I guess some people like them. We have one, and we hate it for the very reasons you mention. Our new house will not have one.

I think there are a couple of primary reasons they exist.

1. It eliminates an opening in the bedroom wall, which means more wall space for furniture placement.

2. It allows the designer to place the closet on the other side of the master bath, further away from the MBR, which may be space that is more "available."

You are getting it.
I vote for WIC off the masterbedroom.
I do not like WIC inside the bathroom for the reasons you stated, specially the moisture, even if you have a door.

I agree with you, Rusty. Maybe, if I lived alone, this would be sort of OK, but I access my closet more often than I do the master bath. I wouldn't want to bathing and have DH breezing through, to and from the closet. I certainly wouldn't want this setup if there were no separate toilet room.

At our house there's a short hallway from the middle of one end of the MBR to the middle of the bathroom. On each side of the hallway is a walk-in closet with a pocket door. There's no door at the MBR end and a french door on the bathroom.

I have one. It doesn't bother me in the least.

Moisture has not been a problem.

We have a separate toilet room so no inconveniences there.

It was the most efficient use of space for our plan. In the end, that plus having one less door in the master bedroom make it work for us.

I wouldn't consider it a major discriminating factor in a plan, but we all have opinions. That's why don't all live in the same house.

I'm one of the lone people on here who actually prefer it that way. Whenever someone posts a floorplan and others say they don't like it, I wonder why? We love that kind of set up and have had it in nearly every house. We've never had issues with moisture either. I like that dh can close the bathroom door and get ready without disturbing me. We lived in a rental while this one was being built where he we had to keep walking back and forth through the bedroom to get dressed. HATED it!

I get ready before DH gets up - being able to access the closet from the MB minimizes the likelihood of waking him up. For the moisture, we are installing a good fan which will run for an extra 30 minutes on a timer.

I was just thinking it can be a hassle to go through the bath every time you want to get something from the closet.

Rusty

Wouldn't closets between MBR and bath be quieter than the reverse?

I was just thinking it can be a hassle to go through the bath every time you want to get something from the closet

Not at all. I think it's all of 3-4 steps. Besides, I am usually not getting things out of my closet unless I'm getting dressed (or undressed) and would be needing my bathroom at the same time too for hair, makeup, teeth brushing etc.

I don't mind the setup that chisue is referring to but I much prefer the closet at the back since I may not always keep it tidy and there is an occassional guest using our bathroom when we have bigger parties. They'd have to walk by my closet to get to the potty room. The setup I hate is the one where the closet and bathroom are on either side of the bedroom.

We have this set up in the house we're in now and it's in the house we're building. It's not a problem for us. We're hardly ever going into the closet unless we're getting dressed anyway. As for being in the bath and having dh walk through, I just don't see that as a problem. He doesn't annoy me, in fact I quite like him! lol So having him walk through or even come in to talk to me while I'm bathing is just not an issue.

This is always a hotly debated subject and a matter of personal preference. We will need to walk through the bathroom to get to the master closet in the house we are building and I'm a fan of the layout. Like Lindy and amomto3boys, we are almost never in the closet unless we need to use the bathroom also and since DH gets up before me many mornings, I like that he can shut the bathroom door and get completely ready without disturbing me.

A step down in quality? No, not a quality issue at all, just a personal preference.

We designed our house this way. Our closets are in the bath as well. My closet it located right next to my vanity and DH's closet is located right next to his vanity. This setup is extremely convenient for us. The toilet is in it's separate room so that's not a privacy issue and DH and I don't need privacy from one another while bathing. The bathroom is well ventilated therefore, moisture is not an issue and we keep our closet doors open most of the time.

In our plan we have a hallway off the bedroom that contains the closets on each side and then walking further down the hallway is the door to the master bath. As a woman sometimes I pick out clothes, try them on and look in the full length mirror in the bedroom, lay my clothes out on the bed, etc. It works better to not have to walk through the bathroom to do this. For a man, it may not be that big of a deal. Plus the bathroom can get pretty stuffy after showering and I prefer having the cool fresh air in the bedroom to get dressed in.

I generally put the master bath and closets in a U shaped pattern so it is possible to use the space in any way the owners wish.

I only said it is perceived as a step down in quality by some people and that is based only on my experience designing homes. In any case it would only be an issue at resale and I don't recommend designing for the next owner unless you intend to move very soon.

Wow I hit a bee's nest :)

It seems some are strongly for it, and some strongly against. I think twogirlsbigtrouble hit it on the head for me. I like a HOT shower, I would not like to get derssed in that hot steam after the shower. I would like to be dry before getting dressed, and siting in the hot bathroom would get me sweating. I guess we will have to revise a stock plan to get that, not that I wasn't going to revise something anyway

Rusty

WOW, can't believe the differences here. I agree with those that said it really isn't a privacy issue now with toilets in their own rooms. :) It really is a matter of personal preference, but we now have this set-up and it's one of my favorite things about this house. We actually had the builder close the doorway into the closet from the bedroom- the original plan called for doorways from the bedroom AND bath. Besides adding wall space to the bedroom and closet (room for extra shelving, large mirror, or vanity), my DH isn't as anal as I am about keeping the closet doors closed and who wants to look at an untidy closet when I walk into the bedroom? And if guests need to use our bathroom (as sometimes happens during large parties), we have a lock on the closet door. We have had no moisture issues and I'm the queen of the HOT shower. I'm a trainer and leave before 5 every morning-I can shower, dress, and completely prepare for my day without disturbing anyone-LOVE it!

mightyanvil - I think thats what we have. Its a U shape with the hallway down the center. Closets on the sides and bathroom at the bottom of the U. So essentially, I guess we can use ours either way.

I guess it also has to do with your dressing procedure. I don't dress immediately out of the shower, I lotion up, then work on my hair and makeup before getting dressed. The bathroom is well ventilated and there's just not a lot of heat and steam leftover from the shower. My closet isn't huge but it still functions well as a dressing room as well with a full length mirror. I find myself going back and forth from closet to vanity while dressing. I know, TMI!!

My walk in is not even attached to my MB. It's next door to it. The moisture is an issue for me even with fans and windows I don't think it's a good idea. That's JMO

I always thought I hated the idea of a closet opening into the bath rather than into the bedroom. We designed our build so that the entry to the bath is from the corner of the bedroom, and the entry to the closet was supposed to be in the same corner, from the other wall. (Does that make sense?) However, because of the way the roof trusses were built, the closet (which is over the garage) now opens into the front corner of the bathroom rather than the back corner of the bedroom. And you know what? It doesn't bother me at all. We get a nice solid focal point wall for the bedroom without the closet door cutting into it. And our bathroom is large and rectangular, with the shower at the opposite end from the closet, so I'm not worried about moisture hitting our clothes. Now that I'm faced with it, it doesn't seem like a big deal anymore.

As I'm reading this it occurs to me that, other than personal preference ( some of us are more "okay" than others with spouse walking in during shower-LOL), some opinions may be formed because of the size of the areas involved. My master bath is fairly large with a triple window (I have a full chaise in there!) so moisture isn't an issue for me. Also, my closet is large enough, like kellyeng's, to have a mirror and function as a dressing area. If this were an 8 x 10 or smaller area, I might feel differently about the arrangement. If we build again, I will do it the same way. I love having one less door in the bedroom

We just had this issue come up with the house we are buying. The house had the Master BR off a little hall area which in turn was off a main hall. I am up earlier than my DH 365 days a year. Since it is just the two of us now, I have always kept my clothes in the guest closet so as to not disturb him. I leave our bedroom when I get up and do not go back in.

For this new house, we asked the GC to put a door where the two halls joined and then put doors to the MBR, bath and closet off of that little hall. Now I can leave the bedroom and pull the pocket door closed behind me and have as much access to the Master Bath and closet as I want without disturbing him. With the main hallway door closed, the entire area is still private if we have company.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this!!! Sad, huh? LOL!!!!

We chose ours to be off the master bath. In our old house, our master closet was in the BR and every morning my husband would go back and forth from the master bath through the BR to the closet and it would keep me awake. Due to a long commute, He has to be up very early.
I love the fact he can take a shower and get ready and not keep on waking me up!

Pattie, I think you're right. Most of the floorplans that are using this setup are fairly large bathrooms, and the WIC should be a conditioned space with venting. I think there would be plenty of air circulation. I have a window in my WIC. I think if so many people disliked this idea, you wouldn't see it on so many floorplans.

Kellyeng, we sound very much alike. ;c)

In our new house the design was for 2 closets. One opens off the bedroom, the other off the bath. There was a wall between the two. We decided to make it one large closet and put vanity cabinets where the door would have been.
I like it better than having two.

I'm picking up something here. We are retired. Neither of us is only accessing a closet twice a day.

I like my DH and he likes me! LOL However, especially in winter, neither of us appreciates a 'breeze' while bathing or showering.

Our arrangement is similar to twogirlsbigtrouble's but with two large closets and a hallway between them. Our closets have pocket doors (no guests peeking in). There's only one opening off the BR. There's no back and forth *through* the BR. The BR is insulated from bathroom noise.

You do have to have a wide enough space to insert the short hallway from BR to bath and still have enough closet space. (That may be what mightyanvil has seen as a negative: long, narrow space for closet/bath configuration.)

LOL Lindy! I almost went into my entire bathing/dressing procedure before deciding that would be way-way TMI! You see, I also have a comfy chair in my closet and . . . Anyway, let's just say that DH is amazed at the amount of lotion I go through!

Too funny-must be a girl thing! As I said, I have a CHAISE....need I say more?

Here is a link that might be useful:

pattiem93, I LOVE your retreat!! And kellyeng, I was laughing while reading, we all must share some of the same habits! We have a setup that I just love. Enter the master bedroom. If you shut the door, turn to your immediate right, and enter the closet through another door. If you are again entering the master bedroom, turn to the left and the room opens up, you walk to the left and the bed area is to the left, and on an angled wall to the right is a double door into our bathroom, with it's own wc of course. Turn to the right, past my vanity, and you will go through a door that is our master closet. So we have it both ways, and use both entrances. I love it. I don't wake my DH as much when I am up and he is not, and now that it is summer and I'm not up at 0'dark thirty, he doesn't wake me when he is getting ready for work. Good luck rusty105!!

Amy

pattiem93 -- I've never seen a 'dropped window sill' before. What a neat idea!

I LOVE that area, Chisue-great place for a coffee cup and pics of my kids :)

A vote here for always putting WIC off of master bath. Have had it and never want to go back. I guess if both spouses always get up at the same time it wouldn't matter - but that isn't my reality. I want the best situation which is a door out to the rest of the house from the WIC. That way I can get up early - get contacts - get some clothes on. Do my thing in the kitchen and go back and finish getting ready without disturbing DW. Moisture - never an issue.

We purposely had the WIC off of the master bath. No need to wake my wife while I am getting ready. Privacy is not an issue at our home.

My old house had this set up and I loved it. Really made things convenient.

New house does not.

Either way works for me. A few steps either way is not a big deal.

BTW, moisture was never an issue--especially with fans and with the size of the monstrous master baths we are all building these day.

Moisture should never be an issue with proper venting and especially with all the newfangled HVAC systems with dual speeds and humidity control. My WIC door is right next to the shower opening and I rarely/never close my WIC door. It's been year and not one trace of moisture/mold/mildew in my WIC.

For some reason, I don't often see "our" solution, which I did in the last two houses we built and has always felt like a huge convenience to us. When we walk into the bathroom area, the "main room" contains vanities, tub, linen closet, and door into WIC...plus door into a small separate room containing the shower and toilet and a killer exhaust fan. The placement of shower and toilet in their own room with a good exhaust fan deals with so many issues; privacy, aesthetics, heat and moisture. It also takes the place of that teeny-tiny toilet room you sometimes see. One of us can be taking a long hot shower or using the toilet (TMI?) while the other uses the sink, vanity or closet to dress...you can step out of the shower and leave the exhaust fan running to take moisture out of that room and be dry and comfortable at the sink area or dressing in the closet. The mirrors don't get steamed up, my hair blows dry nicely and makeup doesn't melt even if hubby is taking one of his long showers. A small ceiling fan in that main room is a nice touch, by the way! Can you tell we live in a hot, humid climate? LOL

briosafarm - Your solutions sounds very interesting. Do you have a floorplan you could post?

For those that say moisture is an issue, you should really invest in a better exhaust fan. I enjoy long hot showers but my panasonic fan is so good that my mirror doesn't even fog up.

I have lived in houses with it both ways, and I honestly don't have a preference. My current house has the master closet off of the bedroom which I guess if I had to choose, I would pick that way but I wouldn't go out of my way to redesign a house to make it so.

Again, those who have said that it is personal preference have it right. It is your house...build it the way you want!

I'm another one who hates to have the closet on the other side of the master bath. We have a set up similar to twogirls, and for us it's perfect. There is a door to the hall that has the closets and at the end of the closets is the master bath. Much, much better, imo. I also use the closets many more times during a typical day than I do the bath, and don't want to keep going back and forth through the bath. We'll be building our next home and it'll have the same setup, but if we did have to buy an already built house, having the closet on the other side of the bath would probably be a deal breaker.

it seems size has a lot to do with the answer. from our mstrbdr you walk into bathroom my vanity is to the left and closet to the right. continue on and shower, bath and wife vanities to the left and her closet to the right. go further straight to the water closet. the "open" area is over 250 sq' with 9' ceilings -- moisture is never an issue. my wife loves it--her closet is @ 14'x11'.

Would be happy to post a plan but scanner is down and I'm off to family wedding (so why am I on the computer?) LOL Here's the idea: draw a longish rectangle with a door in one short end (there's your door from MB into bathroom area.) As you walk in that door, line one long side of the rectangle with bathroom counters and vanity (I put a window with a storage bench under it in between hubby's sink area and my counter/vanity.) The door to WIC is opposite the counters, lined up with the window and bench. Further along the wall with door to closet, is another door to the room with toilet and shower...shower is on outside wall.) As you walk in the room, the other short end of the rectangle (farthest away from you) has a claw-foot tub across the end of the room. Gee, hope that makes sense....I know a picture is worth...etc. ;~) You basically end up with three "blocks" on the floor plan...one long rectangle which is the main vanity, sink counter, bathtub area....with an attached square which is the toilet and shower room and another attached block which is the walk-in closet. Adjust the sizes to fit. LOL If you want to see an actual plan, remind me by PM in about 10 days and I'll be more than happy to scan! BTW, I second the vote for the Panasonic whisper quiet exhaust fans...best thing we ever did in our hot and humid climate.

If youre having problems with moisture in a bathroom oriented closet, youre problem is not the closet in the bathroom....its the moisture! Ive had closets in the bathroom and outside the bathroom....and honestly, neither one has created any problems for me.

msm859 hit it on the head. It is a matter of size. (size matters!!!)
We have had the identical bathroom in two custom homes now.
It worked so well the first time, we did it again.
It is a large bathroom (15 x 15) and has zero moisture problems. The shower does not fog any mirror, The floor is warm and comfortable carpet.
It has always worked to have the closet off the bathroom.
It works as both a biological rejuvenation space and a dressing room.

I would not have it any other way, having lived with it for 25 years.

Good luck
John
'

I think the size of the bathroom and closet play a big role in whether or not this is a good idea. We built a home (Frank Betz "Jessica") years ago and we loved the layout w/ the closet off the master bath. The bath was quite large, as well as the closet (it was deemed a FROG by our county assessor!), and there was a door separating the two. Thus, just as in our bedroom area, there was never a moisture/steam issue in the closet and we did not have to get dressed while moist/hot at all. It literally felt no different than if we'd walked into the bedroom instead of the closet.