Floorplan advice

[Skinnymartini]

I am a single mother with 2 children. I would appreciate advice on making an additional (5th) bedroom in a house I am buying. You can only see 3 bedrooms in the images since I havent included an image of a small bedroom in the loft. Options-

1. Convert the en suite bath and the dressing room to a 5th bedroom. Make a smaller en suite elsewhere in the bedroom - i dont need a bath tub anyway.
2. Convert / extend the utility on the ground floor into a small bedroom. but that is the only access to the (small) garden. a ground floor bedroom might help a few years down the line when my mother (70 years old now) visits.

What would you do? Thank you.

If there only three of you at home then I’d be more inclined to make a dual purpose room if it’s just for when you have visitors .
the reception room looks very long so you could add dividing doors to make an extra room when needed

What do you need the fifth bedroom for?

I'd go for extending downstairs, even though I suspect the dressing room and en-suite were originally a bedroom. Reason being downstairs is too small to have five upstairs bedrooms - it would be very unbalanced. You have kitchen windows downstairs that can be changed to French doors for garden/side access.

What the others have said. A room that's going to be used twice a year is different from one which is going to be used every day, so what you'd be willing to do to get it should be different too.

Yes agree that the purpose of room 5 is important

if it’s occasional guest room and thinking of your mum o would make a dual purpose space on the ground floor

Dressing/ensuite would have been a bedroom so easy to reconvert.

One bedroom for each of the children. 1 for me. I need a separate study / office room (not on the ground floor ideally) and one guest room since I do expect people staying over (e.g. mum).

@titchy I did look at an older floorplan and yes- there was another bedroom there which was then converted to an en suite bath and dressing room.

I feel the en suite window and light is wasted since I would get much more use from a room there and a smaller en suite elsewhere. And i dont remember the last time i used a bath tub. The dressing room is mostly wasted on me - I suppose it may be of value when / if reselling the house, but not now.

PS I should add that the house is in London- so downstairs is still decent sized, but probably not by out of London standards.

@Fidgety31 yes I do intend to split the living room - make a library or a play room there plus the living area. Still don't think I can work from that space though. The loft is ideal for a study or a single bedroom

I would not do the ground floor bedroom for visiting mum because there is no bathroom nearby for her.

Converting the upstairs bedroom and dressing room would be easiest and cheapest.

There also seems to be a lot of unused space along the side at the bin store. A more ambitious plan would make use of that somehow.

@parietal fair point but potentially could add a shower in the guest wc if we remove the hall cupboard next to it. I am not sure what the permitted development would be if I extend outward towards the bin store - the width is only 2m or so there so won't gain much space

I'd put the wall back up for the front reception room and use it as a lounge/guest bedroom with a sofa bed. If the kids are a bit older they could take turns sleeping on the sofa bed instead. Failing that, have your office as a guest bedroom too.

I wouldn't give up bathroom space (it's such a luxury!) and I wouldn't try squeezing a 5th bedroom into a nicely proportioned 4 bed.

Agree about not losing that second bathroom space upstairs

if you are willing to extend a bit then I would put a shower room in the utility and then separate the back of the long reception room into a snug that also has a really comfy sofa bed, day bed or Murphy bed

I'd put a wall back up in the reception room and have the front with the bay double up as guest room for your mum and play room for the children.

Put your study in loft room and keep 2nd floor as it is.

I would make the dressing room your study/office - it looks big enough for a desk and chair

And then I would get one of the kids to go up to the loft room when your mother stays (assuming your mum can't do the stairs up to the loft)

Is there no way to extend the small bedroom in the loft so it’s a bigger space and you can use it as a dual office/guest room? The other spaces seem really tight to have a comfortable guest room.

I'd convert the dressing room and bathroom into the space you need. Or use the loft or even a corner of your bedroom. Whatever you decide is a lot of work and expense just to have a spare bedroom sitting empty 300 nights a year or whatever it is.

I would not diminish the ensuite and dressing room. It is essential for resale and keeping the valuation.
I would tinker with the downstairs sitting room and make a section of that convertable to a guest bed with some privacy. Explore wide sliding wall/door, dual purpose sofa beds, clever toy storage ideas. Adding a shower and loo to the laundry space would add value and make downstairs older guests plausable.
Does the garden allow for a multi purpose BBQ out door sink wall which also houses the washing machine? And can the kitchen window open out to the garden and BBQ? That could be a fun addition when hosting.

I love the earlier suggestions of ..

• Setting up a dedicated study area in your dressing room. It would be easy to dismantle for resale.
• Making the most of the attic space and maybe expanding that.

Your home looks quite flexible as it is. I would not over capitalise.

Agree I wouldn’t lose your en-suite for the sake of an occasionally used guest room. 5 bedrooms and one bathroom isn’t a ratio that sells well either.

A decent sofa bed in the living room sounds fine. Or you could consider a wall of storage alongside the reinstated wall, and incorporate a wall bed into that if there’s enough space.

I would not do any major work to the upstairs layout, I would use the dressing area as a study and keep the bathroom!

I missed seeing the downstairs loo, sorry!

So I would try to add a shower to that space before changing the laundry. That would possibly be an easier way to create a guest bathroom and it would be in a better position.

It also depends how much work you are willing to do and how long you intend to stay there. I would say the upstairs space is pretty much perfect but the downstairs could be improved.

you could make an amazing kitchen across existing plus utility plus extension into side alley - and then put utility and bathroom in the dark space

I think putting shower in hallway is sub optimal but I would prefer the living room back into 2 rooms

All good suggestions- thanks.

Converting the dressing room to a study was the first thought I had on seeing the floorplan. But I think I would need a frosted or high window there to comply with permitted development (from the little I know) and it seemed a pity losing the south- east aspect (which the en suite bathroom has) to a bathroom. How many hours of my day would I actually spend in a bright bathroom vs a bright study (I work from home 2 days or so a week at a minimum).

The patio and garden are smaller than average for this size of house so I don't want to extend the utility out any further unless avoidable. The kitchen, too, is reasonably sized - can get a small table in there. Need to see how I can extend further out into the side of the kitchen up to the wall, if possible- but would then lose access to the garden via the utility room.

On a single income and a large mortgage, I don't have much cash to spare, but want to make the best of usable space. I do see guests visiting 5 to 7 months a year. Need to check if loft can be expanded to a larger room. Loft has a separate bathroom already.

If the loft has a separate bathroom, and you only need 3 permanent bedrooms, why are you extending at all? Surely you use the loft as your guest room and either have a desk in there as well, or put a desk in one end of your living/dining room?

Your master bedroom is far larger a % of upstairs than the other rooms. Also it has wardrobes and a dressing room, why? Take away the wardrobes and part of the room up to load bearing wall and make a small fifth bedroom

Plan