Ensuites instead of family bathroom?

[Dreambow]

We have recently bought a new home in SE London! It was a HMO (around 4000 sq ft) so needs a lot of work to get it back into a family home. We could make it into 5 five bedrooms with 4 ensuites and 1 family bathroom or alternatively 6 bedrooms with 6 ensuites (with one bath in the principal bedroom). What would you choose? Would it be hard to resell in the future without a family bathroom? Thank you!

Ooh what a project!

I'd say 5 beds with en-suite and then a family bathroom.... but interested to see your progress!

Can we see a floor plan? That many en suites just seems madness and like an Airbnb or hostel or something. Will they all have windows, or just be in corners? For resale consider the number of people who see en suites as something to be ripped out to regain room space: having a family bathroom at least takes that off the list of work to do.

Do a few with ensuites & still have a family bathroom. As a teenager I had an en-suite & loved it.

That sounds like an amazing house. I imagine it as a huge Victorian semi.
I would gladly watch a TV programme of people doing up a nice big house sympathetically rather than all the outlandish designs. (Or just turning a gorgeous massive house into cheap flats).

Anyway... To answer your question: that is a lot of bathrooms.
Even with a six bed house I personally wouldn't need more than 4. It depends on the configuration of the house. As long as there's a bathroom on each floor, an an ensuite to the master, that would be fine for me.
But that doesn't seem to be the done thing anyone. Lots of the new builds near me have 3 beds, each with an ensuite.

All that cleaning!!

I think not having a bathroom that isn’t accessed through a bedroom is not great.

What about a jack and Jill for one with a door to a bedroom that can be locked from both sides and a door into a hall too?

Double negative there sorry hopefully you get the idea

If you have that many en-suites what is the point of a family bathroom, it’d essentially function as the en suite for the only bedroom without one! I’d suggest for a 5-6 bedroom family home, really, 2-3 bedrooms can share the family bathroom, the rest having en-suites is reasonable (master suite, guest room, maybe older teen/young adult children).

So I’d say only 2-3 ensuites, max. Otherwise for a family it’s just wasted space, more maintenance etc. I’d only really want 2, master suite and guest suite, but can understand larger families with older kids may use more.

But, yes, floor plan!

Would there be a cloakroom /toilet downstairs for daytime use or for visitors that is not accessed thru a bedroom? Ddad only downstairs loo is accessed through a bedroom and its a tad inconvenient when bedroom is occupied

It depends on how you see the house being used, I think.

For a family home, I would opt for 3/4 bedrooms with ensuites and the other bedrooms sharing a family bathroom, especially if you can make the family bathroom a huge lovely space with standalone bath etc. I would use spare space from that for built in storage/walk in wardrobes/etc

If it's more likely to be a shared house, all en suites

Well I would absolutely not be without a separate bathroom accessible by all including visitors etc - not just downstairs loo but proper bathroom.
I’m one who doesn’t like ensuite unless really large bedroom and en suite and purpose built not squished in.
I would not want that number of bathrooms to clean
With younger children I wouldn’t want ensouite and would end up closing it off or ripping it out.
Just seems ott. Unless some need you haven’t told us about.

I hate en suites. A bathroom on every floor (we have one on the ground floor near the back door and it is so useful) and if all the bedrooms are on one floor then 2 bathrooms that are accessible from the corridor on that floor for the family members.

6 bed all with en-suite seems a bit like overkill to me. I'd either do 6 bed: 3 with en-suite plus 3 and family bathroom (maybe with extra loo), or better still 5 bed: 3 with en-suite, one family bathroom and hopefully that would give you space for a dressing room for the master suite.

I don't think once you have 5 beds that one extra will be worth more. It's more about making what you have really large and swanky, hence a good en-suite (his and hers sinks etc) and dressing room.

Presumably there’ll be a separate loo for visitors? Assuming that, en-suites every time. Lucky you

Talk to estate agents but I'd always choose a family bathroom and/or at least one toilet/shower or toilet/bath on the ground floor, over ensuites everywhere needing scrubbing.

We have all ensuites plus a family bathroom (and downstairs loo - no cleaner, so it's madness!). You need to plan for visitors, so will need a bathroom that isn't accessed through a bedroom.

That’s too many en-suites. I’d have a family bathroom, and maybe get rid of some of the other en-suites too. I’m not keen on en-suites, though.

We’ve got seven bathrooms - six en-suite - and a larger family bathroom. The en suites are a bit of pain in the ass and barely used; the family bathroom has the best shower so we all just use that and dd only ever uses the loo in my en suite!

I don’t like the idea of en suites for small children. Too much opportunity for mayhem.

I’d have two with en-suite and 3 or 4 with shared family bathroom.

Agree a floor plan would help as it hugely depends on location of bathrooms to bedrooms plus if the en suites would fit naturally or be dreadful corners taken out of bedrooms.

My instinct is that you don't need one for each bedroom.

Ensuites every time. By far the most superior choice. Family bathrooms are a compromise for house where there isn’t the space to match the number of bathrooms to bedrooms.

People with small kids are likely to want a bath, and a bath that is only accessed through the main bedroom won’t be everyone’s idea of the best arrangement. So at least a family bathroom with a bath to broaden appeal. Small kids don’t need an en suite - I would rather have more storage space in a room than a shower that won’t get used.

If I were buying a six bed house, I’d probably see three en-suites plus a family bathroom as a decent mix.

Floor plan please!! I would never want that many en-suite. The idea of that much plumbing to go wrong would worry me, and en-suites are rarely done well so it's effectively just like having a loo in the corner of your bedroom 🤢

Could you possibly my turn a few into jack-and-Jill bathrooms instead?