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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that en suite bathrooms are a total

159 replies

helloclitty · 22/02/2012 19:07

waste of valuable space in many recently built houses.

Currently house hunting and I am flummoxed as to why so many new build houses seem to have postage size 'double' rooms but have an en suite for nearly every bedroom.

Am I the only one that couldn't give a monkeys about having 4 bathrooms (to clean) and to think hope this might just be a passing trend?

OP posts:
NickettyNacketty · 23/02/2012 07:32

Just remembered a house I viewed last year. It had the most odd use of space. One floor was small living room, tiny kitchen, family bathroom and two smallish double bedrooms. The whole of the second floor was one massive bedroom with a massive ensuite off it. Madness.

vogonmothership · 23/02/2012 07:48

We have one. I hate it. Our master bedroom is so small we can't fit a wardrobe in yet we have a stupid ensuite that makes the room damp. I wanted to make it into a wardrobe. DH disagreed.

BeeBawBabbity · 23/02/2012 07:57

We have 2 en-suites and a family bathroom upstairs, and a loo downstairs. 4 bedrooms. If the rooms were small I'd rather not have the en-suites, but they're reasonable doubles.

It IS too much cleaning though, particularly since dh likes to shower in one, shit in another and brush his teeth in the third!!!!

However I do like to stumble blindly to the en-suite if I need to go at night, and I think I'd miss it now.

Threeprinces · 23/02/2012 08:05

Same here beebawbabbity.

We had an extension a few years ago and added a bedroom and 2 ensuites. So we have one ensuite to the large master and one to the guest room. Our ensuite is bigger than the family bathroom and has the most amazing bath and separate shower, guest ensuites is same size as the family bathroom. Family bathroom for the 3 other bedrooms to share (2 kids room, 1 extra spare room). Plus downstairs loo.

You can't hear or smell nastiness from the bedrooms! And thankfully I have a cleaner so don't clean them myself.

throckenholt · 23/02/2012 08:14

I think maybe lots of bathrooms in a house may lead to a tendency to spend longer in the shower. Especially if they are power showers that will use a lot more water and energy. Knowing you don't have a queue for the shower is likely to mean you will spend longer in there.

I personally don't like ensuites. As long as there is a bathroom on the same floor that is fine (ours used to be down stairs and that was a pain). When we built our extension we went for two family bathrooms on the bedroom level (one with a bath, one with a shower), and a downstairs toilet. If we had had the space a second shower downstairs would have been useful (mucky outdoor life :)).

Family of 5 - 3 toilets - more than enough for me to clean. 3 boys with bad aim is my main bugbear - so a tiled toilet floor would be my pain priority (since training to aim doesn't seem to be working Hmm).

throckenholt · 23/02/2012 08:18

Just remembered a house I viewed last year. It had the most odd use of space. One floor was small living room, tiny kitchen, family bathroom and two smallish double bedrooms. The whole of the second floor was one massive bedroom with a massive ensuite off it. Madness.

This trend for massive "master" bedrooms at the expense of the others is madness. Kids spend much more time in bedrooms than parents do - so their rooms need to be relatively bigger.

I guess if we ever sell our house it will be marked down for having no ensuites and no massive master bedroom !

Devora · 23/02/2012 08:44

I completely agree, OP. Last time I was househunting I was staggered at how many ruddy bathrooms there were, even in quite modest houses. One I remember - a modernised 30s semi - had 4 small bedrooms, each of which had an ensuite carved out of them. There was no room for wardrobes! If we were living there, I could see us storing clothes in the bath...

I commented to the estate agent and she said snottily, "I've never heard anyone complain about too many bathrooms before". I said, "What, not even from the poor muggins who'll be cleaning them all?"

It is an absolutely ridiculous trend in a country where space is so expensive. I really think it will go the way of bedroom basins, living room bars, freestanding baths in the bedroom (wtf is that all about) and knocking down every ground floor wall to make one open-plan, 'light-filled', impossible to hear-yourself-think-or-keep-warm-without-bankruptcy space.

lesley33 · 23/02/2012 08:49

I know several people who have bought houses with massive master bedrooms and 2 tiny other bedrooms. They are both couples with no intention of having kids. Other tiny bedrooms are used as study and junk room. With current demographics in UK it actually makes sense to build some houses to better suit the needs of couples with no plans to have kids, rather than just families.

Ghoulwithadragontattoo · 23/02/2012 08:55

I think an en suite to the main bedroom can be a nice addition but cannot see the attraction of four bedrooms each with an en suite. Especially where the space is limited.

brighthair · 23/02/2012 09:06

I have a new build, 2 bedrooms one with en suite, one main bathroom. Seems daft when the main bedroom is small - I have a superking bed and that is literally all that fits in. No bedside tables, no wardrobes...

GrimmaTheNome · 23/02/2012 09:11

If we were living there, I could see us storing clothes in the bath...

we store an inflatable canoe, buoyancy aids and other watersports gear in our onsuite bath. Wetsuits hung behind door - the room stinks of rubber! Items can be removed from bath when the dog needs washing - I do rather like having a separate bath for non-human family members.

Our house is 17 years old - has cloakroom (big enough for coats and shoes not just a tiny loo!), main bathroom, the ensuite and a shower room. Its about right for the size of house (4/5 bedrooms). The only thing we never use is the sink in the shower room (there's no loo in there, why have a sink if you're showering?). So that stores half-uses shower gels.

BarmyBiscuit · 23/02/2012 10:32

Meant to add that we need both our en-suites as it would mean going down 2 flights of stairs in the middle of the night if we needed to go. I don't even think those that don't like them would argue against that.
(yes, I know you probably wouldn't even have bought it in the first place but it's a lovely home apart from no family bathroom)

LeQueen · 23/02/2012 10:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsBeakman · 23/02/2012 10:40

"Master bedroom" is a silly expression isn't it.

ivykaty44 · 23/02/2012 10:41

would you rather it was mistresses bedroom? Wink

ArtVandelay · 23/02/2012 11:13

Thanks for the tips/ reassurance! I've got one of those water filters for the mains water so that will cut down on limescale which is my main cleaning problem at the moment as we seem to have the world's hardest water. DH is pretty neat and there is no guest accomodation upstairs (so thrilled about that!) so I 'll only have potential guest havoc downstairs. The entire house is tiled floors so that will be pretty straightforward.

QuintessentialyHollow · 23/02/2012 11:17

I totally agree! I have been looking at some new builds, and it is insane how much space is taken up by bathrooms.

The one I like has two en suites and a family bathroom and a downstairs cloak room. The master bedroom and one further bedroom, and then one without. Which child will then get an-suite? Just ONE more thing to bicker about.

afussyphase · 23/02/2012 11:18

We saw this too when we were house-hunting. I think it's about the buy-to-let market, actually. All those bathrooms often doesn't make sense for a family (though obviously from this thread some people like it!) but if you were 4 guys renting out the place it'd be much better not to have to share. Or worse - if you were a woman sharing a flat with a couple of men! Much better to have your own bathroom, as clean as you want it :)

QuintessentialyHollow · 23/02/2012 11:32

That is fine in theory for flats, but not for 4 bed town houses with gardens and one garage. There should be as many en-suites as there are garages! Grin

GrimmaTheNome · 23/02/2012 11:36

We would never, ever buy a new-build because the bedrooms are the size of postage stamps

You want something that was 'new-build' 15-20 years ago then. We've 3 big bedrooms (one used as the office, that'd be really silly with an en-suite!), the 4th is still big enough (just) for double bed, big wardrobe small sofa, chair bedside table and bookcase, the 5th (supposed to be the 'study') is DDs bedroom, perfectly adequate single bed and storage room.

I'm liking having 2 upstairs loos right now because DH has a tummy bug... he's restricted to the ensuite poor lamb.

GrimmaTheNome · 23/02/2012 11:37

There should be as many en-suites as there are garages
I like a double garage (for stuff, not cars of course) but wouldn't want two en-suites.

cambridgeferret · 23/02/2012 11:49

I was thinking last night whilst brushing my teeth in our ensuite how much perceptions of what's normal re bathroom provision has changed over the years.
My nan had no boiler, just one cold water tap and a carsie down the yard And lived like that, no bath or shower until she was 80 (admittedly she ponged a bit in the warm weather)
My mum had a boiler lit once a week for hot water, an inside downstairs bathroom (wow) with a bath (double wow).
We have a family bathroom and an ensuite. And hot water on demand.
I wonder what my DDs will have in their houses?

My SIL runs a letting agency for students near a local university.

She noticed a gradual increase in students asking for houses built by a certain big developer. After a while curiosity got the better of her and she asked one student why they all kept asking for that particular firm....answer was........

"They have the houses with the most en-suite bathrooms"

As a 1980s student with at least 4 people to one shared bathroom/wc, sometimes up to 8 people if boyfriends were staying, I was Shock

Times have deffo changed.

notso · 23/02/2012 12:10

BILs wife is always droning on about how she couldn't cope without an en-suite. She chooses to ignore the fact they have had to turn two of their four bedrooms into wardrobes as their 'double' rooms are so tiny.

Ideally I would have a big family bathroom and a separate shower room upstairs and a loo downstairs. Instead I have a titchy family bathroom, and a downstairs shower room.

throckenholt · 23/02/2012 12:23

Times have deffo changed.

The certainly have. Hence the huge extra demand on water supplies now. And the cleaning products industry laughing all the way to the bank. Cleaning products needed to clean the masses of bathrooms that we smother every day in cleaning products trying to wash away our natural oils (that keep us relatively clean !).

Devora · 23/02/2012 12:32

That's interesting, cambridgeferret, and you don't have to go back as far as your gran: I was raised in an emergency council flat with a toilet in the back garden (shared with customers of the barber downstairs), a small bath with no hot water. My poor mum, keeping three kids clean...

We thought it absolute luxury when we moved, in our teens, into a Victorian semi with a bathroom downstairs, behind the kitchen. Now, I think many people think a downstairs bathroom an absolute horror (going downstairs! in the middle of the night!) But it still seems great to me, after too many years padding out into a dark garden in my nightie.

My children now live in a house with three toilets and two bathrooms. They don't know they're ruddy born...