I'd like to see drawings, but I'm not convinced that's a good arrangement. I haven't figured out how you're getting 3 more feet in the length of the bedroom but will 3 ft make that much of a difference in your furniture layout and use of the room?
It appears you're actually loosing sq footage of usable closet space, not gaining. Sure, you'll be able to walk into the closet, but you can only use one side of the 5'11" area. Right now you have a 7' closet.

IMO, a 13' x 11' master bedroom isn't large......and in some homes would be quite small. I've moved many times and I always placed more importance on the size of the master bathroom. I'm assuming you both use this bathroom to get dressed in the AM or does one of you use the other bath?
If you do as DH suggested and use 2 rows of clothes rods, where will you hang robes, coats, pants, and other clothes that have length?

I have a walk-in a little larger than your proposed one and I can't image DH's clothes in there with mine.............and I don't have a lot of clothes!

So, if I'm visualizing the layout correctly, my thoughts are that it's not worth giving up closet space in another bath just to have wasted floor space in a smaller MB closet.

Thanks for your response, annz! Here's the 3 layouts:

1. Current Layout

2. Architect Proposal

3. Alternate Proposal

I like the architect's proposal as far as eliminating the wall you see as you enter the bedroom but I think the bathroom area can be designed a little differently. I see now that 7' x 5' is actually the measurement of the floor space you have within the bathroom and not the room size......am I correct?

It's too late right now for me to concentrate on it, but at first glance I wonder why you can't put your sink(s) in the area with your tub/toilet? You could then have closets on each side of the bedroom.

What's the actual size of the bathroom now.........measuring from the walls.

"If we can only realize a 4'8" x 5'11" closet, is it really worth the effort and amount spent."

Not in my opinion. Small closet, and the plumbing work alone will be costly. Have you discussed ballpark figures on these changes? You'd better do that.

The whole bathroom with the tub and toilet is 7' x 5'.. sorry the text I wrote is misleading. There is no space to put the sink in there. Right now the bathroom from wall to wall is a square 7' x 7'.

I thought the intent of the wall is to give some privacy so that from the entryway, one cannot see any movement in the master bedroom - especially the path between bathroom and bed. Do you think it is still okay to remove this wall?

We are meeting the contractor tomorrow to discuss costs for the bathroom remodel... but I agree the plumbing move will in itself be significant.

This would be much more than I would spend for what is gained.

I would be hesitant to give up room in my bath area. If you shrink it to 7 x 5 you'll be limited in the size tub/shower you can use and I'd think you'd want the largest you could put in there since this is the MBR. As the other poster mentioned, moving all the plumbing will quickly add up, and moving a toilet is usually the last thing you want to do. Whether you have a slab or crawlspace under your home will be the determining factor.

I've included a drawing of how I'd probably do the area. Our last home was similar to yours and limited in closet area, so DH used the spare bedroom and hall bath as his dressing area. I would take the small closet space in your BR and add it to the hall bath closet.......then one of you can use it as your personal closet.

If you don't need a double sink, the other option would be to reverse the closet/sink layout I've drawn That would then give you more closet space in the BR but you'd have only one sink.

The double sink wall shouldn't need to be there for privacy.......isn't there a door at the entrance to your BR?

{{!gwi}}

If you really wanted to get carried away with a remodel........and the hall bath isn't needed by others........you could absorb that bathroom into your plans and make a large bedroom/bath suite! :)

Thanks to all of you for putting across some very good points. The hall bath is our only other bathroom for guests (our parents spend 1-2 months extended time with us when visiting) and we have a 8 year old who is also scrambling to get ready for school. We will need to accomodate all our closets in the MBR.

Your responses confirm what I have been thinking.. that closet space is important for buyers and not worth trading off over room size. The architect's proposal for the walk-in does end up wasting more floor space that could be better used for closets.

The suggestion for single sink is a good one given DH and I are usually taking turns between using the sink and bathroom in the mornings as we get ready for work.

The wall is constraining how we use the space.. as we have to either keep it as is or remove it completely and anything partial will not look good from entryway.

Since we are moving out to an apartment next week during the kitchen remodel, DH wants to combine the MB upgrade as well and is fine with whatever I decide.. talk about pressure! :-)

Gdeep, I have had walk-in closets for my entire life until September when we moved into our current home. When we bought the house, the first thing I thought was that I need to expand the master to accommodate a decent sized walk-in. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that (a) the reach in fit everything that I always thought I needed a walk-in to accommodate; and (2) everything stays neater and cleaner since there's no room to just toss things into the middle of the floor.