Two tiny ensuites - what to do?

beckstrous

My partner and I recently bought our first house, a 2-bedroom terrace with two ensuites. The house is about 7 years old but both the bathrooms are quite dated and neglected and they are also both really small. We would like to knock them through into one bathroom, but my mum and also a friend of mine with a bit more experience in houses reckon that this could knock about 2 grand off the value of the house. One of the bathrooms has a bath, and the other has a shower, and they are both really small. Would it really devalue the house that much?

If so, has anyone got any pointers as to how we could make tiny bathrooms look a bit bigger? They feel a bit like cells at the moment, if you know what I mean.

elona

Huge mirrors on the wall and light coloured paint , tiles and flooring.

Horasio

Yes ensuites are great and losing both of them would devalue a place.

Maybe, if you are upgrading them, you could make them both into en-suite showers and do what elona said about making a room look bigger or maybe knock the smaller ensuite into the main bathroom, leaving the larger ensuite and put a shower in there instead of a bath.

Two bedroomed places don't need 2 ensuites and a bathroom.

donna-j_2

Personally I hate ensuites (who wants to pee in their bedroom?) and would prefer one decent-sized bathroom.

silvercar

donna-j wrote:

Personally I hate ensuites (who wants to pee in their bedroom?) and would prefer one decent-sized bathroom.

I love en-suites, definitely think they make a house more attractive. But they do need their own window, however small.

tawnyowls

beckstrous wrote:

My partner and I recently bought our first house, a 2-bedroom terrace with two ensuites. The house is about 7 years old but both the bathrooms are quite dated and neglected and they are also both really small. We would like to knock them through into one bathroom, but my mum and also a friend of mine with a bit more experience in houses reckon that this could knock about 2 grand off the value of the house. One of the bathrooms has a bath, and the other has a shower, and they are both really small. Would it really devalue the house that much?

If so, has anyone got any pointers as to how we could make tiny bathrooms look a bit bigger? They feel a bit like cells at the moment, if you know what I mean.

It depends. What exactly have you got? Is there a separate bathroom or not? I read it that they were both ensuites, one with a bath and one with a shower, but then CCstar seems to think you've got an additional bathroom.

If you do have just the two ensuites, then turning them both into shower rooms is not a good idea; even though most adults use showers these days for daily cleaning, buyers like to see at least one bath in a house. Although it's true that ensuites are very desirable, two tiny ones in a 2 bedroom house might not necessarily be better than one really lovely large bathroom with a bath and separate shower (and two grotty ensuites vs 1 spanking new bathroom even more so). I think you need to get an estate agent round to give you a more objective viewpoint, but do remember too that you're the people who are going to be living there for at least some time, so don't get too hung up about adding/losing value. If you're going to spend the next 5 years hating every second you spend in those two ensuites, even if you do them up, is that worth saving 2K? Might you even spend several hundred on doing them up, still hate them, and end up knocking them together anyway?

Whatever you decide, the most added value is likely to come from using white suites and white tiles with chrome accessories (add colour with accessories). If the rooms don't have a window, consider putting in something like a sunpipe to add natural light, or even putting in a window with frosted glass between the bedroom and the ensuite (assuming they stay as ensuites).

Plasticman

tawnyowls beat me to it. If you only have two tiny ensuites and no separate bathroom then I would be tempted to knock them into one. Most people see and ensuite as a bonus and it may boost the property price a little but many buyers may be put off by the lack of a decent bathroom. We have a small ensuite - only about 1meter wide but around 13ft long (sorry for the switch between metric & imperial!!!) but it does it's job very well. We don't need it to be any bigger because we have a good sized family bathroom as well.

And for the benefit of donna-j, I don't like peeing in the bedroom either [and it hasn't happened since I put in the ensuite]

beckstrous

Thanks, everyone for the replies. It is really interesting and helpful to see what you all think.

I should have been a bit more explicit. We have two double bedrooms, one of which is slightly smaller than the other. The small bedroom has the bigger ensuite, which has a bath and loo. The larger bedroom has the smaller ensuite, which has a shower and loo. There is also a cloakroom downstairs. I am still not really sure what to do so perhaps we do need to get an estate agent round, though I also know you can achieve a lot with optical illusions, the right fittings etc. It would be possible if we knocked them through to make one of the bedrooms slightly larger, but if it would be taking a lot of value off then it would not be worth it. We live on a newish estate, mostly young couples & families, and I think all of the other houses have 2 ensuites.

tawnyowls

beckstrous wrote:

Thanks, everyone for the replies. It is really interesting and helpful to see what you all think.

I should have been a bit more explicit. We have two double bedrooms, one of which is slightly smaller than the other. The small bedroom has the bigger ensuite, which has a bath and loo. The larger bedroom has the smaller ensuite, which has a shower and loo. There is also a cloakroom downstairs. I am still not really sure what to do so perhaps we do need to get an estate agent round, though I also know you can achieve a lot with optical illusions, the right fittings etc. It would be possible if we knocked them through to make one of the bedrooms slightly larger, but if it would be taking a lot of value off then it would not be worth it. We live on a newish estate, mostly young couples & families, and I think all of the other houses have 2 ensuites.

Given this, it sounds unbalanced to me, with the smaller bedroom having the larger bathroom. As you have a cloakroom downstairs as well, it wouldn't be a case of people queuing for the only loo in the house, and with only 2 bedrooms, my gut feeling is that you wouldn't lose money by knocking those two ensuites together to make a single bathroom, especially if it made the second bedroom larger (would appeal to investment buyers then, as well as families). Just because the other houses have one is not necessarily a reason to keep the house as it is - it might actually give it an edge when selling if it's a bit different. If you do knock through, then a bath with shower over plus a separate shower would IMO be the most value-added layout. I would definitely get an estate agent (or two) around - it's free advice! Even if the agent thinks it might lose a bit of money, do weigh it up (especially if it's not that much) against how much you want to change it and how much of a difference it would make to the way you live.

ScoobieGirl

If you hate it as it is then it might be worth 2k to you to change if you are there for a while.

Personally if I saw 2 houses the same apart from one having 2 small ensuites and one having a larger than usual bathroom I'd be hard pushed to choose. If is was an average size I'd go for the ensuites.

itsakidsworld

Why don't you ask your neighbours what they have done and have a look?

You need a main bathroom in any house and an ensuite is a bonus. As the house is in a row of terrace then it is vital that you do not go over the top with any major refurbishments as the house will have a ceiling value regardless of what you do.

Keep the place minimal in terms of what you put in. So have a main bathroom and if you can get an ensuite ( no matter how small) then that is a bonus. But a nice two bedroom terrace with a super new bathroom will sell alot better than a nice two bedroom terrace with two small ensuites. Guests do not like using ensuites!

Good luck and enjoy your new home whatever you decide.