What are your thoughts on downstairs bedrooms?

[Ewokewok]

We're moving and at the moment are considering different layouts for our new house which needs a bit of 'updating' ripping out and starting again.

Downstairs there is a decent sized study (big enough for a spare bedroom) and upstairs there is a small bedroom which will fit a single bed and not too much else in it. Dh was thinking we make the small bedroom into his study (he works from home but not regularly) and have the larger room downstairs for a spare room. DC's room and our bedroom would be upstairs. There is a downstairs toilet but not shower.

We thought that if we ever sold (unlikely but just in case) we could just reverse the rooms again so that the small bedroom is set up as a bedroom again in case the downstairs one puts people off.

The alternative is to rip out the largeish bathroom upstairs, knocking through the separate toilet, making that the spare room and turning the small bedroom into a bathroom and keeping the study downstairs.

Any thoughts on downstairs bedrooms in general?

I'd put the bathroom in the spare room and make the original bathroom a bedroom with ensuit shower, as plumbing must already be there left from bathroom.

Then downstairsstudy/4th bedroom is a bonus

Downstairs bedroom for mid-term plan. When bathroom needs replacing would switch "study" back into a bathroom and rejig the layout.

Ivykate - that would be perfect but unfortuately not enough space - old bathroom isn't big enough to make a bedroom and bathroom out of!

What sizes are the small bedroom upstairs and the bathroom ? If you swapped bathroom and the room round what size would the room and bathroom be ?

Is there space to change the toilet downstairs into a shower room ?

*currently

Small bedroom is 8ft X 7ft

bathroom is approx 11ft X 7ft and has a separate toilet next to it which could be knocked through which would make it sort of L shaped.

We could probably put in a shower room downstairs but not keen on that idea. I don't like them!

If your going to rip everything out then I'd move the bathroom into that small bedroom, it would still be a good sized bathroom. But the extra bedroom would be a better size.
Downstairs you could make the room a study/tv/games room.

I would still think about making that toilet downstairs into a shower room though.

Depending on layout upstairs I'd see about squeezing in a separate shower room as well if there is 4 bedrooms upstairs. Maybe in the separate toilet ? Or could you steal a wee bit of space between 2 of the bigger rooms ?

This could be a time for a diagram of layout !

When we bought our house it had a downstairs bedroom (marketed as a 4 bed including that). We've repurposed it as a playroom and only used the upstairs bedrooms, but having it there definitely didn't put us off. We're extending into the loft now though rather than actually using the downstairs one as a bedroom, now that we need the extra room

We have exactly this set up. We have a secomd reception room downstairs and 4 bedrooms upstairs, but the 4th bedroom is tiny. We used to use the 2nd reception room as a playroom, although we also had a sofa bed in there.

Now our dc are grown up we have turned it ibto the spare room and put two single beds in there. We have turned the 4th bedroom into a study. We have a downstairs loo but no shower. My dad can no longer manage stairs so has to sleep downstairs when they visit.

We do use the spare room as an ironing room, but it's easy enough to put the ironing board away if we have visitors to stay. If we ever come to sell then we can always switch the rooms over again.

Downstairs bedrooms generally irritate me when house hunting. If I set the searches on rightmove/whatever to show me 4 bedroom houses I want to see houses that have enough footprint to have 4 rooms and a bathroom upstairs - and therefore probably at least room for kitchen, utility room, sitting room, separate dining room and WC downstairs. Instead I get a load of places that are actually 3 bedroom houses with a bed in what is clearly the dining room and a cramped single kitchen-diner-living room.

If your downstairs already has dedicated rooms for each of these functions then a downstairs guest room is OK.

A down stairs bedroom might be an asset when selling, the population is aging and a downstairs room allows for granny to stay.

I've spent most of y adult life in flats / bungalows so I'm used to living on one level.

As a guest I would prefer to be on the ground floor - I could make a cup of tea or use the toilet without disturbing you.

Fine as a guest bedroom but I wouldn't want it as a family bedroom.
I'd use it for the bookshelves and musical instruments instead, we've done that with our house.

I'm looking for somewhere with accessibility for my brother who uses a wheelchair so he can stay for short breaks.
At the moment we use my daughters sitting room but a separate bedroom would be much better.
We have a downstairs wetroom next to the utility which doubles as a changing room since we have a hot tub outside.