To ensuite or not to ensuite?

[PorridgeOatsSuck]

Currently planning a property for resale. Architect has insisted on an ensuite for every bedroom plus family bathroom but that makes everything tight. I would instead prefer to use some of the space for an office reflecting the change of use of our homes since 2020. Nevertheless, I'm told by a professional house designer this is the way forward, people expect ensuites. I have freinds who like to flip properties and they always squeeze ensuites into any available space which I have always thought absurd.

AIBU to think ensuites have become something of a noughties obsession. Times have changed and there is a greater emphasis on time in the home be that spent working, working out or for hobbies. The world is awakening to the fact that more ensuites mean more white surfaces to clean and who wants to sleep in a room their partner has just taken a dump in?

Or am I just a twentieth century anachronism. Every bedroom should ideally have its own ensuite because sharing is grim.

Well yes, exactly. Did you mean to tag a different post?

How far away does a toilet have to be from your bed in order for it to be acceptable toileting ?

In my house one of the bedrooms is adjacent to the bathroom. Someones head could be literally inches from someone sitting on the toilet through the stud wall. Urgh.

@GasPanic two doors away preferably.

How many people do you know who "stumble" walking a few feet to a hall bathroom?

An en suite in every room would annoy me because it's such a waste of space, especially if it's been added to an existing house and the rooms carved up weirdly.

I like having an en suite if it's done properly. But for second and third bedrooms I'd rather have the extra bedroom space.

I agree OP that one en suite upstairs, along with the family bathroom, plus an en suite in your downstairs guest room, is totally fine.

We have two en-suite , our bedroom and the guest room
Along with a family bathroom (doesn't have a shower only a bath ) and a downstairs toilet

Our old house we had the family bathroom and one en-suite , but no downstairs toilet

Our guest en-suite is very small , not really an everyday using size I would say it's a narrow space - shower one end , door and sink in the middle and toilet the other - it does have a window behind the toilet

OP, I think anyone who sees that there is a bedroom downstairs would just count the house as having one bedroom less. When we bought our house, it was marketed as a 5 bedroom house 🤣. No way. It was a four bedroom house and the one downstairs was a study.

I'm so shocking by the number of people who hate en-suites! I love mine, so handy for during the night pees and love having a separate toilet from the kids! I would struggle without one now!

So where do your children shower? If we had this set up we'd have the teenagers in our room or the guest room continually to use the shower. Only small children have baths.

Yeah I am a bit surprised by how many people would want an en suite for the guest room

If I am going to pay for an extra bathroom in my house, I want it to be easily accessible to the people who live in the house, not for guests. Any guests who have an issue with using the family bathroom can go and stay in a hotel..

A friend of mine has just settled her divorce & is house hunting to buy.
I've been going with her as a second pair of eyes (& because I love looking around houses)
OMG some of the en suites are awful, so small you can barely get in & shut the door & then they make the bedroom small.

Better rooms & family bathrooms

I love my ensuite; it means essentially I have a bathroom to myself. I don’t understand the worry about using the toilet - there is a door on the en-suite, a window that can be opened and an extractor fan! The toilet isn’t at the end of the bed! It’s rather like saying your downstairs toilet is in the hall.