Adding linen closet to small bathroom
Our guest room has a large reach-in closet that’s about 7’ wide. We need to replace the doors on it, and it’s impossible to get them this size without special ordering them and spending a small fortune. The closet itself is WAY bigger than we need it to be for a guest room, so I was thinking of stealing some space from it and adding a linen closet into our main bathroom that backs onto the guest room.
Then the guest closet would be about 4’ wide (perfect for our needs - and super easy to get replacement doors for) and we’d get some more much-needed storage in our bathroom. We have a small linen closet in our hallway which just isn’t cutting it.
My husband thinks it will look weird to have an extra door in our bathroom though, in the middle of the wall. I think it would be fine though! This closet area also has the access to our attic, so I can’t just do open storage in the bathroom instead. It needs to be a standard closet with ceiling access and removable shelves.
Current layout (small square at bottom of guest closet is the existing hallway linen closet):
Proposed layout:
What do you think? Would it look okay? Tell me I’m not crazy! :)
Comments (16)
skyecrowley
4 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (17)You are going to want more than 32" for the toilet. 36" is standard (and perhaps even code in some areas???? Not here in Maine but I heard people saying that on other forums...) We have 34" and it feels fine but I dont think I'd want to go much tighter. You could solve that simply by flipping the closet and shower. So, have your shower -rotated 90 degrees and witha glass end wall- at the end of the tub (which is a nice setup you can see in many bathrooms, the tub deck can actually protrude under the shower glass wall and be a ledge or seat in the shower). Then the passageway moves to the left, and you can steal a bit of space from the other closet for the toilet. Either that of have a shorter vanity. 48" isn't a size I'd fight for. It's too short for a double vanity, really (unless you're using one of the new two-faucet 'trough" styles) so why not go down to 42" and have a better toilet area? For resale, though, you should consider a double vanity. Some people I guess expert truly huge ones, like at least 5+' long. But you CAN get smaller ones, Ikea has some great ones for tight spaces. But if you're not selling anytime soon, do what YOU like!! (But I still think you'll want more toilet space...)...See MorePlease weigh in on linen area in bathroom
Comments (16)Good suggestions all, and I'll discuss them with the GC and my husband. The bathroom is a shared space (although since there's just the two of us and we rarely have overnight guests it's sort of a moot point). I know it sounds crazy to not have a "master" bathroom connected to the master bedroom, but, as you can see, the bedroom (labeled Bedroom 2) had to give up a lot of space for the bathroom and I didn't want to make our bedroom any smaller than it already is. Also, I prefer to have our bedroom on the south side of the house so I didn't want to switch to the other bedroom. Nanny is right, you can see that originally the architect drew a linen closet outside the bathroom. We eliminated it because it took up too much of the area open to down below, which is one of our favorite features of the house. Here's what the existing "hallway" looks like now. This would be looking from the bathroom area. Of course the dormer area you are looking at will be gone (we're raising the roof) so there will be additional height there. After the reno there will a wall there, which is the backside of the walk-in closet. This is a tiny bit of the view into the living room from the upstairs hallway. You can probably understand why we didn't want to lose that open feel. I was planning on putting a wall-mounted towel warmer on the wall next to the window (between the window and the toilet), although since multiple people have mentioned it, perhaps I should be considering moving that to where the linen area is (although that's a long way to reach for a towel when coming out of the shower). Thanks again for your advice and opinions. I realize it's difficult to picture these things, especially when you're only seeing plans for the half of the house that's being renovated. This is the existing house (looking at the south/front of the house): And here are the south and east elevations for the renovation. Believe it or not this whole project started with having to remove those dormers because of a bad roof design. Hopefully this gives you a better big-picture view of what's happening. As always, your opinions are appreciated....See MoreOne large bathroom or two small bathrooms?
Comments (26)In the picture, black is the current layout. Green is the change if only shower was made bigger and one door would be eliminated. Red is a complet demo, removing the wall section between two toilets. All the water lines from upstairs are in the section of the wall that is between two toilets so removing this wall would require a major move of water lines to the side and there would have to be a section of wall kept behind new toilet and vanity. The door from master would have to be framed and move to the left as a pocket or barn door. The drowing is disproportionate. It is all very cramped in there Current shower is only 26"x26". But may be replacing vanity for a wall hung vanity in the larger bathroom would change the feel. It will all have to be torn down and replaced including removing subfloors as they are rotten. So either remodel will be a lot of work. What should we do?...See MoreShould I remove this bathroom wall and make space for linen storage??
Comments (19)You can avoid the need for door-swing space by getting drawers on the outsides of the vanity. One possibility that you have not discussed here is to get a trough sink vanity with two faucets. Then you do not have to remodel for resale. If you get a vanity with drawers, you will have accessible towel storage in the bottom deep drawers and storage for smaller items in the upper drawers. Once you remove the wall, you may be able to get a 60" vanity, which will give you many more choices for your vanity. This one is 60" here at Houzz and is one of the few not sold with top and sink, so you may put in any that you choose. The bottom drawers on both sides are double-high, so this vanity has seven drawers!A wide trough sink like this one would technically make this a two-person vanity.And it is small enough that all of the plumbing would fit into the door cabinet part. Really, when a second person is there, often they just need to rinse a tooth brush and spit into the sink or wet a wash cloth while the other is shaving, and this kind of set-up works fine for that. My hubby and I managed that with a single faucet with a swivel mount on a tiny 30" Home Depot Euro-style "belly sink" for years. I don't know what your floor space is going to feel like after you take down the wall, but if you feel you have room to walk around it, they make a matching linen tower. It is 24" wide and 20" deep and 6 ft tall. A linen tower over across from the end of the vanity will keep the vanity area feeling spacious. It is another option instead of having the tall linen tower on the counter looming over you. With all of the drawers you can get in a 60" vanity, do you need the tower? I have a 60" vanity in our main bath now, and it is pretty useless, but that is because it has no drawers at all. As I suggested above, if you are short on floor space, you can have any cabinetry sunk into the wall. Simply have the builder do a header to carry the weight of the stud that needs to be removed, and frame around the opening with a bit of wood trim painted to match the cabinet. You can take the drawer front or door in to the paint shop for a match to be made, or have the trim painted the wall color....See More
PROJAN MOYER
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoI agree that the guest closet needs to be larger if you ever plan on selling I think I would do open shelving with some decor not just linens and if you put the top shelf near the ceiling it will be removeable and look like the top of the cabinet.I actually agree with hubby too many doors in a very small space Something like this for bathroom stuff in pretty jars and towels and leave the hall one for bedding.
- PRO
JAN MOYER
4 years ago Mrs Pete
4 years agofelizlady
4 years agoerinsean
4 years agopetula67
4 years agoUser
4 years agoCavimum
4 years agoUser
4 years agopetula67
4 years agoskunst2017
4 years agoSliding door if you must have a door ..I prefer open shelves ..in the bathroom ...but , you can do a different type of door ...as in sliding ..or folding door with openings for air to get through ...you need ventilation in a bathroom closet .....
To prevent mildew from the humidity ...
petula67
4 years agopetula67
4 years agoOther option: leave attic panel where it is, but instead of framing a closet w/door in bathroom, frame it as a niche and place a free-standing linen cabinet in that space. Some of them are pretty. The cabinet could be moved out of the way if attic access were needed, and this would allow more space for placing and climbing stepladder.
badgergal