4th bedroom or ensuite to master bedroom....which would you prefer?

[queenrollo]

we have a narrow room (was previously gallery style kitchen) next to our bedroom.
We are currently doing the house up to sell. Our original plan was to turn this space into an ensuite to the master bedroom, which i think would add more to the appeal of the property. A friend said she would rather have a 4th bedroom than an en suite?

so mumsnetters......do we install a bathroom (and as the room is so long we were thinking of stud-walling and putting in a walk in wardrobe too)or do we put in a very narrow but long 4th/guest bedroom?

My vote's for the en-suite.

I'd prefer an en suite too, plus a dressing area. I'd love a dressing area - bet I'm not the only one! And women buy houses and their husbands just go along with them and agree.

Also, is the loft convertable into a bedroom? In case someone is that fussed about another bedroom

for nosey titch......

when we bought the house it was a three bed flat upstairs, commercial storage downstairs. (was previously a primitive methodist church)
we have divided the downstairs and installed a very large kitchen/dining room in the front two thirds and space for recording studio for dp in the back third.
upstairs have very large living room with mezzanine balcony which houses the office space. A large bathroom off the living area, then into long narrow hallway off which is small utility room, a bedroom which comfortably fits double bed and wardrobe, smaller bedroom (currently ds)and then main bedroom which is huge (could be converted to two smaller double rooms for idea of space)
the old kitchen is long and narrow, you couldn't get a single bed widthways into it but it's only to narrow to do that by a small margin.

we do have a space downstairs that we could put a toilet in.....but that would be a messy and possibly costly job. i'm eager to move but at the same time would like to make the house as saleable and profitable as possible. Houses aren't moving very fast round here at the moment so we need the extra edge.
I will get a couple of agents round, but thankyou for your input everyone, it's making me really think about this carefully.

Given the size of the room, widthwise, would be tempted to make it into en-suite and wardrobes.

ensuite to master is a must!
Our 4th bedromm is tiny, we use it as a study - otherwise we rarely go in it whereas the ensuite is used alot.

Not read whole thread so apologise if I am repeating - On all the development/ location progs they always say that if you have more than 3 bedrooms you need an extra bathroom and must admit we would not have considered a 4bed without an extra bathroom/ shower room or downstairs loo. We now have big bathroom, separate shower and downstairs toilet - all of which are used regularly so certainly not a mistake. If you are staying there for a long time then go with what you want personally if not definitely a good en-suite.

en-suite, esp as you have only one loo and it would only be a single.

As it has an entrance already from the hall, and your en-suite entrance will be from the bedroom, could you not make half of it into a separate study/office area and then re-use that bit of the living room as a playroom for ds? If somebody is thinking of working from home they would normally want a completely seperate space in which to do so

Most potential buyers are unlikely to want a recording studio! So you could present that as a possible guest room/play room/study, maybe? Leaving the way clear for the en suite...

the studio has entirely seperate access, it isn't completed (in fact it's still a building site!)the big problem is it has no windows. (condition of planning) it's basically a blank canvas for a buyer. they could create access through into the kitchen if they wanted.....which would be a messy job, but entirely possible.

As your house is SO unusual, and needs building work anyway, I'd leave it, and let the estate agent point out that it could be an ensuite or 4th bedroom/study/baby room.

I honestly would. There are lots of people out there looking for projects or places with potential, and even pay over the odds for them.

Get it valued as is. Why are you moving if you are halfway through putting in a recording studio?

We bought our house which had three double bedrooms, a bathroom, shower room (both with loos) and a tiny 4th bedroom/study on the first floor because we wanted the 4th bedroom as a baby room for dd (ds and dsd had the other bedrooms) until we had money/time to convert the loft. The tiny baby room was essential to us. I then thought of converting it to ensuite, but now dh uses it as his office. Good to have flexible rooms, esp if you are selling.

Aloha.....many things have changed since we moved here 4 years ago. Our ds was born 4 weeks early, we lost our business of 10 years all in the space of three months. It made us revaluate our lives and we want a smaller house with a bigger garden. Dp has a new job and we need to be nearer to where that is based....the contacts he's made through this new job means the studio isn't really a necessity anymore.

I'd leave it as it is, I really would. People - insanely - often pay more for a wreck or a half-finished project. They like the idea of making their mark etc. But ask an estate agent.

discussed it with dp again just now. we are going to smarten up the existing accomodation, then get in a few estate agents for advice what to do with the old kitchen, a space in the new kitchen and the 'studio' space. we'll take it from there. it really is such an unusual property that i think we need expert advice before we throw any money at it.

thankyou every one for helping me think this through.

i agree aloha.....dp and i are exactly the sort of people who look for 'wrecks' to do up. we've done loads to this property and i think that's why i lost my way on this decision, feeling a bit like we should finish it off.

I do wonder when exactly it was that people started to 'not consider' a house if it 'only' had one bathroom.

How much washing do people do, really? When I was a child I never even saw a house with more than one bathroom, and knew families with up to four children. In the very olden days, my dear mother was one of a family of nine, with one bathroom, and an extra outside toilet (this would have been the 50s/60s).

By the way, I hope no one takes this as a criticism, I would probably have an en suite if I could afford it, I would just never consider it a necessity. I suppose that it's all to do with your expectations.

I think a fourth bedroom can move a house into a different price bracket but it sounds as though you've got a character property where the rules are different. By the way is the space large enough to be legally described as a bedroom? I can't remember how many square metres it is but there is a size issue. If you are not allowed to advertise it as a bedroom then maybe the choice has made itself?