Ensuite or Walk in Robe

kmmr

Hi,

I am in the process of re-designing my one bedroom flat into a two bedroom flat. There is a bit of spare space in the new master bedroom and I can't decide if I should make it a walk in wardrobe or a second bathroom.

Making it a bathroom will tend to steal a bit of room from the main bathroom, so I may end up with two compromised bathrooms, rather than one nice big one, and a small WIR.

At the moment it is just me and my partner, so we don't have kids to use the second bathroom, but i am thinking that from a resale point of view it might be nice to advertise as two bed, two bath house...

What is anyones opinion? Basically the choices are
- Big family bathroom, small WIR
- Medium sized bathroom, small en suite with shower
- Medium sized bathroom, medium WIR.

Opinions and ideas are welcomed! I can put up some floor plans if anyone can advise me how. :cheesy:

Ian_W

En-suite every time. For a flat, better for a family but also better for sharers or a BTL LL. Provided, of course, there is still room for storage (wardrobe, drawers etc) in both bedrooms.

asajoseph

I saw a beautiful flat recently that had clearly had a lot of work done to it in the last 12 months, and sadly, the conversion was very poorly thought through.

It had a tiny kitchen, and a very small second bedroom, and yet they for some reason decided to add a somewhat pointless second bathroom, instead of expanding the second bedroom or kitchen. The bedroom was too small to be used as anything apart from a young child's bedroom or study, so having two bathrooms in the house seemed somewhat superfluous, and the small kitchen and small 2nd bedroom meant that ultimately what could have been a fantastic flat was just too compromised for us to consider living there.

So my question would be - are you sure you're getting any extra value out of a 2nd bathroom? Does the 2nd bedroom really merit another bathroom?

kmmr

There is space for another good sized built in robe in the main bedroom. It would be nice to have the extra space, but it's not really needed.

As asajoseph says, I saw a place when I was looking with two bathrooms, and I couldn't really see why they had done it. It didn't add value to me, but I suspected they were adding to the cost because of it - so i didn't want to pay the premium.

At the moment a second bathroom does nothing for us, but when we have people over (like parents who seem to move in for months at a time!) it is very useful.

hmm - in the end I suppose it is just my choice. Decisions decisions!

Running_Horse

Knock it all through into one giant loft style living space, then the parents can't stay. You could build a giant Scalextric track around the edge.

Doozergirl

Ensuites do seem to be the rage in new 2 bed flats. Fact is, a lovely wardrobe if it is handy to you, can always be turned into an ensuite at a later date by someone else.

I own a flat with two bathrooms and I just think it's a bit odd. Ironically it was my husband that converted the house it a few years back but looking over it now, even though it is a huge flat I think the extra bathroom is a bit pointless unless you're sharing the place. My friends have a flat with two bathrooms as well and whilst ensuite was not on the wish -list (she wanted more wardrobe space) they do now have a bathroom each.

When you have kids and a bigger house it is nice to have an ensuite for yourself.

Oldernotwiser

Do you have a separate shower in the main bathroom?

getmore4less

I think the mistakes for 2 bed places is to put the bath in the main bathroom.

Make the master ensuite the best bathroom.

The other bathroom is the toilet/cloak for non staying guests with a small shower for staying guests.

The other option here is the Jack/Jill approach with 2 access doors to a bigger single bathroom

As for storage space. the actal storage is the same area where ever it is

The trick here is to analyse where the space infront of the storage can be doubled up use wise, normaly this is space round the bed and access to the wardrobe, with a walk in it is just space fir the storage.

Other options are walk through rather than walk in.


I have just discovered google sketchup, people use this on Av forums to mock up home cinema setups and provide a great way to see what hte plans are perhaps this could help with the layouts.

Edit read all the posts:
Good point above about his/hers it can be convenient to have seperate spaces, in my experience easier for the bloke to move out for guests so another reason to make hte en-suite the better pamper space with the bath.

Another good trick I have seen is a wardrobe with sliding doors on both sides, if possible a space not in the bathroom for girly prep works well, storage mirror seat and well lit.

Fire_Fox

IMHO floor space and storage are important in a two bedroom flat, not two bathrooms. That's not to say I'd want a walk-in wardrobe, I'd rather have flexible storage. Too many flats have the washing machine and a dishwasher in the kitchen so you end up with no cupboard space and/ or a really small fridge/ freezer, which is insufficient for two people. My flat has a cupboard in the hallway with the washing machine in, plus plenty of space to use as an airing and coat cupboard. Both bedrooms need to be double if the finished product is to appeal to couples, sharers and those with a young baby.

Little_Vics

is there any merit into turning the space into a little home office or study?

kmmr

I suppose the most pragmatic approach is to leave it as storage, and it can be converted later.

Getmore4Less - I think that is a good point. In reality we will end up using the ensuite most of the time, so it may as well be the bigger and nicer one. But... that's not really possible to make the ensuite that big, so we may as well have one big nice bathroom, and just use that. Walk though is a very interesting point though... wonder if I could link the bathroom and the WIR - could be a great option if we can squeeze in another door.

The main bathroom won't have a separate shower. I am planning to put a shower over the bath. The spaces I am talking about here are not huge!

There will be a separate laundry room, but most of the rest of the place is open plan, which I have discovered tends to mean less storage space.

Little Vics, as we don't have kids, for the moment the second bedroom will be the study/office/room full of unsorted paperwork.

And finally - I did consider the scaletrix option, but if I join it all together I am pretty sure waterslides would be a much more fun option. :-)

Thanks for the comments everyone, its great to get a few ideas. Architect is coming over in about 30 mins, so I will suggest these to him.