WWYD townhouse refurb/bathrooms

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

We have a 1980s townhouse which we love and don't plan to sell for at least another 20years. We've done a reasonable amount of work to it, and are finally in a position to revamp the masters bedroom. The house layout is:
Ground floor - hallway, study/guest room, kitchen diner, utility room, wet room with WC and shower
Middle floor - living room, study/guest room, bathroom with shower over bath
Top floor - 2 x DC (primary age) bedrooms, shower room, master bedroom with ensuite.

The master bedroom is narrow and the bed can only go in one location. To improve this we're going to renovate and take space from the shower room to create a built in wardrobe that's flush with the bedroom wall, and reduces the shower room by 1/3. If you were in this position, would you make the new shower room
a. A reasonably spacious cloakroom without shower, or
b. Keep a shower in it but accept that it will be a squeeze

I will try and draw the plan, but have poor skills!

I would not bother with the shower but then I am not really a fan of ensuites anyway. I would rather take it out totally and give the space to make a large family bathroom with a separate shower and bath
.

I don’t like small shower rooms so would probably get rid of the en suite completely seeing as you would still have a shower room/bathroom on each floor.

3 showers in total sounds enough to me and then you could have a bigger/ nicer master bedroom.

I'd go with just the ensuite loo, but that does mean that the better of your two showers is on the ground floor, 2 floors down. I'd swap them around so the bath with shower over is on the ground floor (and encourage the kids to use that one!) and the wet room is on the middle floor.

personally I’d get rid of the en-suite to maximise space in your bedroom, assuming the shower room is separate and nice (and if not, make it nice!). A squeezed in shower sounds like something you’d always feel was a compromise and never want to use, and what is the point of a cloakroom on your second floor?

Sorry for the massive delay in images! The first one, with the green carpet, is our current layout. The second is what I think we will do. Not shown are internal downpipes in the ensuite and shower room.

Why do you have so many guest rooms?

Can't you move down a floor?

I would want the top floor to have a bathroom with shower at least to serve the 2 bedrooms. Could you get rid of your ensuite and make a Jack and Jill bathroom with access from your room and the landing? Then you could use your current en suite space as a large built in wardrobe.

@TheBeesKnee we and our children sleep in the three bedrooms on the top floor. That decision isn't going to change. We have two guest rooms as we both wfh at least 3 days pw and working in the living room or kitchen isn't right for either of us

I wouldn't want to get rid of the shower for the 2 dc's bedrooms myself.

I would try to make the new wardrobe built-in with chests of drawers.
Also would remove all baths from upstairs and keep showers in both rooms (space saving in DC rooms). Put a tiny cloakroom basin in the upstairs bathrooms. Plus space saving toilets. What is the grey bit with the black thing in? You could try a pocket door in the en suite to make the en suite as small as possible.

I really don't think you should take space out of the family bathroom on that floor. Your kids will have to use your ensuite to wash and it will drive you nuts. Also makes the house a lot less saleable, although I know you said you aren't moving any time soon. Plus messing with both bathrooms will be lots more expensive.

How about chopping the current ensuite in half side to side and using the bottom half as a walk in dressing area with a wardrobe and built in drawers, you could have a curtain or sliding doors or an archway and then have the top bit of the ensuite as just a loo and sink. You might even be able to fit a shower/ shower over omnitub in if you are clever with the layout.

It's been ages since I last updated this thread but I've been thinking about what everyone said and also discussing it with a couple of builders.
We've decided to keep the existing shower room, and flip the layout in the master / en suite. We will still need to move the bedroom door at least slightly but that should give us space for a bookcase on the landing.