Fourth bedroom, or 3 bed + flexible bed/living?

Hi guys,

Apologies for the double post, I have just posted this in the general discussion board but realised it might be better for this one as the decision may impact the value of our home.

We are in the process of finding a design/builder for our new home and are trying to decide how many bedrooms we actually need.

We'll be building a long, narrow two storey house and were originally thinking we would have 4 bed + 1 living (retreat) + 1 study nook upstairs, and an open plan living/dining downstairs, as well as another downstairs living that isn't part of the open plan area (like a formal lounge/theatre room/etc).

Aside from the living areas, we want to have a home that allows for at least three bedrooms for us + children (that we don't have yet), a permanent office/study space, and a spare room for guests.

When talking through our budget with a potential builder, obviously having more rooms can mean more $$$.

This designer is suggesting that we might make the downstairs "formal" lounge an alternative downstairs bedroom, and add a shower to the downstairs powder room to make it really useable as a bedroom, whether for our guests or on a permanent basis for someone else. This would mean no need to add a fourth bedroom as the house could either be 3 bed/3 living, or 4 bed/2 living.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is it worth dropping the fourth upstairs bedroom? Have you built a flexible bedroom/living like this yourself? Does it actually appeal to buyers? If you have any design tips or suggestions or just general advice... I'm all ears!

Sorry I don't have a visual example to show you - no design as yet. Have tried to explain it as best I can above!

Thanks!

Our home is 3+ bedroom, as my home office/radio shack is the size of a bedroom without built in robes, so this room could easily be turned in to a 4th bedroom, albeit not quite as big as the other ones, so therefore a guest bedroom at the least.

Planning on children seems to indicate that you'll be there for quite some time, so do what you want and don't worry about what could improve your saleability many years away.

I would go with bpratt thinking.
Who are you designing this for, you or some future theoretical buyer.

Who do you see your self living in it?


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