very small single room + decent family bathroom or single room + small family bathroom

[kedy]

here is my dilemma: previous owners of our property made a bad job of creating a small family bathroom in the first floor of the house, which only has a shower but no space for a bathtub. They then created a family bathroom downstairs in the kitchen, which is not nice to say the least...So we would like to open up the kitchen but we will not have a good sized bathroom...Families with small kids, pets etc need bathtubs! Our builder had an idea to take some space (e.g. 50 cm) from adjacent single bedroom (3 m long, 2.06 m wide). But this room is already small. If we take another 50 cm, we will have a room of 3 m long, 1.55 m wide. We can still fit in the single bed and wardrobe and bedside table which is there already. So my question is, if it came to selling this house; would you prefer: big open kitchen, decent family bathroom but very small third bedroom; OR no bathtub, bigger third single bedroom?

I would say as long as it will still be big enough for a full size single bed and wardrobe then go for the larger bathroom.

Thank you MrMenAndLittleMiss, i am also leaning towards this, although it will be a bit odd looking..it is hard to predict what would families prefer, if we sell...anyone else?

as it will still be big enough for a full size single bed and wardrobe then go for the larger bathroom
I agree

Is it a standard 3 bed terrace that originally had a downstairs bathroom?

If so, then this is the kind of compromise that you have to make. It doesn't sound like the 50cm is actually doing THAT much to the room at the moment? If you can get a s single bed and a wardrobe and bedside table in (think about radiator placement) then you're fine.

I'm finding it hard to imagine how you get a single bed, bedside table and wardrobe all in a room only 1.55m wide. But if it works go for it.

i can't see where you say how many bedrooms it has anyway - if it's 3 then the third is only ever going to be a nursery or office or small kids room probably. in our house we have this arrangement and will be going into the attic eventually for a proper sized third bedroom as our neighbours have.

thank you silverspot and museumum, yes the house is originally a 3-bed semi which had a loft conversion too, so 4 bedrooms in total.

this one is the smallest room. it will be hard fitting it all in, but seems doable...1.5 will be the new width, the single bed to fit in on the long wall (3 m) with a small bedside table (bed 90 cm + 50 cm table), we managed to fit in a 90 cm wardrobe across the bottom of the bed along the long wall. it will definitely end up a nursery, small kids bedroom, or an office. you are right, without the attic room, it would have been a harder decision...if you were buying a house like this, would you prefer having:

option 1) downstairs big family bathroom in the kitchen, 3 double beds + 1 decent sized single, but small shower room

option 2) downstairs no loo, big open plan kitchen, 3 double beds, 1 family bathroom with tub & shower, but a small single bed

obviously option 2 will cost us about 30K, hence wondering whether worth the investment...

Option two but find a place to squeeze a downstairs loo in.

I'd rather have option 2 but with a downstairs WC (and potentially a utility room/cupboard).

I don't think you will get an extra £30k when you sell tho - so only do this because it is how you want to live.

thank you Silverspot - the builder quoted us 7-10K for adding a downstairs loo - where is the crying emoticon- and the 30k is already going to be a squeeze...would like to get it back if we sell in a couple of years though, not sure if this is our forever home...sigh...

We've just sold our semi with a loft conversion. The smallest bedroom (original box room when it was a 3 bed) was too small for a single bed but fine for a cot bed and chest of drawers. I was honest with buyers that it wasn't big enough for a single bed and would be a good study/nursery (we were using it for baby DS). It didn't affect the sale and nobody mentioned it. There were 3 doubles and another single in the loft which we had set up as an office. I would make the bathroom bigger as I wouldn't personally buy a house without a bath, or a house with a downstairs bathroom. A downstairs loo would be a high priority for a lot of folk too, so I agree with other posters that you should try and fit one in. Ours was under the stairs.

With 4 bedrooms I think you'd need at least another toilet.
Don't understand how it could cost £10,000 for a downstairs toilet as you'll already have the plumbing in place as it's a bathroom just now. ?

Can you post a plan of what it is like just now ?

I would prioritise an upstairs bathroom with a bath out of the scenarios you present, especially as the house is 4-bed.
But agree with pp about trying to retain a downstairs loo.

3 by 1.55 is OK for a "box" room, tbh. You need a decent bathroom as the only bathroom, whatever the size of the house.

I'd get another quote, too. Unless the space needed is far from the existing soil stack, 7-10K to keep a bathroom down there seems high.

I wouldn't mind the box room but I wouldn't buy a family home without a down stairs loo. Apart from that the plans to shift bathroom and expand kitchen make sense.

As you already have a bathroom downstairs why would it cost 7-10k to leave a downstairs loo.

Thank you very much everyone for all your replies. Here is a plan of the current house

@IfYouGoDownToTheWoodsToday exactly...not sure really. - when we asked the builder to put a downstairs loo under the stairs (where is says cupboard in the plan), he said minimum 7K but more likely 10K, because we would have to move existing boiler into the kitchen (mind you thats only the other side of the wall) and there is an electricity box which would need to be boxed up or something. (moving electricity meters apparently is also very expensive so boxing up is the "cheap route") i haven't done this before and not wanting to be "taken for a ride" by the builders...

To be honest the floor plan looks fine to me as it is!

You've got a downstairs bathroom, a 1st floor shower room and an en-suite.
3 doubles and 1 single.
A nice big open plan kitcen diner with lots of light.
A big thru lounge.

I can't see how you are adding any value with your proposed changes.

How wide is the shower room upstairs? I would definitely get rid of the doorstairs bathroom and create a downstairs loo, then put a bath where the sink and loo currently are in the shower room. You need 170cm. If the shower room isn't wide enough, I'd take the difference from Bedroom 4 but only for say 1m/1.5m so it's not narrowing the whole of the bedroom if the make sense.

Kind of like this but imagine it upside down so the bath part sticks into Bedroom 4 but just that bit of the bathroom if that makes sense. The door is in the wrong place but closest thing I could find to better describe what I mean.

I didn't realise you also had an ensuite, and I don't think others did when they questioned why you weren't having a downstairs loo.

If you want a downstairs loo, and they are always handy, I would definitively get another couple of quotes, to move it under the stairs. 10K seems ridiculous.

Far better to convert downstairs bathroom to WC and utility room! Look at different bathroom suites to put bath tub in 1st floor bathroom- corner loo, sort bath etc

Where were you going to put washing machine etc? Really for open plan living they need to be somewhere soundproof!

I'm another vote for keeping it as it is. I can't see how you will end up with anything like a decent size bathroom and a single bedroom in that space. Currently you have plenty room down stairs, a good size bathroom, a loo on every floor.

But if you were to do it, I think the suggestion of keeping the loo downstairs and turning it into a utility room is a good one.