Only bath downstairs - would this put you off?

[Felyne]

Hi,
Currently our bathroom upstairs is very small and narrow (140cm wide by 250cm long) and squeezes in a toilet, bath and sink. We are redoing the bathroom and I'm considering widening our downstairs loo room (which currently has a loo and small sink) and putting a bath in there, and having a walk-in shower in the upstairs bathroom (along with a loo and sink) just so it feels a bit more spacious.

Would having a bath downstairs put off future buyers do you think? If it was the only family bathroom it might but since there's another one upstairs would it be the same sort of issue?
Would this sort of thing need any planning permission?

[HeyCat]

It would put me off as we have young children - bath is part of the bedtime routine and I want them to be upstairs for that not running back to the living room to play more. Wouldn't be an issue for older children though, so I suppose think about your likely market.

[wowfudge]

Is having a downstairs bathroom typical of houses in the area? If so it's much less of an issue for people, but be wary of taking space off the living areas to make a downstairs loo bigger. Could you use smaller sanitary ware in the upstairs bathroom and streamline things to make it feel less cramped instead?

[IHeartKingThistle]

We had that setup when we had small children and it was brilliant - easier to chuck everything in the wash from downstairs! Didn't think we'd like it but we did.

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

We only have a downstairs bathroom, nothing upstairs at all apart from bedrooms. Thats how the houses are around here and it was fine even with a baby and a toddler. You will still have a toilet, sink and shower upstairs so cant see a problem with it at all.

[flumpybear]

I live in a bungalow so everything is downstairs lol - but I love the fact my children bathed on their own from 3 whilst I was cooking, which was literally 10 paces away in the kitchen and with the two doors open between me and then I could get on with things whilst they played happily and I could hear absolutely everything so no danger - you can't do that if the bath is upstairs with kids so smal

[Tangoandcreditcards]

We just moved to a converted bungalow (with an upsstairs) which had a shower room downstairs and a bath room upstairs. But the DCs sleep in the downstairs bedrooms (and are still young enough for baths) and DP and I prefer showers - we swapped them. So we have a shower upstairs and a small bath downstairs.

I knew when we did it it might not be great for re-sale - but for us this is our "forever home" and we definitely want it like this for the next 10 years, so we did it for us not some future buyer. I think if you were thinking about selling in the next couple of years, then no - but if you want it for you then do what you need to do.

[BillyButtfuck]

Are there any downstairs bedrooms? I'd personally hate the idea of bathing/showering downstairs if my bedroom was upstairs. Wandering through the lounge dropping wet doesn't tickle my fancy, but each to their own and it hugely depends on the house layout.

[heffalumpshavewrinkles]

Yes it would put me off, and I'd be thinking if I could fit a bath in the upstairs bathroom if I was going to buy! I like to have (occasional) long relaxing baths away from the chaos downstairs

[PickAChew]

Our only bathroom or look is downstairs and it's only really an issue at about 3am!

It's worked well with the kids, as both have SN and need a lot of supervision and the arrangement means that I can help one to get cleaned up and dressed without the other being too far out of earshot, which has been a big bonus on school mornings. It's also near the back door do perfect for stripping off wet and muddy clothes.

[hellsbells99]

We have a downstairs shower room that is great - kids used to come in wet and muddy from sports/play and I could just chuck them in there. As long as you have your upstairs shower room too then having a bath downstairs wouldn't bother me.

[Didiusfalco]

It wouldn't put me off as long as there was a bath somewhere. If there was only a shower that would be a minus as tricky with kids

[KarmaKit]

We had this in a previous house, main bathroom was just off the kitchen, there was a cloakroom with toilet and sink upstairs. It was great actually, meant I could have a bath at night without waking my light sleeping children. We tend to get ours ready for bed downstairs anyway, not sure why just something we've always done.

[MaroonPencil]

It would put me off, and I am not sure why, because having a walk-in shower downstairs and a bath upstairs would be fine for me. It's partly the idea of having a bath and then having to walk upstairs in a bath robe to get dressed, maybe past the front door or through the kitchen or whatever. But it would be the same with a shower, so I don't really know what my thinking is there, but it would put me off.

I found when looking at houses that it was almost always the bathroom that people had done weird things to. In one place the family bathroom was only accessible through one of the bedrooms, in another one of the bedrooms had been converted to a bathroom and it was just ridiculously huge and a complete waste of space, in another the bathroom was downstairs....we didn't buy any of them.

[MammyNeedsASpaDay]

I have three little kids- 2,4 and 5.

We don't have a bath. The kids liked the shower more and the bathroom became redundant. I'd rather see the whole of the house and make a judgement on that.

[Felyne]

Thanks everyone. All you've said pretty much covers both sides of what I've been pondering.
Hellsbells I like that thinking - my kids are a bit young yet for muddy weekend sport but that's a good future plan. I would put a shower over the bath (wherever the bath ends up being!) so they could shower or bath. Also if (when) we get a dog we could chuck it in too if it's grubby.

[Crumbelina]

Sounds fine! We're doing a very similar thing as we're currently renovating our house. One spacious bathroom on the ground floor with bath, loo and sink just off the hallway (between the living room and utility room). One shower room on the first floor with walk in shower, sink and loo and then another en-suite shower room on the second floor (loft conversion). I think it'll work really well. As long as there's a bath somewhere it's fine.

I also like the idea of coming home and throwing wet/muddy things in the bath or grubby kids going from the kitchen after dinner to the bath then a bit of CBeebies next door before being taken up to bed.

[shocklate]

Sounds fine to me. We have our only bath downstairs. It also has a shower in it which is great for when DS comes in filthy from playing football. Straight in to the shower.

[EineKleine]

Same as hellsbells. We have a downstairs shower and really like it. I think having the only bath downstairs is a bit of a compromise for saleability though.

Also you need width in a decent showering space. I guess you have it all planned out, but a narrow bath with shower over might work better in a small thin bathroom than a generous walk in shower.