Would you rather....

[MusicMum80s]

We are renovating an old Victorian property and while its going to be a long term home for our young family I also want to make sure the changes we are making will add value! We are in zone 2 London.

Would you prefer:

1. A large utility room with garden access vs a third full bathroom (we'll have a master ensuite and family bathroom plus down stairs loo as a minimum)
2. A 4th double bedroom that was 3.3m by 4m plus 5th room upstairs as an office (circa 10sqm so not huge) or just have a really large 4th bedroom measuring 5.5m by 6.5m
3. Would you pay more for a garden that was 50ft vs 40ft or would it make no difference
4. How much more would you pay for a driveway in London (its possible to drop the curb and create one like the neighbours

Large 4th upstairs.
drive, depends on availability on the road + visual impact to your home.
garden probably won’t make a difference.

utility, yes BUT not at the exepense of a third bedroom, I would at the expense of a 4th

Off street parking.

1. large utility room
2. 5th room to use as on office, 4th bedroom is still a decent size
3. don’t think it would matter to me
4. no idea but it must be worth doing would think

Prefer

• utility over 3rd bathroom
• smaller double plus office over massive bedroom
• 40ft vs 50ft- indifferent
• would pay more for a driveway/ off street parking

The utility was vs a 3rd full bathroom not bedroom. There will be a minimum of 4 bedrooms (possibly 4 plus a 5th used as an office).

Driveway absolutely
Utility vs bathroom - would the bathroom be downstairs? If so, would probably prefer a utility ( unless there was a downstairs bedroom). But really is there not another use of space, if space is large?
Bedroom - either would work. People work from home a lot so office is useful. But a really large bedroom could add a wow factor.
Garden - other things would be more important to me like direction, planting etc

I'd want the big utility over a 3rd full bathroom, can you combine with a loo or even a shower?

I'd want the decent sized 4th plus the office/5th assuming the first 3 bedrooms are a good size.

10ft off the garden neither here nor there

I'd want the drive 100%

Yes to the driveway, and yes to the bigger back garden. Not fussed about the extra living space. Caveat - I'm a gardener who doesn't like having to park a hundred yards up the street!

Agree with all of the above.

Would prefer the laundry part of utility upstairs for convenience - But utility downstairs for storage etc.

Which way does the garden face? Does it get sun or would a 10ft extension put it in the shade?

The dropped curb also gives 2 parking spaces.

Utility over bathroom
office over bigger bedroom
garden probably not that much difference
driveway, normally I would say not important particularly in z2 London but if the road has them then you would want one.

Utility and driveway would be my priorities

This is so helpful. Those are all of the choices we want to make.

The garden is north west facing but from March to October gets full sun for 90% of the garden as its quite open. In the winter its quite gloomy but our neighbours have extended the 10 feet and the gardens are still all very sunny all spring, summer and early autumn.

Large utility though I’d prefer it upstairs
4th bed plus office
No difference between 40 and 50ft
Only of if I didn’t then look at my car through the livingroom window! If on street parking is fairly easy no I would not want or need off street parking.

I'd prefer an upstairs laundry as well but in this house it wasn't feasible to have a laundry room and up there and we need lots of space for drying and organising. The utility will also have the boiler and hot water cylinder, broom closet, storage and space for rain coats, umbrellas and wellies / boots. It has access directly to the garden via the side return and out of the house so will be the 'dirty' entrance for the kids. Directly across from it we'll have a large cloakroom for coats / jackets, shoes, bags, backpacks, swim bags etc etc

I personally hats extended houses that don't have a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, or atleast a shower room. Having had experience of struggling to get upstairs with hurt knees, it's not only useful for older families visiting

1 utility
2 office
3 yes I would pay more if I’m getting more
4 no idea. It would depend what parking is like in the area

I'd prefer the utility. Don't think you need more than 2.5 bathrooms.

But I have to ask - where in zone 2 are you living, that you can have 4 big bedrooms, a 50ft garden, driveway, utility room/cloakroom etc?

South London

Would prefer a large utility room rather a 3 rd bathroom.
A 4th bedroom plus a 5th room upstairs.
Re would not pay more for a slightly larger garden
pay up to £50kmmore for my own driveway

40ft v 50ft garden is meh not a biggie
would prefer 4 bedrooms plus an office
def off road parking
you already have 3 loos you don't need a 4th

Utility not bathroom, driveway yes, I would keep the big 4th bedroom if the office will be too small to call a bedroom when you sell, could you just partition off a corner (Just with screens) for an office if you need one? The garden is pretty small either way so I don't think it would make much difference to selling price. Could you use part of the big utility room as an office nice to have an outside door you can open when working.

The utility room can't be an office. The 5th room that would be used as an office will be about 10sqm so could be marketed as a bedroom.

I would much prefer a utility room than a third bathroom, and a large fourth bedroom. I know it’s not thst much of a difference on paper, but but having been selling our house and looking at houses in south London recently, I wouldn’t consider a 40’ garden under any circumstances but may think about 50’ - either way, it’s very small. I think a driveway in London is essential, but I don’t know how much extra we would pay because we didn’t view any houses which didn't have off street parking.

Its interesting to see how consistent the opinions are in general. New builds have so many bathrooms it made me wonder if people really want that many. I'd much rather squeeze in a utility or more storage but I assumed developers have done some market research showing people want loads of bathrooms. I agree three loos and two full bathrooms is enough, particularly while my kids are still small.