Hey Gibby -- 6 x 10 bath here [finally demo'd last week!] and I know that my size isn't even that small. I've been on the lookout for 3 or so years and it's been surprisingly difficult to find ideas. Aside from "recess whenever possible," of course! There's the "monochromatic = more spacious" school of thought but IMO there are alternative ways to lead the eye around the room and create interest in a small space. Things to consider: * color / color contrast * the lines of an object (round vs square) * judicious use of oversized scale * having some consistency with eyelines/sightlines of your vertical elements Here are some of the apparently-smaller baths I've found that put at least one of the above into action: We're adapting this built-into-doorway cab for our bath -- ours will be built out from the wall, perpendicular to the sink, and serve as a med cabinet. I'd use a wall-hung if this were a full bath, but I do love this! [Note horizontal cladding] I was involved in this [5 x 8 with TWO doors!] bath: Grabbed space from kitchen to make this 15" cubby: IMO one of the biggest challenges with small baths is to create negative space that serves to set off what IS in the room. In our case, we splurged a bit on a demilune/semicircle vanity instead of a square or rectangular one -- given our bowling alley dimensions, it helps carve out some pleasing curves. However, having lived in a place where the tiny wall-hung sink, toilet, and clawfoot were all accessible from one spot I know negative space is sometimes non-existent! I've enjoyed the book below, which has a mix of sizes and lots of materials in it --"ideas for tiny half-baths, medium-size his-and-hers, and large, luxurious home spas. Specifics on ventilation, waterproofing, faucets, showers, tubs, and more." Here is a link that might be useful: New Bathroom Idea Book (Taunton Press)

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?

We recently bought a 15 yr old custom home (2300 sq ft, 3 bd, 1.5 ba). On the bedroom floor (lower floor, on slab) there is a space a little over 20' by 6.5' for bathrooms, laundry, utility. There's nothing structural in the space, but there are not many options for expansion except into the master walk in closet. We think they were probably getting to the end of the budget and just decided to do one larger common bathroom and a smaller laundry/utility room. The result is no master bathroom, but laundry has to be accessed through the master walk in closet. We'd like to reconfigure the space into 2 smaller bathrooms and move the laundry into the new common bathroom. Our plan is to clear the existing bathroom out and move the existing dividing wall over. A small utility room would be created by adding a wall and pocket door in front of the remaining hot water tank and electrical panel (local code allows this as long as it's a dedicated space with a separating door and proper clearances). The new small master seems straightforward, but accessing the shower in the common bathroom may be tight. Any thoughts/recommendations on my current layout are welcome. Current layout: Proposed:

Dear Weedyacres: One bedroom is 13 x 25, the other is 12 x 18. The other bathroom which is not in the drawing serves two bedrooms and one of those bedrooms is really tiny. On the other side of it is the dining room, so no way to make that smaller. I guess the only possibility at this point would be to loose the tiniest bedroom and turn the current master bath into one with the spiral shower, but I don't like that idea at all because we mostly heat that part of the house with the fireplace and I wouldn't want to loose a bedroom in the main section. Plus I think that really might affect resale value. Probably best to leave as is. I am so thankful for everyone's input because I think it's helping me to see that the spiral shower is a no go. Actually, the house isn't the main feature for me. The main feature is the two acres and lots of woods and the sun room with wall to ceiling windows. And the room we will use for dancing which actually brings me to another problem. The house is on a slab and we want hardwood. Sounds like engineered is the only way to go. We keep this room about 50 degrees and we want something that won't hurt our feet like tile would do. Thanks again for your help. I really do appreciate it very much.