Artemis78: I'm assuming the bottom bedroom is the current master? And the new bath would be yours? The sleeping porch takeover to me is infinitely preferable, and in doing so you may be able to also increase the size of the closet, which looks awkward, with door at the narrow end.

Just understand that a7 foot bath is about one foot too small: tub or shower wants to be at least 30" wide, minimum width for a closet by code is 30", which is already 5 feet. And you probably want more than a 24" lav or vanity

Bungalows aren't known for lots of extra space; they were affordable practical homes for the working class and are absolutely charming. The basements are a great remodeling resource, and when even that is not enough, we add second stories all the time. Good luck!

Yes, we use the bottom bedroom as the master. (It's 12x12 vs. the other, which is only 10x12--both pretty tiny!) We have explored some ways to reconfigure the current bath and adjacent hallway to create a bath off of the top bedroom, but since it's the smaller room, it doesn't seem like that makes a lot of sense (except for the adjacency to the existing bath).

I had a very similar home, and the sleeping porch was converted to a closet/bath. We had to donate a gorgeous, huge historic window to a neighbor to make it work. We didn't have to take out wood floors, fortunately, but there are often other historic houses looking for those too, if you can take them up carefully. As far as other options, it would help to know how the kitchen is laid out.

Thanks--here is the kitchen. The edge of the refrigerator aligns exactly with the closet wall; that space is 25" deep. (There was originally a wall there in the kitchen too.) We don't currently have a table in the corner--just freestanding storage. The windows there are too low to put counters against and we didn't have budget to move them when we remodeled the kitchen, but we will likely shorten/move them now to put cabinetry and laundry into that space, and possibly change the backdoor to french doors and center them on the room.

Ooh, that is an interesting idea we haven't thought about at all--I will work on sketching that one out! That would also solve a different issue in the master, which is that the only nice view is from the sleeping porch windows. (And yes, that's the kitchen--didn't realize the labels were missing! Living room at top, then foyer and dining room, then kitchen at the bottom.)

No reason why you can't keep the windows. You'd just have them on two sides now, not one.

A couple of ideas

top right close off hallway and put closet and bath near hall bath

bottom layout - can use above bath (top left) or this bath layout and make walkin on lower left

Thanks all! I'm increasingly liking the idea of pushing the bedroom back into the sleeping porch space (and maybe keeping the closet as is, but opening it on the long side instead) and trying to put a new bathroom immediately adjacent to the existing one. Will play around with this to see.

Out of curiosity for Doug--why is 7' considered too narrow for a bathroom? Our current full bathroom is contained in a 6'x6' space (room is 9'x6' but the last three feet are just the door swing and a built-in storage shelf) and while it's certainly tight and I'd love a little more room, it feels functional and workable, so we were assuming if we had the same amount of space with only a 3/4 bath, it would feel a lot more spacious. Wondering if I need to rethink that assumption, or if we will be okay given that we're accustomed to a smaller space already (and it is pretty typical of our area).

Doug is right. 5’ x 8’ is really the typical ( these days a minimum,) size for a functional bathroom. sure, it can be done in less space, but you’ve kind of answered your own question here: “(room is 9'x6' but the last three feet are just the door swing and a built-in storage shelf)”

You need room for storage and door swings to make the room work! I’ve got a very similar house, and I know what you’re going through. And I’m sure adding the bath would really improve your house a lot. I’m curious about the existing bath. Can you post a layout and some pics? If you’re thinking about updating/improving it someday, you’re gonna need the new bathroom before that! Oh, what’s a 3/4 bath? Just a stall shower?

also: how well does the laundry in the garage work for you? I recently reconfigured the only bathroom in my 1920s bungalow to incorporate laundry, which was previously located in a basement that was very difficult to access. Not suggesting that you do that necessarily, but with a small house, any construction is big upheaval, so it’s a good idea to weigh all the options. I’m definitely glad I did, and it was in large part due to kind people here who opened my eyes. Good luck!

Thanks! We are planning on a pocket door for the bathroom wherever we put it, so would need enough wall length for that but not space for it to swing open. (The hope is to reuse one of the existing doors.) I think I'd just sort of accepted that the only storage would be in the vanity, given the minimal space available. I've contemplated putting the laundry in the bathroom--there is room to do it by taking the space of the linen closet and part of the second bedroom's closet--but there wouldn't be anywhere to store baskets or fold clothes. It seems like a much better fit for the underused space in the kitchen (and in fact, it was in the kitchen when the house was originally built, and at some point was also against the window there since there were old hookups on that side). I hate having it in the garage, but it was prohibitively expensive to move it when we did the kitchen in 2010 (and our machines, which won't fit in the kitchen, were only a few years old). Now they are past the 10-year mark so (though they still work fine!) it seems more reasonable to think about replacing them, and we are feeling better about abandoning the idea of an eat-in kitchen (given that we haven't eaten in there for the past eight years!)

Yes, 3/4 would just be a stall shower. I'd love a soaking tub but not really willing to give up bedroom space since it's a tiny room to begin with. The existing bathroom is okay-but-not-great. It was a Lowe's remodel circa 1997, and looks it. The tub isn't quite level so water pools in one corner, which is irritating although not a dealbreaker. The storage built-in is well-built but 60 years old, so could use a facelift. We gave the room a cosmetic facelift a few years ago (new paint and light fixtures, put a built-in medicine cabinet back where there had been one originally) but didn't attempt to fix any of the deeper issues. It is totally functional, but if money were not an issue I'd happily gut it and change a lot of things. That said, if we add a master bathroom, I will probably not care as much about many of those things if I'm not a daily user of the space. I'll see if I have some photos. The one lingering question for me with the space is whether there is a solution that might involve gutting the existing bathroom and reconfiguring it into two (with the addition of some space somewhere). The hallway/linen closet area is pretty underused and the deep end of the closet in the top bedroom isn't very accessible either, so I periodically contemplate reconfiguring all of that.

Here are some photos of the existing bathroom. Tight but functional. Lots of things I'd like to do, but nothing that really needs to be done.

I saw a house recently where they used tile around the vanity on the floor, but kept the hardwood in the rest of the room. It actually looked good. Wish I got a photo.