Does it have to be inside the current home or can you add on?

What do you use the "hall" for?

Is there any room under the stairs?

Were is the upstairs bathroom located?

I presume that under the stairs are the stairs to the basement. So, the only place you can really grab some space is in the front hall.

Thats what I was thinking Starcraft, something along or under the stairs.

Plumbing wise the pantry might be cheaper.

Yes, under the stairs is the basement, so that’s not an option. Ideally, I would like to keep it within the current floor plan to save money, but just not sure if that would be the best option. And the upstairs bathroom would be split above the living room and dining room.

I would say the pantry. Your kitchen is large so you may be able to add a wall, create a back mud room of sorts, and make the pantry a bath. Still won't be cheap though.

This could maybe be an option. I am just not sure about that window in the powder room.

I'd close in a portion of the back porch on the other side of the pantry, then re-locate the stairs to the back yard.

How about this? I have a very small powder room in a old house. You just need the minimum space for a toilet and a sink. I would have the door swing out; that is the way mine is and it works fine. Insulate the walls with filler that reduces sound.

I would convert the pantry into a powder room/laundry room.

We thought about putting the PR in the foyer too, in front of the stairs, but our radiator is there. So that eliminates most of that space and wouldn’t leave enough room for a PR. We also threw around the pantry idea, as well as enclosing a portion of the back porch. Thanks for the ideas. I’ll post a picture of our pantry here

Split the pantry in half and put the powder room in half with the window.

Put it in the pantry.

I think houssaon’s idea is best. Away from cooking. Line walls with sound proofing and create clever look super narrow sink and paint walls with quirky color and some quirky wallpaper. Have fun with it. Put a bench and coat rack on stair wall for guests coats etc.

@houssan gave the best idea. Get a plumber to figure out if they can bring water lines up to the front of the house for a PR. My 1925 house had a small addition at the back with the smallest bathroom known to mankind. My dad used to say his knees hit the opposite wall when he used it! But it worked and filled the need for a first floor toilet/sink. A small hung sink and toilet should do the trick. Plus a good ceiling vent. Old houses are fabulous even though they don’t come with downstairs powder rooms! I would not use the back part of the pantry. Who wants a bathroom in the kitchen??

I think the hall is the perfect spot I eally never like bathrooms off a kitchen if at all possible . I just imagine while I am cooking someone goinginto the bathroom

Is it possible to build a shallow pantry closet somewhere in the kitchen? Wouldn't have to be deep. Then the current pantry could be turned into a laundry/powder room combination.

If you are having the powder room added why not have it in the foyer and have the plumber move the radiator while he is doing the rest of the plumbing work?

@norwoodarchitects you can see from the photo below that on the right hand side through the doorway, there’s an area that I use now as storage/bench/coat rack that could possibly be converted into a shallow pantry.

The front elevation window in Houssan’s plan gives me pause. But off the kitchen is never ideal either. It is very common in older homes to have a bath with even a tub off the back kitchen. So I am thinking you could also add a small shower if you put it in the 7x7 pantry which is also often needed in older 4 square homes that often only have a single family full bathroom. the plumbing is already near that area as well if cost is restrictive.

@houssan @RedRyder here’s a pic of the front foyer. I also love the idea of keeping the PR away from the kitchen, but I’m just not sure where else I can steal space from without doing an addition. You can see more clearly in the photo that our radiator and window is up at the front of the house and we won’t be able to move the radiator to put a large enough PR there. I was also thinking about adding a wall in the foyer where my gallery wall is to create a PR, but then I think that takes away from the character of the large foyer.

@roarah you are correct. We only have one full bathroom in our home and it’s upstairs.

I'm not sure the dimensions of your floorplan are accurate based on the photos - the floorplan shows sufficient space for a PR in your foyer but the photo looks like there isn't enough landing space at the bottom of the stairs to make that work. You could create a wall and make a back hall to the powder room so your kitchen would be 14'-6" x 14'-6" but looking at photos again I'm not sure that 18'-6" is correct, and it would require a kitchen reno.

Many of the homes in the neighborhood I grew up in dated from the turn of the Century - e.g. Victorian and Queen Anne styles mostly.

They all had powder rooms installed in a space off the kitchen which I presume was once the pantry. It seems that in your home, that would also be the least expensive configuration which also wouldn't look oddly placed. I guess under the stairs would work but the under the stair bathrooms I have seen have been somewhat awkward because of the sloping ceilings.

Now that I have seen your photos, I believe your best choice is the gallery wall. What is the length of the wall from hallway to stairway? Also, what is the size of the ceiling cut, parallel to the stairs?

I think you can fill in the section in front of the gallery wall and still have a nice foyer. Yes it will seem small to you but to those who haven't see the original version, it will be fine. The key to making it work is the details and reworking the stairway railing. I can't tell what the clearance is from the radiator cover to the stairs but you may wish to modify the bottom of the stairs to add some visual balance. I remember seeing one house of that era which had a landing at the bottom step and second newel post on the right side with a railing from the newell post to the side wall. Whether that would work depends on the radiator placement. Some houses had a builtin bench around the base of the stairs. You could make the bottom stair a platform which extended to the front wall, add a matching newell post and put a bench with pier mirror and coat hooks against the front wall.
Look to other houses of the era for inspiration

Here is my slightly smaller three piece off my back hall that leads into the kitchen. This tiny, too close to the kitchen in most new home owner’s opinion, 3 piece bath kept me employeed ( would have been late for work everyday if my husband didn’t use it) and happily married for seven years while we saved to add a master bath. Add a three piece if you are not planning an ensuite too. mine was added before I purchased.

Lyndee, how does one vent a interior first floor bath? In my area a window or a fan is coded for bathroom additions.

I think you'll ruin the look of your front foyer if you put the powder room there and it will be a negative if you ever go to sell. Your staircase is a selling point. Boxing it in would be a negative.

As mentioned, the best spot would be the pantry. Or you could, if the footers are there, frame in the back porch and add it there. Please do not ruin the aesthetics of that beautiful foyer.

I wonder if you could take some space from the pantry and get some space from the deck and build out a small powder room with side entry? We did this on a vintage home we had many years ago and that was very successful. We even got some storage into it and the small hall we created. Not sure codes there would permit or if you can get sewer line set up, all items you need to research. I would get in touch with a good General Contractor and get them to come out and check out the possibilities. It is not easy or cheap though no matter what you do given the layout of the house. I would think long and hard about using the pantry space. No great options. Sorry.

Seeing your beautiful house, I think you need to keep your large hall. You have a nice pantry too but reading that you have some space for a full height storage in front of the basement door, I would sadly eliminate the large pantry and put a small PR there at the back (something like houssaon suggested). This way, your PR would be accessed from an alcove which would not be a 'direct' access from the kitchen.

If you can fit the powder room into the area at the back of the pantry, you could store some of the displaced but seldom used items in a new storage cabinet beneath or in front of your gallery wall by the stairs. I mean a taller cabinet than the chest that is there now.

Do you use your basement stairs often? I recently saw a home which had a floor hiding the staircase on a very strong, cleverly counterweighted spring. When you opened the basement door, it was shelved deep in the back like a pantry and you just walked in. If you wanted to actually access the basement, you triggered the spring and the ”floor” hiding the basement stairs folded up and out of the way. Oddest thing ever, but it provided a decent pantry space and might free up your back pantry for a bathroom. Almost all my friends with Victorian era homes have a full bath off the kitchen. It might have been for staff? In any case, they are often old and quieky and I have come to like them.

I’m guessing the basement steps are behind the gallery wall in the entryway? Looking at the photo of the entry hall, I can see why you’re hesitant to add a powder room. @Flo Mangan probably gave the best idea. You may need to consider building out, which is how my 1925 colonial got its teeny powder room and a pantry added.

@MizLizzie we do use our basement quite often because that’s where our laundry is located. Right now you go down about 6 stairs and there’s a small landing and an extremely tiny water closet (toilet only, no room for sink). Then you go down the rest of the basement stairs into the actual basement. If we would be able to put an actual powder room on the main floor, I wanted to take the toilet out of that water closet and just make it extra storage.

@RedRyder yes, the basement stairs are behind the gallery wall. I adore the character of these old homes and I’m actually quite fond of the layout and space of the home because we use every inch of it. No space gets wasted. But, I guess that’s also the downside since there’s not really any unused space for us to add a powder room. sigh

@Ashley Thomas I understand. You want a powder room AND maintain the character of your fantastic old home. Is adding on at the back an option?

I think so far your best options are either stealing space from the porch or put it in the pantry. If you consider the pantry option but are afraid of lacking storage space, could you add a full height cabinet where I drew a blue circle?

Another option. Of course, this is not to scale.

Or

@RedRyder it is an option and that was our original plan. We had a couple contractors come out and they quoted us around $35k-$40k. That’s just more than we would like to spend right now. So, that’s why I thought it may be a more cost effective option to keep it within our current floor plan, if possible.

@suzanne_m where you drew the blue circle is actually where our water closet (toilet only, too small for sink) currently is when you go down the basement stairs onto the landing. So, I was thinking that if we did put the PR in the pantry, then we could remove the toilet from the current water closet and just make that a pantry/storage. Thoughts?

I agree with others to take space from your pantry and create an alcove that retains some kitchen storage— this will similarly help you save on plumbing costs being next door to your kitchen. But I would also retain your existing doorway so that storage access is on the left with a pocket door to PR straight ahead.

I think that if you can put your pantry where I drew the blue circle, you could also have one where I drew it on the last layout I posted. One one them could have a counter top, just like you have in your current pantry.

Could you post a picture of your dining room and living with a view of the wall where your bench is?

For years we had a lovely century home where the only bathroom was off the kitchen, so it was a full bath. We were happy to have it, lol lol, as the other option was an outhouse!

Is there any possibility of having an outdoor access only to the basement and use the current basement stairwell for the powder room? You would want to relocate the laundry then, so it may not solve the issues. In another home, we converted the back of the back sunporch into a full bathroom. The pipes were not always happy in February.

What are the water closet dimensions?

I've seen an extremely small half bath under stairs in a hall. The toilet was under the stairs, just far enough forward so you didn't hit your head standing up. The sink was minuscule. It was in an old house that had space for small events on the first floor and private offices on the second floor.

Close to some part of the back porch on the right side of the pantry, and fix it there. You could add a partition to keep it out of view of the stairs or simply re-locate the stairs to the back yard.

I would upgrade the current toilet room on the basement landing. There are tiny sinks available, surely something would fit in the existing space; it looks like a good sized bumpout in kitchen.

It seems like Suzanne’s ideas are going to work the best, and be the most economical. Of her two options, I like the first one the best.

Do NOT put it in the front hall, not only will it squeeze the bottom of the stairs, it will looked tacked on. Or, block the view to your fabulous staircase. Plus, I suspect the water lines are in the back of the house, so it would be expensive. Is the porch enclosed? I can't quite tell from the layout. If so, absolutely steal it from the pantry. Ideally, you'd want the bathroom door facing the porch. But if that is not possible, I would make a tiny butler's pantry area off the kitchen, which you walk thru to get to the bathroom (PD's idea). It would also be easy to vent to the outside, since the bathroom is on an outside wall.

And, check the code in your area for bathroom size. In my municipality, a bathroom only has to be 3x5, so you could easily keep 3 feet of floor to ceiling cabinets in the pantry :)