En-suite for the master or separate bathroom next door

[A1b2c3d4e5f6g7]

What do people this is best?

We currently have a bathroom next door to the master, which is just to be used by the master. Architect wants to knock through to make an en-suite, as thinks a master suite is better. But this involves a bit of structural work to two load bearing walls (and therefore £££). Would having the bathroom next door to the master and accessed by the main landing put you off?

If it helps we will also have a family bathroom and the guest room will have an en-suite

Loved the en suite in old house as it was a proper room..v soundproof. I’d take the one out of our main bedroom now if I could…right by the bed, small, and smells waft…. Dh loves it and scoffs at a liquid only rule.

Depends on size and scale. If it’s your master bedroom then you need a decent sized one, I cannot abide titting around in a shower I can’t raise my arms in. I think tiny new builds with squeezed in en-suites have given them a bad name. I love an en-suite and wouldn’t buy a house without a decent sized one or the ability to create one.

Would having the bathroom next door to the master and accessed by the main landing put you off?

Quite the contrary, I'd much prefer a house without an en-suite, but with an extra bathroom going off the landing.
I'd consider doing work to change it to what you have. I certainly wouldn't put an en-suite in if I had what you've got.

I stayed in a B&B recently which had the main bathroom as an en suite. The bathroom had 2 doors. One leading jnto the hall & one into the bedroom.

When someone was staying the hall door was kept locked so it was used as an en suite to the bedroom

Sort of the best of both worlds

For re-sell purposes definitely an en-suite.

MN seems to hate them though and thinks someone pooing in the en-suite is just like pooing on the pillow next to them.

I love my en suite and there is never smells or steam in the bedroom.

Mumsnet hates anything that was once considered a luxury but is now more commonplace. Kitchen islands are another example.

Personally though, I'm just about the extra bathroom, I don't really care where it is.

Thanks everyone for the votes, it's seeming pretty split down the middle! So I'm thinking maybe I'll leave it how it is or just add the extra door to close it off from the landing.

This way the master is done, we can finish the electrics, and we can put flooring down and move into that room (rest of the house is a whole other story...)

@BarrelOfOtters the no liquids only really made me laugh sorry!

@longtompot how big will the bedroom be after the shower room?

Just leave it. We have our own bathroom not an en-suite and I would not change it. Two doors and a bit of a gap

So you think no-one who posts on MN ever buys a house ?

Agree. The further the toilet is from the bed, the better.

I don't know how people get in the mood for sex with someone using the toilet a few feet from their pillow.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7

This is the floor plan of the house near us that has done what we are thinking of doing, and theirs is 2.89x2.64m. They have put in a bath and an airing cupboard though which we won't be doing. The wall has to go along from the window as we won't be moving any windows or changing the shape as it's on the front. We are hoping the soil pipe can go along the outside of the house in as discreet a way as possible, hoping it will be able to go inside of a single storey hallway extension below, either inside the roof or boxed in somewhere.

@longtompot so looking at your original picture of your upstairs, do you mean you will be effectively halving your bedroom with one window in the bedroom and one in the en-suite? Or will you be having a small en-suite without a window?

@longtompot I've been looking at your floorplan trying to figure out if you could squeeze in a small en-suite without losing a window. If you repost your floorplan someone clever might be able to think of a way. I don't have much vision.

For me though having a more spacious bedroom and a wardrobe and dressing table would be more valuable. But for a small en-suite you probably only need about 2.5 m x 1 m?

Bloody love my en-suite. It’s at the foot end of the bed a decent way away and dh isn’t allowed in it, it’s all miiiine. Good extractor fan and window for condensation (doesn’t affect the bedroom at all) and it’s a reasonable size (has a double length shower but would fit a bath easily). Dh with his hair and shits use the family bathroom!

Im struggling to imagine the layout you have now if there’s a family bathroom as well, so assuming it must be quite clear that the bathroom next to your bedroom is meant for the master.

If something like that is right then I think you’ve already got the best of both worlds. Or if not then the extra door blocking off the master bedroom and its bathroom is the best idea. You’d have your own tucked away bathroom that isn’t going to be used by guests or taken over with children’s bath toys along with the privacy an en suite brings, but without needing to hear or smell your spouses toileting habits. And the house still has an en suite in the guest room!

It would be crazy to spend a fortune on structural changes just for the sake of an en suite when the master already has its own bathroom. Your architect is trying it on.

The issue is having an extra bathroom. If you have multiple bathrooms, does it matter if they’re en-suite? If it were me, I’d save the money.

The thing I dislike most about ensuites is the mentality of the people who would always insist on having them put in. The notion of it being a little home luxury, the desire to replicate a hotel bathroom they had in Italy, the belief it makes their house 'posher' than the other Persimmon factory designed blah blah blah.

I wouldn't look at a house without an ensuite given the choice but it has to have a window for proper ventilation

In your case I’d leave it. When you come to sell you can point out it can be made into an en-suite at the next refit.

If you go with the extra doorway blocking off‘your’ bit of the landing, you are basically creating a private little hallway. Is the landing wide enough at that point to line with wardrobes on one side? Then you would have a dressing room as well…

Wouldn’t look at a house without an en suite unless there was a room spare that could be made into one. Also wouldn’t look at an en suite that was the size of a cupboard! Must have room for a full size basin, shower and loo without having to squeeze up to get past them! DH only uses our en suite for showering etc. He uses the cloakroom with a strong extractor in it for other things!

Just as an update, we kept the bathroom next to the master separate. There is the option down the line to add a door blocking off part of the landing to make the bathroom totally private to the en suite, but it's not important to us right now.

We took on board the comments (thank you) and have enlarged the en-suite to the third bedroom so it has room for a big shower and a vanity and more spacious sink. It was a very small en-suite.

Thanks for all of the feedback, it was really appreciated