Which house? Bathroom overload!

[Potaytoe5]

Ok, so looking at 2 houses. Very similar prices and area, so it boils down to

House A)

• HUGE open plan living / dining room / kitchen. Personally I am worried about messy kitchen / heating costs / sounds. Separate utility so washing machine won't interrupt the TV.
• Medium sized garden but with slopes, so not a large area for children's swings / climbing frame etc. Would be just about enough. East facing.
• Backing onto council owned path and land, so no neighbours to the back. Stunning views at nature reserve, rolling hills etc.
• Combi boiler system.
• Lots of bathrooms! 2 ensuites, 1 family bathroom, downstairs loo. I think it's an overkill and more cleaning, but one room could be a guest room? Not that anyone ever stays over much!

House B)

• All separate rooms, non open plan
• Slightly smaller garden but completely flat, enough space for all we need. South facing. Normal setup with neighbour's garden's around. I think it might be safer as people won't be able to just get straight from a path into our back garden?
• Boiler system with a tank but decent make, no problems.
• 1 family bathroom, 1 ensuite to master bedroom, 1 downstairs loo. I think that's just right.
• Master bedroom is over the garage, so not sure if it wouldn't make it colder?
• NO CHAIN which would be great as our buyers have started rushing us (after 2 months! they said they are not in a rush before...sigh)

House A looks very snazzy and modern and DH prefers it. House B is also not dated and I think more practical, I like it more. Plus it's no chain! Are there any other factors to consider? I'm especially put off by a huge amount of bathrooms and open plan of house A. Thanks!

House B. You can get extra insulation put on the garage ceiling if that hasn't already been done. I've done that in my house, made a big difference. They just stuck some insulation panels up and skimmed over them.

I would go for house B. I don't like open plan and also flat garden would be better

Does house A have any separate living rooms/snug/playroom spaces?

I wouldn't let the additional bathroom put me off. The views sound great.

It has a small extra room at the front, maybe about 8m2.

House A, the views and open plan attract me. Maybe there’s a way of adding a sliding divider to make it less open plan at times.

House B.

I wouldn’t want all open plan either, mainly because we’re messy. And who needs 4 bathrooms? (The set up in house B is ideal).

A flat garden is better than one with slopes, and south facing is most people’s preference. Plus no chain is ideal in this difficult market.

House B ... don't like open plan ... always looks beautifulif tidy but for a busy family life surely totally impractical? It just comes over as one of those twee articles you read in magazines 'so lovely that friends can join me at the kitchen island as I prepare dinner and the children enjoy doing their homework in the heart of the home'.

We've got four bathrooms - only two of us at home, I clean mine, DH cleans his and the guest one gets done if we have guests. Cloakroom doesn't take much cleaning.

B - If you need to open it up more you could look at broken plan rather than open plan. The energy crisis has made full open plan less appealing.
South facing garden will win for me every time.

A only has one extra bathroom, I don’t think that’s significant. If you can make it a guest bedroom then that’s ideal.

What sqm area are the two houses?

Do you imagine that you would develop/improve/change them over time or do you want something that you will move into and live with the current layout as long as you’re in the house?

Orientation is a big one, in A do you get light from the south at all? Is the garden big enough that the sun reaches some part of the garden in the evening?

Remove the views from house A option as very likely to be built on sooner rather than later sadly.

You clearly prefer B, so B.

It's nice to have a big kitchen diner but also nice to be able to escape to the living room and ignore the dishes. Is your dh impressed by the sparkly newness of house A? Can you budget for some upgrades to house B?

House B, flat garden and separate rooms. I'd also not like a public path running behind the house.

Open plan looks fabulous in magazine spreads/show homes/tv dramas - that's not the reality for most people. Your DH loves it because it looks snazzy and modern - only you know whether it will continue to look like that when you live there or whether you will be the one constantly getting up to tidy things up because you can't stand looking at the mess (I very much identified with David Beckham on this in his recent Netflix documentary). Sometimes you just need to be able to shut the door on stuff and retreat to a calmer environment. No chain is a massive bonus if you want to get on and move.

House A sounds a lot like my house. I like it - although noise travels.

I like the bathrooms - in practise, the guest en-suite is rarely used, my kids use the family (but shower in my ensuite), I use my ensuite, and everyone uses the downstairs toilet during the day - so it's not really any more cleaning than the 3 bathroom place.

I personally would prefer B. I like separate rooms as opposed to open plan (although do have an open plan kitchen/diner which I love). Our bedroom is over the garage and not at all cold. It's very warm.

It's clear from your yone of writing that you're biased towards B. It may make outsude opinions less honest, because its based on your bias information. Not critiquing there, just saying. I wonder how your husband, with his preference for A, would write a similar post about both houses.

I've just moved to a house where the back isn't overlooked and backs onto green space. This single factor on our new house is my favourite. Waking in the morning and opening the bedroom blinds, while still only wearing pants, is amazing. Much better than having to get up, dressed in artifical light and ready for leaving the bedroom before opening curtains.

Yes I do prefer house B. However it is a joint decision with DH!
Thank you all for pointing things to consider.

House A does back onto a public path, so it's not SO private, but the whole area is unlikely to be build over as it's a valley with a river! House is on a hill so no records of flooding.

House B with south facing garden has front of the house covered in darkness in winter months- I've checked on shademap.app

I am worried about the mess in open plan. We'll think about it for the next few days, maybe go for another viewing.

There is only one bathroom more in b than a. I think it’s very clear you’ve written this to get folks to say b as it’s your fave.

I am happy to be told it's not so much effort to have an extra bathroom. We currently have ONE at is not enough, but I don't need 3 bathrooms + downstairs loo for a family of 4!
I don't want to end up not using it and having to constantly wipe the dust off the unused space.

A. The master bedroom over a garage is a definite no for me. However, I would probably keep looking and go for option C as neither sound ideal.

@Barnowlsandbluebells Our buyers are rushing us! We've been looking for 2 months, I didn't even think it was that long, especially considering they said they are in no rush :(

@Potaytoe5 How annoying to feel so rushed.

Agree. I don’t like huge open plan spaces, hard to heat and also annoying if someone wants to cook while listening to music and someone else wants to be on the sofa watching tv.

Your buyers weren’t in a hurry…..but that was two months ago, and you ( and they) are no further forward. Add on a few months ( unless you manage to move before Christmas, unlikely) and it will be six.

Better crack on , OP, or you could lose your sale.