To consider this house with no family bathroom?

[Erisbo]

We have two dds, currently in year 4 and year 1.

We need to move house in the near future, as while both our dds are currently at a lovely primary school, our catchment secondary school that every child on our current street gets allocated has a very bad reputation and is currently rated inadequate.

We're considering one house, a stone's throw from the secondary we'd love our dds to go to, that has been on the market for quite a while. The reason it's been so hard to sell is, we suspect, because the layout of bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs is rather odd.

The crux of the issue is that there is no family bathroom, and the bedrooms/bathrooms are very unequally sized.

On the top floor, there is:
- A massive master bedroom (1), with a huge ensuite (two sinks, a loo, bath, huge shower)
- A big bedroom (2) with an ensuite (bath with shower attachment, loo, sink)
- A small to medium sized bedroom (3)
- A tiny box bedroom (4)
- A tiny box bathroom with a loo, sink & shower squeezed in

Obviously, if we lived there, dh and I would take the master bedroom, but the issue would be which bedrooms/bathrooms our dds would use.

We were thinking we'd probably do it like this:
Dd1 in bedroom 2, and dd2 in bedroom 3. Dd1 would use the ensuite attached to bedroom 2, while dd2 would have baths in our ensuite while she's still little, and then when she's older would have sole use of the tiny box bathroom, with the option of baths in our room if she wanted them.

Mumsnetters with older children - once dd2 is a teenager, is she likely to resent the fact that dd1 has a much bigger room, with a decent sized ensuite, while dd2 would have a smaller room and the use of a non ensuite tiny bathroom?

Should we take the fact that the house has been on the market for so long as a sign, and leave it alone?

any chance of converting the box bedroom into a bathroom in the future?

Could dd2 have tiny box bedroom as a dressing room, or could you knock through?

Could you use the tiny box room as a playroom converting to study space for dd2?

Can you knock bedroom 3 and bedroom 4 into one to make a bigger bedroom. I honestly don’t see a problem. Everyone has their own bedroom/bathroom.

Depending on the layout of the rooms, I would probably knock the box bedroom and bathroom together to give a proper family bathroom.

I doubt they'd care too much; our boys have a shared ensuite bathroom between both of their bedrooms with DS1 in the larger bedroom and DS2 in the smaller one, neither has ever complained (except DS1's complaints that DS2 prances into the loo for poops while he's in the shower).

I'd move and take the house with the better catchment. Layouts can be altered in years to come.

I think it sounds fine if you otherwise like the house. Perhaps if it becomes an issue you could find some way to even things up (dd2 inherits big bedroom when dd1 goes to uni, for example?) but I really don't think a bathroom each is a necessity. The issue seems to be that dd1 gets more luxury than strictly required. Would she be expected to vacate if you have overnight guests or would guests be in the boxroom? Either way I don't think it's insurmountable. You could even switch with dd2 when she's a teenager if you were that worried about it but that feels a bit extreme

The box bedroom and box bathroom are next to each other, so we could knock through to create a bigger bathroom.

We will need somewhere for guests to stay, but we could achieve that through a sofa bed downstairs.

Can they not both share bedroom 2 with the ensuite? They are very young still. I dont think kids have to have their own bedroom. Our eldest had a large bedroom with ensuite but didn’t like having so much space. Ours didn’t realize the ensuite was so amazing until she was a teenager and we had left the house /moved on. I don’t think kids think of these things quite the same way adults do. They might like being in one big bedroom and sharing a bathroom. Consider that.

At university some rooms had a shared en suite with two doors. Would that work?

Don't know the layout but converting the small box room is my first thought

I really wouldn't worry about one having a smaller room. Most houses have a smaller room, kids get over it.

It does have a family bathroom? Just smaller than you want?

The size of the house and the other stuff I think you’d be mad to not consider it when it has plenty of room and a bathroom accessible for visitors.

I thought you meant it only had en suite bathrooms which I wouldn’t like.

I would use the second bedroom as a play/spare room so the bathroom doesn't belong to anyone. Then the kids have small bedrooms and share third bathroom/use one on second bedroom.

Can your DDs not share the ensuite? Otherwise sole use of the box bathroom seems fine for one and the other can give up the en suite room when you have guests.

Fwiw we have three bathrooms in our house and my kids still prefer to use the shower in my en suite. If I could regain bedroom space I would sacrifice a bathroom but it's more of a layout issue

Is there any way of shuffling things round to combine bedroom 3&4 or making the bathroom bigger? When they get bigger, maybe dd1 would like the smaller bedroom 3 & use of the box room as her own private playroom/den plus her own shower room. If you are only having the 2 children , you can easily make this work!

Can you post a pic of floor plan? Will be easier to come up with a solution.

Actually yes I like the idea of the biggest bedroom with ensuite suite being s neutral space. Guests can sleep there but also it could be play room/study with bathroom off that either girl can use.

I'm out at the moment but will post a floor plan when I get back

Hmm, this is a tricky one.
If i was your DD1, i'd love your plan, if i was your DD2, i'd feel cheated simply for being born second.
Would it be possible for them to share the big second bedroom for now, so sharing the ensuite, and then when they are both a bit older, discuss who moves to the medium room?
Knocking box room and box bathroom into 1 big bathroom wont change the fact one DD has a much smaller bedroom, and i suspect everyone would end up using that bathroom too if its closer than their own en suite is, so won't be her "own" bathroom. Either way when you have guests they will be using that bathroom, if that's an issue or not depends how often you have guests.

Could a sofa bed fit in the box room, and that room when there aren't guests, be a private chill out space for whomever gets the box bathroom and small/medium bedroom? It just seems the fairest way to split things that everyone gets more equal space. The lack of bath wouldn't bother me, im not a bath person.

If she does resent it in the future, she really needs to be told that you put their education above trying to buy a house with equal sized rooms.

Mixing with other Teens, who may have to share a bedroom, and whose Family only have one Bathroom may help her realised that she is privileged to have what she does.

Teens will always find something to resent. They need to get over it.

It took my DD becoming a Mum until she appreciated me properly.

But, just make plans to knock through.

I don't see the issue. Give one DD the big room. The other one can have the small room, the box room as a study (maybe with the proviso that you put in a day bed or sonething for the occasional guest) and the box bathroom.

Could they share the biggest bedroom? Maybe you could put some sort of screen partition so they each have their privacy. You and dh have bedroom 2? Can visitors access the small bathroom without having to do through a bedroom?
Lots of options, if the bathroom situation is the only problem I'd definitely buy the house.