Victorian house upstairs layout - help!!

[thebellsofsaintclements]

We are buying one of those ‘standard’ Victorian terraces where there are three rooms upstairs and the smallest of the three (the one facing the garden) has been converted into the bathroom.

We have two small children so really need three bedrooms upstairs, but don’t want to move the bathroom downstairs – so, has anyone found an easy way of moving the bathroom so that we end up with three bedrooms (I know one will end up being v small, that’s fine!) and still retain the upstairs bathroom? I guess the choices are either chopping off some space from the middle room, or making the master bedroom (which faces the road) smaller?

TIA!

Are the 2 back bedrooms next to each other? If so could you pinch a bit of space from each one?

Unfortunately not, the middle one is sort of on the side of the house, and the back one (that is currently the bathroom) is quite small (about 2x3m) as it is!

Identical layout to ours it seems.

Can you convert the loft?

Can't really afford it at the moment, but it's definitely the long term plan!

Our friends have just done this with their house. They chopped the middle bedroom in 2 to make a bathroom and smaller bedroom and changed the original bathroom at the back into a bedroom.

Could you put a stud wall in the biggest bedroom so you get 2 smaller rooms?

Could you not take a longer term view on it and have them share until you can afford to convert the loft?

I've seen the front bedroom in those houses divided by a stud wall (subject to where the window/s are) and then when you're ready to convert the loft, you can remove the stud wall.

Depends on your exact layout and size - but in my house hunting I saw several solutions.

One is to split the bathroom into a really small bathroom and small single bedroom. like this and like this

Other common one is to nick a bit of bed 1 and bed 2 to create a thin windowless bathroom. Leaves you with better size bedrooms but the plumbing could be more difficult.

Or a solution would be to put in a v small shower room upstairs, and chuck in a bathroom downstairs so you minimise space loss from the upstairs bedrooms but still get to keep a bath.
like this

I've seen the front bedroom in those houses divided by a stud wall (subject to where the window/s are) and then when you're ready to convert the loft, you can remove the stud wall.

Yes this is a good option - chuck up a stud wall to make the front bedroom into 2x rooms. Will cost like £1,000 as long as no electrics or radiators need to be moved. WAY cheaper than mucking about with moving bahtrrom if you intend to do the loft later.

Can you give us a floor plan diagram?

Thanks all for all your brilliant suggestions - I'll speak to the builders and see what they say but I'm so happy that there's various possibilities!

User14 - did your friends mention anything about it being tricky/expensive moving the bathroom (I guess having to move all the pipes/fittings etc)?

Kiroro – LOVE the first plan – I was thinking along exactly those lines!

Bigred - sorry I'm not good at linking but it's like Kiroro's first link (except the whole space of the back bedroom is the bathroom)

I wouldn't move the bathroom if you'd like to convert the loft in a few years. It'll be disruptive and cost thousands- a few k for the new bathroom and changing the current bathroom to a bedroom will be a few k too (removing stuff, connecting a radiator, sorting electrics, plastering and painting walls, carpeting etc).

Since the bathroom is 2x3m, you'd only gain a box room. Given the size of the room, I suspect that it's generally a small house so carving out space for a bathroom elsewhere could leave you with 3 singles...

Our main bedroom was split into 2, so make a small bedroom at the front of the house. It will be big enough for child for quite a few years.

Thanks for your comments JoJo - lots to think about!

Babydad - that's definitely one of the options! And probably the cheapest too

As a child w head the front bedroom split in two simply with basic stud wall and door.

You had to go into first bedroom to get access to second but it was fine actually. Eldest (me) had bedroom further away so younger had no need to walk through their room.

Our door was right in middle of room, but if you did it one end you could make a kind of corridor to second room.

Thanks Art - great idea!

Like this

Yeah, that's exactly how I imagined it too!