Are you willing to have a true , no wasted space reach-in closet?

A reach-in closet is a give-and-take type of thing. It's attractive in that it means no wasted space ... but it eats up a large amount of wall space, and with all these "moving pieces", the OP doesn't have a whole lot of wall space to spare.

I just wanted to throw out there that some people keep a portion of their clothes in a dresser rather than a closet.

Yes, a dresser could potentially sit at the foot of the bed. Again, the OP doesn't have a great deal of wall space.

With a king bed, I am not sure this layout is possible. Thoughts?

Is a king bed an absolute necessity?

I think this is the best layout so far. Specific thoughts:

- Walking through your office to reach the bedroom isn't ideal, but it does give you a larger desk and a more reasonable sized bedroom. I'd be willing to take this compromise.

- The traffic pattern is good. You don't have to walk next to a sleeper to reach the bathroom or the closet.

- If you flip-flop the office so that the desk is on the inside wall, you'd be able to have windows behind you, and that'd make for a more pleasant space. If you splurge on a bay window "behind" the desk, it would make the narrow office feel more spacious. If you have a green thumb, a bay window full of plants would make your office very pleasant.

- Do you need the pocket door between the office and the bedroom?

- The closet is well-placed in the middle of the space, and it's a nice size.

- I'm glad you got a window in the powder room, and it's a comfortable size now.

- Duplicate sinks just don't fit in this bathroom ... you're giving yourself essentially no storage in the bathroom, and that's going to matter every single day, whereas duplicate sinks are of little value even when storage isn't an issue.

- I'd lose the toilet closet /go with a pony wall. It'd be more comfortable to use, it'd allow light from the above-toilet window to flow into the bathroom, and it'd be easier to clean.

- The idea of a dresser has been thrown out ... note that the only space you have to place any additional furniture in this room is the foot of the bed.

if nightstands are required

Aren't nightstands always required? My bedroom is roughly 13' wide, and our king bed just fits with two large nightstands. We don't have a whale of a lot of space on each side of the bed, but it is not uncomfortable.

@houssaon yeah that is something we are trying to avoid. The family room is already small and having a door there to go to the restroom(around the couch and all) feels a little odd. I'd love to have the half bath by the double doors to the backyard for easy access.

It seems that you have eliminated the office. Maybe there are other options.

Like that last (Mrs Pete) plan with the walk thru study.

Add only one larger sink in the center of the master vanity so you can add a his/her cabinet on each side of the center shared mirror. His/her overhead storage (think overhead kitchen cabinets) AND more his and more her countertop space will be a lot more practical than two sinks. You can even add a mirror instead of a clear glass to glass front overhead cabinets just in case you ever need more mirror surface.

Make the walk thru study have a built in upscale butler's pantry vibe -- built ins (if possible, budget permitting, real wood with natural wood finish matching the bedroom furnishings) -- and add a small high window over the center seating area.

Make the WALL between walk in closet and walk thru study desk be a 6" deep wall so you can have 6" deep storage facing the study hidden by floor to ceiling cabinet doors behind which would be shelves between the studs -- not unlike an Amish hallway.

https://id.pinterest.com/pin/88242473925009655/ 

In the back awkward corner of your walk in closet, you might even consider yielding that corner to deeper storage for the office, if needed, such as for shelves to hold filing boxes and use the smaller hanging space beside it for LONG items -- dresses or coats, with the rest of the walk in closet having a second row of shorter hanging items (shirts, etc. ). You could consider adding a shelving corner within the walk in closet in that other corner for accessories -- purses and hats and caps ... and even a fire resistant lockbox.

Any extra wide open space in the bedroom could be used to add a rolling cart for storage of shoes behind closed cabinet doors -- keeping the shoe smells out of your closet. Add your favorite dry scent sheets in or near the shoes in that cabinet to help make the cabinet itself smell fresher when the doors are opened.

Choose seating ( perhaps wheeled seating) for the bedroom and patio and desk that can be interchangeably used -- matches or co-ordinates -- and can be parked where needed as needed. You could also consider including a small (wheeled) storage ottoman ( or two) with a flip lid (footstool/table) that could be used as storage for the quickest space to store a regularly used item out of sight (purse with her ID that is currently being used) (hat regularly worn) or the small backpack or carry case you throw in the car each time you go somewhere so you don't need to carry that stuff in your pocket or purse.

@Mrs Pete I think having the bathroom on the left with the latest layout is likely the best use of space. There is a lot of good things about that last layout but I don't want the powder room to be through the top of family room. That'd be a compromise. Also the going through the office to bedroom is odd. Additionally we have in-laws come visit and stay with us for couple months at a time and they watch TV a lot during the afternoon. Having the office right next to TV room won't be ideal when I am on meetings more than half the day. Also king bed is something we don't want to compromise. I think with the current space king bed is possible?

With the latest layout I posted, the half bath is closer to the double doors out to backyard and I get a big closet. However I do not get an office space. I could possibly fit my current 4ft desk on the wall opposite the toilet or may be the powder room wall. Although I"d like to hang a TV on that wall ideally.Even with so much space (500sq ft), its so difficult to carve out a reasonable office space and that's frustrating. I suppose if I do a shower over tub and single vanity that'd get me some space but we really don't wan't to compromise the bath. I am ok not having a wet room may be a standalone shower. Haven't played around with that in mind, it'd be good to see if that creates some space.

Lastly, can I ask about storage for vanity? The vanity itself can have storage correct? I am trying to fit a 6ft. vanity with storage drawers, is that not ideal?

@suzanne_m yes in that latest plan I did remove office. I just wasn't sure how to get a nice closet and an office in the space.

I don't see that you get that much closet in your last layout. It looks like you have 9-10 ft of closet. I think there must be a way to re-organize and use some of the bedroom space to get you more closet. Are you willing to make your bedroom a bit smaller? I can try to work on it.

@suzanne_m Yes I think I am ok to give up a little bit more from the foot of the bed. We want king bed though. Thank you so much for your help.

Yes, I understand. I have a king size too and I would not depart from it. The layouts I showed have all a king size bed in them.

Consider not having a soaking bath tub -- have just a shower or a tub shower combination instead.

I don't know how you feel about having the entrance of the bathroom in this location but it gives you a big closet:

This is one if you opt for a shower only. The powder is in the ideal location. The closet gives you 16'8" of hanging space. I added a full height cabinet to store towels etc.

I like the side entrance.

I moved the French doors and the door to the bedroom and made the closet bigger to add an area for the office.

The idea of having windows on both sides of the bedroom is a good one IF it can be made work.

If you must lose the windows and only keep the patio doors to get everything you want in this space, have you considered adding a skylight or two on the left side of the room for what light you would have gotten from that side?

How committed are you to the idea of a luxury (w/tub in a shower) private master bath plus a powder room?

In your originally posted plan, how inconvenient would it be to change the location of the door to this addition along that wall of the existing house to put the new full bath on the left and the powder room with a pocket door on the right ... each about 6' deep, including depth of wall, leaving you 17' for your bedroom and closet and study space? With 12'3" for the bedroom, would leave only 4" deep for traditional (rather than walk in) closets the full 20' width of the addition.

Then, Instead of having a 20" wide bedroom / bed space, create your office space behind your headboard that is placed against a room dividing unit -- a headboard height solid back to the unit (creating a wall against which the headboard could be placed as well as wall sconces ) but with open shelving beside and above the built in centered desk part of that unit.

You could have skylight and/or windows providing light for that side of the room that also lets light into the bedroom.

@suzanne_m @houssaon The potential issue I am seeing with hallway in the middle is that there will be our family room couch there a that will block half of the hallway. If we move it farther back it might be too tight between that and the double doors. Also the couch might be way too far from the TV which will be in the family room on the same wall along the bathroom. I DO love the way the office is carved in @houssaon version and the bigger closet.

@suezbell I am not sure I am able to visualize your suggestion. Are you recommending having both baths along the 20' depth on the addition on the bottom and have a full 20' reach in closet on the top wall? I am not sure we can fit 2 baths with a doorway in 20'. Were you suggesting something else?

Also wanted to mention out of the 23.6 ft extension that we can do, I really want to save 2 ft for my family room expansion as it is on the smaller side.

It depends upon how you arrange your bath and what you want in it. IF you want the tub in the shower enclosure, that takes up more space and it will not work.

If the wide side of a more traditional tub/shower enclosure (about 2'6" deep) is against that left outside wall, the space in front of a 5' wide vanity would also be the walk space to access the tub /shower enclosure and the next few feet would be the toilet. Even with walls, that's less than 12", easily leaving about 8' for hall and powder room.

Something you might consider is only one full bath but have the powder room part of it larger and accessible from both hall and the rest of the full bath. If you want two sinks, you could put one in the powder room part of the full bath and another beside the tub/shower enclosure.

This layout is 20'0" x 21'6":

If you prefer, you can make your closet and your powder room 6'9" wide. That would give you a 14'5" x 13'5" bedroom. If you do so, your toilet area or shower shower can be 3" bigger.

With the last floor plan, you could use the first 4.5 feet for the office with a built in desk that closes. You would still have more than 12 feet of closet.

I prefer suzanne_m's plans with a shower instead of a wet room, however, I'd want the shower large enough for two people and a wheelchair, if this is your forever home. I'm not a bather, so you may prefer having a tub, but free standing tubs are a PITA unless you have hired help with cleaning. It is also proven that sounder more secure and restful sleep is attained when the bed is placed opposite the door, so that aspect is better! If you already have two sitting areas, I suggest you set up your office in one of them. I try to keep all the EMFs and associated electronics as far from the bedroom as possible. At night I turn on airplane mode, turn the phone off and stash it in a metal filing cabinet (overkill, right?) I know someone who is legally disabled due to EMF sensitivity, and who knows what's really happening to our electric bodies when we're under this constant bombardment!.

@suzanne_m thank you for all your time and effort in drawing all these variations. Thank you everyone else who provided feedback for your time and help. Really appreciate it. I like this latest version. I will review with my architect and see where this goes. Even if we have to pivot, I have gotten a lot of great ideas/options in this thread to consider. I will update this thread as I have more info.

You need at the minimum 22" in front of the toilet to be to code. This means you can make your bathroom 7'0" x 4'3" and your office 5'0"x 7'0". It all depends on where you want the 3" space. My powder room is 5'0" x 4'3" and it is fine.

I am always curious on how the final layout turns out as I also learn new options. Please, let us know how it goes.

I do like this latest version, but your original version gives the office a window.

True that a window in an office is really appealing. This layout gives you one (or two windows) but there are pros and cons that imo is worth considering:

PROS:

- Windows in the office

- Slightly bigger office (4 square ft more)

- Wider vanity

CONS:

- Smaller closet (3 ft less for hanging space)

- Smaller powder room

@suzanne_m thank you for the new layout. I will absolutely let you know what we go with. Is 6'3" by 3'6" enough for a tub shower combo? My husband does want a tub. Or if we let go of the wet room idea and do separate shower and tub, we could make it work? For office, I am thinking even if it won't have a window a skylight would be helpful. Also I can leave the office door open while I am working so that'll feel a little bit more open and better ventilation.

I don't mind a smaller powder room. As long as it can fit, let's say a pedestal sink and a toilet that is good. I would love a bigger closet and I am ok with a smaller office although window would be really desirable in the office.

Ok. I just want to clarify: When you say tub shower combo, do you mean a tub separate from the shower because I call it a wet area. A tub/shower combo to me is a shower inside the tub (.i.e. just a tub no separate shower at all).

If you are ok. with no separate shower I can drew it again. It would be something similar but I would move the toilet. Even if I make the powder room small, I cannot add more space in the closet but I can give you a 4'6" separate closet accessed either by the family room or accessed by your bedroom.

@suzanne_m yes I meant a shower over tub configuration.

In suzanne’s latest layout, the toilet and sink can face each other. Then the closet can be a little bigger.

Here's another one where your husband can have a jacuzzi and you can get a shower. I put the toilet as close as possible to the sink so you have more space when you get out of the shower. You still have 14' of hanging space in your closet. By making the powder room as small as possible, you can get some storage that maybe useful in your family room. The office is smaller but with a window it won't seem as small. You lose the full length cabinet in the bathroom. You face the toilet when you enter in the powder room:

The office and powder room doors are 2'4" wide.

You get pretty much all your wants but you have less floor space.

I made the powder room as small as I can and it allowed for a bigger shower and more space in front of it:

Note that a pocket door in the powder room would be better as you would not be squeezed between the sink and the door when you need to enter or exit the powder room. If not, a 2'0" door would be better than a 2'4" door.

I like the rendition prior to the last. I switched the bath pocket door so it faces the sinks and tub.

@suzanne_m I really like the prior to last design as well. It has everything on top of a small closet in the family room. Thank you so much for all your efforts. I'll keep this thread posted.

I looked at my last layout this morning after a night of sleep and I really don't it. The powder room is too narrow. I agree, the layout prior to the last one is a lot better.

Note that the software I use draws walls 4" thick but the thickness of a wall is in reality 4.5". You will need to make little adjustments to this layout. Also, a wall with a pocket door is 4 5/8 thick.

One other little change you could do to this layout is to center the bathroom door with the vanity. That would be my preference. In that case if you like the location of the tub towel bar, you need to make measurements between the door and the tub towel bar before you decide exactly where the pocket door is. You want to make sure you that when you put screws in the wall to mount the towel bar, the door can fully slide inside the wall without hitting the screw used to mount to the towel bar. Based on my drawing you may be missing .5 to 1" to open the door completely. This is not the end of the world. You have other options such as:

- mount the towel bar 1 in. off center to the tub or

- mount the towel bar on another wall or

- just to be safe, place the door 1" off center to the vanity. It would not show that is off center.

One last thing, You don't have a full height cabinet to store towels inside your bathroom. You could reserve 1' of your closet for that purpose if you like.

EDIT: You could have the powder room on the South wall and have the 1'6" x 4'3" closet in your bedroom to store the towels etc. This way you can keep all the space in your closet. The storage could be 1'8" not 1'6" if you prefer since a 5'0" powder room is fine.

This process paused for a little bit but finally have the layout drawn by the architect. We decided to go with the narrow 3*7 powder room layout that @suzanne_m drew as to not compromise bath/closet/office etc. We had a chance to see a similar powder room in person and decided that that size works. Here's the layout. The shaded area is the new addition.

Here are few things I want to highlight for any feedback etc.

• As you see in the layout, the closet ended up being narrower at only 6'3". The door will be centered so ignore that being on the side in the drawing. We do want closet with hanging space on both walls. The architect is recommending we borrow 4" from the master bath and make it s 6'7". That'll leave the master bath at a width of 5'7.5". I think even going down to 5'5" should be ok so the closet get a wee bit wider. I feel like the extra inches might go a long way in closet than in bath. so either 6'7" wide or 6'9" wide.
• The small nook on the powder room wall is great. We are thinking of leaving it open making it kind of a dry bar area.
• In the master bath we will borrow a foot of space from master closet to create a linen closet indicated by the pink sketch. The other side on the closet can be used to store shoes/bags etc. That way the floor space in bathroom is clear.
• We gave up the tub and gained a decent sized sitting/office alcove. My big dilemma is how do we separate that space with the bedroom. I want to keep it as open as possible towards the bedroom for light and openness but also want some sort of a visual divider. I attempted to draw something in IKEA software to visualize and here's how it's looking with encasing. Its ok I suppose but I am wondering if there is a better more aesthetically pleasing option?

• Some inspiration I am gathering from pictures like these. The glass window/screen, I am thinking I could only do on the nightstand side and not on both ends as its not that big of an alcove. Love how this looks but probably pricier option.

This one is simple and economical however I worry it'll be too cluttered. It does get the job done though leaving the room airy and doesn't block light.

This is the wall encasing. It looks great here as its a much wider room. Wonder how this will pan out for a smaller alcove .

Do you guys have any feedback/thoughts on any of the above?

Thanks!

Not a question you asked, but given the space constraints, I'd do one sink in the bath so you have some decent counter space.

As long as the closet door stays where it is. I wouldn’t bother adding the extra inches to the closet, because you wouldn’t be able to have the closet rod in front of the doorway anyway. If you could center the closet doorway, that would work. But looks like you want a tv on that wall (?)

@emilyam819 sorry I should have clarified, the closet door will be centered. That was one option the architect was proposing is to have a L shaped hanging space but we want on both sides. TV is not that important. Does that change your opinion about widening the closet?

Ohh k, then yes. You should be able to manage with 6’6”

I agree that you should be ok with a 6'6" walkway in your closet. One thing to keep in mind is that the narrower you make you master bathroom, the narrower the office is but the bedroom is gets wider.

I don't fully understand what you are saying about storing the shoes and what you are saying about the other side of the cabinet. Are the shoes going to be stored in the lower part of the cabinet? What is the rectangle you have beside the shower in the master bathroom?

I am not sure what is the size of the vanity but I don't really recommend a 2-sink vanity if the vanity is shorter than 6'0" otherwise you don't a lot of counter top and the drawers are narrow.

Also for the office, have you consider 2 double 6ft pocket door with frosted glass?

@suzanne_m You think 6'6" is enough for two people when they are in there at the same time?

I wanted to create a linen closet by sharing part of the closet. The pink box indicates that. So the hanging space is 24", we'd use 12" on bathroom side for linen closet and the other 12" on closet side for shoes/purse.

You are right if we make the bathroom narrow the office will be narrow too but does it have to be that way? I think we should be able to just move the bathroom/closet wall and leave the office wall as is? It'll create a bit of a nook/bump out on the office walls but will it look that bad?

I don't think 6'6" is enough for 2 people to circulate in a closet at the same time. 6'9" barely works but one cannot pull a clothes from the rack while the other one wants to walk behind that person. If you are good that 2 persons can look at their clothes but only one can actually pull the clothes then 6'9" is ok. It is tight but it can be done.

Ok. I understand the think about using half a depth for linen and half a depth for the shoes. Very clever.

I don't think a bump out will look nice. Personally, I would make the office the same depth as the bathroom.

Thanks @suzanne_m. I agree about the bump out, not optimal, was just looking to see if I can get wider office.

I have one more question. The small closet that is next to the powder room is only a foot deep. We were hoping to be able to put a dry bar with a beverage fridge on it. It looks like those fridges are 18-24 inch deep. There is no more room to borrow from the powder room. An idea I had was on the adjacent TV wall I'd create a nook/alcove of about 18 inch deep and full wall length(big purple alcove in the picture) where I want to do built in TV credenza and may be some floating shelves above. This will mean that we could gain the same 18 inch depth on the small alcove which will allow us to put a beverage fridge there( coffee machine on counter etc.). Our architect thinks it might make the family room seem small but we are going for vaulted ceiling and its only recessing the TV built in rather putting it flush on the wall. I feel like it should be ok. Thoughts?

I am not sure. I have another idea but I don't know if it is any better:

What if the only full wall is beside the hallway then have a built-in 3'0" high (just enough to fit your fridge below). I would make that built-in 18" deep and run it all the way on that tv wall. You can put your tv on where you have it now and have storage on the left of it. On the right, it would be your fridge with some storage to the left for glasses etc. I would consider making the top of the built-in all the same material and put a table mat where your fridge is to protect the top. You can have shelves on the wall if you wish but I think I would not. Seeing the wall recessed compared to the bottom where you have your built-in would make the room feel bigger even though you use some floor space for your built-in.

I would also make your closet 6'6" wide and deal with the problem of 2 persons being in that room at the same time. I think one can choose their clothes while the other is taking a shower. I think it is worth that compromise to keep your bathroom and office wider.

@suzanne_m thank you. We decided we don't want beverage fridge anymore but we want that closet/alcove to be 18" deep. 12" didn't seem that useful. This makes the powder 6'5". Small but we think still ok. Also I decided agains a TV alcove. Just going to go with plain wall. I think we are satisfied with most things now in the layout. The last question(until something else comes up) is do I really want the patio door from bedroom to be 10' wide(same as patio door from family room). The architect thinks it should be same for symmetry reasons and how it will look from the backyard. But I am thinking the patio door from bedroom should be only 8' max so there is a little privacy, some wall space in bedroom etc.

The closet width is at 6'9". Do you really think the extra 3' space in bathroom will even be noticeable?

Here's the latest layout.

I think a 6'5" for your powder room is fine. However, I think 6'9" wide closet is not that much more useful than a 6'6" closet. In both cases, both of you cannot circulate and pull your clothes at the same time. I would rather have the 3" extra in front of the toilet when I get out of the shower.

True that a 1'6" is better than a 1'0" but have you thought about what you want to put in that closet? Do you think the stuff you want to store would fit in a 1'3" closet?

Thanks @suzanne_m. We are thinking of making a coffee station out there as our kitchen is on smaller side. so 18 or at least 15" is better. 12" just wouldn't work.