts or ideas please? Thanks

[BeatRoute]

I'd go for an en-suite and small bathroom with shower over the bath. Have you checked with a builder though that you can fit a shower in the seperate toilet room? Also, will you fit a shower AND a toilet in the en-suite? If not, I may not bother (extra toilets are good with small children but compromising space in the main bathroom just so you can fit a spare shower in seems daft)

[GhoulsGhouls]

En suite, but as BeatRoute says, only if it has loo and shower. Always handy to have a second loo.

[ChasingSquirrels]

personally, en-suite. Especially with growing children.

BUT I do like a separate shower. My main bathroom has a shower over the bath and I really want to put a separate shower cubicle in as well (has room, but not quite sure where my life is going atm so don't want to spend the money).

You can get decent shower/bath combo's though - the round end ones etc.

[ChasingSquirrels]

x-posted with others, I was assuming en-suite would have shower, loo and basin. If just a shower then I would rather have an en-suite loo & basin.

ex-h parents had a en-suite on the 2nd bedroom with a shower and a loo - very very very weird not having a basin in there.

[wonkylegs]

As the main bathroom already has shower, bath, wc - I'd go for an ensuite shower , PIL have just fitted a compact one in a similar space, it takes careful thought to make it work but it's great and handy. Especially if you have a DH like me is fond of taking a paper in to read on the loo

[Georgimama]

Possibly a bit expensive but if the walls are plasterboard could you possibly steal some space from the bathroom to make the ensuite big enough for a shower and a loo? Two loos is definitely better than one, as is 2 things to wash in.

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes en-suite would definitely be big enough as it is for shower cubicle, loo and wall hung basin (although I'll probably get a basin smaller than standard size). The shower and loo will be at either end, with the basin in the middle. I think the door into the en-suite from the bedroom will probably be hung so that it opens out into the bedroom though, just to maximise the space.

To be honest, I'm not enjoying having a shower cubicle in the main bathroom. I feel v claustrophic in it so looking forward to having a shower over the bath!

[breatheslowly]

Definitely ensuite and bathroom with shower over bath. Even though you have no plans to move, if you eventually do move I think it would be a real benefit to have 2 bathrooms.

[Ponders]

We actually did this, halfbaby - took an L-shaped chunk out of a bathroom 12' x 10', with an 80cm shower in one end of the L & the loo at the other end, with a small wall-hung basin opposite the shower & the door opposite the loo. Space is a bit limited but with the shower door open (it's a bi-fold) there's enough bending space.

And the door into the bedroom does open out, as you say. It clashes a bit with the bedroom door, which is in the same corner, but it works. (It's a 27" door, not 30")

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

Fab - ensuite it is then! Another good thing is that there is already a window in situ so the room won't be totally reliant on an extractor fan and will have natural light.

The door opening out shouldn't be too much of a problem in this particular bedroom and they'll be at opposite ends of the same wall. I'm envisaging a double bed and bedside cabinets fitting in the space between the doors.

Thanks everyone.

[ChasingSquirrels]

sounds like the same layout as my ensuite - works fine.

I did wonder when you posted about the shower cubicle though, if you don't like it in the main bathroom would you use it in your en-suite? If not then why have the en-suite?

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

The en-suite will be for our (occasional!) guests.

We'll all use the main bathroom for the majority of the time.

[ChasingSquirrels]

oh, not an en-suite to your main bedroom then?
In that case, I honestly wouldn't bother.

[breatheslowly]

Do you have a downstairs loo as well or just 1 loo in the whole house?

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

We have a downstairs loo too.

The en-suite would be to the guest bedroom. It'll usually be parents/PIL's staying and they'd definitely appreciate not sharing a bathroom. Plus it'd be used on occasions when the main bathroom is already in use.

DH and I can't imagine ourselves using it and I don't fancy cleaning it too often either

[breatheslowly]

We have an ensuite to our guest bedroom and my parents and PIL do appreciate it, but on the other hand they aren't here all that much. It is the least used room in the house.

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

Yep, I don't envisage it getting an awful lot of use.

But, I definitely don't want the existing layout (upstairs loo separate to the bathroom) so a bit of work is unavoidable either way unfortunately!

[minipie]

Is there any way you could make the new shower room accessible from the landing instead of from the guest bedroom only? You might need to carve out a bit of space from the guest bedroom in order to make this work. But it would mean the shower room is much more useful because then it can be used by everyone without them having to go through the guest bedroom.