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Original poster

If you have two bathrooms/one bathroom and an ensuite...

206 replies

QuentininQuarantino · 16/01/2022 18:56

Our lovely first home has two bathrooms (bathtubs) which are extremely outdated. Think khaki tiles and yellow bathroom suite, mold and staining... ew.

So, we're saving up to redo them and are at the planning stage. We'd like one to have a bathtub and one to have a biggish shower. The smaller could easily be made into an ensuite by moving where the door is.

For those of you who have lived for a while with two bathrooms, what works best for you? And what do you think we should do? Both to live with and hopefully not to decrease the value of our property (although no plans to leave!). We have DC under 10 if that is relevant. Thank you.

a) bathtub in family bathroom and shower in ensuite
b) shower in family bathroom and bathtub in ensuite
c) two family bathrooms and no ensuite.

OP posts:
H1Drangea · 16/01/2022 19:32

A
I wouldn’t buy a house / flat without an ensuite

bigbluebus · 16/01/2022 19:34

We had 1 en suite shower room and 1 family bathroom - bath with electric shower above and a shower screen. Worked fine for us.

gogohm · 16/01/2022 19:34

En-suite shower room and family bathroom with bath. It's the typical layout too so helps when selling. I love my en-suite because the messy (adult) children don't use it, they have their own bathroom which they (don't) clean when they are home from university

ApolloandDaphne · 16/01/2022 19:35

We have a walk in shower and a bath in both the family bathroom and our en suite.

ComtesseDeSpair · 16/01/2022 19:35

Regardless of my personal dislike for en-suites I don’t see the point of having two bathrooms in a 3/4/5 bedroom family home but making one exclusive for the use of one bedroom / inconvenient for the inhabitants of the other bedrooms. In a larger home surely it makes more sense to have as many bathrooms available to everyone as space allows?

Findingthelight1 · 16/01/2022 19:38

A.
I love my ensuite. Would put me off a house if the main bedroom didn't have one.

Just put a shower over the bath in the family bathroom.

DSGR · 16/01/2022 19:39

I LOVE my en suite and wouldn’t buy a house without one off the master bedroom. But in your situation in a flat I’d have two lovely family bathrooms

Voice0fReason · 16/01/2022 19:50

I love having an ensuite. I really don't understand the objection to them. You don't have a toilet in your bedroom because there is a door!

I would go for a shower ensuite and a family bathroom with bath and shower over.

DeckTheHallsWithGin · 16/01/2022 19:50

For me- en suite with decent shower and family bathroom with shower over bath as that seems to be the most appealing. We have an en-suite but it’s 3 metres from the foot end of the bed- I wouldn’t like it as much if it was a metre away from my side of the bed! Seems to be the norm in 3+ bed houses to have one these days so you won’t devalue but having it or if possible making it with a door to the landing and a door to the master so it covers both options.

FuzzyPuffling · 16/01/2022 19:53

We have a shower (from the gas mains) in the ensuite and an electric shower over a bathtub in the main bathroom. Covers several scenarios and works well for us.

When we have visitors I am VERY grateful for the ensuite.

purplesequins · 16/01/2022 19:54

we have a 'full' bathroomwith bathtib and shower over it and a teeny shower room.
works wekk for us.
but whatever you decide is that both can actually be used at the same time. it's cold showers for both here if used at the same time.
we are looking at options for when the boiler is due to be replaced.

GoodnightGrandma · 16/01/2022 19:56

Bath in family bathroom, shower in en-suite.
We actually took the bath out of the en-suite as we knew that as we got older we wouldn’t want to be climbing into a bath.

LubaLuca · 16/01/2022 19:56

I love an en suite bathroom. We have a family bathroom with bath (shower over), and two en suites with big shower cubicle in each.

I don't understand this thing people say that en suites are like having a toilet in your bedroom. Nobody says a family bathroom is like having a toilet on the landing, or that a downstairs loo is like having one in your hallway. The en suite door between it and the bedroom acts in the same way as the main bathroom door does between it and the landing.

Africa2go · 16/01/2022 19:59

Mumsnet hates an ensuite, but in the real world they are an expectation for 3bed+ in my experience.

This.

We have an ensuite with shower, family bathroom with bath and shower above, then downstairs cloaks. Pretty standard layout I think.

Whatever you decide, see if you can avoid putting sanitary ware on a wall that might change e.g. if you decide not to have an ensuite, but a future buyer might want to, plan the layout of fittings so it's easy to make a doorway etc.

DramaAlpaca · 16/01/2022 20:00

Option A.

To me en-suites are an absolute must have, so much so that when we built the house we put in two of them, a decent sized one off the master bedroom and a smaller one off the guest room. We also have a family bathroom with both bath and shower for the other three bedrooms.

It's worked very well for our family over the years. The only slight regret I have is not putting a shower in downstairs for washing mucky dogs.

NewBrownMouse · 16/01/2022 20:00

Bath with a shower over in the main family bathroom and a large shower in en suite works well for us. No guest or the kids have to come into our bedroom to get to a shower.

Totalwasteofpaper · 16/01/2022 20:04

We have A
it works really well for us...

Our family bathroom has a shower over it and our enquire is a double walk in with double vanity.
Our master is fairly big so the en suite is a proper separate bathroom (e it's not 2 ft from our bed)

I love it and it bring me joy.

Totalwasteofpaper · 16/01/2022 20:05

Enquire = ensuite shower

Bunnyfuller · 16/01/2022 20:11

MN takes great delight in denigrating anything that the average person finds convenient. En suites are ‘modern’ and not naturally built into period homes, and saying you hate them proves you aren’t in a ‘new estate’ and are therefore better than those that are.

For us plebs that like being able to trot into a bathroom from bed, it’s convenient, keeps boundaries and clean use of those facilities and I don’t know anyone who squeezes one out when their SO is having sweet dreams! Or waking up! It’s handy for the quick wee, or quick wash after shenanigans, but to be a real MNer you need bathrooms at the end of each wing, preferably heated by some peasants burning their houses down.

Original poster
QuentininQuarantino · 16/01/2022 20:14

Hmm this is very helpful, although the ensuite seems to be splitting opinion.

In case it makes a difference, some additional information about the flat...:

Its in a block in which almost all the other homes have an ensuite, but as the previous owner had a LOT of children, they opted to have two bathrooms instead.

Our bedroom isn't big. If we had an ensuite the door would be probably very close to the bed.

I could make one DC bedroom a little smaller by removing the built in wardrobe and making that part of the family bathroom so it is bigger. It would still be a good size and possible to fit a double bed and wardrobe in.

It would be MUCH cheaper not to do the ensuite option, in terms of building work, as I'd be removing our built in to do it, and it would ruin the floor in the bedroom which would need redoing etc. Also, at the moment, when bathroom doors are open, the light runs right through the length of the flat, in both directions, but if we changed to an ensuite we would block up the wall and therefore the light...

OP posts:
Original poster
QuentininQuarantino · 16/01/2022 20:16

@Africa2go

Mumsnet hates an ensuite, but in the real world they are an expectation for 3bed+ in my experience.

This.

We have an ensuite with shower, family bathroom with bath and shower above, then downstairs cloaks. Pretty standard layout I think.

Whatever you decide, see if you can avoid putting sanitary ware on a wall that might change e.g. if you decide not to have an ensuite, but a future buyer might want to, plan the layout of fittings so it's easy to make a doorway etc.

This is a very good point, I had not thought of this. Thank you
OP posts:
Thurlow · 16/01/2022 20:22

We've just moved to a house with an en suite and I'm not a fan tbh. If I'm all snuggled in bed at night I don't particularly want to hear DH peeing. Pooing has been banned in there unless its an emergency and the main bathroom is busy, because I don't really want that smell...

But most practically, DH and I operate on completely different schedules so neither of us would use the shower as the other one is probably asleep. I was quite excited to get an en suite, but now we're in its pretty much an empty room. However, if it was a second bathroom right next door, so just a few feet away, we'd use it much more.

HumbugWhale · 16/01/2022 20:27

We have bath with shower over (not electric) and a small shower room with an electric shower. Young dcs who prefer a bath but the shower is really useful for washing their hair.
We were very grateful for the electric shower when the boiler packed up.
I've never fancied an ensuite, DH would wake me up every time he got up for a wee!

Zonder · 16/01/2022 20:30

I would have a bath and overhead shower in the family bathroom and an en suite with a shower. That's what we have. I love that I can go to the loo or even shower without the kids knowing I'm even awake.

Also now ours are teens it's great to have a completely separate bathroom from them!

Kite22 · 16/01/2022 20:30

Bath in one, power shower in the other but DON'T even think about making it an en-suite.
Best decision I ever made was putting our 2nd bathroom with it's door onto the landing so anyone can use it and not as an en-suite so it can only be used by going into our bedroom.

I'd pay good money to change FROM an en-suite to a bathroom off a landing.

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