Is the shower doorless? Do you think 42 X 42 is big enough? It looks like you have room to make it longer, perhaps with an angled door? Is that separate vanity beside the tub for make-up? Could it be used as full wall storage, or cabinets on top of the counter for extra storage?

The toilet closet may not meet code at 4.5' in interior length, so keep that in mind. Other than that the space technically works. Are you set on a corner tub? They take up so much space and make it difficult to use the space efficiently. Also, where is the closet in relation to the bath? Can you post a pic of the entire master suite?

Well, you can shuffle things around a bit like this
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What is it you feel is missing, or not working?

The shower is not door less - it was just reserving a space and was downsized to the 42 x 42

The closer or right behind the sink wall - I am on iPhone so I can't post full layout -but the room is already framed in so I won't be stealing space from anywhere else.

Definitely not tied to a corner tub. Appreciate all creative ideas!

Oh ... It just feels crowded - where as it didn't with a couple of extra feet on it. It just seems that the space could be used more efficiently ...

The toilet does not look right to me in that configuration. Having the door on the side looks like an issue for code. But I don't know. Having the door swing at the vanity is an issue of interference. I think the tub is taking up too much space. I am including a link to a site that I have found very helpful in my planning. It has info on proper distances and heights for bathroom fixtures. The site also has a ton of other articles and there might be on on lighting :) As you look over the page, note that there are tabs at the top of the article that take you to other aspects of bathroom design. I hope you find this helpful..

Here is a link that might be useful: rules of good bathroom design

I like williamsem's idea, could you "mirror" the vanities across from on another. Treasuretheday did something like that with her vanities. She put in His and Her vanities with one sink per vanity. Could you move the toilet door, in Williamsem's plan, to face the entry door? then the side entry that seems problematic to me would be solved. And would you consider a pocket door. I am finding I am always recommending those lol, as I want to use them in my developing plans. I like how Williamsem has the vanity on one side and the shower on the other side.

Thanks for the ideas. I like Williamsem's plan with the tub and shower on the same wall - it makes if feel more open. Unfortunately... not enough room for that unless it is a 3' shower. Corner tubs are usually about 5' .

I origianlly had vanities mirroring each other and then due to reduced size it seemed croweded so I made one a narrow make vanity.

The code is a good one for me to check on ... a current half bath I have is 3' x 4'6" up to the where the vanity starts. Seems like plenty of room.

I found this plan I did for someone else with similar dimensions. It may work for you. The door on the long wall would move to the far end, the 2 vanities would merge into 1, and the door on the short wall would be deleted. You could delete the 2 linen towers (the squares next to the vanities) and utilize that gained space to create a makeup area either on one end of the vanity or in the middle. Another option would be to place the makeup vanity between the entry door and the shower, so it butts up to the shower wall. This would also allow you keep some storage in the bathroom with the linen towers.

Hope this helps!

This post was edited by mydreamhome on Tue, Apr 9, 13 at 10:11

Wow! My dreamtime - this looks great! I think it might work!

Glad I could help! Good luck and can't wait to see your progress!!!

I spent the evening drawing new options and have settled on two new and the original design is still in the running. Posting pics below and would love opinions ... or even new ideas (not sure how many permuations of a 14 x 8 1/2 space one can do!

( colors not true to plan just couldn't make program work the way I wanted it to for colors)

I am mostly irritated at myself that I didn't allcoate six more inches to the bathroom when downsizing the plan. and it could have easily come from the adjoining closet and would have allowed a 48" vs a 42" shower ... - urrrgh!

#1 New Option - Half wall and 48" shower
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#2 NEW OPTION - Closed Toilet 36" D Tub & Shwr

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#3 Original Design 42 x 42 shower
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Showing the last one so one can see where the closet is behind the bathroom - someone asked about that.

I like something about each - mostly I like the 48" shower in option 1, and also really like that option 3 has more space between the sink wall and the opposite wall ...lessening the narrow "bowling alley ailse look" of the other options shown below.

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I like #1 the best. You get the larger shower, and a hidden toilet. You could even swap the shower and tub and have a full height wall between the shower and toilet if you wanted it more private. I understand liking the open space of #3, but I will tell you, my current MBR has a big open space that I always feel is just useless. If it were me I would want the bigger shower.

I'd choose #1, hands down, for the larger shower, large vanity and natural light in the whole room.

I think the 36" shower in #2 would feel really confining, as would the toilet room.

The corner tub in #3 seems disproportionately large, the vanity is smaller and the window is closed off from the main room.

I agree with jrueter, the open floor space in the center of the room isn't as important as having spacious areas that you'll use regularly (shower, toilet, etc.)

I vote option 1 as well for reasons stated above. Just curious, why a 1/2 wall between toilet and tub & why so wide? 4" width should be plenty even if you wanted to put a niche in on the toilet side for storage (think extra TP, magazines, etc). That would allow extra valuable inches to be added to the shower or the tub deck. If you're worried about natural light from the window, it window is positioned such that you will get plenty of natural light in the bath as well as in the toilet area even with a full wall there.

Definitely prefer #1. My only question/concern is whether the shower door hits the entry door? Can you do a pocket door into the BR?

Raehelen has a point but instead of a pocket door (which I personally dislike) and which would limit your electrical outlet placement for the right side of the vanity, I'd just make sure that the shower door can swing both in and out. When you're not using the shower, you can leave it swung inside the shower. When you exit the shower, you wouldn't need to swing it all the way open and, if you do, it's probably not likely that the door to the bedroom would be open wide into the bathroom at the same time.

Another way to address this might be to take the shower a little closer toward the door with a 45 degree corner and put the door on the angle.

Or you could make the bathroom door a twin vs a single which reduce the overall size of the door(s). Another option is to change the swing of the door to out-swing vs in-swing in either a single or twin door configuration.

Ah... #1 seems to be the unanimous winner. Good question on whether the shower door hits the entry door-had not even thought about that. Swinging it in and out seems like a great suggestion.

Jreuter - due to the depth of the shower even at 48" I don't think the shower and tub could be switched as it would make the walk way too narrow.

mydreamhome - the one-half wall was just for some privacy. It was wide just to fill the space and use as storage.

Based on your thoughts, however, I made it a full wall, added six inches to the shower ( 48 x 54) and shortened the cabinets on the sink wall to allow for the walk way betweeen the cabinets and the shower.

I am wondering about the layout on the sink wall - should the "extra" cabinet be a vanity or drawers? Should it be placed between the sinks or to either end of the two sink cabinets?

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I would tend to put the vanity/drawerstack between the two sinks for symmetry and more elbow room at the sinks. Unless you decide you want to also put in an upper cabinet or tower, then I'd leave it on the left as shown so that it would be less visually intrusive. As to whether you do a vanity or drawers, that depends on your usage and storage needs. Personally, I just fix my hair and put on my make- up standing at my sink so the drawer storage would be more important to me.

I think the room appeared bigger with the pony wall rather than the full wall.

I'm opposite Treasure... Given that your door is not opposite the vanities, I'd put the linen tower/closet on the far wall, opposite the toilet, so that it doesn't visually cut off the room. I'd prefer to preserve the sightline from the bathroom door to the far wall. You'd only notice the "off-center" tower if you were in the bathtub.

Kirkhall and I are actually of the same opinion if you plan to put an upper cabinet.. I'd put it (leave it) on the far/left side opposite the toilet too. I would just center the extra cabinet (whether it's a vanity or a drawerstack) if there is no upper going in above it. Unless I missed it, I don't think that you said that you're planning an upper cabinet.

You've got 11' of space to work with for the vanities. I would do 1 - 15" wide linen tower at the far end by the window to give the toilet area a little more privacy, 2 - 33" sink bases, & 1 - 18" drawer stack in between the sink bases. This leaves 33" for a makeup vanity space. I would likely put this between the linen tower and a sink base so you could take advantage of the natural light through the window and again, afford more privacy in the toilet area as the sink area is used more than the makeup vanity (usually).

4'+ is a huge amount of room for the toilet area--3' wide is plenty. I would take those extra inches and add them to the tub or the shower to make them count the most. Have you picked out your tub yet? If not, you may want to start looking. A 6' long tub often only gives you a 5' long bathing space at the top and even shorter at the bottom of the bathing space along with 6" of deck space at either end. That may or may not be long enough for you.

I like the full wall between the tub & toilet area better. I think some artwork or niched shelves on that end of the tub would look great.

Hope this helps!

This post was edited by mydreamhome on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 9:43

I like having drawers between the two sinks in our master bath. It's easier to store things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion, razors, etc., in drawers than under a sink, and if two people are using the bathroom then it would be nice to have the drawers between the two sinks so they can be shared more easily (and to provide elbow room as mentioned above, and to have a wall outlet by each sink.) But I never sit down to dry my hair or put on makeup, so you'll need to think about how you and your SO will use the space: what items do you use by the sink? Where do you want to store them? Do you both need an outlet? etc...

I like the half wall so I'm posting a picture of a pony wall with storage that MongoCT built for someone. This picture is a few years old but I saved it because it's so pretty and functional.

Chicagoans, Mongo built that for himself! I love the look of it, but think I would like access to the storage from the toilet itself...not sure if he has that too.

I have a 42" toilet area in my main bath, and I like that amount of room. Personally, I use the toilet way more often than I take a bath... Each person is different of course, depends on your size and how you function, but I really need to spread my knees, and I like that amount of space. (Having said that, I am only allowing a 33" space for the toilet in my Master BR, cuz I am so squished for room, but it's only beside a vanity so there should be tons of space for knees!). In your case, depending on how deep the wall is, don't know if knees would hit wall. So, if you were to consider shortening that space, I'd suggest 42" rather than 36".

I have a full length wall beside my toilet, and if we didn't have plumbing stacks in there, would have preferred a pony wall, but my window is over the toilet, so that's part of the reason. When we renovate, I will decrease the depth of that wall to as little as possible.

Oh - it is like being at the candy store ...I like THAT idea ...oh no then I like the next too :). Great idea's.

I think I tracked down Mongo's half wall storage and saved it somewhere too.

Great idea's everyone - thanks for all the help. It has moved me off of my "stuck" spot indeed.