3 Double Bedrooms vs 4 Smaller Bedrooms?

bluelad1927

Do the two smaller rooms naturally lend themselves to being knocked into one or will it look a bit odd when done.

maisie_cat

When we extended our last house we added a master bedroom and had the option to leave the 3 original bedrooms or make 3  into 2 larger rooms.
I talked to lots of people and the majority with children said that a child having their own smaller space was preferable to having to share a larger room with a sibling.
However, when we came to sell the smaller bedrooms were a problem that put buyers off.

zagubov

If it's London, 4 bedroom trumps 3 bedroom. Nobody here can be fussy about room sizes (just visit a London hotel if you don't belive  how cramped places have to be around here.

dander

Definitely try and talk to a local estate agent because this is something that will vary a lot according to your local area. Depend on what you have for the downstairs space too. There are some newish build houses near me where they have 4 smallish bedrooms and the living space is just one open-plan living-kitchen and I always wonder if you have enough people to fill the bedrooms - where are you fitting them all in during the day?

Sistergold

I think making the house usable for you is what is important. So if 3 bigger bedrooms is what you need to make it a home rather than a house then do it. When it comes to sell you then sell for the going rate of 3 bedrooms at that time even if it’s for a bit of a loss🤷‍♀️. I just feel sometimes we get stuck thinking of resale value and don’t just do life. When it’s all said and done you might find it would have appreciated anyway BUT best of all you would have enjoyed your home/life. We only live once. 

Doozergirl

A smaller four bed is always going to be more saleable than a larger three bed.  People always have to compromise, so if someone only has x amount of money, needs a four bed and yours is the cheapest, you have a captive market to a certain degree. 

Having seen the floorplan as well, I don't think the house lends itself well to being divided from 4 to 3 beds without a huge amount of work.  The stairs are right in the middle, not easily relocated, and so you have a natural division of the upstairs into four around those stairs.   

i'd rather set one room up as a dressing room and use the space that way.  

gazfocus

Doozergirl said:

A smaller four bed is always going to be more saleable than a larger three bed.  People always have to compromise, so if someone only has x amount of money, needs a four bed and yours is the cheapest, you have a captive market to a certain degree. 

Having seen the floorplan as well, I don't think the house lends itself well to being divided from 4 to 3 beds without a huge amount of work.  The stairs are right in the middle, not easily relocated, and so you have a natural division of the upstairs into four around those stairs.   

i'd rather set one room up as a dressing room and use the space that way.  

Thanks for that. What we were thinking of is…

1) get rid of the current en-suite to make the master bedroom more square.
2) put two doors from bedroom two into the space over the stairs to create a built in cupboard. 

3) move the bathroom to the current ‘bedroom 4’.
4) making the current bathroom and bedroom 3 in to one larger bedroom. 

We’d also thought of taking a bit off bedroom 3 to square that off and put the en-suite on that wall. 

Hoenir

From a personal perspective the downstairs layout is far more important than the upstairs. That's what attracts me to a property. Now with the increase in energy costs. Havng rooms with optimal sizes rather than being supersized or large open plan spaces is back on the radar. As if the clock has been turned back to a bygone era. 

NameUnavailable

Sistergold said:

I think making the house usable for you is what is important. So if 3 bigger bedrooms is what you need to make it a home rather than a house then do it. When it comes to sell you then sell for the going rate of 3 bedrooms at that time even if it’s for a bit of a loss🤷‍♀️. I just feel sometimes we get stuck thinking of resale value and don’t just do life. When it’s all said and done you might find it would have appreciated anyway BUT best of all you would have enjoyed your home/life. We only live once. 

I agree with this. If the house is what you want but you would prefer to make it into 3 decent size bedrooms then do it. When you come to sell you can explain/show how it can be converted back.

I'd say 4 bedrooms will possibly sell for more (even though it's the same floor size) as people looking for 4 bedrooms mostly want/need 4 bedrooms, but you are buying a house to live in.

I remember trying to sell what was a large 3 bedroom house that the owners had changed into a 2 bedroom, they had a huge master bedroom with en suite and a gym area. They made it what they wanted, but it took a while to find a buyer who also wanted it!

MultiFuelBurner

Perhaps share the upstairs layout?