iam in the process of thinking about an extension. I would apreciate comment regarding what the best option is of these different scenarios

1. make 3 nice double bedrooms with a nice large family bathroom. ?

2 . make 3 nice double bedrooms with a small 4th bedroom and a small family bathroom,?

3. make 2 nice double bedrooms, with a 3rd bedroom with a small ensuite and a large family bathroom

4. make 2 nice double bedrooms with a 3rd bedroom with a small ensuite , a 4th bedroom (small) and a small family bathroom.

These are all the permitations iam concidering. We plan to stay in the property until we retire, dont currently have any kids but maybe have one at some point , so the extra bedrooms are not a necesity for us, i just want to maximise the value / desirablility when we do sell at a later date.

appreciate any comments

Option 3. For a 3 bed house nowadays people expect more than one bathroom. But you don't want to make it seem cramped by squeezing in too many small rooms.

Can we have more details?
Specifically:
What is the house now?
What are the surrounding houses like?
Have any of them extended?
Will some of your options make the house top heavy?
And by 3rd bed with small ensuite do you mean the "master" bedroom?
Do you have a downstairs toilet?

I think 3 or I'm leaning towards 4. But that's me persionally because I've always had a smallish bathroom and to be honest a big one just needs more cleaning. I would however love a little study more than a bit extra bathroom space.
I don't really do much or move about that much in a bathroom! And the smaller it is the less room for slippery wet little naughty children to evade you in. A small room and you've got them penned in between the bath and the wall with you blocking the door One gets done and then sits singing on the toilet seat. Works fine.

So option 4 for me, but I'm going off my personal preference.

Thanks for the replies.
regarding the current house situation.
it is a 3 bed detached , although the 3rd bed is tiny, situated on a country lane , only one neigbour with a similar property the house has an acre of garden, the down stairs does have a toilet, after the extension, we are planning to knock the kitchen into the dinnig area to create a large kitchen family room , we will still have the exhisting lounge, i dont beleive the options will make it top heavy, iam just looking for what the `best layout to try and achive ` should be so we can start to package this in the available space, we are limited as to the size of extension we can do due to being in green belt, hence the 4 options we have.
appreciate any other comments.

thanks

If you are planning to stay there until you retire and haven't yet decided whether to have children I'm guessing you're planning to be there for quite a few years so I'd say to go for what combination of rooms suits YOU best. It seems to currently be trendy to sacrifice living space for bathrooms/toilets/en-suites(judging by the houses we saw before recently buying our detatched 3 bed with one bathroom no en-suite and no downstairs loo) but that doesn't mean that will still be the case if you come to sell in 20 or 30 years time, and there are buyers now (like my hubbie and I) who prefer bedroom space to en-suites. For two people I cannot see the point of having more than two toilets (unless you have a lot of big parties, a lot of guests who stay overnight or enjoy cleaning). If you go for bedrooms over bathrooms now you could always convert the smallest bedroom into another bathroom or put a partition into a large bedroom to add an en-suite should you decide to have children and find you want an extra bathroom.

That is a good point, there is no way of knowing what people will 'want' by the time you retire. So just do whatever suits you best. You can bet that whatever you do will turn out to be 'wrong' in years to come so you might as well just enjoy it in the meantime!