Looks like you have plenty of room to put a regular door, this will give you enough room for a switch and the towel bar.

With a pocket door being there, you have no wall space for anything.

Outside would not be awkward if the alternative is entering and rooting around.

Ideally it should be right inside.

GN Builder seems to think you have enough room.

We have quite a few small bathrooms in our family as well as rentals. In one, the door has to swing out rather than into the bathroom. Would that help?

For a pocket door, you should have min 3/4" within the frame space to fit a receptacle box. Even with a shallow box (for a switch leg, or with a side pocket) that is not enough room. Sometimes with 2x4 walls another layer of drywall can give you the room for a shallow box. But, in your case, with 3 switches, and the room for a swing door, you should be using a swing door into the bathroom.

The door can be 28" and will allow you to mount towel bars where you want on a solid wall as well. All 3 switches should then mount on the inside left as you walk in. Don't worry about the door blocking the window, it needs to be closed all the time to shield seeing the toilet.

BTW you should always try to avoid looking right into a toilet. Also, the shower looks to be 24" (same width of vanity), so I don't know how that's possible to use unless you're Flat Stanley.

To me it looks like you will not see the toilet all the time as @3onthetree says. Toilet faces wall & it’s the sink that is in front of door. Maybe that’s why you flipped pocket door opening. To your question of light switch, I think having it just outside bath as you enter makes sense. One question - is there not a vanity with undermount sink that will fit instead of pedestal sink? Seems like you’re giving up all storage opportunities for counter & underneath. Even a wall mounted sink cabinet would give you a bit oa space to sit a toothbrush & hide extra TP..

Oops, thanks @KW PNW Z8, glossed right over the handwritten note of switching the door location. The rest of my comments still apply if you choose to slide over the door location, except you won't have a good wall for towel bar location.

I would absolutely put it outside. In Manitoba that's code! Lightswitch must be outside.

How big is that shower?

Thanks for all the comments!

We have lived with this layout for years. This is current master bath, but we are doing an addition for the master suite and this will be come the guest en suite.

@GN Builders L.L.C we had a door there before, it was in the same opening and opened into the shower. I hated it. That's why we thought of a pocket door however nobody realized the light switch issue until now.

@3onthetree the shower is 30x30. It's a super tiny stall but we've had a vanity in there already. Basically it's one person at a time in the bathroom.

@KW PNW Z8 We had a vanity before and I wanted to go with a pedestal because I feel like it will open the room up a bit. You're right we give up the cabinet space but we have a large medicine cabinet mirror and we have 16x32 builtin shelves to the left of the sink where I can store a hair dryer and put things in nice baskets. Since it will be a guest bath, we don't want to store a lot in there anyway.

To all who asked about moving the door or going to a swinging door, the pocket door is already framed in. The lights witch discovery was after framing. So we're going to have to make this work somehow. I never even thought about it honestly.

We are going to talk to the electrician on Monday but we may have to go with the switch in the bedroom. @HU-272757914 I will just pretend I'm Canadian. LOL.

I was planning to put a towel hook (not a bar, just a hook like this one https://www.build.com/product/summary/562687?uid=226702&jmtest=gg-gbav2_226702&inv2=1&&source=gg-gba-pla_226702!c1674295647!a65665541995!dc!ng&gclid=CjwKCAiA9vOABhBfEiwATCi7GF9Yx_r09UltqYxbcWZy1lqD2imO9JX6QMc3riXxtLtwkg2XHkryLRoCTNsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds to the right of the shower before the built in but now I think I'm going to need to put light switches there. That's a dilemma for sure.

@S Melt 30x30

We have a couple light swirches outside the bathroom. Not an issue. You just get used to it.

When end we were bratty teenagers, we would turn off the light using the outside the door switch, when our siblings were in the bathroom. Never ending laughs. 😂

Moira, I didn’t understand this was becoming the guest ensuite. I agree, the pedestal sink is a nice touch & you have sufficient storage. I like the towel hooks instead of a bar idea. This suggestion may be a total dud but I’ll throw it out there. You know about the 3M Command hooks? They’ve come a long way & there are now some beefy & nice looking hooks that match ORB & polished nickel finishes. I’ve used them on backs of guest bath door for extra hanging as I didn’t want to drill into my doors. This could be an option to affix hooks onto your pocket door wall so you don’t have to punch through it. There is a small space inside the pocket where the door slides to hide so you just might have enough for the bolt(s) holding hook without scratching the door. Hooks don’t need as much space as electric boxes. BTW, we have a pocket door for our laundry room that slides into right side of wall on entering laundry. We had to move light switch to left wall & it’s fine. After 12 years though, I still sometimes automatically reach right for switch.

I played around with the plan and came up with an option. This discovery about the light switch further identified the lack of space for a towel hook but I measured and I think I found a way to make it work. Here's my rough drawing outlining the placement of the lights witches, outlets, built in shelves and towel hooks. I'm not sure about code for the outlet closest to the sink but I'm crossing my fingers we can find adequate spacing vertically to make that work. Thanks for everyone's help!

Looks like a plan but I do have a question. Could / should light & fan switch & towel hook positions be swapped? Thinking about reaching out of shower to grab towel & seems like the closer hook is to shower door the better. And, thinking of standing at sink with a towel hook protruding from wall - will it be in the way as an elbow knocker etc & add the bulk of towel hanging on hook & sticking out. Also wonder if 2 hooks possible, one above the other & slightly offset If hooks are closer to shower.

@KW PNW Z8 You're right!!!! I don't know why I didn't think of that. It makes complete sense for all the reasons you said and really works better. THANK YOU! Definitely will swap the switches and hook and see if I can fit 2 hooks like you said. I bought 2 before i realized I had no place to put them.

IMO have on e swithch for all the lighting in such a small space the fan is not an issue to run everytime you use the bathroom anywhay and if all the lighting is LED the power use is negligible so one swith on the outside no problem

Put the switch up by the vanity and install a motion sensor for the main light. I hate switches that are placed outside of a room.