Sacrificing main bathroom for more en-suite space?

[PeggyPoggle]

We live in a fairly large 4 bed house. Our master bedroom has a tiny en-suite. We'd like it to have two sinks and a larger walk-in shower. At the other side of the en-suite is the main bathroom.
If we made the main bathroom smaller, by essentially moving the wall about 60cm over, we could still fit in a bath, sink and toilet. It would be a little cramped but it would be fine for guests/older kids to use while giving ourselves a larger, more luxurious en-suite!

Would this put off potential buyers do you think? Having a medium size en-suite and medium/small main bathroom compared to a tiny en-suite and large main bathroom?

Thanks.

We have two sinks. We use them at the same time a lot. For teeth brushing. And then I can mess about with face stuff while he's doing beard stuff. I like it. And we both have our own drawers underneath. When we go away now and there's just one sink, he gets in my way.

Now you've given the measurements, that sounds small for a family bathroom to me. As someone said, I like a bathroom to have enough room for me to be dealing with 2 or more dc at once.
I realise plenty of houses have bathrooms that are small - I am saying this in the context of the description of the rest of the house, not comparing with if I were buying a 2 bed terrace or other starter home).

I wouldn't want 2 sinks in any bathroom.
I'm not a fan of en-suites at all and think having 2 bathrooms that open on to a landing is a FAR better option in any bigger house.

However I do think if you are going to live in a house, then you should make alterations that suit you and not some mythical potential buyer from the future.

I think the problem is we're trying to make the house fit us better so we end up staying there longer. We had the kitchen done recently and we adore it, we just need the bathrooms updating now. We squeeze into this tiny en suite and barely use the massive main bathroom. It makes no sense. I don't want to use the main bathroom because it defeats the idea of a convenient ensuite two strides from the bed.

The garden will always frustrate me though, so in the end I'm not sure I'll ever be happy unless we move.
I'm trying to plan for that scenario.

I can't imagine the house will be unsellable though because of our plans. If anything I think people might be put off by how small the en suite is !!

At the end of the day we bought this house as a couple not even sure we wanted kids.
The ensuite was actually a big selling point for us, as a couple.

@UsingChangeofName why I think MN can be so weird about some things.
Why on earth would you want two bathrooms opening onto one landing?
Surely parents would want their own private bathroom opening onto the bedroom? Ie, an ensuite?

Am seriously baffled about this.

Different strokes for different folks innit? I don't like a bathroom opening directly in to the bedroom. My biggest gripe is en suites rarely have windows and I cannot abide a windowless bathroom. I obviously tolerate them in hotels but not in my own home!

Two bathrooms that everyone can use is the most flexible arrangement for large families, with a master bedroom en suite you just end up with kids and visitors coming into your bedroom all the time.

At the moment you have an en suite that you and DH use and a main bathroom that your DD uses. What happens when you have visitors? Do they use the main bathroom? Or your en suite? Since you're only having 1DC I'd be tempted to make the room with the en suite the guest room or possibly your DDs room so the small en suite is not an issue. Then make the main bathroom fabulous for you and DH. Is the main bathroom large enough at the moment for a bath and a stand alone shower? That would be the better option than 2 basins.

Because it gives the most flexibility.

One of the dc in the shower ? Sibling uses the other bathroom without coming through your bedroom.

If the usual arrangement is that parents use the one bathroom and dc use the other one, then when guests stay, does that mean 4 people using the one bathroom, or are you letting people through your bedroom to use the en-suite?

One half of couple needs to get up before the crack of dawn whilst the other doesn't ? Quieter if they just leave the bedroom once rather than to-ing and froing to shower then come back through bedroom when they are dressed to go downstairs. Then back again through the bedroom to clean teeth after breakfast and so forth.

Smell from the toilet.

@UsingChangeofName given the size of the OP bathrooms I assume it’s a newer build. I don’t know how many bedrooms they got. But newer houses have a lot of bathrooms. We are 2 adults 2 kids and 2 en-suites, one family bathroom and one downstairs toilet. There really is never a need for a child to use our en-suite. Or a guest to use it. We can all be using a toilet at the same time!

A neighbour converted their downstairs toilet to a wet room too. In their case, they have an extra shower. If someone finds that better, why not change it? It maybe for washing the dog and someone else can change it back to a toilet if they don’t want a wet room downstairs.

@PeggyPoggle There are some odd thoughts on here! We are a multi bathroom family. As long as you make the main bathroom usable (in your scenario) with a shower bath, you will be fine! I’ve never seen a house with two bathrooms opening onto a landing. (Other then an old style guest house) Take a tip from commercial housebuilders. They all do en suites. They don’t do shared bathrooms off a landing.

I completely agree that your own bathing space is lovely. It’s just for you and DH. Our DC had an en suite each but no baths in them. The main bathroom for guests doesn’t have a shower. So guests use an en suite elsewhere if they want (but everyone knows each other!) We went for freestanding bath in the main bathroom but it could easily be replaced with a shower bath if a buyer wanted that. I do not see that as a dealbreaker! However all our bathrooms are bigger than yours so plan very carefully.

I wouldn't let people use the ensuite. Our daughter uses the toilet but she's 3, so fine.

Why would visitors use the ensuite? If I was a guest I wouldn't dare. I'd use the main bathroom.
We barely have visitors anyway. Maybe Xmas, that's about it. My FiL lived here for a couple of months following an operation and all he used was the shower in the main bathroom. He never used the bath. It makes more sense to have a shower/bath for us.

I guess that's the problem. For us it makes sense, for others it may not. It's hard to gauge what would be better from a sale point of view because we only see things from our perspective!

@TizerorFizz yea I agree. But I suppose this thread has opened my eyes a bit. I asked the question after all as I was worried we were prioritising our own luxury over kids, I suppose.

I would also add I don't like the idea of using a big main bathroom when I've got an en suite. To me, if a bedroom has an ensuite the bedroom is the master, and for the parents' privacy and convenience.
Feels a bit weird giving the biggest bedroom with en suite to our daughter.

with a master bedroom en suite you just end up with kids and visitors coming into your bedroom all the time.

Eh? Why? My DH doesn't even use the en-suite despite us sharing the master bedroom!

We didn’t. They had a bedroom with an en suite each. Didn’t hand anything over! Mine is the best en suite! They hand their en suites over if needed!

Or guests stay in the guest flat with their own en suite. Never had any complaints!

Ensuites would always put me off, so it would hinder selling to me; I'd have to factor in the cost of taking them out. They are usually cramped, and make other rooms more cramped than they would otherwise be.
I just want one decent bathroom, as in, with an actual bath, with a basin and loo, and if possible, another loo and basin downstairs, with a shower if there is space. That's what we have here, I can't imagine wanting to spend any more space for on bathrooms. Wastes space in other rooms and just another darned bathroom to clean.
Three adults in this household, and we had just the one bathroom for over 30 years in our last house, and never had a problem.
But I seem to be untypical in my preferences.

And how many people are in your house vs the number of bathrooms? With larger families there's likely to be bathroom clashes if there's only one family bathroom. It is more sensible to have multiple bathrooms available to everyone than reserve an en suite for some people only (although a guest en suite makes sense so they have complete privacy). My teenage DC always want to bath or shower at the same time, if we had an en suite rather than two family bathrooms then they'd absolutely come into our bedroom and use it. When we visit DM they use both the large main bathroom and the en suite to the guest room that DH and I sleep in. I've also been told to use the en suite at other people's houses before either because the children use the main bathroom and so it's messy or it has a better shower than the main bathroom. If you think you can keep an en suite private in a house with teenagers and only one family bathroom you are sadly mistaken.

This is why I'd never buy a new build from a commercial builder - I'd definitely not want an en suite or the many bathrooms they seem to go in for. Presumably some people must like that as they manage to sell them!

My ideal would be two bathrooms on first floor, both accessed off landing as I think that gives most flexibility.

We had to rent a relatively newly built house inbetween selling and buying recently so couldn't avoid having an en suite (very little available on rental market) and we hated it. Couldn't wait to move out of that house!

We have a four bed house with no main bathroom, each room has its own en suite. Perfect for us but it was on the market for half a year before we found it so clearly not to everyone’s taste. Id make your en-suite bigger.

@JaninaDuszejko we have 4 people to one main bathroom (with bath and shower), an en-suite and a downstairs toilet. I'm the only one who uses the en-suite, I'm not mistaken at all....I would never use someone else's en-suite. How do you think people with one bathroom manage?

With larger families there's likely to be bathroom clashes if there's only one family bathroom. It is more sensible to have multiple bathrooms available to everyone

Exactly.
OP I think the typical market for a 'fairly large 4 bed house' is much more likely to be a family with 2,3, or 4, probably older dc, not a couple with one 3 yr old. Yes, of course people manage with one bathroom. Lots of families have one bathroom, but I presume you are asking the opinions of people who would be likely to have the funds to buy a 4 bed house with more than one bathroom. Hence people telling you what their preference would be.
A couple and a 3 yr old have different wants and needs from a couple with 3 teens - especially when it comes to bathrooms.

Obviously, you do what you want, but it really, really isn't an odd idea to have 2 bathrooms available to all people in the house, however you actually use them once in that situation. It just gives you far more flexibility.

However, presumably you aren't going to start redesigning to that extent, I'm just replying to your incredulity that it is a great option. So it goes back to what many of us have already said. Make alterations that suit you if you are going to live there.

My house is not a new build. It’s a mix of Victorian, Edwardian and newer. I’ve never met a larger family that liked sharing one bathroom. Plenty of people have several en suites plus a bathroom for guests in larger houses. Mainly because if you have space, why would you share and take turns for the bathroom if you didn’t need to. Life is too short if you can afford otherwise.

The difference is it would be kids sharing the bathroom, not the adults.

To me it seems fine for two teenagers to share a small main bathroom and the adults have the larger ensuite.

If I had two teenagers and one was using the shower in the main bathroom, then yes I'd let them use the ensuite, as long as we weren't using it.

I'm not reducing how many bathrooms are available, I'm just making them more equal in size.

It depends how people feel about one of them being an ensuite when it comes to sell, and that one being the 'nicer one' I suppose.

@PeggyPoggle Honestly, so many houses have the layout you are suggesting, just go with it. You will not have issues when selling because what you propose is normal. I would just be careful about having too small a main bathroom - just keep some space to move.