Turning landing into 4th bedroom to sell

[ToddlerTerror]

I always thought I would live in my house until my dying day but over the Christmas holidays, the PERFECT property came on the market for us. It would be a huge stretch financially so trying to work out how to add extra value to ours.
House is a 3 bed detached cottage with 2.5 acres land and stables and we have completely renovated it over the last 4 years.
I was reading the old particulars from when we bought it and it said about the possibility of adding a forth bedroom on the landing. The landing at the top of the stairs is rather big and a bit of a wasted space. I was wondering if it would be worth putting up a stud wall to create an office/single bedroom. It would measure about 9ft by 6ft. We could do it in a weekend but it would mean the hallway would be dark as no natural light if the doors are all closed but that wouldn't be often.
Would this dramatically add value to the house/ make it more appealing? Or do you think it would make it feel a bit cramped?

@ToddlerTerror then it is a no brainer then. Once you do it you will think why didn't we do this before? We put up a stud wall ourselves but used the metal framing stuff rather than timber as it was easier to source during lockdown. We plasterboarded it ourselves, filled the joins and then when lockdown lifted got a plasterer in to plaster it. It did the job we needed, it might have looked rough and ready but it was great.

I’d set it up as an study area and ask the estate agent to change the description on the floor plan from “landing” to “office area”.

Get local agents in to value and advise before you do anything. Local agents will know the local market and the type of buyer for your house in your area. They may recommend positioning it as a "landing office with potential to convert" rather than make the landing dark and unwelcoming.

I'd be put off a place sold as "four bed, done up" if the fourth bedroom was a quick and cheap stud wall job on the landing, not least because it would raise questions in my head about the quality of work elsewhere. Don't forget that old floor plans are often available to buyers so any buyer will be able to see it was bought as a three bed and the fourth is just a section of the landing.

I would do it. Then if the move (heaven forbid) doesn't work out your husband will still have the proper office he needs anyway.

I'd make it a bedroom but market the property as 3/4 bedrooms, and on the floor plan label that room as Bed 4/office. Presumably if your dream home is already on the market you need to move fast so a stud wall and quick redec is doable but not much more.

I want the land and the stables. I give zero shiny fucks about a light-blocking stud wall. If anything I’d be planning to rip it down.

the selling point is the equestrian facilities - not a DIY bodge job.

Get a quote for the window over the stairs. Just because it’s two feet of stone doesn’t make it impossible, just more expensive (unless you are listed). Do the conversion on the landing. Put frosted glass panels above/in the door. If people complain it’s dark, whip out the quote for the window and/or get the window done.

Is there potential for any extensions? I ask as I thought the current floor plan looked messy and immediately started trying to alter the layout 😊 (I thought the landing would make a good en suite/walk in wardrobe for the left bedroom, particularly if you could turn the stairs round.) How do project houses sell in your area?
If putting the wall in will benefit your dh then I'd just do it anyway, you don't know how things will work out with dream house and even a smooth house move will take several months.

You will also need to sort out the electricity to the new room . Sockets and an overhead light so that it can be operated separately from the landing.

is the floor plan to scale because it doesn’t look like that room would be 6 foot across? You’d need to get the electrics done professionally, the room plastered and new flooring not just a stud wall? it also looks like you may have a problem getting furniture/ mattresses into the rooms if you block up
that space.
I’d ask an agent. A small room and cramped dark corridor would be ok in some properties but I’m not sure it’s what people are Looking for in an old cottage with land. Especially when it sounds like there’s plenty of space to put in an office in the grounds. At a certain price point/ character people are looking for a bit more elbow room generally and I’m not convinced that you won’t put some people off.

This, and also is there a radiator in there or will that have to be added too?

I really don't think it's worth it. As someone else posted up thread, the pull will be the land and all it's got to offer externally. I'd rather have a bright and roomy landing than walk through a dark corridor with doors, it will show better. If someone wants a 4th bedroom/office it's not rocket science to see they can do it themselves.

There are but none are easy or 'cheap'! We are also in an area of outstanding natural beauty which means extra planning hoops to jump through.

There is a small stone built lean to on the ground floor to the left of bedroom 2 that we could knock down and build up on to create an en-suite, the same does for building up on the single storey downstairs extension it in both cases I think they would cost more to do that the value to would add as neither would have good enough footings to support a second floor.

No it's not to scale annoying which doesn't help making it look odd. For context, the upstairs bathroom is 7ft by 5ft and feels roomy for a shower room so that is what I am basing this room off being 2ft longer and ft wider for the office.

There is a radiator and 2 double sockets already on the landing that would be inside the room because of where they are. Husband is a qualified electrician so can move the lights around no problem.

I had a 'bedroom' like this.

My sister's bedroom was like bedroom 2. She used to traipse back and forth through my room, while I was sleeping or revising for my exams constantly. And with boyfriends. Because she couldn't access 'her room' without going through 'my room'.

Absolute bloody nightmare.

It is not a bedroom. Don't even try to dress it up as one.

If I was looking for a 4 bed and came across one with a 9x6 bedroom I'd discount that as too small so you'd loose me as a buyer.

However if I was looking for a 3 bed and there was space for a small office, I'd be interested and see it as something "extra".

Maybe set it up with a desk etc in the space, maybe even a small screen so buyers could see the potential and make sure the listing includes that.

Also, a stud wall might not take long to put up but you'll have to decorate 2 rooms and these things never go to plan!

It's not cosmetic though is it, it's adding an extra room so it marketed to a whole extra set of people, for little cost.

I 100% would do this OP. That room is bigger than my box room and at no point would I ever think of losing that room to open up my hall and bring in more light.

Putting up dividers etc is all very well but it's not going to allow the house to be marketed as a 4 bed, which is what OP needs to bump the price up.

This is me too OP. Don't do it, you'll ruin it

Personally I'd rather have an ensuite bedroom and so I'd turn it into a shower room for it's adjoining bedroom but that's big money. Four bedrooms sharing a small shower room wouldn't appeal to me personally. Three is fine but four starts to tip the balance.

If I was looking for a house with land at the right price and 4 bedrooms, yes I'd look at one with a box room. It's really common. We bought with a box room that housed one of the kids happily when they were little and eventually, as we extended, turned it into an ensuite for the master bedroom. And she got the lovely new loft room.

Not 100% but I thought you couldn't advertise as a bedroom if there isn't a window due to regulations?

I wouldn't count it as a 4 bed anyway without a window so would discount it. It would also be too small for us

@BarbedButterfly it would have a window.

There would be a wall up so it would be it's own separate room and a new hallway. I can't abide bedrooms that you have to walk through to get to another room either!

I've been put off houses that claim to be 4 bedrooms when the 4th bedroom is a glorified cupboard/an additional reception room downstairs/a weird DIY job that throws off the overall feel of the house /some other creative marketing to argue bumping it into a higher price bracket.

An office area on the landing to make the most of the space would appeal to me as it would show that there's usable space there.

I’d turn it into an office with a pocket glass door (a sliding door that goes into the wall) so the door doesn’t eat into floor space and you maintain some light.

And is that 9*6 size an internal size or the size before you put up a stud wall of required thickness?

Also is the only upstairs bathroom an ensuite to bedroom 1? Three upstairs bedrooms with no upstairs bathroom access may not be such a selling point.