Can anything be done with this layout?

[Sunflowerpower1]

To provide access to the bathroom that does not involve walking through a bedroom? It is the only bathroom in the house.

I saw the house on rightmove and like it but don’t want to waste my time if this cannot be changed. It is at the top end of my budget so I couldn’t do anything ultra expensive

You’d have to put a partition wall up in the second bedroom and make a corridor. Obviously you’d reduce the size of the bedroom quite a bit, but I expect it’s quite big.

I'm not sure if PP can see the picture you've loaded, but partitioning across the bathroom doorway would leave you with an unworkable second bedroom - it would be about five foot wide.

A better result would be to relocate the bathroom but it would be expensive as you'd have to move the drainage and pipe work.

Sorry - Yes I looked but didn’t read the measurements. I lived in a similar house where it was done, but the room was massive and the stairs rose in between the bedrooms rather than under one, so it was easier to do.

Is there a downstairs loo? If so you could perhaps add a small en-suite to the master as a guest bedroom and make the current bedroom with the bathroom the master?

I know it’s top budget so probably not an option right away but would there be scope for a loft conversion adding an extra bedroom and bathroom (accessed from the corridor, not an en-suite)? You also could chop bedroom 2 in half creating a corridor, moving the bathroom into the skinny bit that’s left and make the current bathroom a bedroom. But that would be costly for not gaining any space so doing the loft would be my preference.

Thanks all I did think about a partition wall but then also realised it would make the bedroom way too small. This is the downstairs layout so i suppose there could be scope to turn the ‘family room’ into a large downstairs toilet or potentially a bathroom although I’m not sure how expensive this would be

@LakeShoreD thank you for the idea, on the advert it does say there is potential to extend subject to permission so this could be an idea for the distant future!

You could switch the bathroom and bedroom 2 although this very much depends on the plumbing.

Could you swap the bathroom into part of the space that is currently the bedroom? The change the bathroom into the bedroom, but use space from the previous bedroom for a wardrobe-lined corridor into the new bedroom?

Like @SoupDragon has just drawn

cheapest option might be this - narrow corridor that gets wider near the bathroom end.

then save up for a proper extension / loft etc in a few years.

And obvs depends on space and plumbing. You could make the bathroom smaller (but without a window) by not extending it to the window, but I'm not sure how usable that extra space would be in the new bedroom.

A friend recently bought a house with a very similar footprint, this is her upstairs layout, which works well.

Everyone here is way more creative than me, I didn’t think of swapping the bathroom and the bedroom!

Out of interest, how do you find out if this can be done regarding the plumbing situation? As mentioned, I have only seen this house on rightmove so I don’t know anything about it other than the photos/basic description.

If anyone has done this before, is it expensive to move a bathroom?

Moving a bathroom is subject to things like where the soil pipe can be placed and whether building control would sign it off. You’d need a surveyor to establish how feasible it is and if you’d only purchase the house on the basis that you could move the bathroom then you’d have to invest money into the scooping prior to purchase. If it’s already at the top of your budget then I’d move on.

Everyone here is way more creative than me, I didn’t think of swapping the bathroom and the bedroom!

I've seen it done on property programmes before and I've watched a lot of property programmes!

I do agree that if the house is the top of your budget, I would give it a miss though. I don't think switching the rooms is a low cost thing.

Plus assuming the bathroom is over the kitchen, it’s only 2.08 x 2.62 - it would make a very small bedroom.

Thanks everyone, the search continues!

The cheapest simplest option is to split the bedroom to get a corridor and use a bit of the master bedroom for extra space. That leaves you with a bedroom of 2.43 width and 4.48 length. So you could have a double bed and locker one end and wardrobe in alcove or two singles at each end and dresser/ narrow wardrobe between them.

Like this.

Actually I just realized a single bed in the alcove would block door opening. It would have to be bunk beds.

I'd look at potentially turning the stairs 90 degrees so that they come up from the dining room to the other end of the staircase. Block up the door from bedroom 2 to the bathroom. Create a new door to the bathroom where the shower is and a landing across where the existing stairs are. You'd need a small bulkhead in bedroom 2 but you'd lose nothing off the size of it. Either move the kitchen door or open it up into the dining room

Or just build a small bathroom off the family room at the back of the kitchen. Shouldn't be too hard with waste and water near enough. You don't need 3 doors to back garden I'm sure?

Actually a better solution would be to turn the stairs 90 degrees so that they run along the sitting room wall. Create a landing above the existing stairs and move the door, from the sitting room to the dining room, right up to the wall. Kitchen could stay as it is then. Dining room could be the full width of the house.

This 😊