Yes, you can fit it in that space. My master bath is configured like that (shower and toilet at opposite ends, sink in the middle, with a pocket door) and is barely 5 1/2 by 8 1/2. You would need to turn your shower 90 degrees from the way mine is, as you wouldn't have the space to stand in front of it like I do. This shower is only 32" by 33". And your sink vanity would need to be much smaller (or a pedestal sink, like you mentioned).

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I hope these photos help you picture how it would look. (Please ignore the mess and the condition of this bathroom. I'm in the process of designing a complete remodel of this bath.)

Thanks for the pictures. I'm wondering if there would be room to stand in front of/walk around a sink with only 3 1/2 feet in width to the room. That extra two feet looks like it makes a world of difference.

Yes, you can similar to how uxorial has decscribed it. I saw one configured just that way a few years ago when I was evaluating a contractor's work. Only in this case since it was so narrow he used a pedestal sink in the center which I would recomend for you are well and a shower curtain so the shower door swing did not cut into space. The only con with a pocket door is sound-proofing and privacy (as there can be a little gap where they pocket door closes. There is a lot of good info on the bathroom forum about soundproofing, etc.

sarschlos: If you want me to draw it out for you I can, but the space was no wider than you described and the pocket door opened directly opposite the pedestal sink. The pocket went towards the toilet side as you need a hollow wall for the door to slide back which left the other side to allow for plumbing in the wall. I still remember it distinctly as I was really surprised a full shower could fit inside such a narrow space. It looked highly functional. I also have a miniscule full bath off my family room which DS uses everyday. My contractor swore it would not work and it would be too cramped, but we love it and it totally works. That said, they have to be very particular with the measurements, recess in the wall what you can.

Here it is:

We have a fairly wide hallway there (4 feet), so we could do an outswing instead of inswing door.

Val -- if you have time, I would really appreciate seeing it drawn out. I had in mind a pedestal sink in the middle. If I can make this work, it would solve a major problem with the house. The bathroom is primarily used as our powder room, but also doubles as a guest bath when the grandfolks visit.

I'm getting fairly excited about this idea. It really solves a major problem (who wants to use a side door if there's a risk of walking in on someone on the loo?) and who wants the laundry spread out all over the family room? And where do I rinse those potty training pants? And how can I stop the massive collection of shoes and tote bags from collecting in the foyer? Oy!

Found this cute itty bitty wall mount sink that's only 12 inches deep and has an integral towel bar on the Kohler website. Pretty cool. Would go nicely in our mid-century house (and saves $$ for a vanity to boot). If we use a recessed mirrored medicine cabinet + a glass shelf above the sink, and put in a floating cab over the toilet, we would still have storage. Given the length of the room, we should still have room for a towel bar on one wall next to the shower. Oh, this is so cool!

Anyone know if there tubs that can fit in deep instead of wide (a standard sized 60 inch by 32 inch tub, that you can step into on the short end, with the faucet/spout on the other short end)? Maybe a drop in? It would be nice to have a soaker tub for the guests. Right now, because of the door, we only have a very small corner shower in the bathroom.

One issue, though: this would be a bathroom with no lights. I suppose I could add a skylight or solar tube (there's nothing above the bathroom except attic space) to get some nice daylight in there.

Anyone else with teeny tiny bathrooms, please post pictures -- they are very helpful!

Sarchlos, the sink so cool! I hope you get it.

I'm going to draw it up for you, but wanted to remind you that you need to also allocate space for electrical switches on the wall. This is why I could not put in a pocket door in mine :( You enter in the center, to the left are the light switches and the immediate right the shower. In your situation, if you want the pocket door you would need to put the switches on the same side as the shower/tub. Your plumbing (wet wall) would need to be on one of the 12' walls so the spray is not directed out the door/curtain.

I've seen some Japanese soaker tubs that may work for you. I also stayed at a cabin over Easter that had a small bath and they put in a clawfoot tub with a combo shower head/curtain ring around it. It was amazing to see a 6' tub in such a small space.

The design would be different if you want a tub or shower, though I do think it will feel more spacious with a shower and then a larger pedestal sink. And definitely recess the medicine cabinet. You woud need to put sconces to either side, but that works better anyway. Also think where to put the towel bar. In mine I was able to have it on a sliding shower door. You can also recess a shower niche if you opt for the shower stall.

Every last item needs to be planned in advance or you will find plumbing vents or electrical wires where you want a hollow wall. And the order in which things are installed is very important. For ours they needed to install the shower door, before the vanity as that was the only way to get it all in.

Here is the original design for ours, though we were able to grab a few extra inches and viola we were able to extend the shower the length of the whole wall which is wonderful. This was actually the most technical part of our remodel, though I only realized this later. One one side is out W/D and the other out W/H and the bathroom in the middle. They must've messed up on the framing at least 3X! But I made sure to measure it all myself and make them fix it.
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I was having trouble looking at the floorplan sideways.

You could steal a little space by recessing one of the fixtures into what will become the mud rm (old bathrm) if you feel it would be to tight.

I was thinking about this a bit more. I think that 12' x 3-1/2' is too long and skinny. I think what I saw was very doable but it was closer to 3-1/2'x10' (or even 9'). I have a few suggestions to make. Any chance you could extend in the linen closet behind the current WD and relocate it elsewhere? It looks like you are swapping the family room and kitchen. If so, you could keep about 3' and make a small closet pantry as well in the 12' space. So you would have L-to-R, closet pantry and then bathroom (and you could shape it very similar to mine (and could even fit in a 60" tub instead of the shower if you liked). So where else could the linen closet go? Under the stairs perhaps? I always have probs. reading 2-story layouts where they stairwell area is.

I cannot find where DH put my camera battery charger so I am hosed for now uploading any drawings but I hope this makes sense. I just love tweaking floorplans.

Thanks for thinking about this more, val. I don't think we're going to swap the kitchen and family room (that was an earlier idea, also hoping to solve the weird side door problem). The linen closet is actually a half flight higher than the current laundry closet (it's a split level, and the family room/laundry/kitchen/guest room are on the main level, but the big linen closet is on the top level.

I think I need to find a different location for garage access and close off that door altogether.

I do really like your swap, though. It looks like quite a trek in with groceries, but I know there is a lot involved in a swap because we did that exact thing and it has made a huge difference in the overall flow of our house.

What is in "utilities"? Can you shift back the guest room closet by about 12"? It looks as if you just need less than a foot and you could wall off the current guest bathroom and even put a tub where the shower is now. An extra 6-12" makes a huge difference in a small bathroom, but not quite so much in a bedroom--esp. a guest room. Two of my three kids have bedrooms smaller than your guest room.

I do really like your WD/mudroom idea. There is this person on kitchens, celticmoon, I am not sure if she still posts there or not, but she is amazingly creative with layouts.

Thanks, Val. I'm not giving up just yet, and I still keep going back to making the family room the kitchen -- just haven't figured out how to do it all without sacrificing our guest room (it's used as both guest and play room) or the guest bath. Because of the odd ball shape of the family room, there is a large chunk of the room that is really just wasted hallway-type space. if I can figure out how to carve out a mudroom while keeping room for guests and the bathroom, I think the swap will make a huge difference in the function of the house.