To ensuite or not to ensuite?

It's certainly too small to carve out an en suite from. It would make the bedroom really small.

It is a perfectly fine size as a bedroom though.

I find the obsession with as many bathrooms - and especially toilets - as possible bizarre. It’s just more to clean. And the likelihood is that in a 4bed house at least one of the bedrooms will be used for a different purpose anyway.

For me, I would have an en suite in a guest bedroom, then one family bathroom and one downstairs loo. Max.

In a 4 bed house IMO an ensuite and a family bathroom, plus a downstairs loo, are pretty much standard now. Certainly wouldn’t be without our ensuite. In a 5+ bed I dare say an extra bathroom would be fine - as long as it doesn’t mean one of those bedrooms they like to call a double, but where in practice you’ll be lucky to get a standard double plus a chest of drawers in.

The problem now is IMO of bathrooms squeezed into smaller new builds, when some extra storage space would be much more sensible, and often probably more popular.

Bedroom downstairs is a mistake. Families that want to use that as a kids bedroom won't want it downstairs. It will limit your buyers to smaller families. If going for a 4 bed then make it a proper one and move that bedroom up with en-suite. 2 en-suites plus a family bath plus WC downstairs is fine

Two decent sized bathrooms, possibly one that can be accessed from master bedroom or guest bedroom so it can double as an en-suite if necessary. Then you can have four decent sized bedrooms. I hate claustrophobic, en-suite cupboards that make bedrooms into weird shapes. They are difficult to clean and there is little room to manoeuvre, they usually don’t have a window so forever damp and have a noisy fan that disturbs everyone’s sleep if you need a wee at night.

Most of all the smell after someone has a poo. Ideally I’d have bathroom as far away as possible from my bedroom. with high volume extractor fan. I live with two grown men who create obnoxious odours, which despite fans and open windows still drift rapidly around the house. I now understand why outhouses were preferred historically. We do live in a smallish house though.

If I was to design a house I would have a separate bathroom wing with automatic double doors that were hermetically sealed.

So, it's a 4 bed but with one of the bedrooms downstairs? I'd go with ensuite for downstairs bedroom plus 1 ensuite for upstairs master bedroom plus family bathroom. Otherwise you've got only one bathroom for 3 bedrooms upstairs. That would be my ideal for a 4 bed - 2 ensuites and 1 family bathroom.

We have 5 ensuites but our 4 kids were young teens when we did the rebuild. We all left together at 6:50 and came home at 7 so it would have been miserable if we only had a family bathroom.

I love an ensuite but only in following circumstances:

• Outside window
• Proper size sink with vanity space
• The associated bedroom is a decent size double
• floor lighting for night

Ideally they’d all have a dressing room between the bedroom and the bathroom.

All my bedrooms are ensuite, plus family bathroom and a downstairs cloakroom.

I couldn’t go back to sharing a bathroom with my DC!

I personally like an en-suite if possible for quick, private acess in the evening, night and early morning. Prefer not to be wandering about the landing in a state of undress with teens and young adults in the house. But you don't need them for every room and I agree that there are often too many bathrooms relative to the space in new builds. I think for a 3 bed, an en-suite plus family bathroom and downstairs toilet is ideal. For a 5 bed I'd have 3 bathrooms. For a four bed, two bathrooms is probably fine, but wouldn't consider 3 outrageous if you have plenty of space.

My parents really appreciate having an en suite in our guest room when visiting, so they feel they're not disturbing anyone when they use it in the night. I also tend to wake in the night - so I guess I can see that having one for our master bedroom avoids me having to disturb anyone else. But more than that seems overkill - the younger generation sleep through the night, don't they? I suppose now they're all staying at home as adults, maybe it's less disturbance if they come home at all hours. However I'm not sure that justifies the extra cleaning, and I'm not convinced that young kids having en suites is a good idea at all.

Wow if bedroom 4 is too small at that size you must have huge rooms. My front room is 4x,4.

Two ensuites to the largest bedrooms plus family bathroom and office would be perfect for a 4 bed imo.

We won't need two studies when we're both retired Don’t be so sure of that! Our marriage survival depends on not sharing a study.

A friend of mine with an en suite forbids her husband for using it for anything but a wee for this reason

I’m not a fan of en-suites either. Of course it makes sense in a family home for there to be more than one toilet and shower, but en-suites are simply not necessary.

I'd have a decent en suite in the master bedroom. So one that isn't a cupboard right by the bed. We had a lovely en suite in old house, proper room, with a window, large enough for 2 of us and the other end of the room from the bed.

In our new house the en suite if more of a cupboard by the bed and I'd rip it out in a heartbeat. But can't bear doing any more work on the house.

We have room in other rooms to put in an ensuite - but there's a decent family bathroom for guests and a loo downstairs. So that does us.

Anyway in short, a decent en suite - great. I also like an ensuite as a guest and don't mind if it's tiny.

Good point about windows, @Dutchhouse14

I would never, ever buy a house with any windowless bathrooms.

This.

So great for romance!

🙄

Why on earth would you want to hear someone using the toilet a few feet from your bed?

Ugh. I'll go down the hall, thanks. An en suite would turn me off buying a house.

My house is set up like this:

Two large bedrooms with en-suites (master bedroom and attic conversion so definitely needed one up there!).

One medium sized room and a small room don't need one. They're right next to the family bathroom so what's the point?

Downstairs loo.

More than sufficient! I think an en-suite in every room is crazy and a waste of money. Why even bother with a main bathroom if you're going to do that?

I would do ensuite in the master bedroom upstairs (if it's large enough) and a family bathroom for the other 2 rooms (to be used as office and/or kids bedrooms). I wouldn't personally want an ensuite in a room I used as an office. Then an ensuite in the downstairs bedroom, or make it a jack & jill bathroom to be used as downstairs toilet / ensuite if you can.

En-suite for master and guest room is all that’s needed

You do know they are a separate room from bedrooms, right? And usually have a door?!

We have just bought a house. In that process we actually didn’t make an offer on a house we loved because it didn’t have an ensuite, and it would have cost too much to retrofit one. Our ensuite is the most used room in our entire home, and I wouldn’t ever buy a house without one. As pp said the extra layer of privacy from guests, the ‘adult-only’ space, the fact just DH and me use it, and the calming nature of it just allows me to relax once I go in.

In your position I’d make certain there is enough space for an ensuite in the master bedroom and guest room only, and an office space elsewhere. No need for ensuites in kids’ bedrooms. Can you make that combination work?

I am genuinely amazed that anyone has a house with an en-suite on every bedroom!

We have one on our guest bedroom which I think is nice for people staying over, but we don't have one on our main bedroom and wouldn't want one either- our main bathroom is much bigger and nicer than we'd ever be able to fit into an en suite. And even with guests staying it's basically all ours, as they have their en-suite.