En suite or walk in wardrobe?

[FlippertyFloperty]

I have made an offer on a house. It currently has an en suite, family bathroom and downstairs loo.

It's quite dated so hoping to add value by modernising.

I am wondering whether to convert the en suite into a walk in wardrobe as the bedroom isn't that big. Would this devalue the property?

Other thought is to turn downstairs loo into a coat cupboard and refurbish both bathrooms upstairs.

3 adults will be living in the house, each have a bedroom of their own.

Definitely don’t lose your en-suite or your downstairs loo. Your property will lose value. People look for houses with multiple bathrooms and downstairs toilets specifically. I personally would not buy a house without either (family of 5).

Downstairs toilet is useful if you have older visitors.they used to be called cloak rooms. Can you fit some coat hooks in there

I think you will devalue it if you take out the en-suite and I think the previous posters who said you can’t take out the downstairs toilet are right, something along the lines of you can’t make the house less compliant with building regs than it was before.

Personally I wouldn’t buy a house without an en-suite.

What is it that you dislike about en suites? How do you manage in hotels?

Our en suite is in a gable that sticks out at the front of our house and is nowhere near our bed. It has a window, and no-one uses it for anything other than a wee when the bedroom is occupied.

I manage fine in Hotels because most seem to have the en-suite around a corner out of sight of the bed.

from what i see looking at floor plans in right move most home en-suites don’t manage this. I would not want to sleep with my head a couple of feet from a bathroom door knowing there was a toilet just the other side of it. Even if dh used it for a wee i would hear him and it would disturb me in the night. Of course you could have a rule that you don’t use the en-suite in the night but then it becomes a bit redundant doesn’t it. What’s the point of it if you’re not using it. You’re ultimately pissing in a toilet in the corner of your bedroom.

I suppose it's a step up from chamber pots

We removed the ensuite in favour of the wardrobe, it was a small 3 bed terrace. The bed would have had to have been pushed into a corner to fit a wardrobe in the room as well, the ensuite had no windows, was dingy and was about 5 steps to the main bathroom. We did also have a downstairs loo. Realistically it was a first time buyer kind of place and I don't feel it did devalue.

I wouldn't sacrifice the ensuite for a wardrobe in the 4 bed we moved onto though.

Mumsnet users are always a bit odd about en suites , I’ve never met anybody in real life who doesn’t like them .

I would add masses of hanging space/storage that's easily moveable in the downstairs loo and only use the loo when I have visitors (plonking armfuls of coats & boxes of boots in spare room). Wouldn't bother de-plumbing it.
Ditto for en suite if possible.

This is what you need in such a situation.

Absolutely agree with this.

MN is weird about ensuites.

In real life, I've never met anyone who doesn't like them and judging by the way they are an absolute standard in all new builds, they're extremely popular.

I definitely wouldn't remove an ensuite - whatever people say on here, it will devalue your property if the other comparable properties in your area all have them.

If you have two loos I’d for for storage. I’d never buy a house now without two toilets. If one of us is unwell we seal off a bathroom just for their use.

Never get rid of a downstairs toilet, a lot of buyers won't even look at a house without them. If you do change the en-suite into a walk-in wardrobe, it might be a good idea to have a plumber cap off the pipes etc and box them in, so that a future buyer could easily reinstate them if they wanted.

I'd keep all the bathrooms honestly