This is to hard because it is such a personal thing. For me I have no desire to have a soaking tub. We had one. Cons were by the time you half filled it the water heater was empty and it was a 40 gallon one. Then it sort of bothered me to think of filling it and wasting all that water just for one bath.

To make a large walk in shower would be nice. But then if you loose a tub for it I do not think it would be great for resale.So you almost have to replace a tub in the ensuite.

Then again you see on HGTV house hunters and remodel jobs they say every one wants a soaking tub. Who is this every one?

I think the idea of separating the water closet from the rest of the bath with entrance from hall is great. I assume you can some how secure the pocket door between them for privacy when needed from the ensuite side??

Sorry not really much help.Did you try this at the Bathrooms board too? they might have good ideas.

Chris

People want more and more and more bathrooms because they all want their very own plus a couple for people coming to the house from outside. I wouldn't do what you're suggesting, but I would get a good designer in there to see if they might have other ways to give you a better ensuite that you can't necessarily "see".

I wouldn't do it either...two small baths are better than one large one...IMO.

First, I'd like to point out that most kitchen remodels do not get 100% + return on the investment, so any of those remodels are not going to pay for themselves...but people remodel kitchens all the time, even if they're going to lose money when they resell.

How long do you plan to stay in your house? If it's going to be for at least ten years, I would do what you want...it's your house and you are the one living in it. If it's a house you plan to sell fairly soon, you might want to live with what you have.

In my opinion, if you have at least two toilets, you will probably be fine. I would love to have a clawfoot tub, big enough to soak in but you won't run out of hot water trying to fill it!

I am designing a remodel for the old farmhouse and I was going to have 2 1/2 bathrooms. Then I realized, if I combined the hall bath with the half bath (has a common wall) I would have a larger bath and easier access to the laundry from the bedrooms (wouldn't have to go through the kitchen/dining area with the clothes). It also gives more space for the bathroom and access from the back entry.

I think all these bathrooms is great, if you have four kids and/or a maid, but for me, two is plenty :)

Oddity, at first I was a bit confused with your plan, and now I'm seeing that it is another way to create a convenient space. We have two homes which are primary residences. MINE is in Alabama, and HIS is in Massachusetts. He won't give up his MA citizenship, I won't give up my AL gal status. But that is not a problem.

Well, down here, I just created from 3 closets a 3/4 bath. It does not connect to the old bathroom, which had its tub ripped out, and is now waiting for a bumpout about the size of a bay window, in which we will install a clawfoot slipper tub with British phone faucets. Beadboard, etc.

And then there is the house in MA. We created a master bedroom with a walkin closet, and the 3/4 bath will be en suite as well. There is a tiny hallway which is the pivotal space from the living room to access the original full bath (tub w/shower) just opposite the basement door. There is a door from the living room to this tiny hall, allowing someone to turn LEFT and go into the bathroom, or turn RIGHT and go into the basement.

So we can have access to this bathroom from our bedroom and new bath, without going through the living room and coming around that way, I'm thinking about creating another doorway from that hall (a door on every side then).

If we had guests for the upstairs bedrooms, there is a bath up there. If we had visitors NOT spending the night, they could come through the livingroom door and access the "guest" bath, with tub NOT removed. And, we could close the door to our bedroom from the hall and maintain our privacy.

We could also, if there are guests upstairs, LOCK the door from the living room, and keep both the "guest" bath and the ensuite bath as our own. Having two toilets with easy access is a big plus, as well as having a large separate shower, and a tub with shower for our daily use.

I do not see a problem with blocking off the basement door access to any guests, unless they would like to do their laundry. But only during the daytime when we'd not be wanting to keep our area private as much.

So yes, if you can maintain your privacy and not have someone traipsing into your private bath, it could work. Nobody would have access to our ensuite 3/4 bath.

If I were you, I'd find a way to keep a shower to create a 3/4 bath somewhere. It would be totally worth it.

Oddity, I grew up in a small house with a very usable bathroom situation. The MBR connected to a 1/2 bath, which connected to a room with tub only, which connected to a hall bath with shower. The bathroom layout was an L shape, with the tub room at the corner of the L. Does that make sense?

FW