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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:
youareallbonkers · 07/01/2015 23:53

Are there really people who don't shower before work?

AlleyCat11 · 08/01/2015 00:05

Don't like en suites. Toilet smells & noises in the bedroom? Damp from the shower? No ta! Had one once, never again... Downstairs loo much handier, imo.
By passé I read that you mean a bit 1980s, keeping up with the Joneses, Hyacinth Bucket. Yes, I have friends who've mentioned the en suite when talking up their new houses. I'm sure estate agents love them!

expatinscotland · 08/01/2015 00:06

'But so is why people are obsessed with showering every day when they aren't dirty.

And as for showering on a weekday morning when you could be asleep, that's utter and complete madness!'

Because you are when you sweat all night in your bed.

Yak.

42bunnytails · 08/01/2015 00:08

Yes, why on earth waste good sleeping time on showering and then spend an hour in the car or in the DDs case on a crappy school bus.

Far nicer to have a lovely long shower every second or third evening.

Bambambini · 08/01/2015 00:11

It depends. Have had lovely big bedrooms with lovely big ensuites and they were fabulous. Small bedrooms with poky ensuites not so much. Ensuites aren't necessary though, but two bathrooms are.

SillyPops · 08/01/2015 00:26

I'm a constant night time wee-er so essential for me! I can get to the ensuite, do my business and get back into bed without really waking up. If I need to go through a hall/put lights on thats it, I'm up for the night!

Philoslothy · 08/01/2015 00:50

We all have an ensuite but ours are all buffered with a dressing room so that the loo is not next to the bedroom. We have six children and a lot of guests so the house would be chaos withour enquires.

The children just hsve showers, sinks snd toilets in their ensuites. We also have a family bathroom with a bath in.

My ensuite is my favourite room , I have a huge shower with lots of jets and a double bath with a TV.

It is probably highly passé but I don't care.

StupidFlanders · 08/01/2015 01:14

No well built bathroom should be damp or smelly.

I find it odd that a house with 4 bedrooms wouldn't have an ensuite.

MerryMo · 08/01/2015 01:18

I despise ensuites in new build houses that have little or no soundproofing!

We stayed in a house recently - newbuild "executive" home. The walls were like paper - you may as well have had a commode behind a curtain in the corner of the room.

I was woken at 6am every sodding morning by DHs wee sloshing into the toilet bowl, the farts, the poo plunging in with a splash, the super dooper power shower almost shaking the walls and hitting the cheap and nasty hollow plastic shower tray, the sloshing and splashing of the water in the sink as he shaved, his electric toothbrush buzzing and the expel air vent thingy whirring and humming away.

Oh and lets not forget - the divine just had a shit mixed with air freshner scent as he came back into the bedroom!

Oh yes- it was real luxury!! Hmm

Not sold on me sorry!

lurkerspeaks · 08/01/2015 01:35

A functional en suite doesn't need to be huge mine is about 1.2m wide and 2.5m long.

It has a sliding door and makes my bedroom look like it has an additional built in wardrobe.

Loo sits at one end, extra wide shower cubicle at the other and a sink in the middle.

I love pottering from bathroom to chest of drawers when getting dressed.

ovaltine · 08/01/2015 01:41

I need no less than 3 toilets in my house - my ensuite (mine!), family bathroom (for the kids) and a toilet downstairs (for the guests). I don't know how people cope with just 1 bathroom!!

FrankWelker · 08/01/2015 04:21

We got rid of ours and turned it in to a walk in wardrobe. Mainly because the ensuite had no window and the fan wasn't enough to stop mould growing. Really pleased with the result as the bedroom looks good. However we have 2 other bathrooms each with a shower and a downstairs loo so we didn't really lose much for 4 of us in the house. Don't regret it at all- my lungs feel better as I don't have to use Dettol mould and mildew remover anymore!

musicalendorphins2 · 08/01/2015 05:16

If there is an exhaust fan in the bathroom, it won't get mildew, neither of our bathrooms have windows. I wish I had an ensuite still I really missed that when we bought this place.

I think if you put a full bathroom downstairs, it would be ok. But don't settle for just one bathroom if you don't have to.

SteveBrucesNose · 08/01/2015 05:19

Personally I don't care if the additional bathroom is off a bedroom or not - but I couldn't cope with just one bathroom. Aside from my bowel and stomach conditions I have many which mean I may need to dash to the bathroom without any notice, getting ready to go out would be a nightmare with one bathroom.

So, I kinda agree that ensuite is unnecessary, but second bathroom, whether it be an ensuite or downstairs wet room, is 100% necessary.

musicalendorphins2 · 08/01/2015 05:43

Yep. Imagine if a D&V bug hits.

SnookyPooky · 08/01/2015 05:50

Love our en-suite, it was already built in, beautifully tiled floor to ceiling with fabulous storage.

SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker · 08/01/2015 05:53

Our two main bathrooms don't have windows or mold. I bought expensive extractor fans which claimed to be both quiet and more powerful than I needed for the size of the bathroom (they are rated for a size of bathroom). We also have a solar tube in them so they don't look like a dank cellar and some sunlight is in the room (also useful for mold).

Alibalibumblebee · 08/01/2015 06:27

We all have them and they work really well - but they were planned in the house from day one.

I wouldn't ever like to go back to sharing a bathroom due to the inconvenience but i could if I had to.

nooka · 08/01/2015 06:32

We are a family of four and we have two bathrooms, one with a bath and the other has a bath with overhead shower. The one with the shower is next to our bedroom. Works fine and I don't see the need for any more (four bedroom house). I've no desire to have another bathroom to clean and it's pretty rare that there are queues.

I'd rather have two proper bathrooms than more little bitty ensuites. But I'm not keen on downstairs showers. My parents have one and I don't really like traipsing downstairs to use it. However if that's what works best in the OP's home then go for it.

HelloItsStillMeFell · 08/01/2015 06:47

En suites are only cramped and grotty when they are crammed into unsuitable spaces, like most new build houses that seem to favour copious bedrooms and bathrooms BARELY big enough to swing a cat in, rather than fewer rooms with better proportions. But I think in a family sized with three beds or more a second bathroom of some sort is considered fairly non-negotiable these days.

I've had six en-suites in my lifetime. The first one was a bit on the pokey side but better than having no second loo or no shower cubicle at all.

The subsequent five en-suites have all been really good sizes, like proper bathrooms.

What I really don't understand is that hideous fashion of putting washbasins in the corner of bedrooms that we had in the 50's 60's and 70's. Just awful.

HelloItsStillMeFell · 08/01/2015 06:49

I wouldn't want to be limited to one bathroom, but I would not choose each bedoom having its own en-suite if they were poky, windowless cupboards with no storage, tiny shower cubicles and no room for a bath anywhere. I'd rather have two decent sized proper bathrooms plus a downstairs loo.

Bunbaker · 08/01/2015 06:50

"If you're one of those people who is appalled by the idea of having a bathroom leading directly from your bedroom with no intervening lobby/ landing area, how on earth do you cope with hotel bedrooms? Or do you only stay in hotels without ensuite bathrooms? Or perhaps the Presidential Suite?"

Exactly.

This fastidiousness about having a loo in an ensuite is mind boggling. They don't have to be minging or damp you know. I keep ours clean and aired.

We don't use our ensuite loo during the night as the house bathroom is just across the landing from our bedroom.

Our last house didn't have an ensuite, but it did have two bathrooms, and as DD is now a teenager and I have IBS I would never go back to having just one bathroom again.

HelloItsStillMeFell · 08/01/2015 07:07

I think the problem is that since en-suites have become de rigueur and are considered non-negotiable by many, far too many housing developers have been tapping into the zeitgeist by squashing them into spaces no bigger than dark, windowless cupboards. They will get damp and smelly if they do not have sufficient ventilation and space.

En-suites per seare not the problem, the problem is with shortsighted developers who favour style over substance.

I would like to congratulate myself on managing to say en suite, de rigueur, per se and zeitgeist all in one post. Grin

Bunbaker · 08/01/2015 07:09

I agree Hello

I wouldn't want a small, pokey windowless ensuite tagged on to a tiny bedroom either, but I wouldn't buy a house like that in the first place.

muminhants · 08/01/2015 08:29

I don't think you necessarily need an en suite, but when we were looking our current house, any house had to have two toilets. We moved from a small new-build which did have a (tiny) en suite. We now have three toilets but only one bathroom in a 3 bed house. I'd like a second shower room but I don't see the need for it to lead off one bedroom, just be in the house somewhere. But we've lived here 11 years now and survived with only one bath/shower. More than one toilet is a must though, especially if you have visitors.

YANBU - it's your view but others may think differently.