Option three.

I'd pick 3 too. Can't imagine a master without a walkin closet and a dedicated shower. How often do you take a bath vs shower?

I'd definitely forego the jetted tub; ask anyone who owns one how often they use them. I will admit, my grandkids love it! Me, not so much. Too large, too hard to get into, takes too long to fill.

I think a luxurious shower and a walk-in closet will serve you better in the long term.

Dee

What Dee said. I love my tub but I have used it 4 times in the seven months we've lived in this house. As long as there's a tub somewhere else in the house, I'd go for the shower and walk in. If you have to have the tub then option 3.

I agree, forget the tub (that's what we did) opt for the walkin closet (wish ours was more substantial) and you'll have the best of both worlds. That said though, if you're one of the many who do enjoy baths, opt for the bath/shower combo. My daughter has one just like what you're describing (without the rain shower) in their guest bath it's very functional.

If I were buying your house I'd nick you on the price significantly for forcing me to climb into a tub to take a shower.

I'm not spamming like the dork above....but I'd suggest if you really want a jetted tub you look harder at your options. Americh makes a small round tub....it's very deep (32" if I remember right) like a jacuzzi and has a small seat in it. It's unbelievably comfy and only 40x40. I put this in our townhouse bathroom because I wanted a tub (which I haven't used yet but my son LOVES it) but also wanted a luxurious shower since that's what I use the most.

I can't remember exactly what it cost and I do know that unlike when I got mine there is more than one company making these little spa tubs so you could shop around. Mine was in the neighborhood of 3,000 which might seem a bit pricy but I guarantee at resale it would pay for itself in both bathroom value (having both a tub and shower) on the appraisal and on the offers you get because most people will see the shower tub condo as an expensive item that needs to be fixed which lowers their offers.

One thing I love about the Beverly is that while the top is 40x40 square you can actually undermount it like a sink which really elevates the luxury look of it. I had mine tiled to the circle edge and my tile guy polished the edges so they are smooth when you get in and out (sort of a half bullnose if that makes sense). When we show people the house and that bathroom they ignore the gorgeous (IMO lol) cabinets and shower and walk right up to peek in the tub. People love the thing!

I wouldn't want a master bath without a shower. I also don't think that a rain shower head is a good substitute for a regular shower head. I don't think that they have enough force to rinse shampoo, conditioner, etc. If a tub is a must have, I would opt for a tub/shower combo with a regular shower head. You could also have a rain shower head if you want.

I'd skip the tub. We just completed a master suite addition and didn't include a tub. We have a nice shower with a bench, a traditional wall mouted shower head, a hand held shower head and a ceiling mounted rain shower. My brother is building a 2 million dollar house, (It's in a high cost of living area, so it's not as palatial as you might think!) and he's not putting a tub in his master bath.

I agree with terriks. I like my rain head, but it's not great for rinsing shampoo.

I've never used a rain shower before, but I would expect some kind of reasonable shower in a master bathroom. Ideally I would choose a nice shower and a walk in closet over a jetted tub. Or at the very least, a nice shower and a good amount of non-walk-in closet space.

I would do as terriks suggested and use either a fixed or adjustable wall-mount shower head.
During your planning, keep in mind the shape of the tub and how you intend to enclose it for shower use. If you're going to use a frameless door vs a shower curtain, the edge of the tub or tile needs to be able to accommodate the door.

As long as you have a decent tub somewhere in the house, you can probably forgo the tub and use only a shower but it sounds like the tub is a done deal. :) I'm a tub person and a house without a decent soaking tub would be a deal breaker for me.

A main bath redo is on our list. I'm so tempted to remove the tub and replace it with a shower. That will mean no tub in the house, but so what. We never use the one we have ... especially as our bodies age. Shower makes so much more sense.

natal - If you're at all concerned about resale, I wouldn't remove the only tub in your house. Lots of people require a tub, especially those with young children. Of course, you know what will work best for you!

Another vote for no tub, and just a really great regular shower, nicely sized so it is easy to add a bench if needed, or build one in.

As for the walk-in closet, I live without one (oh horrors!) so I will say that having seen some that are too small, I would rather have the 14 feet of regular wall closets that DH and I have than a squished walk-in for the sake of saying I have a walk-in.

I would also want a window that opens or heat/cooling vents in the closet if it is a walk-in, for air circulation.

Porkandham, we've been in this house for 30 years. I'm not worried about resale.

Thanks for your ideas. Another plan is to forgo the ensuite and make a bigger, nicer "Jack and Jill" bathroom that would be shared with the master and another bedroom on the same floor. Thoughts?

...Pam

Pam, I assume there is a bath upstairs now, and the ensuite bath is the new addition. I guess you have to look at the current bath and see if it works for the other bedroom (and perhaps guests that use it that are not necessarily staying overnight.

Being we only have one bath that is shared by all three bedrooms, I would have no problem with your idea. But I think a lot of people would say that having a master bath and a separate bath for guests would be the preference.

Of course you have to do what is most functional for you but I would not put a jack and jill as part of a master suite. That's what our house had when we bought it and it was the first thing on the list to go. List of priorities (especially if/when resale or value is a consideration) 1st - tub somewhere in the house, 2nd - master suite with good storage and separate bathroom. Extras: walk in closets, tub & shower combo in the bath, dual sinks.

is there a tub elsewhere in the home? If so...and you must choose...forgo the tub. Nice, large, walk-in shower (even better, zero-grade-entry ROLL IN shower).

We aren't ANY of us getting any younger.

If there is a bathtub somewhere else in the house, I would forgo the bathtub in the Master Bathroom and have a large walk-in shower and a Walk-in Closet. I have two tiny walk-in closets that I had to take the doors off of since the door opens into the closet and blocks the other side. I wish my townhouse complex made one big walk-in closet so I could walk in. I wish my tiny shower stall that barely fits petite me was much bigger with a bench to sit on or to put my leg so I can shave my legs and better lighting. I just about never use my jetted tub and it takes up way too much room so right now it is being used for storage. What a waste of space. I prefer a nice shower than any type of bath.

If the above option is not feasible, then I would choose option #3.

My vote not to make a nicer jack and jill bath but take out the tub (shower only) and walk in closet. We took the tub out of the main bath on the 2nd floor which is the kid's bathroom (have a tub on the 1st floor and eventually in the master suite). My architect tried to talk us out of it. We wanted room for the washer and dryer and didn't want a stackable one (the kids do all the laundry and they have to reach it - we started them at 8). We love our set up. My DD takes baths occasionally and uses the 1st floor.

We have a rain shower head and we all love it. We also put in a hand held shower for the people that want a bit more force - it's great. You can actually have both on at the same time. My DD uses the handheld all the time to rinse her hair. The rain shower head is fine for me.

I am echoing what most have said, but my pick is a...

SHOWER... a regular shower with a normal shower head. A rain head won't cut it.

While my hubby and I both use our jetted tub, we use the shower head 20 times more often, at least. For our tub, it would be very obnoxious to climb in it regularly for a shower.

I also echo what others have said about skipping the tub altogether, if that is an option... a walk-in closet is also much more important to me than a tub. :)

Most definitely choice three. If I remember right you're young enough that you don't have to worry about getting in and out of the tub to take a shower. Heck I'm in my mid fifties and hubby in late fifties and we're using the tub/shower in our son's bathroom, long story, and neither of us have any trouble getting in and out. We have a separate double whirlpool in our master suite that we've yet to use in seven years. I have used our son's whirlpool tub a number of times and love it, but see no sense in filling a dbl tub for one.

Think about your house set up. The way our old house was; we had a large master with a long closet in the hallway to our small master bathroom. We had a smallish vanity; toilet & 4ft shower & it was fine. My dad had a tub with shower in his master that he ended up being too weak (cancer) to climb over the tub.

At one point after we put our house for sale; it hit me that we could have made that small master bath into the hall bathroom; closed off the main bathroom & moved the master bedroom to the bedroom next to the bigger bathroom where I probably could have had my jacuzzi & a stand up shower.

Anyway; I vote a stand up shower. I have a jacuzzi in our current bath; hate to say we don't use it as much as I thought because it runs the hot water out.

Some more details:

This renovation is on the second floor of our small house.

There is a half bath on the main floor between the kitchen and living room that visitors can use.

On the second floor we currently have three bedrooms and one full bath. The bathroom has a shower over a regular tub plus a large storage closet.

We are removing the wall between two bedrooms creating a master suite with an attached -- or access to a jack and jill -- bathroom.

The jetted tub has been purchased. It was one of those deals we could not pass up -- $100 for a $2500 tub -- but we don't have to use it. I've just remembered the bottom of the tub is contoured, so there is no way it can be used with a shower above it. We could sell it and make money on it or add it to the basement bathroom. Hubby and I are 40something but we both have arthritis, so soaking in a tub is something I think we'd do. On a daily basis, though, a shower is what we prefer.

The remaining second bedroom and full bath upstairs will either become our teenaged daughter's room or the guest room. I'm not certain. We do like our privacy and so it would be nice to keep daughter in the basement, but that's not ideal for her because she's down there sharing a three-piece bathroom with her teenaged brother while we reno.

...Pam

Can you share a layout of the floor space, both for the closet and bathroom, including dimensions? Both here and in the bathroom forum many members have great creative suggestions for how to layout a space to fit in the fixtures you want.

I vote for option 4.

1. Nix the tub.
2. Install a curbless, large shower for two.
3. Walk in closet

I vote for #3 first. If you are a bath taker, then having a bath in the master would be lovely. You could also do a deck mount shower setup with a hose and shower head on it (I forget what that is called).

We just renovated our master bedroom and bath and removed the shower from the master bathroom altogether. We have 2 other full baths in the house. 1 is the family bathroom near the all bedrooms and the other is in the bsmt. When we moved in, the ugly master bath floor had a crack in it, so we assumed there was a leak in the shower. We knew we'd be reno-ing so it was no big deal. We just used the shower as a closet, and did not turn the spigots once in 4+ years. Our new master bath was to have a luxury steam shower unit because we could not fit in a tub (dh extremely disappointed in that). After playing around with the plan more, we realized we'd rather have more closet and floor space and could skip the shower. Dh gets up early and showers in the family bathroom. If we had one in our master, it might wake me up. We felt that with 4 people, there was little chance we'd need to have 3 showers running at the same time. Even if we wanted, I am not sure the hot water would hold up to 3 simultaneous showers!
We sold the shower unit on CL and really like the new layout of our bedroom. Our closet is fabulous and our furniture fits in perfectly.
As a real estate agent, I know a 3rd full bath would add value on an appraisal, but I bet lots of buyers would someday love our spacious organized closet and we designed the bathroom so that someone can add a shower without doing much more than moving the doorway and wall. The toilet and sink could even stay in the same place and remain untouched. Besides, we have no plans on moving anytime soon.

BTW - our family bathroom has a jetted tub that dh & I use every single day. One ds prefers showers, but the younger one can spend over an hour in the tub. We had to do without when reno started for a few weeks, and were miserable only using the shower downstairs. I'd never buy a house that either did not or could not have a tub.

Hubby and I are 40something but we both have arthritis, so soaking in a tub is something I think we'd do. On a daily basis, though, a shower is what we prefer.

Since you shower daily, and baths would be more of an occasional thing, it really doesn't make sense not to have a shower in the master.

I posted a floor plan and it started a new thread by accident. Here is the link.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0313122614102.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Phases 1 2 and 3 of our new master bedroom and ensuite project

In our home, it wouldn't make sense to not have a shower AND tub in the master. I love soaking. My hubby has to have his shower. I did not want a huge tub that took tons of water, so opted for an oversize tub that I am still able to clean easily. It's a big longer and deeper than normal.

I've not had to do without a walk-in closet since our early years of marriage - but would probably do so for the tub and shower.

tina

A couple of general comments about the plan:

As the new turret attaches to the existing plan, there is a small jog in the wall at the left of the head of the bed. I would try to resolve this more cleanly if possible.

Since Phase II eliminates the bedroom closet, where are you replacing it? I would recommmend extending the wall at the left corner behind the bed straight across, making that a walk in closet entered by the door framed in in Phase I, and going out to the rectangular deck (no longer L-shaped) by a door behind the current night table in the left hand corner.

You will lose the window in the stairwell, but you could replace that with a stained glass window lit from behind with bulbs. (I have seen lots of stained glass "skylights" lit this way in turn of the 20th century houses)

Why is the closet walk through? It doesnt give you much storage space. Why not just enter the bath from the bedroom?

Since you have purchased the tub, it may involve a new bath layout but floorspace in the upper right corner between the vanity and the tub is awkward and is going to be very hard to keep clean. You are going to have to kneel in the tub and lean over the back to clean that area.

So where you are proposing to be a walk-in closet is just wasted space imo. Doesn't appear to function well as a closet to be usable for much of anything at all. What is it 2.5f wide. You could double that closet space by skipping the walk in part. If you want a closet there I'd close it off so you have a door from just outside the master to access part of it and some on the inside part either from the bath or inside the bedroom for a reach in. Looks like that actually would give you some more space to put clothes. Yes not all accessible from the master unless you move the entry to the master, but at least not wasted space like a walking area would be.

Honestly for a 2.5ft wide storage space that you walk into I would just make it a shower and then figure out closets for phase 2.

Can Phase 2 fit the bed at an angle in the new space so you could use some of the space in the existing room to get a good closet and have a sitting dressing area there?

I'd much rather have a reach in closet than a 2.5ft walk in closet.