Is a 5th bedroom worth it?

[Yorky]

We currently have a 3 bed semi (2 double rooms and a box room) and have just been granted planning permission to put 2 bedrooms and a kitchen/diner on the side :)

The box room is currently DH's study/office and I was quite adamant that we didn't want a connecting door knocking through between his study and our new bedroom for DH's sleep hygiene. He has now pointed out that the boxroom could become a walk-in wardrobe/dressing room as part of a 'master suite' if we were prepared to sacrifice the 5th bedroom. He says he would be happy to have a sofa bed in one of the double rooms as a combined guest room/office.

Plans here if that makes it easier.

Which would you prefer?

Tend to agree with your DH, if he's happy with the sofa bed arrangement and you'd both really appreciate the dressing room. A master suite with dressing room is a lovely, luxurious thing to have, and I would personally prefer it, unless I really needed the fifth bedroom (ie four kids). It looks from the plans as if four bedrooms is about the right number for your downstairs space.

Plus if it's only knocking through a connecting door and blocking another door off, it can be put back again for a few hundred quid, so it's not like you're closing off the fifth bedroom option for all future owners. Estate agents might put you in a lower price bracket when you come to sell. But unless you are in an area full of enormous houses, I doubt it'll be that different. There's a big premium on going from 2 to 3 beds, and another smaller one on 3 to 4. But 4 to 5, not so much.

Yes would go for dressing room. Bed 5 looks like a bit of a non bedroom. Also someone really wanting 5 beds might consider your living space out of balance. Easily put back if you change your mind!

I'd go for the dressing room too.

How big is the room and does it have a good-size window?

If it is a reasonable room, I would keep it as a bedroom. In the future, 5 beds may be very desirable, just like 4 beds are now.

Is there a way you could have two doors, one connecting and one outside, so it is more versatile? You can always keep one door closed if you decide to use as a dressing room.

Anybody who wants/can afford 5 bedrooms buys a detached house. I agree with your dh.

I also think the layout is a bit awkward for a dressing room. Ideally, the dressing room should be off the bathroom. So, the best layout IMO, is bedroom leading to dressing room leading to bathroom.

In this case you would have to walk across your bedroom to go to the dressing room. And then walk back to the bathroom to comb hair, put make-up on etc. Doable, but not ideal. If you really want a dressing room, could you possibly reconfigure the space? Perhaps move the utility around...?

Also, we once lived in a house where the study was next to the kitchen. It was perfect. I could do work and cook. When dh was working in there, we could still chat and stay connected while I was preparing a meal. Plus it was easy to pop mail/bills in the right drawer without going upstairs. Any possibility of creating a study in the back hallway? It seems a bit of a wasted space.

Depends what the study is for. If DH's study is the same as my DP's (ie, where he kills dragons. And very occasionally does his receipts with a lot of swearing.) then upstairs is fine - good, even, for getting away from everybody. If it's a daily functioning workspace then I agree downstairs is more logical, if you can set aside a corner.

Wow, some fantastic responses and some points we hadn't thought of.
Many thanks everyone.

Erm, Madbuslady - we have 4 DC but were going to have a boys' and a girls' room - bed 5 is definitely a single room so I'd feel that whichever DC got that room would be shortchanged :( Does that answer your question Flatbread?

Good point MrsMiniver - there probably is a glass ceiling for number of bedrooms in a semi.

DH is starting his own company after being made redundant so needs to get on with real work (and castleville) somewhere he can DC proof himself. The 'hallway' downstairs is being knocked through to the lounge/playroom - to double the area of the playroom end of the room, and we're considering folding doors to give a separate TV lounge, maybe when the DC are older and want more of a teen 'den' and we need somewhere to hide from their mates

Interesting suggestion to make bed 3 the utility/laundry room and put the en-suite and dressing rooms next to each other - will take that idea to DH, see if it passes the eye roll o meter!

Yorky, looks like you will have a fantastic house once you are done, no matter what layout tweaks you choose.

Love the facebook page too. What a great way to share ideas and progress with friends/family.

Thank you Flatbread, I'm hoping it will be :D

Just trying to think of all the tweaks and snags from plans rather than chaging things when the builders are on site.

Its hard to see from your FB page what the dimensions are, how wide is the side extension (it looked like 2m but I could be wrong?!). We're in a similar position, 3 bed semi, just been granted planning permission for double storey side and back extension but we're sticking with 4 double bedrooms and a study area (not really a bedroom) plus a decent family bathroom and a good ensuite. We could have squeezed a 5th bedroom in, but would have had to compromise somewhere, and 4 bedrooms is workable for us, and I don't think 2 5th bedroom adds any value. As others have said, most people looking for a 5 bedroomed property would probably be looking for more living space downstairs and probably detached. I therefore would have said go with the dressing room.

But having seen your 2nd post now though where you say you have 4 children, I think there will be a time when most children want their own space, so I'd leave it as a 5th bedroom.

Your extension looks similar to ours, we are having a fifth bedroom downstairs as we have four DCs so a bedroom each. Our box room is being doubled in size to make a nice double, additional bedroom upstairs and utility room and bedroom downstairs. Supposed to be having single storey playroom at the back but there's a debate abut that just now.

We've got a Study Bed for our study (old box room) - still gives an emergency double bed, but a decent desk too.

Interesting to 'see' you here sweetkitty, I started commenting on your 'should have stopped at 2' thread earlier, but my reply sounded more like an over tired pity party than friendly support so I didn't post. Hope you're feeling a bit better now

Oh Caurnie - you are DH's new best friend! We saw studt beds at the national home improvement show a couple of weeks ago and he's a little in love with them

Hey yorky, I felt my whole thread was a pity party, I put it in larger families not main chat or anything because of that.

Still going through extension hell here, 3 days in and it went pear shaped!