b

You've said it yourself, you would prefer a tub in the Master BR. But why sacrifice a good-sized shower if you've got the space? You'll be using that every day!

Wish i had your space. My preference is a tub and shower in Master, but we only have space for a large shower. Will have to do my occasional soaks in the main (but since it's only the two of us usually, not a big deal) With little ones, and space, definitely go for your own private bath!

But if I do the big tub and big shower, that will only leave us with a single sink and only about 2' of counter space (4' vanity total). Is a bath tub or more counter space more important?

Although this bath is for us, I think it is important to keep in mind resale because you never know what might happen.

I vote C.

My DH hates having to share a sink with me. I'm a product junkie, and my side is seriously cluttered.

a 6x3 tub is still huge. a 3x3 shower seems good. Option C seems to give you everything, just not one huge thing.

With the normal caveats that only you can decide the relative importance of the various accoutrements to you, I'll tell you where my preferences lie.

My personal priorities:
-decent sized shower (3x3 wouldn't cut it for me)
-double sinks
-tub (very close behind the double sinks, though)
-large vanity, or makeup area
I'd give them up in the reverse order. So I guess that means I'd vote for A, with B close behind.

Can you post your current floor plan? Perhaps we could help you come up with a way to get a larger shower in there without giving up too much sink.

If you share a bathroom, separate sinks is a must. Also, the reason I'm remodeling my bathroom right now is because I didn't put in a shower originally. When we built the house I took baths and didn't like showers. The smart thing would have been to have a shower, too. You don't have to use it, but if you ever want to, it's there! So if you can I'd say separate sinks and somehow or other a tub and a shower. Having things a little smaller is better than not having them at all!

Having showered for the last 6 years in a 3 x 3, I can attest that size gets the job done but is a bit cramped. Let me tell ya, our [other bath reno] shower is going to feel luxurious at 36 x 42!

So I vote for keeping a bigger shower in there -- 6 x 3 would be great but even dropping down to 4 x 3 and squeezing in a 2" vanity is better than the 3 x 3.

Honestly, one of my pet peeves is seeing stuff "out" on vanities etc. If it ain't soap or a toothbrush, I don't want to see it, ha. I'm sure if you allow plenty of room via separate medicine cabs plus narrow and/or shallow floor-to-ceiling storage or racks for towels you'll be fine for resale.

So for separate sinks: 3' vanity + 2' vanity + 3 x 4 shower + tub + separate medicine cabs + extra storage.

My preference would be your "B" (4' sink vanity, a 6' tub and a 6' shower) as long as you allowed for 2 med cabs -- perhaps one perpendicular if it works with layout? -- but then I have the same makeup over sink/1 at at time getting ready situation here.

Interesting, vix. I might be able to fit a 36'' wide by 42'' deep shower, leaving room for the 3' vanity. I'm afraid a 2' vanity would not leave enough room to stand between the sink and the tub.

In every house we've been in, I've always had a larger shower (apartments were tub/shower combos, first house we chose the shower over a small shower and separate tub, second house had both, and now we have the current place with the converted shower stall where the tub used to be) so I am worried that anything smaller than a 3X5 space will feel might cramped.

OTOH, I am definitely concerned that we will have a severe shortage of storage without the 6' vanity cabinet that houses the second sink now (I may not put my makeup on over that sink, but I certainly seem to store a lot in there).

The annoying thing about this is that there is this stupid 4'X 2 1/2' bump in that exists for no apparent reason except to steal the space that would make it possible to have the two vanities AND a 5' tub and a 6' shower. But changing that would require reframing that corner of the house (and possibly foundation work?) and trying to match board and batten siding from 1964. GRRR.

sr, get creative :) i didn't have room for a nornal tub either so i put in an americh bevely 40x40 japanese soaking tub. this left room for a five by 3.5 shower a five foot vanity and a 33" vanity for dh.

{{gwi:1447561}}
its not grouted yet but you get the idea.

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It's really interesting to read the replies. Every one seems a little different. Which frankly says a lot about remodeling with resale in mind. Look, you are already changing what the previous owner did. It's very likely that the next owner of your house will also have different preferences. My vote is to design the bathroom exactly how YOU like it.

FWIW, here's what I would want (and it's what I'm putting in):
1. 4x6 shower (and no tub). DH and I take baths maybe once or twice a year, but we love our showers. To me, a spacious shower is the ultimate luxury.
2. 6' vanity--I want that counter space, and also the drawers below.
3. only one sink--preserves counter space, and there's one less sink to clean! (In a previous house we had two sinks, and I found one basically just collected dust. DH and I rarely need to use the sink at the same time, and when we do, it's not that hard to wait 2 mins for a turn.)
4. lots of open space, so there's not as much storage as some might prefer. But it's what I like! The next owner has room to put in a linen closet if they want storage.

We are nearing the end of a master bath remodel and we faced similar choices. The right decision really varies so much from person to person. We started with a long vanity with two sinks, a 4 X 3 shower, and a huge two person whirlpool tub. We considered a number of different configurations to get a larger shower including eliminating a tub entirely. In the end we chose to keep basically the same layout only we are going with a narrower heated soaking tub this time. I just wasn't willing to give up a tub or to lose one of the sinks even to have more shower space.

I like Igloo's set up there; I forgot that you have other tubs in the house for bathing kids -- a MB soaking tub would be a natural in your house.

Can you post a visual or "verbal" floorplan? I admit I got confused as to what space was available where!

If you plan on selling the house in a year or so, go with the tub. If you plan to be there for a while, go with the shower. I haven't taken a bath in probably 15 years, we both prefer showers, so it was a no-brainer when we designed our new house and chose a large shower plus a huge bathroom "pantry" over a tiny shower, huge tub and no closet (they would put one small cabinet over the toilet).

We have double sinks and a seperate toilet room which we did add a small cabinet over on our own for extra toilet paper.

Go with what YOU want unless this is an investment property; too many people refuse to paint or decorate they way they want because of resale value. Remember, this is YOUR home, put in what you really want!

Such a common dilemma! I have to laugh that only one other poster (mmme) is a one-sinker. I don't want DH in the bathroom with me, so one sink is enough!

In our current tiny 50s bathroom, we replaced the awful 80s remodel vanity with a wallmount sink--so there's NO counter space--and certainly no room for two sinks!! We replaced the huge wall mirror with a medicine cabinet, and recently added an Ikea wall cabinet to hold tp, cleaners, etc., so storage is not much of an issue.

Now that our kitchen is complete and the guest house is nearing completion (painting now, flooring next), we are looking at the bathrooms with an increasingly critical eye.

The MB has a tub-shower combo in a 53" x 28" space. I'm seriously thinking that we need to replace the tub with a shower-only area, using glass doors to open the space. Even if we could find another tiny tub, I'm not sure we could maneuver it into the space. We'd certainly have to gut the bathroom first, which is an option.

While house hunting 2 years ago, we saw only one house with a shower-only master bath. It had recently been remodeled and looked fab. It is a scary thing to do though, given re-sale....

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Sorry I've been late getting back here, but we have been at the hospital with our 1 yr old since Saturday. Finally got a chance to go home and shower, eat, etc., so I thought I'd check in here. Here is the current floorplan, if that helps.

{{gwi:1447566}}

I would not be trying so hard to fit a tub here if there were another location in the house suitable for the occasional adult soak. While we have 3 bathrooms, our only tub is in the kids' almost jack-and-jill bathroom on the third level of the house. The guest bath has a small shower and our only exterior door with garage and garbage can access, which would have to be eliminated to fit a tub.

Since there is a lot of floor space in the master bath, it seems like there should be a way to fit everything in without a huge sacrifice, but the problem is that goofy corner bump in at the shower/vanity end.

I'm open to solutions.

SR whats going on with our little darling??? pop me out an email...you have me worried!

now quickly...on that layout...here's a crazy idea i just thought of. can youmove the toilet where the small vanity is..

move the door to the space where the little closet is..

set a 40x40 beverly where the toilet is and make the shower a frameless glass on the outside...

then do a nice sized trough sink on the vanity (with two faucets) and frame that in like i have my big vanity?

i'd try to draw it out...but i have to get ds to the theripist and then take me to the doctors...cuz ummm well we had a boo boo and LOL I'm pregnant :)

Preggers?! WOW! That's fantastic. I've heard that often happens once you start down the adoption path. No more falling off ladders. Heck, just stay off ladders altogether. ;)

Am thinking about your ideas, but not sure about moving the toilet. We're over a crawl space, but one of my requirements for this remodel is a completely separate W/C. Since this room is off of the kitchen and living room, it frequently gets treated as the powder for that side of the house. Was hoping to recess a teeny tiny wall mount sink in the WC like this and have an entrance to the W/C area from the small closet.

The smaller vanity is 4' wide.

BTW -- that strange bump in between the vanities is the fireplace chimney from the living room, so that wall can't contain plumbing or electrical.

Igloo-- I posted re DS on the conversations board in case anyone needs to know about Kawasaki Disease.

What about losing the small closet and shifting the pocket door towards the toilet room. Then put a corner tub in where the short vanity is, and add a sink to the long vanity.

Thanks, everyone! I had an idea that might work, but I need to try to draw it out tonight (assuming I get to sleep at home tonight). If I get a chance, I'll post for critiques.

Here's my idea (sort of -- still learning the software so it's not an exact representation). Using this tub as either a drop in or undermount, which is 50'' long and 34'' deep at its widest part, put the tub in the part of the long vanity area sideways, continuing the deck back into the shower to create a seat in the shower, with the shower partially behind the tub. The deck on the side that would be next to the vanity would also be squared, giving a triangular deck area for storing towels, soaps, and what nots.

Here's the tub:
{{gwi:1447569}}

We would then eliminate the small closet and move the doorway for the toilet room down to make room for a 4' deep shower. That would leave room for a 3' vanity and a separate 4' vanity.

Here it is in graphic form (sort of).

{{gwi:1447571}}

What do you think?

I have that same sink you posted in my teeny-tiny powder room. Love it! It is so cute...

It seems tight & awkward moving around the tub. If you really want both a tub and shower, I would give up the second vanity.

My only other suggestion is to turn the toilet closet 90 degrees - and turn the toilet =) Then put the door to the toilet on the top of the right side. Then, add another vertical retangle of space to the right of your toilet closet with the entrance to the bathroom on the right side (of the new space) and lower half. Then, reconsider that soaking tub idea and place it in the alcove where the right-side vanity is now. The put a double vanity in the alcove at the bottom of the drawing. This eats up about 3 x 5 feet of your bedroom real estate.

Good luck!

Jenn

Agree that seems rather awkward (sorry!).

Let me ask you/the thread a someone indelicate question to do with separating the toilet.

Is it really necessary? Now this comes from someone who grew up in an old house and lives in an old house, so this whole dual-vanity thing is not in my bones. BUT my friends in newer homes tend to have the master's toilet and tub separate from the double vanity/closet area (thus in a larger room, thus more privacy).

I just don't find it very relaxing to do any "serious" business with someone tromping around other other side of the door IYKWIM. And vice versa, frankly -- just makes me feel like I'm in a public restroom.

I'm all for intimacy, but I guess I prefer more separation of church and state, ha. And if my partner were readying him/herself in the master when I needed to evacuate AND I had the luxury of other toilets in the house, well...I'd take a field trip.

Thought I'd ask, because if you integrate the toilet into the room and limit the togetherness to vanity use/bathing time you really open up your space planning options.

Well, phooey. I taped it out in the bathroom with blue tape last night and it looked like it would fit, but with too many nos, I'm back to the drawing board.

Interesting thought, Vix. Right now we don't actually have a toilet room, so much as a separate toilet "area" (there's no door, and the closet takes up too much room to add a door), but it's on my agenda to create one. In our house, it's very necessary. I generally use that bathroom to try to FIND privacy, only to have 3 people (and sometimes the dog) follow me into the bathroom. I'm looking forward to having a door that locks and a fan so that I don't have two little people handing me the TP and asking whether I'm doing number 1 or 2 (oh, and the 1 year old likes to flush while I'm ON the pot; so I've got my own special cold water washlet), while DH decides that he absolutely has to shave and brush his teeth at that exact moment. Now if I take a hike to the guest bath on the other side of the house, all three just follow me AGAIN. Sometimes when I have insisted on locking the door in the guest bath (no way to do that with our LOUVERED -- why??? -- pocket door in the master), my one year old plopped down prostrate outside the door and cried until I open the door. For my W/C, I want to put in a LOUD fan; no whisper quiet for me. Maybe I'll even add a radio. :)

The way I'm seeing it, I can either get rid of the long vanity altogether and live with a fairly small vanity, plus a tub and shower, I can skip the tub and live with the kids' bathroom on the third level as the only room with a tub, or we can bump out that weird corner jog, which would give us an additional 49'' X 27'' space -- enough to fit a 5X3 tub, 5X3 shower and keep the two vanities. But that sounds very expensive and will require carefully removing and replacing the siding to match the existing.

DH's response to all this was "why do we need a tub?"

sarschlos remodeler, your post made me laugh! I can totally sympathize with your situation--I am there too.

Whenever anyone asks what I am most looking forward to in my newly remodeled house, I say PRIVACY! Our old house did not have a real door on the bathroom, and our bedroom doubled as the playroom during the day. All the granite, imported tile, and special features pale in comparison to the luxury of having a door that LOCKS for our new master bath! Not that my kids will let me use it, but I think I can keep their friends out during playdates. :-)

"but I think I can keep their friends out during playdates"

OMG! That IS my life. mmme-- would you skip the tub even if the ONLY tub is the one in the kids' jack-and-jill? Not exactly the bathroom I would seek out for a quiet soak, IYKWIM.

mmme- I am so with you on the single sink! we are about to remodel and currently we have a 36x42 shower and 42" vanity and hate it. The shower seems small, especially to my 6"4" husband and the vanity gets fought over when we try to get ready, but it is more about elbow room and mirror use, not the sink. In our remodel we are stealing a hall closet, putting the toilet in the old shower alcove and gaining a 3x5 shower and 69" vanity. We have been debating on the two sink question for resale since there would be enough room for two small bowls, but we feel one sink would meet our needs better. Then I can have my make-up and get ready area and he can have the sink. Also, we never take baths so a larger shower seems like the best use of space for us. having to move the plumbing to move the shower, toilet, etc. I think we decided to save money and just put the one sink in and gain more storage. Has anyone found a drawback to only one sink for resale? I really think it all comes down to what you want though. In the first posting it seemed like you had it all right there-(b) because you stated you want a tub if possible and you and husband don't get ready at same time so you really only need one work station, or (c) if you want two work stations you stated you like a sink to work over. For me and my hubby-we need more space to get ready and a larger shower-we never even thought of trying to incorporate a tub. Good Luck