House with 3 box rooms

[WhyCantPeopleBeNice]

We have a 5 bedroom bungalow, but 3 of the rooms are essentially box rooms.
Big enough to get a bed and wardrobe in but not much else.
Currently due to room placement my son's have 2 boxrooms and a shared bathroom and the other 3 rooms, 1 is my husband's office and one is mine as well as our bedroom.

Were debating how we adapt and do the next bit of work.
My instinct is, the end with 2 box rooms and a bathroom, we make into a bedroom, ensuite and a dressing room.
So whilst it's a small room you could get a single or double bed in and feel spacious because you've got the dressing room for storage.

Keep the 2 bigger bedrooms as bedrooms and build into the garage for an ensuite for one.

Then the final 3rd bedroom convert fully to an office, and by this, because the hall is so dark and has no natural light, I propose we put a glass wall in.

Essentially it would be 3 bedrooms and an office.

I think, the use of space, flow and even finish would be far better than keeping it as it is with 3 small bedrooms.
My husband is concerned removing bedrooms regardless of their size is a big no no.
Were not moving for 10+ years
Do you still feel bedrooms = more money or the layout and use is what adds value?

Layout and use every time.

You are right, I put husband is wrong OP. Buyers are not stupid, if you were to sell. Lots of stud walls don’t add value. Spacious rooms and a good layout does.

I think your husband is probably right - is there anything similar near by that you can see how they've made it work - what the price is? So what's the going rate for a 3 rather than 5 bed. Could you use the whole garage as part of the plan or extend more into the garage? So use the garage as a study and keep the bedrooms?

He’s also wrong because this is actually about your housing for the next decade. Having 4 useable rooms for the next 10 years is far more important than being able to advertise a house as having 5 bedrooms many years down the line.

It’s not 3 bedrooms. It’s 4. You could easily switch the glass wall for a stud wall in a decade when you wanted to sell.

4 good sized bedrooms is better than 2 decent bedrooms and 3 tiny box rooms.

Houses full of lots of tiny box rooms are awful.

Fewer, bigger rooms definitely.

Do you have a floor plan?

I think your idea sounds good

1.Consider a garden outbuilding. (this becomes the new shed)
2.The old office becomes a bedroom for one of the boys
3.I agree, the box rooms will flow better as one bigger bedroom. It sounds as if they were orginally one room
(from a value/resale perspective any family needing 4 beds would have their sights set on a 2 floor house.
you are more likely to have individuals downsizing in their twilight years looking at bungalows. so the number of bedrooms would be less of a priority.

a spacious 3 bed is preferrable to a cramped 4 bed for most.

4 .Is there enough space to fit the dressing rooms, without the space feeling cramped again?

5 .garage conversion sounds like a good use of the space and gives you the 4th bedroom/dresser and a 2nd bathroom, but again, is it big enough to provide both without feeling cramped.

best of luck

1. garden outbuilding becomes the new "office" (*correction)

I don't really understand why you need to change the layout - why wouldn't you use 2 boxrooms as offices, and then you and your husband have one of the larger bedrooms, your sons either share the 2nd larger room or toss a coin for the larger and the smaller room.

Do you have a floor plan?

Wouldn't it make most sense to use the dark room as the walk in wardrobe?

While a dressing room/suite is nice, the flow still needs to work.

I think reducing to four bedrooms would be okay but wouldn't want to reduce further if you have resale in mind.

Also do you have a view, road or other things to consider in what makes the master the master?

I've recently seen houses with Juliet balconies off the smallest room and wonder why you'd ever want that feature in a kids room!

We have a chalet bungalow and often dilemma this.

We need 2 offices and actually the single rooms sound a little larger than yours.

If we were detached we would be going for the deluxe fewer rooms option.

We have 4 DC though so there is always the possibility of them moving back tbh.

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many replies/ help so floor plan as is
The boys rooms have a bathroom at the far end, which is why it currently makes sense to keep as bedrooms. They are also young adults with one leaving in September - having them at the far side works well in terms of noise/privacy

Suggested floorplan.
The glass is 2 fold, one because the hall is dark, were talking lights on middle of the day dark but also because my husband's a big kid and wants his office 'toy' on display
My drawing isn't good but bed 1 is slightly bigger than bed 2 hence the ensuite and dressing room coming from there.

Oh I'm an idiot I didn't attach proposed!

In terms of similar on the market, any similar bungalow with 5 bedrooms is huge. There's a handful of 3 beds I've seen up for more than our last valuation here because they are done to a high standard which is why I'm lead to think it's the quality not necessarily amount of bedrooms

Depends entirely on the size of the boxrooms, I think! Do you mean not to move any walls in the boys' end of the house - just designate one room as a dressing room and one as a bedroom? Or do you mean move walls to make one larger room and a small dressing room? If the latter, what size would the new bedroom be? However, if you aren't actually moving walls then it doesn't matter what you call them in the meantime, when you come to sell you can dress both rooms as bedrooms again if you want to market it as a 5 bed.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar the plan is to keep walls as is, primarily because all walls are brick but also the bathroom is bang in the middle.
If we did it, I'd want fitted floor to ceiling dressing room so I guess someone could easily remove and as long as we'd had a good 5-7 years usage it wouldn't be a total waste. (As I'm guessing it won't add value) just don't want it to reduce value.
Both boxes are exactly the same size. It was a bolt on extension by the last owners so even shifting the lounge/dining room walls would be a faff as they were originally external walls

Having seen the layout my first thought is that it makes more sense to convert the boys bedrooms to the offices and the convert the garage to a dressing room en-suite as you then keep the living wing/ bedroom wing separation that I think works well in bungalow.

I’m also not entirely sure, other than the plan to add the glass wall and make the study more usable, what you hope to gain from the changes and how you plan to use the space once the work is done.

the plan for turning the garage into bedroom / dressing room / ensuite looks sensible, and adding the glass wall. Why not just do that?

it is not at all clear what you gain from re-arranging the boys rooms. Is anyone going to use that dressing room for clothes on a day-to-day basis? Are your boys going to university? young adults often bounce back home for a bit in their twenties, so it might make sense to keep the two little rooms available for them. It doesn't seem like you have any other specific need for those rooms.

Its an odd layout - but you have plenty of space.

I can't quite see it, but if you have enough time/funds it would be worth finding a decent architect to help you - even if just online. Give them a budget. Sort out which walls are stud and easy to move and which are structural. I can almost see a much better layout but can't really put my finger on it. Your hallway/living could do with juggling. Big hall - not much use. Architects are good at seeing beyond the walls and doors - taking the bones of the house and making something better.

For the living/kitchen - where do you want your outlook to be. at the moment you have French doors at the front and back so its unclear where the nicer outlook is outside. I know you are missing some of the hallway/middle doors on the plan but I can't see the flow of the house currently.

Lovely to have the space to juggle though. In terms of selling, I would only worry about what buyers think if you are selling in a year or so. If not, do what works for your family and for their future - you can't get this time back. xx

@Isithalftermyet the door from the hallway goes into the kitchen, it's then open plan into dining and living room area.
The front and back have equal views, the front garden is the same as the back, though we've divided it into driveway which stops at the front door, so in front of the French doors it's greenery and trees to block the street view.

I guess the points about use of box rooms for the boys is a bit of a moot point, I feel the rooms need purpose, but as there's the bathroom that end, seems odd having them set as an office (plus I love my large spacious airy office!!)
The boys we are expecting to move out soon ish, one in September is enlisting, the other will be at uni in 2 years. I guess giving one of them a dressing room/bedroom gives them more useable space when they come back, but doesn't really work if they both come home at the same time.

As for the glass wall, in my head it's a big job, but you're all right, it isn't that big a deal to replace with a stud wall if we went to sell for the next people to do so I think we'll just take the plunge and do that, plus the ensuite/dressing room for the master and ignore the boys box rooms until things are more known/settled