Ideas for Where to Move First Floor Bathroom?

11 years ago

Hi everyone,

In the pursuit of eventually transforming our humble little cape code into our dream home, I am attempting to outline a detailed house plan that my husband and I can follow. I want to plan things so that we set reasonable goals, we can work through necessary and logical phases, and avoid making hasty, stop-gap changes in the meantime to "hold us over." I realized after talking to some great people in the kitchen forum that I was cannibalizing our efforts to create the home we want by always wanting to buy things to "hold us over." I am now seeing that, most of the time, living with what you currently have for longer, and saving more money for the things you REALLY want creates less waste and a more satisfying outcome... so I am trying to follow that mantra by planning ahead and taking the time to research and discover the things that I truly want to do with this house.

So, I am looking at our floorplan and I am stumped as to what to do with our kitchen/bathroom situation down the road, and I would love the advice of the smart and resourceful here in the small home forum :)

Our cape is pretty traditional. There are no hallways. On the second floor we have two bedrooms, and in between those bedrooms we have a full bath. On the bottom floor (attached) we have our dining room, a really long/beautiful/awkward sun room, a living room, a den/office/3rd bedroom, a kitchen, and a very (VERY) tiny half bath.

The half bath is great for function but I really hate the placement of it. The door opens into the kitchen, and even though I grew up in a house with that configuration, it has always bothered me. I hate having a toilet so close to where I prepare our food. Ideally, I would love to get rid of that bathroom, and eventually create a small pantry and an alcove there to place the fridge, and then run the countertop (where the fridge currently is) all the way to the wall. Removing that bathroom and putting the fridge/pantry there should buy me at least another foot of space, which would then give me the ability to put a double sliding door on the outside wall out to the deck, replacing the current steel door and small window.

The question is... where do I put that half bath??? I need it, but I have no idea where I could put it. Thoughts???

Here is a link that might be useful: House Layout

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Comments (4)

Shades_of_idaho
11 years ago
GADS that is a problem.

I can see how long and narrow the sun room is. Maybe rethink it. Put the bath and walk in closet in the office/ bedroom and turn the one half of the sun room into the bedroom / office. Would be nice to have a door to out side.

If you put the bath just on the other side of the wall from where it is now the plumbing is mostly in place. I think. You would end up with a hall of sorts. Make it a full bath and put the wall to just past the window edge and the rest walk in.

You do not have sizes in your plan so this might be way off base. But it would not need doors to be moved. Or any real structural changes other then interior walls.

If you want more wall space close the center corner living to sun room door off.In the picture the door above the fireplace. I would keep a door in the center support wall of the sun room into the bedroom / office. To keep from changing the flow of the house too much.

Would make a great guest suite or master for the time when you can not climb the stairs any longer if you plan to live there that long. And good for resale as many do not want to have to go upstairs for their master. I know I do not want to any longer.

Love the idea of turning the current half bath to pantry.

Hope this makes sense. I can see it but not great at explaining.
kirkhall
11 years ago
Do you have a basement? (ie, is under your stairs an option?)

Otherwise, I think I might move it to the right, make your den not a 2 door room, and turn one of your sun room areas into a functional den/office.
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TxMarti
11 years ago
I agree with shades if there is any way you can turn the back sun room into the bedroom/office. You could move your back door where the bathroom is now, and have the kitchen cabinets wrap 3 walls.
jakabedy
11 years ago
I like Shades' idea. But if moving plumbing is doable, you could even consider putting a full bath sort of behind the fireplace. It can have private access from the rear sunroom (now the main floor bedroom) and also have access from the front sunroom, which would now be a bit smaller.
That lets you spread out the kitchen, and the back central room can be whatever you want it to be.

I thought briefly about repurposing the dining room, so you could have a combined mudroom entry from the garage/bathroom/laundry, etc. in there, with perhaps office in that area. That would make the old den/office space into the dining room.