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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think ensuites are unnecessary and a bit passé

242 replies

Foolishlady · 07/01/2015 19:48

Just bought a new house. 4 bedrooms but just one tiny bathroom. Dh wants to put an ensuite in the master bedroom but I think it will ruin the dimensions and isn't really worth it. I've never really got the appeal of ensuites- unless spacious they always seem a bit cramped and grotty, and the bathroom is only across the hall. I want to make a combined wet room and downstairs loo instead (we're doing an extension so there would be room) but dh says that's silly. So aibu?? Or is he?

OP posts:
KittyandTeal · 07/01/2015 20:12

We've just bought a house with an ensuite. We're not using that bedroom atm (on a different floor to toddler dd)

However, with one dd and another on the way I have a sneaking suspicion that it'll come into it's own in 10-12 years (it's also bloody huge!)

I'm very excited about my ensuite :)

DamnBamboo · 07/01/2015 20:12

Downstairs wet rooms... now there's something I've never understood.
Why would you have this on the ground floor, presumably where the bedrooms aren't? Downstairs to shower, then upstairs to get dressed again?

EugenesAxe · 07/01/2015 20:14

Laughing at Trills and them being peasant things to have.

I was a bit Confused about 'passé' - we have one but I'd never seen them as being influenced by fashions. I find them very practical things and my DH probably wouldn't be without ours as he will need to get up for wees in the night.

tak1ngchances · 07/01/2015 20:14

We have four bedrooms and four bathrooms including an en suite. I freaking love the en suite, absolutely cannot abide sharing bathrooms with guests

BathshebaDarkstone · 07/01/2015 20:15

YABU. We need at least a bathroom per person with a potty training 3-year-old and a DH who, shall we say, needs to use the bathroom 3 times every morning! ShockUnfortunately we live in rented accommodation with one tiny bathroom, so school mornings are a nightmare. Sad

ReallyBadParty · 07/01/2015 20:16

As an aside, we once had a guest who Used Our En Suite.....Shock

Hamsolo · 07/01/2015 20:21

God yes! So glad someone else agrees. I actively dislike them, and they put me off a couple of houses. They're always a bit damp, contribute to mould in the bedroom, and if I'm being totally honest, I don't like sleeping that close to a toilet. If building refs put two doors between a lav and a kitchen, I'm happy to have the same rule for my bed.

Starlightbright1 · 07/01/2015 20:21

I would simply l love a separate toilet simply so the second I sit in the bath my DS doesn't need a poo Hmm

Beeblebum · 07/01/2015 20:22

We turned the 4th bedroom/box room into a lovely ensure when doing a loft extension to make a new 4th room. Moving in to house with 3 stepchildren I said to OH that no girlfriend would move in unless there was an en suite, never mind me. Sharing bathroom with teenage stepsons wasn't going to work. I love it and am mumsnet ting from the bath in there at the mo while grumpy OH deals with children.

MIL was strongly of the opinion we should put a shower room downstairs but I couldn't imagine carrying clothes through the house. Would like a downstairs loo though....

Lambstales · 07/01/2015 20:33

In a four bedroom house, should the box room become a study or the ensuite?
We have a conflict of views..... and potentially boomerang offspring.

greenfolder · 07/01/2015 20:40

i live in a 4 bedroom house with 3 daughters and 1 bathroom. i lived in the same house with my parents and 3 siblings. we do have a second loo. i would love 2 bathrooms. but not fussed about ensuite

beadybaby · 07/01/2015 20:41

Personally I don't care how large or spacious they are I think they are a bit gross. I rented a room for 18 months that had one (new house so part of the design) and it didn't change my mind. I don't want to hear anyone else's ablutions (or other toilet activity); I don't want anyone hearing mine; they release steam and warm, wet air into the bedroom no matter how well ventilated and, as PP has mentioned I don't want to sleep that close to a toilet.

The whole concept is just unpleasant to me. So I'm with you OP.Smile

Original poster
Foolishlady · 07/01/2015 20:43

The wet room downstairs is not because I'm desperate for one but cos I definitely see the benefits of a second shower, just don't want a tiny mouldy windowless box in my lovely bedroom! Now a big luxurious ensuite is a different matter....having come from a house where the sole bathroom and toilet was downstairs, just having the bathroom across the hall is fabulous. Two flights of stairs away when pregnant - not fun!

OP posts:
Soexcitedforthisyear · 07/01/2015 20:44

We had one in our last house and don't anymore and I miss it so much. We're going to do a loft conversion at some point purely to get an en-suite

yeastextractpowder · 07/01/2015 20:45

En suite- fine
Wet room- YABU
Wet rooms are horrid! Mouldy often, damp always, wet socks going to toliet form the damp floor. Crinkly damp bog roll. I've seen plenty of nice en suites (though I prefer a separate bathroom) and not a single nice wet room.
So YABU!

tilliebob · 07/01/2015 20:46

I love my ensuite - only had it for a few years since we extended but it's worth it's weight in gold. I don't know how I lived without it, tbh. This family of 5 would be much more hassled without it Grin

Bunbaker · 07/01/2015 20:47

"I think 4-bed houses with only one loo are passe and ridiculous."

And difficult to sell these days I would have thought.

"They're always a bit damp, contribute to mould in the bedroom"

No they aren't. Ours isn't damp, it doesn't make our bedroom mouldy and if OH or I need the loo in the night we use the one in the main bathroom so as not to wake the other up.

Ours en suite has an extractor fan and a window and is larger than many house bathrooms.

I don;t like downstairs showers. IMO they are a bit of a white elephant.

BikeRunSki · 07/01/2015 20:51

It was extremely handy when I had hyperemisis.

Wotsitsareafterme · 07/01/2015 20:52

Yanbu I hated the ensuite wet room in our old apartment it was brand new and still grotty with a frosted glass door. Exh used to sit on the loo with it wide open. I never want one again I don't want anyone effectively shotting in my bedroom!

Bonsoir · 07/01/2015 20:52

I love en suite bathrooms and think that every bedroom should have one. One of our bedrooms doesn't have one and it is very annoying!

Bonsoir · 07/01/2015 20:53

None of our loos are en suite, however!

youareallbonkers · 07/01/2015 20:55

Yabvu an ensuite is an absolute must if you ever have guests or have any one else living in the house. Could you take a slice from the other bedroom for an ensuite? I would not have a house without one

Aeroflotgirl · 07/01/2015 20:56

Yabvvu, love mine, no queue to the bathroom, my kid free haven.

Strokethefurrywall · 07/01/2015 20:59

We have four full bath en-suites. One doesn't get used because it's the baby's room, the others are in various states of disarray. I'm just glad I don't have to clean them frankly.

Could probably live with knocking through the two in the kids rooms to make a slightly smaller jack and jill ensuite, then extending our bedroom because I'm greedy and I want the extra space.

Ensuites are great if they're already part of the design of the home, not so great if they are an afterthought.

Original poster
Foolishlady · 07/01/2015 21:00

Why is it a must if you have guests? We have loads of guests. Maybe I'm just a brazen hussy who doesn't mind people seeing me in my towel

OP posts: