Four large bedrooms or five smaller?

[JennyLane]

We're in the very very early stages of discussing a home extension and have a few options available to us. Planning is almost always granted on our street and neighbouring properties have done similar.

So we have a four bed semi with two average sized double bedrooms and one small double and one box room. My idea is to extend to the side which would add just over two metres to each of the bedrooms and make them very good sizes. Downstairs this would make the kitchen an amazing size.
Hubby thinks if we go for a two story extension there is little to no benefit of making existing rooms bigger. Or we make one bigger and add another box room. I feel like four good bedrooms are better than three good ones and two single rooms we have no use for. I also thought if we made the two rooms bigger we could add an ensuite which none of the rooms currently have.

So are larger bedrooms or number of bedrooms most important? We only need four for us and three kids.

The other option is to leave the rooms alone and build a kitchen extension out the back. We both agree on ideas for that plan.

I think 4 bed with an en suite would be most desirable as only one bathroom and 5 bedrooms would put me off.

@NameofGroans (great name!)
There's a small upstairs bathroom an a downstairs loo. Adding to the bedrooms would enable either an ensuite or a bathroom extension. Or maybe even both with clever use of space

Definitely 4 large ones.

Definitely 4 large bedrooms

Definitely four large ones.

People expect a master ensuite with a four bed house, a family bathroom and a downstairs cloakroom as minimum these days. I would aim to create that loo wise.

@OutandIntoday would it be unusual for the master bedroom to not be the bayfronted bedroom? That's currently the master but the extension would be on the other side.

It depends on what you need. So, for us, we have three good size bedrooms and a box room. But we really need a fourth bedroom as we often have guests as our family don't live nearby, so any extension would be about creating the extra bedroom that was liveable. However, if you don't have any reason for the extra room, then four bigger rooms work better. If you do the five bedroom thing, would you still have sufficient space for everyone to have a decent room?

If I understand correctly, either way you'll have an extra bathroom? which I agree is essential. In a four bedroom house I would expect there to be at least 1.5 full bathrooms upstairs with the bedrooms. Ideally, two full bathrooms (or at least, a full bathroom and a shower room).

Also, I don't think it matters where the master bedroom is. If you have the new improved master bedroom, the old master bedroom simply because a nicer bedroom for whichever child uses it. DD is currently in our old master bedroom and it's fine. At some point, her and DS might share that room and we'll turn his room into a spare room/ playroom. Until they stop sharing again.

@WorkingBling I'm trying to convince hubby of the ensuite. He isn't a fan of them. But we have two daughters who will be teenagers one day... I think it'd be a good idea!

Even if you don't go for an ensuite you need more than one bathroom imo

We had a big extension when I was a pre teen. Gave my parents an ensuite and my brother and I really big rooms, it left a large single bedroom as a spare.

Agree you should prioritise a second bathroom upstairs (doesn't have to be en-suite) before anything else. Five bed two bath would be ideal but four bed two bath second best. Certainly not five bed one bath.

Another vote for 4 bedrooms.

Before I decided to extend my house, I did a lot of house-hunting. Buyers quickly see through the "5 bedroom" property that is really four bedrooms, one of which has been divided into a mean-sized box room and a corridor-study. To me it represented a negative that I'd have to sort out, not a positive.

Could you do the big kitchen extension and a loft extension?

4 bedrooms. There's not a lot of extra value added if you change your house from a 4 bed to a 5 bed than if you changed your house from a 3 bed to a 4 bed apparently. But it depends on your own family needs if you decide to stay long term.

@ikeadyounot very good point.
We won't be starting for a good while yet so have lots of time to think it all through. Fundamentally though we plan on staying here and I feel four doubles will serve us better when the kids are older and visiting (or still living with us )
It won't add a huge amount in value. Our street has a ceiling price. But if we don't plan to go and it makes it more liveable and usable I feel it's worth it.

Jenny, doesn't have to be ensuite. Just enough bathrooms that more than one person can be using a bathroom at a time. I'm not wild about en suites myself so in our loft conversion we created a sort of suite whereby the bathroom is dedicated to us and is upstairs, but it is not accessed via the bedroom. which works for us as we get the extra bathroom but without it being part of our bedroom.

@PocketNiffler oooh hadn't though about going up.... I imagine that would maybe be cheaper too?

IKEA - I agree with you up to a point. Nothing more irritating than a house being advertised as 5 bedrooms but when you turn up the final one is tiny. However, depending on your needs, a house advertising 4 bedrooms plus study/ similar can be a benefit. e.g. we would never want a five bedroom house (nor could we afford one), but a four bed with a study would be perfect for us and we'd look at that house. IYSWIM.

We have 5 bedrooms (the fifth is a tiny box room). It fits a bed, drawers, tiny bookcase and that's about it. Wouldn't fit a single bed & wardrobe in! It was marketed as a 5 bed though and we do use it as such. We only have 1 bathroom - however our home is a bungalow so don't know if that makes a difference? Having one bathroom hasn't bothered us, I thought it might, but it works fine. We do have a second toilet though.

Personally, if we were to buy it (it's rented) I'd turn the fifth bedroom into an ensuite in a heartbeat.

Bearing that in mind I'd go with 4 larger bedrooms & ensuite.

That's true working. I think I'm just scarred by the memory of a "5 bed" that had a "study" that was literally 3 metres long and just over a metre wide. The most awkward space you can imagine, it felt like being in that Edgar Allen Poe story where the walls are closing in...

Jenny - you can get an architect to design a kind of box thing, like a really large dormer window, that you can add onto a roof subject to planning. It can solve quite a few of the problems of sloping ceilings if your footprint isn't that large, as well as giving you great views!

The 4 bed option without hesitation. You def need a second bathroom and it will be much cheaper to do it now than to realise you need it further down the line. Personally, I'd opt for the ensuite. Firstly, when your girls are older it will become much nicer to have your own bathroom leaving the other one to them and guests. Secondly, I think of the 3 options, the biggest value added and saleability with come from 4 large beds with 2 baths, one being ensuite. The 4bed,2bath coming second with the 5 compromised beds coming last.

I think most people are savvy enough to look at overall square feet (usually split between the downstairs and upstairs) so even if it's marketed as 5 bedrooms, most people would think it has the space of a 4 bed but have compromised layout somehow to get a 5th bedroom.

I agree with outandin that people expect a 4 bed to have master plus ensuite, family bathroom and downstairs loo. I would definitely discount a 5 bed with only one bathroom.

FWIW, we've just extended a semi to make it 4 bed (with master & ensuite) but built on at the back of the house as we couldnt incorporate plumbing for ensuite to the front bay bedroom (largest bedroom). That's now my 8 year olds room. The master is only slightly smaller though