3rd bathroom - wwyd?

[BaryMerry]

Our house is currently a 4 bed, 3 bathroom house. Two of these bathrooms are on the ground floor - a large family bathroom (was previously a bedroom - converted due to previous owner's mobility issues) and a smaller shower room. Plus there's another large bathroom upstairs - none of these are en suite FWIW.

We recently discovered the shower in the small bathroom is leaking somewhere, affecting the walls on either side so we're preparing to rip everything out and do up the small room. We were all set to simply put in another small bathroom but I now have serious reservations - I don't think we need a third bathroom in this house, particularly when there's a very nice family bathroom with toilet, sink, bath, and over-bath shower literally one room away. And upstairs a good-sized bathroom (with bath and eventually a shower) for the 2 DDs.

Instead of replacing the little shower room I have suggested we rip out the bathroom fittings, plaster, redecorate, re-floor and turn it into a little laundry room, with a washing machine, cupboard for cleaning products etc. and storage for bedding, duvets etc. This would then free up cupboard space upstairs currently used for this AND would also free up a small conservatory at the back of the kitchen which we currently use as a utility room for washing machine etc. Also I think it would be far less expensive - and what we save here would be very useful in the many other areas of the house which need work!

DH is against this - but his best argument for keeping it as a bathroom is "we can both brush our teeth in separate sinks at bedtime" or that he prefers a proper shower cubicle to an over-bath shower.

So - WWYD? Have a third bathroom - a small but nicely decorated new shower room OR lose a bathroom and gain a mini laundry/utility room. OR do something else with the wee room - I'm open to suggestions!

Definitely a utility, although I would really want to try to keep a loo in there if at all possible.

Our last house (and a previous one) had four toilets and there were only the two of us living in the last one

We kind of designed it that way as the house was a 200 year old wreck project that required almost complete rebuilding and whilst it had a 1980s ground floor annex with bathroom (that we reconfigured into a shower room) this was a long way from the kitchen so when we were extending we added a 'loo-tility' that housed boiler, washing machine, butler sink unit and toilet.

This was right next to the kitchen and ideal if you were in the garden and needed the loo! Upstairs the original family bathroom was too tiny to service the five bedrooms spread over two floors so we converted it to a shower room and turned a bedroom into a generous ensuite bathroom for us. It retained a (lockable) door onto the landing so could be used 'Jack and Jill' style if the need arose. Had we stayed we'd have added a shower room on the top floor too......

The previous house that had four toilets had six bedrooms/two bathrooms, but with a separate toilet on the mezzanine and again a utility with toilet & basin next to the kitchen. For the sq footage this seemed perfectly reasonable.

A four bed house with three bath/shower rooms does seem like overkill and as the utility would free up the conservatory too it seems like a no brainer to me. As a previous poster said you can always add another basin in the large bathroom to keep your DH happy!

I voted utility upthread but I'd definitely want a sink in a utility room - I use mine all the time. Sink is FAR more useful than the tiny bit of cupboard space you'd lose by putting one in (which is only about 1/4 of the depth of the cupboard underneath it anyway, surely?).

utility room with door from kitchen in shared wall - you will want a sink, forget toilet, let guests use the main downstairs bathroom.

Utility, most definitely with a sink.

If he wants a separate shower cubicle you could replace one of the baths for a big luxurious shower cubicle. One bath is enough. If he wants 2 sinks, consider a double sink.

Utility, but maybe keep the pipe work and have a sink in there too.

Utility with sink for washing muddy boots or pre soaking. My utility with loo has 2 sinks - 1 for hand washing and 1 mini butler's sink for laundry. DH wasn't convinced until DD arrived!

You need a sink in the utility room, and can put cupboards above it. Can you stack the washing machine and tumble dryer on top of each other to save space?

Now I'm daydreaming about my fantasty utility room.

It would have underfloor heating and a Lakeland drying rack, and a cupboard with all the cleaning products all neatly arranged in one of those caddy things

Love sparechange's fantasy utility - sounds brilliant! I wonder if we ever fantasised about utility rooms before home ownership/children...

Ok so it seems like keeping a sink is a good idea - can't put cupboards above it though as it's in front of the window. Same with the washing machine, it would be under the window too but stacking the dryer isn't a problem as it's a washer/dryer. But I reckon a cupboard underneath for general cleaning products etc and a large-ish linen cupboard would be fine, plus there might be room for a small shelf for detergent, softener, those little plastic jug thingys you pour the liquid into etc.

Think I'm going to doodle a picture of my vision later and present it to DH when he's in a good mood!