Help with a new powder room layout

11 years ago

We're turning our breakfast nook into a powder room and are coming across some layout issues with code! I've attached a picture of the nook with our tentative plan taped out. Ignore the random stickers + craft stuff, that's just how we roll here.

Things to know:

- To the left is the kitchen--we're hoping to create a shallow built-in pantry into the framed bathroom, which is the jig-jog along the bottom left area. This will line up with a pantry just on the other side of the door in the kitchen. I love this. I want to keep it.

- Because of plumbing/venting, the sink pretty much has to be on the left; the toilet, on the right. We need 30" of space behind the toilet and about 20" in front.

-It would be easiest to have the sink pipes come straight up from the small taped-off area with 3 dots.

- the approximate measurements are about 7' on the bottom, 6' on the top (this is an exterior wall with windows), and a rounded 46(ish)" on the left (really more like 38" once we include the pantry), with a rounded 43" on the right. Nothing in this house is straight or even.

Issues:

- My husband doesn't want the door to be right in the middle because it wouldn't be "symmetrical" with the hallway door that leads to this area, but I'm having a hard time figuring out a way around having it in the middle. There is also a door to the basement just off the lower right hand side of the picture.

My thoughts/questions:

- What's the smallest comfortable door? Our contractor thinks we could go down to a 26" door to widen the amount of wall for the toilet.

-Right now a corner toilet is taped in--I was thinking an in-wall toilet against the "new" wall might be even better? Thoughts on corner vs. in-wall?

- We'll probably build a custom vanity for the sink (you can see it taped off on the left side, it's gonna be a super weird shape), putting a small radiator in the vanity. We will need an EENY WEENY sink. Like I don't even know how small sinks get but whatever the smallest sink is, we'll need one of those.

Are there ANY other configurations we could do? We're going to sit down this weekend and really think about whether there are any other options, but we keep getting stuck. I was hoping some new sets of eyes could help us out!

Thanks for any suggestions. :)

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Comments (9)

hemera
11 years ago
A sketch with your layout and dimensions would be a lot easier to understand. You lost me when you said you need 30" behind the toilet, and then I gave up when you said 46" rounded is really 38".
palimpsest
11 years ago
Why can't the toilet go back by the radiator?
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I like the idea of separating the vanities. Even if space weren't an issue, I'd prefer one long vanity. I think one looks neater, less cluttered. Of course, that's pure opinion -- no logic behind it. Toilet. I'll keep playing to try to get 42" width for the water closet. And yes. He is showing INSIDE measurements. I'm 100% sure of the right answer here: Verify, verify, verify. How many times have we read threads on this site saying, "But I was so sure ____, and now _____!" Privacy on the toilet is something I highly desire for a variety of reasons. I wouldn't want a bunch of snickering kids waiting outside the door to the shared toilet while I, the MOM, was using it. I also don't want nosey kids trying to take a peek inside my bathroom and heaven forbid, what if you forgot to lock one of the doors....lol!! I consider my bedroom and bathroom my sanctuary/safe haven and I don't want intruders. There's room for both toilets in the OP's plan and with a new build, a separate toilet for the master bathroom is not something she should sacrifice on. You and I think completely differently. I'd label you the Idealist and me the Practical One. My thoughts on the above: - At a certain season of your life, those snickering kids are going to be waiting outside the bathroom door. Period. Whether you have a second toilet-closet door or not, they're strongly motivated to be near you (and is that bad?). Even if you don't actively hear them, your mind is always thinking, "Where are they? What are they doing?" A door may place the kids in a different spot, but the bottom line won't change. - I can see a lovely bathtub as a sanctuary: your own private spot, space for candles, music, your bath products, a place for you to relax after the kids are tucked away in bed. But a toilet? Especially a toilet in a dark closet? I see nothing but function. No safe haven, no tranquility, no restful moment away from the day -- just a 2-minute necessary function. - The real barrier to a bathroom should be politeness, not an actual lock. I mean, whether the door's locked or not, kids should be taught to knock and wait before entering. Consider, too, the "cost" of this toilet-closet sanctuary: More to build, more each week to clean, more bathrooms to which you must shuffle toilet paper and other goods. The more you build, the more you have to deal with on a daily basis; to a point, more is worthwhile, but where does more become tedious instead of helpful? All of the walls and doors and toilets take up too much space!! Agree. And those walls /doors /toilets create more-more-more to clean each week. Definitely go to a showroom and sit in a tub that is 72 and a tub 66 inches. That extra 6 inches is too much for me. I like to read and soak, so if you are just totally laying down, 72 inches would work. Yes, try out tub sizes for yourself. I'm very short, and I also like to read in the tub. I remember one tub (in a vacation condo) that was oversized, and it felt uncomfortable ... I couldn't relax, or I'd "slip down". Since I occasionally fall asleep in the tub, this wouldn't be a very good thing. You will feel tighter in an enclosed space that is 30" wide, than you currently feel with just the knee wall. You can easily accommodate a wider space, even 42" if you move the linen storage elsewhere, and if the wall jog behind the door is eliminated. Common sense!
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Would suggest eliminating the small closet, centering the toilet on the wall it's currently shown on, install the vanity on the opposite wall and flip the door into the powder room so that the first thing you see when you open the door is the toilet. You can install cabinetry above the toilet for storage. Good luck!
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williamsem
11 years ago
I've never used one, but this seems like a great place for a toilet with a sink integrated into the top if the tank. Google it. I'm not making this up, they look pretty neat!

If you're interested, I bet you can get some feedback over at the Terry Love forum. If anyone knows how they function, it would be those guys!
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
I would go with a small pedestal sink instead of a vanity...takes up much less room.
jojo123456789
11 years ago
I agree on the pedestal sink. If you need storage I would look into recessed medicine cabinets or their was a cool thing I found online that's a medicine cabinet but Instead of a mirror lets you put a picture...so it ends up looking like a great pic on wall. You could also put a niche on wall somewhere for storage if you need. Can that radiator be recessed Into wall?
jojo123456789
11 years ago
Also we have space issues and all our bathroom doors are 24" and it's fine! In act the house I grew up in they are all 24". I also wouldn't care about centering with other doors. I would put door in place that gives you most space In The bathroom

This post was edited by jojo123456789 on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 23:51
aannneeee
Original Author
11 years ago
Once we sketch out the floorplan today I'll post it--I know this wasn't the most helpful picture!

We originally wanted a pedestal sink, (we hardly need storage in there) but our contractor suggested a vanity so the pipes/venting could be hidden, since it's a weird spot. I'm going to ask him if we can put a pedestal right against the back of the pantry--so your back would be to the windows when you're using it.... a pedestal would certainly make the room feel bigger! I'm just afraid that vanity is going to end up looking awkward. We replaced an old vanity with a pedestal in another bathroom and it made the whole bathroom feel so much bigger and nicer.

palimpset--we're trying to not put any plumbing against that wall since it's an exterior wall and it gets cold here. Plus the way this room is, around where the curves happen it bumps out from the main footprint of the house, so it wouldn't be an easy access to put the drain pipe. :( Thanks for the thought, though...it'd certainly be easier!

jojo, we're going to get a MUCH smaller radiator and try to move it to a less obtrusive spot--a radiator that size in such a little space would be overkill!!!

williamsem, you just BLEW MY MIND with those toilets. Amazing!!! My only worry with them would be that we have a toddler and my increasingly-aging parents who visit frequently...I can't imagine that would be a very easy sink to use for someone with limited mobility? I wish I had known about these before, though... we had originally wanted to put the bathroom into a coat closet and just could NOT figure out how to make it work!

Thanks, all!
jojo123456789
11 years ago
I would not like the toilet with sink as part of it...cool idea but something too close for comfort and u sanitary about that...especially with little ones. They also make really cool corner vanities!! Check it out...or you could get a furniture style vanity (check out strasser) and the. It has legs and gives the illusion of open space with storage, hidden pipes...
chibimimi
11 years ago
Just an idea ... If you move the door all the way to the left, then slide the pantry to the right, you could get in a lot more pantry. Then put the vanity across the back wall. The sink would be on the left, plumbed through the left-hand wall (your contractor will hate me). The radiator could go to its right along the upper wall. The toilet would go against the right-hand wall, facing toward the left-hand wall.

This would give you a larger pantry, your husband's off-center door, and a toilet with plenty of space in front of it.

Help with a new powder room layout

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hemera

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