Are you planning on turning the powder bath into a full bath? If not, then where will your guests shower? Or will they have to walk across your dining/living/kitchen area half naked to use the shower in the other bathroom?

Guest rooms aren’t always perfect hotel rooms. No need to turn a s8mple project into a bathroom remodel.

To me, it’s pretty simple. Add a wall between the two windows to split the room. Closer to the house side window making the guest room bigger than the office. Since it’s a great room, you don’t really need a closet. A small armoire or mini storage space will do. Does the office need a door for privacy? If not, the small alcove between the kitchen and new guest room will work well. Desk facing the window.

@auntthelma thank you that's what we were thinking, not going over budget or into debt for a guest bathroom to have a shower right now, we have 2 others in the home. We want to add a closet to the guest room, it doesn't have to be big but necessary. Would you get rid of the exit door then? Guest bedroom would be closer to opening and office in the back of opposite?

My thought is that you want to access your office without walking through the guest room. So, from the main house, you walk through the office to the guest room.

Id keep the door. Doors are useful.

Is there another way into the garage from the kitchen besides going through this bonus room?

Is the laundry room only accessible from the garage or are there some doors missing from the layout you posted?

How often do you need a guest room? How much office/computer space do you need? Do you work from home and/or have clients? Do the functions need to be separated or could you utilize one side of the room for a guest bed and the other side for office space? I would be hesitant to break this room into two rooms unless absolutely needed.

Itsourcasa, your thoughts are best In terms of office first. What I meant by half naked, lol, was shlepping across the house in bathrobes and slippers. If it’s family, NP, but I wind up having friends visit and stay and I wouldn’t do that to them

@shead sorry yes there is a door from laundry to kitchen! Forgot that one, i'll edit the photo.

The guest room will be used probably every month to every other month, we have lots of family that visits from out of town either for long weekends or a week at a time.

The office needs to be separate, my husband sometimes works in the evenings once everyone is in bed so having a designated space that guests aren't using would be helpful.

But if we did one large dual purpose room instead where would you add a door? Where would the closet be?

@cpartist yea I'm thinking open office first then bedroom in the back with a door just can't figure out layout of door, closet, etc.. keep exit door or not.. bedroom size. That's what I need help with.

I honestly don't know anyone who owns a bathrobe. When I'm a guest in someone's house I go fully clothed, shower, dry off, change into clean clothes and come out fully clothed again. Not a big deal.

If there is another way into the garage, why does the garage entry from that room need to stay?

How big of a space does your husband need for an office? Would a closet for office supplies, etc. be beneficial to him as well?

Consider this concept. Electrical and HVAC will have to be addressed.

@shead we like that entry better since it's on the end of the garage closest to the house and the door isn't in the way. We just tend to use that one and want to keep it. Plus the laundry area is narrow so using that door to get through while someone is doing laundry is hard. We are looking into moving the washer/dryer so they aren't in the way so much and/or moving the door from garage to laundry but that will be in the future if we do anything there.

The office doesn't need to be big, we've never had a designated office in any of our 3 prior homes so this is why I'm asking here. With his career now and the space we have now in the new house, it would be useful.

@Mark Bischak, Architect are you suggesting adding another bathroom in between? It's just not an option right now, we only want to add walls to designate spaces for now.

Put a 12x16 bedroom on the left and a 11.5x16 office on the right with a 2 ftish deep reach-in closet section between the rooms. Each section of closet should be about 6 ft wide. You could use bifold doors or regular double doors. I think your husband will find the closet useful in his office for storing supplies, printer, etc.

I'd leave the exit door in the guest room and wouldn't spend money eliminating it. I'd put that money towards adding a shower the powder room at some point. Make sure you have plenty of plugs in your office space. I'd even put a plug in the closet in case he ever needs them for printers, etc.

@shead thanks great advice! This is what I came up with so far... can still close in the office as well...

I'd look at something like this:

The closet on the common wall gives you a bit of sound buffer between the bedroom and office. And the small hallway gives a bit of privacy to both rooms.

Thank you @weedyacres we had a similar idea!

Not a pro. Here's a rough thought to expand the PR into a bathroom with a shower and set up the door so that there's a bit of privacy entering the bathroom from either the office or the guest room. Not to scale (wall thickness etc.) so this would need a reality check and furniture added to scale to see if it all fits.

@chicagoans thank you that's interesting I never thought to go out into the hallway with the bathroom if we added a shower. I like that and am saving it for when we get to that point!

Thanks @Mark Bischak, Architect will do, doing anything to the bathroom is in the far future plan anyway.

Check dimensions before you commit.

Shower 3'-0"

Curb 0'-5"

Toilet space 3'-0"

Sink & Vanity 3'-0"

Wall thickness 0'-4 1/2"

Total Width 9'-9 1/2""

Do you need a mud area in that space? Personally, I'd prefer to create a mud area in the garage near that entrance door than inside the bonus space. That'll let you have more closet space by being able to move the door to the guest room as close to the garage wall as possible.

Is the interior wall on the right as you enter the room a 7' long wall against which you could set a day bed? Guest sleeping or, with the right bolsters and tube pillows, guest seating.

Choose a pair of cabinets that could be either file cabinets or a deep drawer dresser (used as either as needed) -- choosing at least one lockable cabinet for things you want kept private. Wood look metals could work well.

A wardrobe could also be a supply cabinet for copy paper and boxes of other items. Then create your office as your office like it.

@shead we don't need the mud space, no. I just thought if we're mainly going to use that entrance from the garage it would be useful. We can do that inside the garage just as easily though.

@suezbell thanks for the ideas, which wall are you talking about? The wall to the right when you walk in the 6' opening is a 10' wall.

I would skip the dresser in a guest bedroom in favor of a comfortable chair and, space permitting, small writing desk so guests have a space to get away and answer email, read a book, etc.. I would perhaps put drawers in the closet with a flat surface on top for suitcases. In my experience guests almost never unpack into a dresser - they hang a few things and live out of their suitcases for the rest (which is why it's nice to have a spot to have a raised suitcase in the closet).

Great ideas @Kristin S thank you!

Not a pro. I l like Chicagoans idea but I would switch the two rooms and have the office on the left (on the outside walls) and the guest room on the right. The reason being that the room on the left looks like it gets a lot more light since one of the windows is not looking on to what looks like a covered patio. Plus having the office on the left gives the most privacy. My husband works from home a lot and his office is at the front of the house, away from the kitchen and family room and he still closes the door a lot. If you don't have enough room for french doors then I would put a 12 window door to let even more light in. Plus you can also leave that exterior door there since you won't need as much furniture in an office.

If your office is going to have a desk on the far end of the room opposite the door and visitors chairs between that and a door, a day bed, perhaps one with a trundle bed, behind that against the wall to the right as you enter the room wouldn't be intrusive for your office if the space were going to be used as one room; however I prefer the layout in the mock up by itsourcasa with the guest bedroom separate if that fits in your space.

Your visitors chairs could be chosen to be comfortable reading or conversation chairs for your guests and your office could double as a sitting/conversation room..

Thank you @chocolatebunny123 I'm never only looking for pro advice, some of the best advice given on here is by people who have lived through their own home renovations and LIVE in the space.

@suezbell we have definitely decided to have a designated guest room, now to think about having an open office or one with a door. I've done 2 new layouts... top one I've switched the guest bedroom to be closer to the rest of the house but seeing it i'm unsure of having it that way. The bottom layout I think I like... if we keep the exit door. Something about an exit door IN a bedroom I don't like especially when ours opens out to the driveway.

The second one gives you a much needed mud room. I like it. And you keep the back door to the house. Like that too.

@auntthelma thanks this is definitely a top contender! Thank you for working through it with me on here, appreciate it.

Two other thoughts, if, in the future, you prefer the office to have a wall and door, you can certainly and easily add it. Lastly, I love the privacy of the guest room. It could be a room for an in-law, nanny, ornery teenager, family member with the flu.....

@auntthelma yes that is true about adding the door in the future, the framing for now will be easiest this way. We may have my a family member living with us for a short time this fall so I'm glad it seems a bit more private this way.

I think I would make a design that has walls on the office as well. An office is not something that I consider a space that is pretty to look at and can get messy so having it in view of the public areas would bother me. The other part is what if you're on the phone do you want the noise from all the other areas to be transferring to your phone call? Say someone running the garbage disposal in the kitchen or TV noises from the living room, or just conversations, screaming children, barking dogs, etc. Not sure of your house make up, but there are plenty of sources of noise in a house.

I work from home twice a week and having a place to go and close the door is very useful when others are around and especially when in meetings where I can have my phone on speaker and also work at the same time. This way I'm not disturbing others either and others can't hear what is being said either unless they stand outside the door and listen in of course.

@lyfia I'll have to think about that, hubby is in the creative field so mostly just on his computer designing in the evening, not really on work calls. We do have young kids but not babies so they listen well and their rooms are on the other side of the house. The kids usually need the computer at their ages now for homework so it would be convenient to have it open like this and yell back and forth from the kitchen when they need help with something on the computer LOL.

Maybe do two pocket doors that can be left open for when you want it to be open and then close when you sit down to dinner and don't want to see it or want it more quiet. This makes it semi-open, but also allow some short walls to hide things behind.

Here's a sample idea of how it could look.

BTW I like the mudroom with the door to the outside there. Perfect for a family.

Thank you! We have pocket doors throughout our house but didn't think they'd be good here since it would be hard to place a light switch on those walls and anywhere else might be awkward. We'll see, open to everything though.

It's weird living in FL in all the homes we've had we've never used our front door, only guests do. Our garage/parking in this house is on the side of the house so that side entrance is the easiest one to use right now as we need all the garage doors replaced. It lets in light also.

I prefer a closed office, but if this is where kids are going to be using the computer then I’d want it open. I’d even consider flipping the desk to the guest bedroom side so you can see from the rest of the house what’s on the computer screen more easily. It’s easier to keep kids in task with homework (among other things) when you can easily with a glance what they’re doing, and when they know you can see.

That's true @Kristin S I will consider that!!