Newbie here - please critique my MB plan

9 years ago

Hi. It has been a while since I've been on the forums... we did a complete kitchen reno ~3 years ago and this forum was a Godsend. We are now doing an addition to our home which would include a new master bedroom and bath. We have plans that were drawn up by the architect and I am really only now looking at them since work will begin within the next few weeks.

We are planning on a freestanding soaker tub and putting most of our "extras" in the shower (rainhead, steamer, etc). As I review the current layout on the plan, I have a few thoughts and concerns:

1. Placement of toilet in between vanity and shower. Is this location ideal? I would imagine we would have to put a low-wall along the shower to make it appear separate?

2. Approx measurements of the shower is 42"x88". Is this too big to be comfortable? We would like the shower to be for 2, though we will likely not go with shower heads at both ends. Would a large rainhead be enough or is this simply too large? Any other concerns regarding size?

3. I notice lack of storage (in terms of a closet) inside the bathroom. No specific linen closet for the master suite (versus on 2nd floor where rest of the bedrooms are located), though the master closet is nearby.

This is our first venture into bath remodeling/design and I would appreciate any input/critique/suggestions anyone can offer!

Also, if you don't mind, I am attaching plans for the 2nd floor. In our current set-up, the master bedroom is immediately to the right of the staircase and includes the small master bath (shown as bathroom on right of pic). After the reno, the bedroom will be split up and opened to the new addition. Due to plumbing issue, they are keeping both current bathrooms in its present location and without any changes made to them. The thing that bothers me is that we will have 2 bathrooms upstairs side-by-side. It just seems so awkward to me that at the top of the staircase, the first 2 doors are both bathrooms. Any thoughts?

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Comments (5)

dragonfly08
Original Author
9 years ago
Here is the 2nd floor plan:
Olychick
9 years ago
It wouldn't bother me at all to have side by side bathrooms and it looks like only one door will be obvious from the stairway. You could reverse the swing on the door to the left bathroom so it would be more difficult to view the toilet, altho it's not really very exposed.
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Is there a particular reason to have a full bath on the hall instead of a powder room? If you do not need that tub/shower, you could use the space to make a small vesibule where the master tub is now with access to the bath and closet from there. Our current house is set up in a similar fashion with a 3 x 3 area off the master with one wall being entrance to our closet, one wall with linen closet (deep enough for hampers) and one wall with door to bath. I am always going between the closet and bath, so I don't think it would be a pain to walk through the bath to get to closet (I am designing our new house this way). But the vestibule idea may solve it altogether. Also, if your master closet and storage laundry area back up to one another, I would make sure there was a way to pass laundry through from one room to another - hampers that roll under the counter and into the closet, laundry drop doors so you could do a very short laundry chute of sorts, etc. If it is just you guys 99% of the laundry will originate in your closet. So you would want a way to pass dirty laundry through and pass clean laundry back easily. Perhaps there is some way to do a "walk-through" linen closet of the vestibule that would go to the laundry room. Then sheets and towels would be easily managed, too. I agree with kirkhall on the entry. You will end up with a ton of room under that stair for the closet and can combine uses with the coat closet as drawn. When you are designing bannisters for your stairs, you may want to make sure you use some design that will accomodate a spring loaded baby-gate so you don't have to install something more permanent. You didn't mention grandkids, but with four kids, they are certain to come. :) Best of luck!
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weedyacres
9 years ago
To me, your shower and tub are gargantuan and your sink and toilet are small/cramped. I would want the layout to be more proportional. I also dislike hallways, as they waste space.

Could you shift the closet down, put the door above it, opening directly into the master, and then widen the bathroom to include the current "hall" area? That would give you more space for a longer sink and a separate toilet room.

You could shorten the shower and put some linen storage there.
dragonfly08
Original Author
9 years ago
olychick... thanks for your feedback. I suppose I just needed to hear it from someone other than my DH that side-by-side baths are ok. And that wall that butts up against the tub in the left bathroom "hides" view of toilet from hallway/doorway, so no need to reverse the door there.

weedyacres... I think you hit the nail on the head about the disproportion of my MB layout. Something about it doesn't sit right with me, but I'm not very good with visualizing things based on a plan drawing. I'm not sure what you mean by shifting the closet down. Do you mean moving it into the current Playroom? We would like to keep that room undisturbed since it will be the office after the addition is done and building into that space would make it less than ideal for what we had in mind.

What do you think about switching location of the shower to where vanity is? And moving MB door to the bedroom side (thus opening into the bedroom, rather than hallway)? I am open to making the shower smaller, too. Our contractor is suggesting building walls around shower so there would only be glass door (apparently, glass panels that large cost a LOT).
weedyacres
9 years ago
By "shifting the closet down" I mean moving the master closet (poking into the den) down on the drawing so it's in the space where the current door into the bathroom is. Basically swap the closet and the door.

I'd keep the shower where it is. In general, I like the larger stuff to be farther into the room. Then you walk by the smaller stuff instead of the larger stuff, which makes the room feel more spacious.

Consider half-walls/half glass on the shower to compromise between cost and openness.

Newbie here - please critique my MB plan

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dragonfly08
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Newbie here - please critique my MB plan

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