I would go with option B simply because I would hate to have the toilet so "public". Another option would be to move the vanity down a few inches, move the shower to where the toilet is in option A and move the toilet to the far corner with a full wall between the toilet area and the vanity. I know this would work well because it was exactly the way the master bath was laid out in my first house.

Doggiemom-
Thanks for the response.
Your suggestion is how I how I was hoping to lay it out and how it was laid out originally, but that only works with a 5' tub and being 6' tall, they are just not comfortable for me.

Again, thanks for the feedback!

Just taking a quick look here--What if you flipped the vanity & tub in option B? Your pretty tub would be the first thing you see through the doorway & putting a wall between it and the toilet (like you have at the end of the sink run in your drawing)would give the toilet area some much needed privacy.

mydreamhome-
Thanks for the thought! I think I had looked at that set-up at one point and then forgot about it. I have sketched your recommendation out and I think it's a very promising option.

Thanks! rexroat

Your bathroom is long and narrow which is something we struggled with as well. Drawing something out on paper is fine and dandy but once you get it to scale, it can have all kinds of flaws. There are a couple of thoughts that come to mind when I see your proposed layout.

First, you might find that 34 inches for a shower is very tight. After you subtract the 3 inches on each wall for the Durarock & tile, you're only left with about 28 inches and that's not much elbow room at all. We were going to convert a bathtub space to a walk in shower and ran into this exact problem. We ended up bumping the wall back and stealing about 12 inches from our master to accommodate the actual space needed for a shower with adequate sizing.

Secondly, plumbing is pricey to begin with but moving a toilet is really expensive. So with that in mind, where is the toilet presently and can you provide a drawing of the way the bathroom is laid out now? Also, what are the dimensions of the room?

Thirdly, what are the most important things to you? Double sinks? The tub? The tub/shower combo? Is there anything you're willing to compromise to get what you use or want the most?

Wall space was another issue we struggled with. We finally hung one double towel bar for my DH to use, and I opted for hooks. This has worked out great for us.

lukkiirish-
Well, the back story on this bathroom is a little more detailed than I originally posted...the space you see is actually a newly expanded space (we are doing a whole house gut rehab) that was formerly a small master bath and a hall bath. There was a wall running horizontally about half way down the space.

The price for moving the plumbing is already in the contract since wherever we put things, they will be in a new location, so that's not really an issue.

The plan on the grid paper is 1 square = 6".
It's right at 8' wide. The right wall is 12'6" and the left wall is 8'0" to the door.
There is a window in the bottom left hand side.
Another factor is that directly to the left of the bath is a walk-in closet, so one can't see into the bath while laying in bed (which is why we were thinking we could live with plan "A").

Priorities:
-Separate tub (72" tub needed as we're both 6' tall and a 60" is not comfortable for us) and shower stall
-Double vanities
-Larger than 32x34" shower stall (our current shower size)

I have put a LOT of thought into this space but feel like there maybe some layouts I haven't thought of.
As you know, it is very challenging.

I came up with one layout where everything fit great and there were no issues (in the bathroom anyway), but it would have required moving the doorway up the left wall and it would have drastically reduced that storage space in the adjacent closet and really messed up the furniture layout in the bedroom.

Hi Rex,

Well...I know it's hard, our bathroom was 8 x 12 and like you, I spent months and months mulling things over to get it just so. I really don't envy you right now, but can assure you, it's worth the effort, we're so happy with our results.

Now while I have to agree that the layout in drawing B looks to have the most functionally and appeal, I'm still concerned about your shower width cause I really feel like it will be too tight. If you have some space somewhere where you can tape put the wall dimensions and then the interior dimensions (3 inches shorter to allow for dura rock and tiling) out on the floor, you might get a better idea of how much space you really need.

Have you considered going a tad smaller on the length of the double vanity and/or scooting the toilet down so you can open up the shower just a bit? I believe code varies depending on where you are but in our house, all of our toilets were installed to have a 14 inch space from the center of the toilet to the wall on each side, so you may be able to get more room by shortening the toilet area and/or going with a 60 inch vanity area instead.

lukkiirish-

The durock and tile are things I honestly hadn't thought whole lot about. The architect hadn't really mentioned much about the durock...is that in addition to the drywall -or- in place of it?

We can definitely shorten the toilet area. Would really prefer to keep vanity at 6' if at all possible.

When you say drawing B has the most function, do you mean the one I have labeled Option "B"? Or the third one I added that is not labeled?
Do you think we'd regret Option "A"? I tend to be overly concerned with symmetry but am trying to get over that. :)

Not concerning myself with additional space for construction needs was one of my biggest planning mistakes. As a result, my poor contractor had to back track a little for us to fix the problem and it cost us a little extra to bump the wall out. Of course to my defense it was my first remodel and I didn't have the benefit of an Architect. :c) I'm surprised your Architect has not brought up this issue though. We lost 3 inches on each wall which is a lot when the space is tight to begin with. Oh and don't forget your curb should be at least 4 inches wide; that eats up floor space too. The open space in our shower was going to end up at about 32 inches x 5.5 feet and now is just a tad over 4 x 4.5 because we moved a second wall and squared it out but it's perfect for us. Can show you pictures if you're interested.

It's been a year and a half since our job was done and I don't recall exactly what our contractor did. I think he used both, but some say you don't need both and that the durock will suffice. Check with the pros though cause I could be easily be wrong. You also have to consider the mortar and tile too. The durock will be 2 inches and the tile & mortar are another inch. Even though you don't think it will make a difference, it does! Tape it out on the floor, you'll see what I'm talking about.

I'm speaking of Option B. I think that is your best bet for a couple of reasons. First the vanities are what you see from the door, always the best view. Secondly, I would not want to have the door to open in front of the vanities; for functional reasons that's not a good idea. Also, when drying, water spots will get all over the front of the doors. That's an issue I have because our vanity is 93 inches long and half of my side is partially in front of the shower. I'm constantly having to wipe them down after DH takes a shower, grrrr. :c) Also, typically, you want to have a clear and short path from the tub to the shower so if someone is in the tub, they can move to the shower easily and not have to track across the room soaking wet.

Yeah, any pictures would be greatly appreciated!

I'll follow-up with our contractor regarding the makeup of the shower walls.
I thought maybe a 1/2" for the tile and mortar...beginners ignorance I suppose (our first project and we're tackling the whole tamale!).

Rex, we have been redoing a foreclosure house for almost 5 years now so I can relate to what you're experiencing. We had to bring this room down to the studs, we didn't want to change the foot print much and we didn't want a tub which helped to open up the space too.

Here's the before, it was a Jack & Jill bath with 2 doors, one to the hall the other to the master. We closed up the door to the hallway entirely:

View from master bedroom:

Now this is the view from the master:

Wall where door to hall was:

Shower right after tiling:

luckiirish-
Thanks for the photos...you were busy, it looks great!

And thank you for the info about the wall and tile dimensions...good to know!!

Rexroat,

Your depicted wall thickness of 4-1/2" is correct. This dimension is pre-tile. The studs are 3-1/2", with 1/2" of drywall on toilet side and 1/2" of Durock on shower side. You don't need drywall underneath the Durock. Your tile thickness would be a maximum of 1/2" on each wall, even with handmade tile. Are the walls enclosing the toilet full-height or half walls? Is the wall at the end of the tub (in your last drawing) a full wall or just the end of the tub platform? Code requires a minimum of 30" width of space for the toilet (15" each side of the centerline), which is tight in an enclosed toilet room. However, the walls in your last drawing only extend 30" or so, so you could reduce the space you have allotted and not really feel the pinch, imo. The 4" curb for the shower does not extend into the floor space of the shower, but is rather an extension of the side wall, so to speak. So you are not losing an extra 4" for the curb. An interior side-to-side dimension of 36" for the shower feels very spacious, especially if you plan on using a half-wall next to the toilet, with glass on the upper half.

It would really help if you could include the closet space next to the bathroom, to put it all in context. Probably the bedroom, also. Perhaps there really is a way to move the door and get the plan that you really want.

Catherine

Hi catbuilder-
Thanks for your response!

I am attaching a photo of the area in question. Sorry for the mess of the bath area...trying to figure it out. :)

We are planning on putting our bed on the left wall between the 2 windows and our low, wide dresser directly opposite it just to north of the doorway to the closet/bath.

Any suggestions are appreciated!
rexroat

Oh, forgot to answer questions regarding the walls...

The wall at the end of the tub is to be a ~30"H wall.

The wall between shower and toilet would be a pony wall and if we decided to put the vanities next to the shower, it would be a full wall so that we could put a recessed medicine cabinet in that wall.

Thanks! rexroat

Here's an updated layout.
I made some adjustments to the Option "B".

Sorry, I've got some ideas to show you, but I can't figure out how to attach them to the reply. The help page isn't any help. :(

catbuilder-
Are you trying to attach a photo?

If so, Photobucket makes it very easy...
just click on the HTML code bar on the right side of the page to copy it and then paste into the body of the reply.

I went to photobucket and opened an account, uploaded the files (they're .jpg). I see a bar that says html, but when I click on it, I can't copy the image. I want to post some sketches like you did.

OK, I think I have it figured out. I thought when I pasted, I would see the image, not a string of words and symbols! I can't tell you how many times I copied and pasted and deleted, and it was there all along.

So, here are some plans I came up with.

I don't know (do you even know yet?) what kind of tub you want, other than 6', so plan C1 shows a rectangular one. It doesn't have to be, though. There is a pony wall at the end of the tub, with glass above. The fittings can be mounted on this wall (if the tub is rectangular), or deck-mounted at either end. There is a seat/bench on the shower side of the wall. You could have a towel bar/hook on the pony wall outside of the shower door.

{{gwi:1396587}}

Plan C2 is almost the same, except the tub deck extends into the shower for the seat/bench, with a glass surround.

{{gwi:1396588}}

For both of these plans I would put drawers in the bottom of the cabinet next to the shower, and a pull-out (or 2) on top, much like spice pull-outs in kitchens. You could also have open shelves (or shelves behind doors), but you wouldn't be able to reach the back of the shelves very easily.

Plan C3 reverses the placement of the tub and shower. This is not as nice from a privacy standpoint, but has better access to towels after showering than does C2. Also, it depends what kind of climate you live in, if you would want the plumbing for the shower on an exterior wall. Even with insulation behind, I wouldn't do that where I live (it's way too cold and I've suffered through too many frozen pipes). You could have some type of shelving at the end of the tub, or just extend the deck platform.

{{gwi:1396589}}

Plan C4 moves the doorway. I realize you said that you don't want to do that, but from your plans it looks like the centerline of the window is about 10-1/2' from the bottom wall. Even an 8' dresser could still be centered on the bed (which is centered on the windows), with the door moved. You would have 2 smaller closets, but actually with the same amount of room. If you don't want to close the window in the closet, you could build in a set of drawers under it, depending on how high the window is. The shower wall next to the vanity is glass, to maximize your interior dimension.

{{gwi:1396590}}

In all cases, I would switch the bathroom door to swinging instead of a pocket door. You can then recess medicine cabinets (for plans 1,2,3) behind the sinks. It's also easier to open and shut swinging doors, and when you're in a hurry to make it to the bathroom, every second counts!

I also think you don't need any door on the closet itself, or even on the doorway to the bedroom itself, at the beginning of the hallway.

In all of the plans, the vanity is 60". Particularly for plans 1,2,3 that shouldn't feel too tight, since there are no walls at either end.

I hope some of these ideas help you.

Catbuilder-
Thanks so much for all the ideas!!!

They will give us a lot to think about this weekend.

I'm so glad you mastered the photo posting...I should have thought to mention the bit about it looking like jibberish in the follow-up box.

Again, thanks so much!! rexroat