House layout and bathrooms - floor plans included

[harrietm87]

Hello. I've posted about this before when trying to decide what to do with layout - consensus was to try to have an ensuite so as to get a second bathroom upstairs, but we won't be able to do that now (boring plumbing and budget reasons).

So the issue is - we have a 4 bedroom house. 4th bedroom is tiny, bathroom is even tinier. No room for a bath and shower, or even a shower above the bath as there are sloping ceilings and the wall against the hallway is curved. At the moment there's just a big bath in there.

Downstairs we're going to convert the dining room to kitchen, so the old kitchen could be a utility room or bathroom or both. Is it better to have 2 bathrooms next to each other (and lose bedroom 4 which would be a study) than have a downstairs bathroom? Or should we knock the bathroom and bedroom 4 together to make a big bathroom?

I'm pregnant with our first and would like 2 or 3 children (all being well). We plan to do a loft conversion in mid-long term (5+years) and would add a bathroom then.

Any advice on a good layout/ where to put bathrooms welcome!

Maybe put a loo in the existing kitchen but have it as a utility - washing machine, dryer. We moved 7 years ago (with 3 under 5) and my priority list was catchment for school, then a utility room so other than location, my absolute non-negotiable. I think you can potentially wait for an extra bathroom if you have plans to convert the loft.

Old kitchen - WC, laundry room, cloakroom.

Upstairs bathroom I would have a separate WC with hand basin then room with bath/shower/handbasin. Or possibly create an ensuite for the back bedroom.

You could squeeze in a study in the future either in large front bed or loft conversion if you really needed one.

Can you switch bedroom 4 to being the bathroom and use the old bathroom as the study. It will give you a bit more space, the plumbing shouldnt be too difficult as it is right next door, and you could probably build a built in desk to make the most of the study space. Downstairs I would just do a loo and hand basin with a decent utility space.

Sorry can't see the plans as too small.
Downstairs wet room/shower room
Space for washing machine.

Get a toilet downstairs. You'll be glad of it when you're potty training...

We did similar. The old kitchen down stairs had a loo and basin, then behind a wall of cupboards we had a store/coat cupboard, and a utility cupboard with a kitchen sink, washing machine under, and boiler over. When not In use all cupboards were closed so the room just looked like a downstairs loo. Probably loads of hidden utility cupboard pictures on Pinterest.

I would knock through bedroom 4 and the bathroom to make a large family bathroom with good storage.

Definitely incorporate a loo downstairs. We've just added a utility that has a small run of kitchen units, kitchen sink, washer & drier on one side, and loo & shower on the other side.

Turn the kitchen into a downstairs shower room, WC and utility room.

Either swap bathroom and bed 4 (like PP suggests the old bathroom could work as a study) or knock through and create a lovely family bathroom woth sep bath shower and stoorage.

Later if you actually need a proper 4th bedrhen go into the attic and create a master suite up there.

Thanks for all the replies. Yep we can fit shower, toilet, sink and washer and dryer into utility (old kitchen) just about. That would give us a shower for now and could think about knocking through later.

I know that people seem to really hate downstairs bathrooms though - so you think that's a problem? Guess we could take it out once we do loft/if we ever move.

You already have an upstairs bathroom so one downstairs shouldn't put people off. They're great with muddy kids, dogs etc.

I hate downstairs bathrooms when they are the only one, and ones where you have to walk thru the kitchen to access.

Having a ‘bonus’ shower room st the base of the stairs like yours would not put me off at all.

Having a downstairs bathroom is fine as long as there is one upstairs.

Could you:
Take the bathroom and bedroom 4, change sizes to get either one big bathroom or a smaller one and an ensuite for bed 3
Split the existing master into two bedrooms? Looks as if it has 2 windows so could be split nicely. Would obviously lose the huge master though.

Our main bathroom is downstairs with just a WC upstairs. Our bedroom is downstairs though and the childrens are all upstairs. It certainly works for us!