Not mine, but my parents. It's a first-floor master, and it's big. THE MEASURMENTS ARE NOT PERFECT IN MY SKETCH! They do not have toilet closets with doors. Between the two bathrooms is an open walkway wider than my sketch shows, with a built-in cabinet on one side. Cupboard on the top half, drawers below. This set-up has worked well for them for 45 years, but at 90+ they could use some modifications. For example, we are considering removing "her" tub and making it a curbless shower, or at least tiled open space to accommodate walker, shower chair for sponge bath, room for a caregiver to step around a person using the sink, etc.

I never thought of it, but that one hall closet would be a great place for a stacking washer-dryer. The dryer would have to vent through the roof.

What creative ideas for a his and hers!

I think you should do it. I have some friends that built a huge gorgeous home. THey have a very large bathroom with two water closets.

I just saw a plan from This Old House that was genius ( Google ) that I came across looking for J&J designs.

How about something like bp has with a center shower and bath "room" and each having your own vanity and toilet.

^^^ that is, um, interesting....

(I wonder where the cheese gets hidden?)

I just laugh-snorted in the Drs office.

How about this one-if I'm reading the plans correctly, the shower door opens directly into the WC, think it's glass?

That's what these two bathrooms are, in a 50+ year old house. Two toilet and vanity areas divided by a shower and a bathtub down the middle (one of which is a roman bath, which is usually not a good idea). If I recall it was heavily criticised by people in the Decorating forum (sometimes I think people think that if they give everyone their own bathroom they can pretend they are more evolved than other humans and don't have to do anything so base and nasty as actually use a toilet) , but I think this could be an efficient use of space--it doesn't need to be nearly as gigantic as some of the new master bath drawings I've seen and it would be improved if the toilets had some enclosure.

..just to say that I loved your post..sorry for not being more helpful at this point..:)

S. I saw that one online! I like a lot about it....except if you are going to have a shower big enough for 2, being smushed between 2 toilets has to be bad fung shui, right?

OK..I don't know if that's viable in terms of plumbing and all..but I feel like one large space with two WC's-you still will wake each other up..

is there a possibility for two entrances..say, on the left side, full blown thing, big shower, double vanity, bathtub, toilet(I always root for enclosured when possible..Google spellcheck underlined the "enclosured" but I've no idea what should I write instead.))..and on the right side, say, nice powder room, toilet plus small vanity, PLUS a laundry space if possible(but can be separated by a wall. on the other side of that powder room & the laundry: your wine bar

then one person quietly uses the bathroom in the night without(hopefully) waking the other..and also can use it privately as much as he needs to without interfering with his spouse's bathing, showering, etc

?

bpathome...yes, you could swap the shower...however, both the other walls are taken up, so you couldn't really enter from both sides. I can see how the other space would work for a W/D. I think I really need a non-stackable. I try (when everyone isn't mixing all the dirty laundry up) to wash loads by person. With 5 members in my home, making 5 piles of socks, 5 piles of underwear, 5 piles of shirts to hang up.....exhausting! I am actually hoping to train the husband that when his laundry basket is full, he takes it 8 feet over and starts a load...would also like to be able spread and to fold above my W/D....I get really sick of the laundry lint in my bed :)

rockybird-thanks. Although I'm not sure I'm building a "big" house. My parents house is nearly twice the square feet mine will be. I am however using all the basement. My kids are 1st, 4th, and 6th grade. So I didn't want a whole 2nd story to clean when they are gone, and figure if they live close by, I can use their rooms for something else later. Oldest is getting a room above the garage (you know those kids you just need to separate?) I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I do want and eliminating what I don't want...if I resell, it will be in 20+ years...not going to live in someone else's house that long. I would love an office or a formal dining room and a big huge staircase going upstairs, but would rather have a large pantry, a vaulted living room, and I'm "settling" for a beautiful open staircase in the front entry.

CPartist- I don't think I have seem bp's bathroom. I'm further complicating it by wanting the bathtub recessed, sort of like this. Originally wanted a window, but hubby suggested a fireplace on the "window" wall instead. I like unwinding with long baths (see note about my beautiful exhausting children above!) and would love to be able to catch up on tv...since hubby will have the living room tv. I have seen a lot of plans where the bathtub sits out in the middle of the room....I get cold just thinking about it. I don't even need truly separate bathroom spaces. Hubby takes baths to soak and get grease and other tractor/car stuff off of him, so he would be using the tub several times a week. He is really bad about leaving clothes on the main (guest accessible) bathroom floor now. After 13 years of marriage, and 18 years together, his mother says I am to blame for the lack of training also. I have already told him he doesn't get to use the powder room!!

aprilneverends- it isn't the toilet that wakes me up. He use to joke that I would sleep through a fire alarm or tornado. Then I had my 1st child....who never slept. After 2 more kids, it doesn't take much to wake me up. He also has some mornings when he is home...and I don't want to be forced out to the powder room. I have seen some his/hers bathrooms where they have a door on either side of the nightstands. I would actually prefer to have a master hallway that leads to the bathroom or the bedroom. It bothers me how many doors are in some of these master bedrooms...people seriously don't like wall space. I need a door to get into the bedroom and a door to get to my master deck. I will settle for one additional door to get to the bathroom/closets. Also, if hubby's bathroom happened to be on the far side of the bed, he would come wash his greasy (literally engine grease) hands in the powder room...he already comes in and tries washing them in my kitchen sink when i am trying to cook....because it is the first sink when you come in the house....not in the new house! I'm telling you...he can't be trained. :)

BCarey, I think it can all be done but it will take some thinking. Are you working with an architect who can help you design the spaces?

I personally would keep the bath and shower in a "public" space for the two of you and have the sink and toilet separate. Sort of like what they do for Jack and Jill bathrooms. The reason I'd put the toilet and sink together is that unless you plan to have only swinging doors without locks on the toilet doors, do you really want to touch the door without washing your hands first?

(My toilet closet door will have a swinging door without a lock and just a push plate for that very reason.)

You're going with three toilets on your main floor? I'd hate cleaning them.

After 18 plus years, you can't train him. It's a man thing. (sorry men) The best thing is to work the new house solutions around him, such as having a place for him to wash up the minute he comes in the house.

For example, my DH seems to love to leave his coffee spoons, cups, empty sugar packets and the coffee pods on the counter. Drips and all. (I drink coffee maybe once a month.) And don't get me started with his toast. And if he makes himself a martini, he'll leave it all on the counter too. Drives me nuts! LOL. Luckily every few days he does realize it's a mess and he cleans it up. However, I'm solving the daily problem in the new house by putting in a coffee/toaster/bar pantry cabinet where the top is full sized doors that come down to the counter to close off the mess.

Another example, is we have a dog who eats RAW, plus she's given lots of vitamins and supplements in her food. All of that DH leaves on the counter by the sink creating no place for me to put food stuff or even dirty dishes or cleaned dishes. I'm solving the problem in the new house by having a "doggy" garage door on the counter right next to the prep sink. This way, DH will probably still leave the mess on the counter, but all I'll need to do is shove it behind the garage and close the garage door.

So much better than arguing. I get clean counters and we both don't stress about it.

hey..it's my bath on your inspiration pic!!! joking..ours is much more modest..the idea is the same though..recessed into the niche, arch, window, blah blah

(yes, I love it)

I hear you on the doors..

listen, as cpartist said, can be figured out..takes a lot of thinking and drawing..we had one bath to figure out but wanted it all..enclosed toilet, arches, bath with a step(have to have a step..), reasonably big shower with a bench..well we got it in the end, but they did screw up framing in the middle of work, nobody payed attention to that including us 'cause tiny difference..and the tub had to be switched..vanity got narrower, and whatnot. now I'm LOL'ing over it but wasn't funny when happened. Every inch mattered because we wanted so much. The framer was generally good btw..probably had a bad day..happens to the best of us.

I like the idea of a hallway of sorts..like it a lot actually.

do you know the rest of configuration, more or less?..the rest of the floor..approximately?

there are people here who have much better spatial thinking and drawing skills than I

an architect would come very handy, yeah

we didn't have one for example(we didn't build though we re-build from studs. still..that space where the master bath was supposed to be was non-existent, we added it)

mrspete....how many do you have on your main floor? I am super ecstatic about having a powder room. Actually, to tell you the truth, if my husbands toilet is in a closet and I never have to go in there; then there is no reason I should have to clean it. He is 6'1 and more than capable. So that leaves me with still only 2 toilets to clean on the main floor. The kids can clean their own toilets, they aren't babies anymore. Plus, my son is REALLY good at cleaning toilets and vacuuming. The girls are not good at cleaning toilets and the 11 year old is the worst vacuumer I have ever seen. She is great at organizing though!

I was actually just thinking yesterday when I was planting 15 trees with my son (acreage) and he was putting some replacement tires on the John Deere Gator by himself (he will be 10 in 2 weeks) that we really would've benefited from having more than 3 children....they are quite helpful on the farm. But our oldest is a challenge...yup...read the books.....it's her, not my parenting....so we will stick with the 3. The boy is actually the most useful. He mows and is working on his own tractor...he is getting quite a mechanical vocabulary....he will probably be an engineer though (he is the only one I let arrange presents under the tree except me as he does it perfectly).

Carey, for my folks bathroom I was thinking they could have done this. I mentioned the WD at home and they thought of this. Given other closets around there, this could have worked, but given other things (you know, the "if you give a moose a muffin" syndrome, we can't do it now. It doesn't show in the picture, but I envision a long counter with laundry-sorting space below and cabinets above.)

(Again, note that this is a sketch, almost a bubble-plan, so proportions are way off. It also assumes that they didnt need a tub, which they didn't.)

cpartist---my sentiments exactly! Oh, and all the years of asking him to put down the toilet seat...explaining what it is like to fall in at night. Didn't work...until the little girl yelled at him! It made me smile. :)

We have to live in these houses. I like a clean home, but I am guilty of laying things around too. This will be our 5th owned home (2 rentals during moves) so I know what I like and what I don't like. I for sure HATE garage entrances coming into the kitchen. I want to cook in the kitchen, not have people drop their stuff off for me to deal with. Your dog door sounds really cool. Hubby leaves coffee pods on the counter too...but that is less annoying than the weekend I didn't pick his clothes off the main bathroom floor when his mother was visiting....haha...so many clothes at the end of those 3 days....I really figured he would've picked them up. So I'll wipe up the little coffee spills and BAN him from the guest bathroom! He does help out whether I do or do not ask...I just don't think the little stuff bothers them as much. I am working full time after staying home for 10 years. Never planned to stay home when I got my degrees....never planned to clean house by myself either! I will have a housekeeper to keep up with the main cleaning. I have enough acreage stuff, garden/canning/orchard/cattle/chickens/landscaping to keep me busy/entertained.

The dog garage sounds like a cool feature very customized to your needs. That is the great thing about building, we get to think about what would make our lives better, think through every single detail, and come up with a custom home just for our families' lifestyle. I read your post wondering if you like it because you have to. I have decided I will be happy with the end result. If I hate a tile or the paint color is wrong, I can change it. Truly not the end of the world. I was telling my MIL that I would have to buy a bunch of decor items even if I didn't love them because hubby will want it done not incomplete for years (15 years for my parents and still not decorated). The house isn't going to be perfect. I will be working without some rooms to make others larger. (6*8 pantry instead of a formal dining room, although full size dining table between kitchen and living, but no nook area.) But, the house will be bigger than any of our others. It will solve our closet/bathroom problems. Our kids will have a nice lounge space downstairs. The oldest who needs separated will be. Whatever flaws the house has, short of falling over, I just want to live life when I move in. We searched for 2 years for our land, moved farm equipment, have stuff in a storage unit, tractors at his parents. I gave up my 40*60 garden 3 years ago to move where our land is. Waiting until after building to upgrade 2 cars (living in a flip house with a mortgage during build), stuck in town when we want to be roaming. I just can't wait to get where we are going. Trying to enjoy the process. Kind of like mushcreek...I will just be glad to have a glass and some water. For me, our build is freedom to be able to spend our time on our life. Room to garden again. Room to plant. Room to store canned preserves. Space for the kids. The house will be great....but it is really about the life we have where we are going. But if we are going to build, I might as well get the most that I want for what I want to spend, right?

Carey re: laundry sorting, everyone has their own methods! I've gotten a lot more liberal with mixing laundry as the kids have gotten older (I wash white socks with the white kitchen towels now--living dangerously!) But in one area I wish I'd done it by person: once my kids were about the same size, I couldn't tell whose boxers were whose. I hope they don't care; after all, they are clean lol! Maybe I should have split them between Fruit of the Loom and Hanes? But then I'd forget who had which. And how would I hand them down? Oh well, the oldest is off on his own now.

And yes, if I were a stupendous mother they'd be doing their own laundry at age 10. But, I LIKE doing laundry. So there. It makes me happy, and they do their own at camp and college and apartment anyway.

aprilneverends....actually, I couldn't find my better inspiration photos...but sounds like your bathroom has a similar feel to what I am wanting....definitely want the tub in an arched alcove. I am using a residential designer. He has done several of the street of dreams homes (the million dollar ones). My stepdad is trained as an architect, so I am visiting him this weekend before going for 2nd visit to designer. I drew the living side of the home myself (sent draft after draft to stepfather hoping he would redraw it better for me, instead he just asked me questions that made me think too much; like "You realize your basement stairs come in at your daughters bedroom..maybe you would like them to open up to your nice basement living space?" It was frustrating at first, but what he was really doing, was identifying problems and letting me discover them myself. My last change to the living space was adding a 3.5 foot "hallway" between the foyer and living room. I sent him that change 6 weeks ago, and I have not changed the living space since...been very content with it.

The master suite is on the same side as the angled garage. My house will be long to take advantage of views in the back. I will know when the plan is good. I do have pretty high standards. Hubby was fine with my first drawing. He really doesn't know why I am still working on it. The designer/draftsperson is working on the master suite side between now and our next meeting. But I am a controlling person, and it is sort of consuming me to get this to ready to build. Hubby is sick of the oversized draftspaper. :)

When I get my floorplan to where I am happy with it, I will post it on here. We will be owner building, and I plan to buy 40 tape measurers before we start. They get lost so quick. Our house is a flip. Hubby can do it all. We have friends in various trades. And I am more capable than many guys (imagine 125 pounds nailing shingles on a roof!)

It sounds like he could use a utility sink in the garage! And maybe a urinal too... this is on DH's wish list.

It probably is best to wash your hands at the first sink inside the house if you have really dirty hands, not walk through the house to your "own" sink. You should probably consider a utility sink or a mudroom sink, something like that.

bpathome....it takes a lot of thought to sort socks! My husband also doesn't much care for the times he finds my sons boxer briefs with his...lol.

s, palimpest. Yes, I should do a sink in the garage. He will probably have water and that orange cleaner in his shop when we get moved. We bought our house to remodel/flip since we couldn't find a rental, so its been a little crazy not having a shop for him. In the past, I have bought him "mechanics wipes" They are AWESOME for cleaning grease off hands! Our present setup has him stealing my Dawn dishsoap for handwashing.

mrspete....how many do you have on your main floor?

Two, but we live in a one-story house. Our new house'll be two stories and will still have two toilets.

Actually, to tell you the truth, if my
husbands toilet is in a closet and I never have to go in there; then
there is no reason I should have to clean it.

Good for you, if you can do it. I can't let a toilet just be dirty, even if it's not "mine" ... and I know very good and well who'd end up cleaning it at my house! (It's me.)

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-7295/Hand-Soaps-and-Sanitizers/GOJO-Natural-Orange-Gallon-Pumice?pricode=WB0209&gadtype=pla&id=S-7295&gclid=CIf_1aumwdQCFRZMDQodIEUJkA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Happy Housewarming!

How about a 2-seater?

There is a long design history for this arrangement:

Two, but we live in a one-story house. Our new house'll be two stories and will still have two toilets.

Most people are not comfortable sharing their master toilet with guests. I know I'm not.

I have no problem with adults deciding that for marriage harmony they should have an extra toilet if that's what works best for them. I know I wouldn't enjoy having to use the powder room in the middle of the night and I certainly understand not sleeping as well as before kids, and mine are out of the house and 25 and 29! LOL

I have always loved the idea of his and hers water closets. If you can make it work in your floor plan, go for it. It is something that is a pretty unique feature. Call me crazy, but I am also considering placing a urinal in one and a bidet in the other.

Most people are not comfortable sharing their master toilet with guests. I know I'm not.

I really can't understand why not. We're planning to attach the powder room to our master bath ... a large powder room, roughly 5x7, more comfortable than a typical master bathroom toilet. We're building a house for our retirement years, and it'll be "just us" the majority of the time. I don't see the point in more.

I have to say, I'm secretly with Mrs.Pete, regarding master bathrooms. If my husband would agree to it -- which he never would -- I'd actually prefer for guests to use an easily-accessible master bathroom (where they wouldn't have to go through the bedroom to get to it). After all, the master is usually the prettiest. :-)

None of the houses I grew up in had a master bath... Maybe that has a little something to do with it.

I figure, if you're going to have two vanities or a large double vanity, and a tub AND a shower, and considering two water closets, just make two bathrooms. Then you don't need the water closet, you have your privacy already.

If you can access it from the hallway, etc - then fine with me - but usually guests would have to traipse through your entire bedroom and bathroom to get to the WC

We will have a 2 piece washroom inside the master so that we can wash our hands before opening a door... eewww....

Where is everyone putting their hands when they go to the bathroom?

I've visited friends in Germany and Austria, and I'm always amazed at the toilet rooms, all by themselves, not part of a bathroom, and there's no sink in it. I figure if it's your own toilet closet in your own bathroom, well, heck, it's your own germs and just how careless are you in there anyway (to be blunt). And maybe you don't usually close the door anyway. But a family toilet with no sink? I still don't get it.

I kid you not... I wipe and flush with one hand (right), and touch the doorknob and faucet with the other (left).

I also reuse towels, but worked out a system when I was around 11 or 12, of using the non-tag end for my face, and the tag end for my bottom.

Yes, I have always been this... conscientious. ;-)

And now, y'all know more than my own mom, lol.