The thing that's always concerned me about a set up like that is that I'd worry about humidity from the bathroom somehow doing a number on the clothes closet. But I guess so long as you're careful to have sufficient ventilation, you should be fine.

While I've never lived with either set-up, so I'm not speaking from experience, my first thought is that you're less likely to be intruding on someone's privacy or just getting in someone's way (assuming you don't live alone) if you have to go through the closet to get to the bathroom, rather than the other way around. Different bathrooms have different set-ups and different people have different levels of comfort, but I don't really want to have to interrupt someone having, umm, a private moment on the commode (or be the one getting interrupted) so someone can go get a pair of pants.

I hope I never have another house where the master closet *doesn't* open into the bathroom. You shower, you dry off, you walk into the closet to get dressed. It's how most of the houses in our area are laid out. I love it.
The one requirement is that this presumes that the toilet is somehow screened or in a little "water closet" enclosure. Most other bathroom activities (make-up, hair, toothbrushing, showering, taking a bubble bath) I can do in front of my husband if he needs to come through and get clean clothes.

We walk through a short "hall" to get from the bedroom to the master bath. On each side of the hall are pocket doors leading to his and hers small walk-in-closets. I like it a lot. if the hall were on one side, and it was just one big closet, it would be basically the same thing. I DO like having the doors there to close off the closets when I want to, though. I don't think I'd like walking through the actual closet... I like being able to close off the mess if need be.

I would HATE walking through a closet to get to the masterbath, but our closets are off the masterbath like terriks, and I love it too.. works great!

Our walk-through closet is working very well for us. When we laid out the space, we had the choice of either walking through the bathroom or walking through the closet. We chose the closet for privacy and are glad we did.

Jay

We have our closet off the master bath and really like this set up.

i agree, i loved the house we had that had the walk in closets in the master bath!!! so nice and convenient!

but, we walked into the master bath and there were 2 doors into the closets. i wouldn't want to walk through my closet to get to bath though...

I was told by my RE agent that walking through a closet to get to a bath is a negative for resale. Better to have a hall and doors or have the bath first.

Better to have a hall and doors or have the bath first.

But only if the toilet is in a separate room!

I wouldn't want to walk past someone um...

We had to walk thru the bathroom to get to the closet. We didn`t like it. It even had a very small seperate toilet area which made me feel phobic in such a small space. I would rather have a seperate closet elsewhere in the bedroom. When I am in the bathroom doing whatever, I don`t want my husband trying to get through to get clothes. I have seen where there is a small hall first before the bathroom where there are doors left and right for his and hers. This seemed alot better to me.

Jolsongoude, so sorry to see from your picture above that you got a great closet but had only enough money left for five shirts to hang in there! ;)

-- Eric

Eric -

LOL! Unfortunately, it's just a weekend house for now - we have lots more clothes in town...

Jay

Thanks for all your input and layouts - very helpful. I didn't even think about the privacy issue - like I said, I'm in the idea stage!

We may be able to have separate entrances to closet/bathroom. I'm going to have to draw up a layout of what the space is now with complete measurements, then make little paper cutouts of sinks, toilet, closets and play for a bit.

The hallway with his and hers closets on either side leading to the bathroom appeals to me.

I forgot to mention that I absolutely LOVE not having to re-enter the bedroom after showering to get to the closet. In the morning, whichever one of us wakes up first doesn't disturb the other. We can just get up, go into the bathroom area, shower, get dressed, etc. without having to re-enter the bedroom and waking up our sleeping spouse. We even have an ironing board in the closet for last minute touch ups.

Another of those cases where you really have to evaluate what's important to you. We are just finishing the design phase of a new home and I knew that I didn't want to go through the closet to get to the bathroom. But neither did I want to go all the way through the bathroom to get to the closet.

The door to the closet could either be next to the bathroom entrance or just within it but not on the far side of the bathroom. It took some doing but we came up with a design. I like laying out clothes on the bed (esp when figuring out what to pack) and so easy access to the bedroom from the closet was something that I wanted.

In the end our design has a small "anteroom" or hallway that links the bathroom and closet. Go straight and you're in the closet, left turn and you're in the bathroom. You can get to the closet without reentering the bedroom proper and I don't have to go through the bathroom when I want to change shoes, take off some jewelry or put away laundry. Plus easy access to the bed when I'm packing a suitcase!

There are plenty of homes that have either of the designs you described. A famous house with closet leading to the bathroom is Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in SATC. :-) It is certainly not a design faux pas to have either one.

A deciding factor could be whether you have any delicate clothes that are sensitive to the steam coming from the shower. In this case, you might be ok making the doors to the closet airtight and close them during morning times etc.

If I were to choose between the two, my decision would be based on where I want my windows to be. Typically, bathrooms/tub areas and toilets have windows therefore you can place the bathroom where you can easily have the windows.

If interested, post layout(s) to this site so people can review and provide suggestions.

My bathroom is first, attached to the master closet. Although I don't have a private toilet area it works fine for us. I always get up earlier than my husband. Since you are in the designing stages I would recommend trying to work in a window somewhere within your closet. We have one at the end of ours and it is wonderful to be able to air out the space from time to time. It also helps to take care of excessive steam from the shower.

We have two closets in our masterbath and it works well. I would not want to walk through a closet to get to a bathroom. The idea of having a walkway with closets off it works but you get much less closet space this way.

There are 3 windows in the space in question - 2 are long vertical windows and one is your average horizontal window. The windows and the fact the home is a mid-century post-and-beam with a pitched roof/ceiling makes the redesign more of a challenge too (where/how to install exhaust fan?)

It's like a puzzle. We are willing to move/get rid of windows, but that will be $$$, so we will first try to work around the windows we have.

Maybe I can get DH to measure and draw the layout to scale this weekend.

One interesting add: the original layout had a laundry chute to the laundry room downstairs, the chute was originally in a dressing area and is now in the bedroom, but could be opened back up. We have the original floorplan of the home, which is cool.

I saw a few apartments with that set-up and liked it. However, when was remodeling my apartment, I decided to put walking space between my master closet and bathroom for 3 reasons:

1) I am going to be explicit here - I did not want the smells to enter the master closet.

2) You can enter the closet only if someone is not using the bathroom which may not work in the mornings if you both have to rush to work.

3) If guests (ahem... in-laws) are talking in your room and need to use the bathroom, they have to go through your closet, and if your MIL is as nosy as mine, she sure will do a quick browse through clothes and talk about it afterwards. So yeah I have a big lock on my master closet (lol). A friend of mine pointed this out, and her SIL and MIL sit in their room and talk sometimes especially if the kids are in their master bedroom.

In our new house we have to walk through the closet to get to the bathroom and I never knew how much I'd love it! Now, granted, we have sliding soji-screenb doors on the closet to cover my messiness, so it's really more of a hallway.
I love it because my hubby has to get up WAY earlier than me and I no longer hear him showering or toilets flushing/sinks running. The closet acts like a sound barrier.
Those extra couple hours of sleep are golden. :)

I like my set-up. In my master suite, when I leave my master bedroom I have a short hallway, on the right is the smaller walk-in closet, then next is the toilet room on the right. Then I pass into the bathroom with vanity, tub and shower. Then there are double doors at the end leading to the large walk-in closet.

If I was married, I would take the big closet and leave the little one for the hubby. However I am divorced and live by myself, so I use the little closet and have turned the large closet into the "Victorian Vampire Vault" it is a room that I still need to decorate, but houses my large collection of dishes and will also serve as my craft's room with my sewing machine, etc. I like having this room location as it is set up in the suite. This is not a frequently used room, so it works well. Probably won't get to decorate it for a couple of years, but it will be gothic in there...LOL.

Venting to avoid moisture is critical and I always run my vent during a shower and for a time after wards too, and do not have any moisture problems. Good thing for you to be planning ahead, best of luck to you.

My opinion
1. Walk through closet to bathroom - Absolute no.
2. Walk through bathroom to closet (no other access to closet) - tolerable
3. Closet accessed from bathroom and from bedroom (with sliding doors to close off moisture) - BEST

So Vampiress, that would be your, um, "Woman Cave" bwah-ha-ha!

Our new master, which is returning somewhat to the original layout is basically a 50x20 bowling alley with a small sitting room off to the side in addition to the bowling alley. You will enter the sitting area first, then through a wide door way you are in the master bedroom. One side is the wall between the stair/hallway and the other rooms, so no windows. The other side has three windows on it (long wall) and in front it's mostly windows (in the bedroom area). I'm putting in a hall from the sleeping area on the outside wall with windows. On one side will be double doors which enter the closet on the left of the hall opposite the windows. The closet will be a big square box with closet on three sides (u shaped) and a small stackable laundry unit. Down the hall you will then progress to the toilet room and the master bath. On the tail end there will be another exit from the bathroom into the linen hall which exits to the stairs so you can leave from both ends of the suite.

I once had a hall that was closets on both sides and found it closterphobic I ended up hanging curtains to hide the stuff but still it wasn't ideal. I would want the doors either to a walk in room or even closets, but doors to hide them while traveling in the space.

I love walking *past* the closet to get to the bathroom. As has been said, the closet acts as a sound barrier, insulating a sleeper from an early-riser or night-owl. Plus, I like having the closets between the bedroom (undress at night), and bathroom (dress in morning).

But its also important to me that I not walk past a big ol' wall of hanging clothes -- which just *never* look nice after the photo shoot... If I'd have to walk through the center of a closet, I'd insist on doors, screens, or curtains to keep it neater-looking.

I like this arrangement for several reasons. The closet is generally where you want to head after leaving the shower or tub to put on new clothes, and it isolates the bathroom from the bedroom.

PIctures/plans please!

I realize this is an old thread, but since pictures were requested... This is my plan. I have been ripped to shreds over it on GW. But I like it. I can't fathom walking through the bathroom to get to my clothes.

If you put the closet inside the bath, you need 2 doors in your bathroom. So you need to make the bathroom bigger in order to fit in all the various pieces. You can make the closet the same size and have 2 doors just by losing a couple of feet of storage. I'd rather than than have to decide what to cut out of the bathroom. And in this design, the reasons people give about not wanting the closet first don't apply.

I have a set up whereby i have to walk through my closet to get to the bathroom... and i loved it until now... i have a domestic helper who actually stole from my closet as u have to walk through it to get to bathroom. Therefore if she is cleaning my bathroom, she has access to my closet....has anyone else experienced this?

I've never had a closet that locked. And it would be hard, regardless of layout, to not give your housekeeper access to the whole house. So if she's stealing, the closet layout is the least of your problems.

I was thinking that if you had to go through the bathroom to get to the closet than the closet door could stay locked and she could clean the rest of the house without having access to my closet...

I would fire someone who was stealing from me!

But if you just locked the closet, what's to stop her from stealing stuff from the kitchen? If she's stealing, she's stealing. It has nothing to do with the fact that she has access to the closet.

Our master suite is one long rectangle. MBR-Closets-MBA.

The entry to the bedroom is at the inside corner of the room. Walk halfway along the short wall and turn right into a hallway which is flanked by closets, each with a pocket door (seldom closed). There is no door at the bedroom end of the hall. There is a door at the bathroom end.

A sleeper doesn't hear the partner's 2 a.m. visit to the toilet. No one using a sink, tub or shower is treated to a partner walking through to a closet, accompanied by a draft. Clothing stays free of moisture. Bedroom and bath have at least two walls with windows.

I fired her already just trying to learn from my mistakes now with a new domestic....thats true but things like bags and jewelery is easier to steal and she would be more intrested in stealing that....i had one locked drawer in my closet where i would keep my jewelry and abit of cash...

if you feel like the locked drawer is not enough of a deterrent for your housecleaner, i guess you could put something like a nanny cam in your closet... or get a lock for your closet door and just clean your master bath yourself...

hire your new help carefully!

Another here who walks through closet to get to bath. There are pocket doors on either side of the closet. We made a particular effort to have a small house, and efficiencies invariably lead to compromises, such as not having extraneous space for door swings. The closet has drawers and cubbies on one side and two stacked rods for hanging clothes on the other. I don't see why it should be a mess as everything has a designated place. Plus we have quite a few built-in drawers in the bedroom itself. It certainly isn't for everyone, but neither is anything else about our house!

I have a small older house. I plan to keep the layout in which you enter master bath thru closet. But bathroom has a separate door, and this will allow a much better use of space. I do have a separate guest bath off living room.