4 tiny bedrooms and tiny bathroom. Should I sacrifice bedroom?

[Mightaswellfaceityoureinmenopauselove]

Just moved into new house, it’s 4 bed detached but the developer squished 4 beds and 1 bathroom into a very small upstairs space. There are 3 of us, 2 adults and 1 child and whilst I’m fine with the small bedrooms, the bathroom is absolutely miniscule and can only fit a small shower in the corner, no bath. It’s quite a depressing, dark space.
Does it really devalue a house to lose one one of the bedrooms? The floor space only lends itself to a 3 bed and if we lost a bedroom we would have lots of options on how we could change things, but as it stands now we are snookered.
This isn’t a forever home, maybe 10 years tops. What would you do?

Would definitely prefer a 2/3 bed house with a decent sized bathroom than what you describe.

Anyone on the market for a 4-bed property would not consider yours anyway as it sounds like it has the footprint of a 3 bed. What’s the total sq footage?

I’m of the mind these days to do what makes you happy and comfortable for 10 years rather than being miserable with the bathroom you’ve got for the sake of worrying about selling later.

This for me too. You're the ones living there and paying the mortgage!

If you've just moved in and are already thinking this then I would go ahead and use one of the smaller bedrooms to extend the bathroom. 10 years is a long time to put up with a layout that doesnt work for you. I can't really comment on how it would affect your future house price, but surely making the house work for you now is important too. If you were only planning on living there for a couple of years then I'd probably say to just make do and lighten the room with decorating it differently but 10 years...I'd want to change it.

Sounds like the developer went too far to squeeze as many bedrooms as possible into a space. I would lose one of the bedrooms to make a nice bathroom because it sounds like the square footage is really only the size of most 3 bed houses anyway.

I'm surprised at a new build 4 bed only having one bathroom. I think most people buying a 4 bed new build would expect an ensuite plus family bathroom.

Given that it's going to be a fairly limited market who want 4 small bedrooms plus tiny bathroom I think a 3 bed with a better bathroom is likely to have wider appeal.

Definitely.

3 bed and bigger bathroom. When you go to sell, anyone in the market for a 4 bed wouldn't entertain it.

If there is scope for increasing the size of the bathroom and main bedroom then I would. Or turning the bathroom into an ensuite and adding another bathroom.

The mystery is why you bought a 4 bed house with one tiny bathroom when you seem to prefer the idea of a 3 bed with a decent sized bathroom @Mightaswellfaceityoureinmenopauselove

I'm really curious about it, I personally don't want an ensuite and would be perfectly happy with a bathroom plus downstairs toilet but they seem to squeeze in ensuites into even the two beds round here!

I NEEDED a 4 bed, I had no care in the world about size of bathrooms.

In fact we looked at many large 3 beds that had unnecessarily large bathrooms (honestly whats the point of a bathroom bigger than a bedroom?) with the view to ripping it out and making it a bedroom and turning a spare space area (like landing airing cupboards) into a shower room. Which is fairly common round here, every house on my old street had done that to add a 2nd bathroom upstairs.

We added a 2nd bathroom to our house by stealing off the kitchen, its 1.5 x 1.5 meters and has plenty of room with a 1200 offset quadrant shower. Best bathroom I ever had but most would describe it as small. We have a bigger bathroom (with bath) up stairs, much less used.

For people who need 4 bedrooms (which are pretty rare while 2/3 beds are a dime a dozen), yes its prioritized over a big bathroom. Adding/Moving/Changing a bathroom (non habitable space) later is FAR cheaper and easier than adding a bedroom (habitable space, lots of safety/fire regulations) so bedroom is preferable.

You are the ones living there so do what you want, especially as you are going to be there for a decade or so.

They had houses like that on our development, 3&4 bed detached both on the same footprint.
Personally we didn't look at them (they were of no interest to us) but I suppose they are a way of people getting into detached living if they cannot afford a larger house with more bathrooms.

You have unfortunately made a mistake for how you want to live but I would not convert the bathroom. New builds are notorious for having small rooms. Really it’s floor space that needs considering. Did you see a show home? My neighbours sisters job is dressing rooms in new developments, the furniture used is actually slightly smaller than regular furniture to give the illusion of space. Is the issue that you want a bath and not just a shower?

The difference in price going from a 3 bed to a 4 bed plus semi to detached is huge where I live, I assume it’s the same countrywide.

Speak to an Estate agent and ask what the difference in selling price between the two house layouts might be before you decide. Is there anywhere else to put a shower room?

Square footage would have a bigger impact on price. That won't change regardless of what you do. If it works better for you then do it.

Bedroom numbers and detached make a big difference in price. That’s just reality - you bought it, after all. Shrinking everything to fit that footprint is what they do. Doesn’t sound like much fun to live with.

I always want a bathtub so won’t buy a house without one, and I hate tiny bedrooms and have just spent a chunk of cash to move a hot water tank into the attic so that I have more bathroom space. I’d much rather have a semidetached with more space inside. So I’m clearly not the future market for your house. I think you should have a better bathroom, but yes you will lose ‘value’ whatever that means in the current market.

I'd knock some upstairs walls down and have fewer reasonably sized rooms. It's ridiculous what developers will pretend is a 'room'. I've seen 'five bed' new builds with less total floor space than a two-doubles-and-a-boxroom ex-council house I used to own.

I’d convert it to what suits you now. If it really devalues it that much, you can always put the wall back in and redo the bathroom before marketing.

Am I right there’s no bath at all in the house, just a corner shower? I’m baffled at this to be honest. I don’t ever need a big bathroom and would prefer separate rooms so I could have a guest room and a home office, but I’m not living there. I wouldn’t buy a house without a bath. Round here newbuild 3 beds have a bathroom and an ensuite, so 4 beds and a shower room is unheard of. Moving to 3 beds will devalue on paper but make it more liveable so do it.

Change the bathroom and convert the loft into bedroom 4?

I don't agree with that.

If you have 3 dc, then 4 small bedrooms is FAR more valuable than 3.
I have no idea what the square footage of my house is, nor the square footage of any of the many houses I look at on Zoopla or Rightmove, but I know how many bedrooms I need.
Many families need a study / office / wfh room which doesn't need to be big particularly but needs to be separate from other living space.

re the OP, I agree with others.
Do what suits you if you are going to be living there for 10 years or so.

Though it seems an odd house to buy if you dislike it so much already.

This!