Would you give up a bedroom for a bigger bathroom?

[ResponsibleWalrus]

We're about to complete on a 4 bed house. Bedroom 1 has a tiny en-suite that looks like a cupboard on the attached floor plan. There's a toilet on the left, a shower on the right and a tiny sink as you walk in the door. The main bathroom doesn't have measurements but is just over 2m x 2m. It has a bath, toilet and sink but looks cramped.

At the moment the plan is bedroom 1 is our room, bedroom 2 will be DH's WFH office/games room, bedroom 3 on the top floor will be the guest room and bedroom 4 will be our dressing room with wardrobes, dressing tables, drawers etc. I'll work on the landing on the top floor, the dining room or the dresssing table in the dressing room. When I wfh (2 days a week) it's just me and my laptop and I tend to move around from day to day in our current house.

The bathrooms are dated and need gutting. We mainly shower but like baths once or twice a week. We're trying to plan the new bathroom but are struggling to fit a bath and shower, despite wanting a shorter deep soaking bath. That means we'll have to shower in the cupboard-like en-suite most days. I'm debating turning the current main bathroom into the en-suite and making bedroom 4 the main bathroom. DH thinks it would have too big an impact on the value of our house but I think 3 big doubles and a luxurious bathroom would have a lot of appeal. We're not planning to move again for a long long time but it will be important when we're remortgaging later. What would you do?

Personally I hate small bathrooms and think a large one adds to the saleability of a house, if not the actual value. But how about creating a larger bathroom by knocking though between the en suite and main bathroom to create more space while retaining the same number of bedrooms?

There's 2 of you in a 4 bedroom house. Of course you can give up a dressing room if you want a bigger bathroom.

Do you need a whole bedroom for a dressing room (and away from the shower)? You could keep your plan for moving about the bathroom and bedroom four but use the current bathroom as your dressing room. That way it retains future function as an office or box room.

If you are redoing the ensuite in its existing location a pocket door would improve the access/ feeling of space

I wouldn't, if I had a toilet, sink, bath and shower I would be happy, it's not something I feel the need to be big. I'd prefer to use the space for other things.

Ah Mumsnet has blurred the room sizes! I don't know if the zoomed in versions help but I've attached them anyway.

I like the idea of expanding the main bathroom into the en-suite but DH loves the idea of an en-suite (personally, I'm not a fan of a bathroom opening into my bedroom!).

The main bedroom has one built in wardrobe which we're ripping out to make the bedroom bigger. There isn't an obvious place to put wardrobes in there with the chimney, side window and en-suite which is why we wanted a dressing room. Also, DH wakes up much later than me and I'm sick of creeping around with the torch on my phone to get clothes then getting dressed on the landing in our current house. I'm not a morning person at the best of times so it makes me grumpy when I'm wandering around in the dark.

Maybe this will work

I'd remove the ensuite and make the main bathroom bigger, with a bath and walk-in shower. Then use the top landing space to make an ensuite for the bedroom up there.

Just remembered there's also a 360 degree tour from the agents to get a proper idea of the space: tour.vieweet.com/viewer/LXZL8RC

I wouldn’t sacrifice a bedroom to have a larger bathroom. Using a bedroom as a dressing room is just a case of furniture and would be a quick swap so won’t affect value.

If you have a shower in the en-suite do you need a separate one in the main bathroom too? I would compromise as put one over the bath - only visitors would need to use it.

I would do as pp suggest and make the ensuite and main bathroom one bigger bathroom. It's giving up the ensuite but you could potentially have a 'jack & jill' bathroom so you also have a direct door into the bathroom from your bedroom if he's set on ensuite. Or I'd personally have bedroom 2 as your room as it looks bigger and just have the main family bathroom.

I wanted bedroom 2! It's bigger and has lovely light (south facing, with a west facing side window) but no, he can't bear the thought of having an en-suite and it not being the main room. My original suggestion was bedroom 2 as ours, bedroom 1 for guests and bedroom 3 on the top floor for his office.

Keep the small ensuite - good enough for toilet and teeth cleaning, and shower if you both want to at the same time.

Swap bedroom 4 with the bathroom. It makes your fourth bedroom smaller, but still appropriate as a dressing room (for your plans) or nursery/small child room (for potential future buyers), especially with being closer to bedroom 1.

Going off this id knock through to the en-suite and make bigger bathroom.

I would say yes, and no, I am in a terrace where the third bedroom upstairs has been turned into an upstairs bathroom, which I personally would not have done. But it’s done now kinda thing. I’ve toyed with the idea of making it back into a bedroom, but the Boiler is up here now, so I think it’s too big a job to go back.

If you wake up that much earlier than him, the shine of having an en suite may fade pretty quickly when he realises he's going to have to listen to you having a shower every morning...

I would just swap bedroom 4 with bathroom. Make old smaller bathroom your office/ dressing room