Help me think like a developer (family home)

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We have moved into a new house that we planned to do work on. But I don’t think it will be our forever home. I still want to do the work (I want the house nice while I am here), but I need to not go crazy so we don’t lose money! So, questions are:

1. for five bedroom house with family bathroom and an en-suite to the new master bedroom, should we add a shower to the new toilet downstairs? (so we have 3 showers for 5 bedrooms). Or just stick to en-suite and family bathroom and downstairs toilet?

2)We are opening up and extending the kitchen and breakfast room at the back (see below!). It is north facing, and because we are doing a two storey side extension we cannot easily add light from the west. I’d this a problem? Will it be too dark? There wound a door, and big windows, but not byfold doors.

3. Should we replace the 8 foot by 8 foot white metal frame sliding door in the dining room with something else? I hate these doors because they don’t fit the 1920s house, but I would put back patio doors with side returns, but I think that is probably not the popular choice so would cost money for no return? Any other ideas? (doors below)

4. should we replace some of the double glazing (or even all)? It is old, and in some pains the double glazing has failed.

5. My DH doesn’t want too doors into the downstairs toilet. If we do add a shower, where would you put the downstairs toilet/shower? Or the downstairs toilet if we don’t add a shower?

Any other thoughts?

thanks!!!!

is your house attached? Why are there no windows on one whole side? I do think your kitchen might end up being too dark - it’s huge and with only north facing windows I don’t think you’ll get enough light.

I wouldn’t have a downstairs shower - I have one now, and once we’ve done the loft we’ll get rid of it and like you, have 5 beds / 1 family bathroom / 1 ensuite.

agree with your DH, rhe double door into the downstairs loo looks odd. I’d decide whether I’m most likely to go into the loo from and then lose the other door.

have you allowed enough space for walking around your dining table? You’ve got such a big kitchen, have you considered making the peninsula a bit closer to the left wall and increasing the dining area?

I wouldn’t add a downstairs shower. Had one in our old house and it barely got used despite only having one family bathroom in a 4 bed house ( no en-suite but a separate loo).
A family bathroom, en-suite and cloakroom downstairs is enough.

Personally I discount houses with downstairs showers as it gives the impression of the house being too small.
If space allowed I'd have 2 en-suites and a family bathroom plus a downstairs cloakroom.

That seems quite mad as a reason to ‘discount’ a house. We have a big house on three floors and put a shower in the downstairs loo because it’s next to the back door and is useful when DS come back from rugby covered in mud, rather than having him trek muck all over.

No to downstairs shower

As a PP suggested, consider making the kitchen/cooking area narrower by one unit (or use narrower units or one wide drawer) to give more space for dining table and then maybe a sofa.

no to 2 doors to downstairs loo.

I would appreciate new double glazing as a buyer because a) it’s expensive and b)it’s a big job. I’m not sure I’d pay more with it in place, but I’d look to pay less if I needed to factor in changing windows.

WRT sliding doors - tricky. I’d almost be tempted to replace with French doors and a window - so the same width is glazed, but only the French door bit is glazed from top to bottom. This gives you more flexibility as you can put a seat underneath the window.

No to downstairs shower

Do you need to walk through from the bootroom/loo to the utility?
Maybe ditch the door to between them

Re double glazing it would be worth having the blown panes replaced - you don't have to replace the whole window

I think if you are spending the money refurbing the house you need to do windows, someone buying a “done house” wants it all done.

personally I’d not have the door to the loo from the boot room, I’d make that a solid wall, for me I wouldn’t see the need for a boot room and a utility the size of yours whilst a room next to the front door that is 1.8m long with a window would make a great study (we wfh) but I wouldn’t want to access the loo off it! If you block the door you make the room use more flexible. It could be a boot room for you, but a study/small teenage den for new owners.

What sort of area is it in and is there a big garden? A downstairs shower is useful if you're likely to come in caked in mud from long country walks or gardening. Otherwise probably won't get used!

It might be sensible to have the space for one, with a downstairs loo, in case of future accessibility/disability needs but that only works if there's somewhere to have as a downstairs bedroom.

Regarding the downstairs cloakroom / shower. Agree that a shower would probably not be used but if you have the space then make sure you fit a reasonably sized washbasin and not just a "vanity" sized one so you have somewhere to clean up if you do come in caked in mud as a previous poster suggested.

We have a north facing kitchen/diner extension and adding some velux windows added a lot of light.

@LiteralSycamore she asked for opinions. That is mine.
She has a boot room and a utility room so plenty of space to clean off mud before going upstairs to shower.
I'd never use the downstairs shower- what if a visitor came over? Then I'm walking through the house in a towel as my husband chats to his mates?! Mind boggles.

Excuse my crude mark up. Given the location of the downstairs toilet, a shower could work well there. Or how about turning it into a wet room? Good for bowing down muddy children/dog.

I don’t think you need access to the loo from the utility.

Hosing, not bowing. Wow. 🤦🏼‍♀️

@TrudyProud something like this happened to me once. Came out of our downstairs shower, thankfully wrapped in a towel, and as I turned into out entrance hallway to go up the stairs I thought “hmm why can I feel a draught” only to find the kids had gone out and left the front door onto the street wide open!!! Can’t wait to get rid of my downstairs shower 😂

We have a downstairs shower and its great for cleaning the dog and post football children.

No downstairs shower, no one likes them, my friend has one in a similar house and no one wants to shower downstairs

Replacing the windows is the most important task. No point spending money on things which are not essential when you have an obvious fault which needs correcting.

You'll never get a consensus on a downstairs shower as this thread shows!

For us, a downstairs shower would be amazing. Three sport playing ds's, a dog, a gardening DH that often gets filthy kneeling in flower beds, pressure washing etc. Mud is a constant feature and a downstairs shower would probably get used often. A large sink in a utility doesn't really cut it the same as a shower!

@SupermarketMum you must have been mortified! Imagine if someone had walked by/ popped their head in?!
Good thing you had a towel 🤣

Thanks so much for your thoughts so far! Honestly, I have always been against a downstairs shower (for all the reasons people have said), but I was wondering because a) we have a pretty big garden, b) we have a dog (big, gets very muddy, but HATES the shower - I know other dogs don’t), and b) we have the space to fit one in! The house is in a suburban area with lots of woodlands and parks nearby.

We do need a boot room because our hallway ends up full of school bags, sports bags, shoes, coats, and crap and I want it all hidden away!!!!

For the kitchen, the problem is we can’t get velux in because of the 2nd storey extension. But I am not sure how to solve the north light issues.

It is a detached house, but left side is the extended side and goes to 6 inches from the boundary line, and so I think the rule is probably no windows.

We would also use one of the upstairs bedrooms as a study (one at the front of the house), but it is big enough to be a small single bedroom.

In terms of an accessible toilet, the house is built into a hill, so there are quite a few steps up to our house (we bought it partly because of the lovely mature front garden - you can’t see the road). So it will never work as an accessible home.

On the extended wall, could you fit in a very narrow window (reeded glass or something like that) list to allow light in?

We love our downstairs shower, it's the best one in the house!

Yes, yes, yes to downstairs shower, but it will never get used for humans, it would be great for dogs or washing anything else down that got super muddy, like boots, kit bags, rugby balls. Ideally, I'd leave the door from the bootroom and put a dedicated dog/muddy stuff shower in, I.e. a large sink type/low square tub with tiles behind and a rinser shower, so a bit like having the most massive butler sink but not needing to lift heavy stuff in.
Also, getting nice windows always makes a property easier to sell, so a yes to replacing double glazing and patio doors. Ideally in a cohesive style and colour. If it's 1920s, crittal style aluminium windows and patio doors would be nice and better quality than upvc.

You'll have 3 windows for your kitchen, taking upost of your longest wall, that's pretty decent. I always have lights on in a kitchen anyway, just think about a good lighting plan, with a good mix of ceiling lights and, crucially, wall lights.

I would look to try and put in another shower room upstairs, any chance you would be happy to lose the storage area in your room and make that another bathroom access opposite the other bathroom