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Kids' Bath: Which is more important, 2 sinks or linen closet?

jessrae
11 years ago

Hello everyone - we are building soon and I'm trying to finalize our plans. Our boys will share a bathroom. We have room for either 2 sinks or 1 sink + linen closet. There will be a linen closet just outside the bathroom.

I'm trying to figure out what will be most important. They are only 2 and 4 years old right now. Is there anyone with older kids that share a bathroom? What works for your kids?

I attached the latest plans below. But I'm thinking of switching the sinks and the tub. I'm not sure I like the idea of the tub wall just in front of the doorway. Seems like it might make the bathroom feel even smaller.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

Comments (16)

  • EngineerChic
    11 years ago

    I agree about switching the sink and tub to avoid the wall-in-your-face problem.

    If you have room for linen storage outside the bathroom, I would go for 2 sinks. Thinking about sharing the bathroom with my sister, it would have been good to have 2 sinks. When they are old enough to brush their teeth you can have contests to see who can brush the longest ;). And when they are teenagers they'll each have their own space for razors, deodorant, cologne, hair stuff.

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago

    Could you center the door (move that other one down a bit), swap sinks and tub and also get your linen closet (now behind the door)?

  • kmcg
    11 years ago

    I second what EngineerChic said.

  • jessrae
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    EngineerChic - Thanks for your response! I think that would work better than our current design.

    Kirkhall - I never thought about that! Let me do some tinkering around with the design and see if I can make that work. Thanks so much!!

  • jessrae
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    EngineerChic - Thanks for your response! I think that would work better than our current design.

    Kirkhall - I never thought about that! Let me do some tinkering around with the design and see if I can make that work. Thanks so much!!

  • jessrae
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank KMCG! Yes, I like that much better than what our designer did. I'm starting to wonder what I'm paying her for b/c now I've totally redesigned the kitchen, master suite and now kids bath.

    Anyway, I think Kirkhall's suggestion is going to work great. I never even thought about moving the door, so thank you so much!

    Here's my very rough draft with changes.

  • kmcg
    11 years ago

    Brilliant! Way to go with the door idea, kirkhall. That looks like it will work really well.

  • EngineerChic
    11 years ago

    Awesome! Now, what about one other change ... Could you reverse the swing of the door so that if you are at the sink you can have the door open and get to stuff in the linen closet?

    Maybe I'm weird but I often want the bathroom door open when I'm doing face, hair, teeth. We have a bathroom door now that opens to block the linen closet and it is very annoying for me. Now, that bathroom only has a wall sink so I need to get into that closet a lot, since that's where the hair dryer and everything is.

    In my new bathroom I have DRAWERS and everything I need is at my fingertips (i'm still so excited to have drawers). So it may not be an issue in your bathroom at all.

  • lazy_gardens
    11 years ago

    How about a pocket door on the bath for more floor space?

  • jessrae
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'll give some more thought to the door swing - thanks for pointing that out EngineerChic. I think that most of the items that will be used daily will be in the drawers of the vanity and that the linen closet will mostly be used for storage of TP, tissue, towels, etc. Right now I leave the bathroom door open when I'm giving one kid a bath so that I can keep an eye on the other one.

    Thanks so much to everyone for the very helpful advice! I really like it now and we'll love the extra storage.

  • qt314b
    11 years ago

    Great change of plans!

    while I agree that things in the closet will be more readily accessible with a door swing change, with little ones I think greater accessibility for the tub would be a higher priority for me.

    What are you doing between the tub and toilet? I have the same setup in my almost complete bathroom and wanted the toilet to be separate from the shower/bath since with 3 young boys chances of them both being used at the same time are high but a complete wall I felt would make the small toilet area claustrophobic - we did a wall / window that came out great - what are your ideas?

    My husband is an electrician and it's crazy how many times he is giving a quote for a kitchen or an addition and he catches major mistakes that defy logic that both designers and architects make!! It's great that you are able to redesign the plans now instead of finding the issues with your plans when it's too late - not everyone is so lucky!

    Rachel

  • kmcg
    11 years ago

    qt3 - do you have a picture you could post of the tub/toilet divider? I am planning for a toilet next to a shower (basically the same floorplan as jessrae's but with a shower instead of tub). I'm trying to figure out whether to do a half wall with glass above, or a full wall. I'm curious how you included a window in your wall - is it literally a window in a frame, or a simple pane of glass?

  • desertsteph
    11 years ago

    the kids should have lots of room for storage with the long vanity and closet!

    is the vanity going to be 24" deep?

  • nothingbutboys
    11 years ago

    Chiming in late to agree with two sinks! I have two boys and am currently in the midst of bathroom remodeling. The major requirement for their shared bathroom is two sinks, along with two drawers stacks for their stuff. The fights currently over the one sink in their bathroom was more than enough to make this a priority over anything else.

  • jessrae
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    qt324b - I would love to see a photo of your divider too!

    Hi Desertsteph - yes, the vanity will be 24" deep and the linen will be 18".

    Lazygardens - You're right, a pocket door would eliminate the door swing issue. I'll definitely give it some thought. My husband is not a fan of them and they are a bit harder to use for the kids, but it would eliminate the problem.

    Thanks for the response, nothingbutboys. I'm glad to hear that all this planning will be appreciated by my kids when they are older!

  • qt314b
    11 years ago

    The 'window' is not a complete window, it is frame-less kind of like a tiled hole in the wall, it is open right now but there will be glass installed as soon as I make my shower door choice (at least that was the plan-turns out being at the end of the tub opposite the showerhead it seems that no water reaches the sill so I make just leave it this way) I will try to upload a picture tomorrow - I haven't taken completed bath pics yet because well... it's not completed yet - 95% of the way there. Just a few things like niche shelves need to be set (they are just resting in place), paint touch ups, grout touch ups, caulk etc, shower doors, drawer pulls ..... the list is forever but I am this' ' close to being done!

    For me a major requirement was two sinks - for the present to simplify washing up before dinner and tooth brushing times and for the future because I do not know what lies ahead with 3 boys shaving etc in the morning.

    Other thoughts....

    I hate pocket doors but one idea I keep thinking to get my husband to try is to install a different handle - most pocket doors have a recessed handle so the door can slide all the way in, I want to put a handle similar to a long drawer pull so the kids have something more substantial to pull on - the door won't slide 100% in only until the handle but I think that might work better with little kids.

    My little ones are LOVING the deep tub, there are lots of opinions on tub depth, some feel the tall walls might be difficult for kids - for me it was one of my best choices (I think it's 21") my boys love to play in it and my daughter loves to soak the night away.

    Rachel