How to have Guest Access to Master (only) Bathroom?

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Hello,

I have had a house design done for me (max +1 adult with 1-2 children and 2 is a max! ;) ). Currently I live alone and I do not date nor plan to date anyone in near future so please undertsand my plan as a bachelor home with rare visits (3-4 visits a year for couple of days).

You can see the plan (in slovak here), if something needs a translation, let me know but I think it's quite self explanatory from the pictures.

I wanted to have a mini bathroom with 1 toilet and room to wash hands/face.. in case of short visits.. and not to waste space on extra bathroom because of some rare visitors..

Is there a SECRET (/invisible) way to have a door between WC and the main bathroom so random walk-ins won't get in, and there can be a shower on the other side.. ? Idea is to give access to bathroom for longer visits and/or family that could need ot access it while someone's sound asleep ;)

I was thinking of how to do that, and I can scrap one toilet in such case, move the washing machine to place where toilet is on the bottom near bathtub, but.. how to have a door from wc to shower without water getting into wc on normal days.. eh.

(red - moving washing machine, yellow is that extra door)

PS: the building has started and the base plate is getting done.. so I have a chance to remodel interior by moving walls/removing them, adding some doors, etc. ;)

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Comments (15)

apple_pie_order
2 years ago
Put in a guest shower if you want your guests to return.
bpath
2 years ago
Where are the guests using the shower sleeping?
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Many thanks to everybody who answered, you have all been very helpful in clarifying my very muddled thoughts. Here is a hopefully clearer description of the situation: The house is a 50's ranch style, with 3 bedrooms and a hall bath (4.5x8.5 ft) clustered on one side of the house, and the kitchen, office/den and another hall bath (4x9 ft) on the other side of the house, with a great room in the middle. We plan to stay in this house as long as we can, but we are in this city for my husband's work, and if something happens (although unlikely with his kind of job), we know we'll have to move somewhere else; therefore, we'd like to make updates to the house while keeping resale in mind. Our (excellent) realtor said that for resale we should have an ensuite. After reading the comments, I have to clarify with him if he thinks a lack of ensuite will narrow down the market significantly, or if we 'simply' would not get the best price for the house. Most houses in the area are old (in the whole city actually), and we saw plenty without ensuites. We saw two of the neighbors' houses, and they did not have ensuites. This is what we considered: 1. Redo the bathrooms with the existing footprint (not that we have room to change anything inside), but we can go far into making them pretty, 2. Add a door from the master bedroom to the hall bath next to it, and close access from the hall. This I think would be a bad idea, not only because the people in the other two bedrooms will have to go across the house to the other bathroom, but also because the master bedroom will end up with windows on two walls, three closets on another, and two doors on the fourth side. Not restful. 3. Add another bathroom next to the master bedroom where the closets are, with one closet door transformed into a bathroom door. This bathroom would be 4.5x12 ft, although it could go to 5x12 if need be (but no more, because we'll hit a big window), which will have a shower but no bathtub. We talked to a professional who said it will fit fine with the caveat that the toilet will likely be the first thing you see in front of the door because of the current clearance requirements. 4. Build an addition. This again I think would be a very bad idea, since it would be blindingly expensive and the house is already on the higher side of square footage for the surrounding area. We will of course fix everything that is broken. The interior doors are the original 50s doors, hollow core dark wood look with lots of scuffs and holes, and they were cut short to fit the now non-existent carpet, so I would qualify changing them as fixing what is broken (and they bug me every time I look at them... ). The windows are a perk; we are still divided on those. I tend toward option 1, while my husband is going for option 3, although he agrees we do not need another bathroom. The reason I feel ill equipped to make this decision is that I'm originally from Europe, and even after so many years here I feel mildly perplexed about the North American love affair with bathrooms. Our previous rental was built in the last ten years and had a huge ensuite which I didn't like. I found it hard to keep as clean as I thought it should be, and it was so large I felt as if I was doing my business in public. Given the bathroom pictures on Houzz, I'm clearly in a minority. Your comments help ensure that I don't miss anything that might otherwise be obvious, so thanks again. And extra thanks to whoever makes it to the end of this post...
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As a parent with young kids I like having the hall bath have the only tub so even when guest are staying I can still bathe my kids. So for resale a young family will not mind not having a tub/ shower combo in master suites, and will probably prefer a walk in shower only to that set up but having a family bath tub would most likely be more convenient. I have a master with a walk in only shower, a guest/powder room with a very small, 3x3 walk in shower and a kids/ hall bath with a tub/shower combo so I may be biased.
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I would not put the tub in your room, because you will likely never use it? It is a pain to keep clean too. Put the tub in the house in the main bathroom. Put the shower(walk or roll in preferably) in your bathroom and you could do a tub/shower combo in the guest bathroom if you wanted too, or put the half bath there, and they can use the Main Bath shower/tub combo when guests are there...... You always want to have a wheelchair accessible shower/a very nice shower or the most shower you can have, in the Master Bathroom, because you will be the last one living there at some point. And you don't want your inlaws/grandchildren having no choice but to use your bathroom every time they come to visit...or if they come to live with you at some point down the line(like while their home is being finished, or if they become unemployed for a while or have to live with you for a while for any reason.)You want them to enjoy the 'public' bathroom access and you want your own privacy/suite so you can find peace of mind, and enjoy your home with a respite from the crowds, on the holidays, etc. Install the nicest possible shower that you have room for in your Master Bathroom. DO NOT PAY to install a tile 'bench' or corner. NO! They are cold and they are hard and worthless. You need maximum floor space for an aging body and there is nothing better than an adjustable height shower chair of vinyl and aluminium. It can be washed easily, is very light weight and much much more comfortable, for the days when you might need it. Find the nicest variety shower head you can imagine wanting, and if it's a double shower so much the better! My family had to help the parents for several years and the double shower, with a pair of swim trunks was just what my family needed to help both parents. And to be able to wheel them in and out of the shower was awesome. Their are many ways to make a shower accessible if need be,just in the footprint of what a normal bathtub would be for sure(that's what most have to spare in this set up) but having a large square tub and a small shower is worthless in a Master Bath, typically in less than a decade. I hope you can see your way to make your Master Suite fit for the homeowners and still give access to nice facilities in the Main Bathroom for the family and occassional company.
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Mrs Pete! You little devil! I've been called worse, but not since school ended two weeks ago. Seriously, I was glad to be helpful. After looking at the full-house layout, I have two pieces of advice: - Beware over-improving the bathroom. This is a small house with small bedrooms. It feels like a house in which a simple 3-piece bath would be appropriate in the master. Not what you want to hear, but I think it's solid financial advice. - Second, bummer, but I don't see any better options for the laundry, and everything I drew was predicated on moving the laundry elsewhere /having that bit more space. This pix below is a nice idea ... but do you have the space for it? Someone help me here ... a curb-less shower must slope 1/2" per foot /requires 4' of space. At least it's sloping away from the tub. This type of shower is expensive for a new build ... extremely expensive as an addition to an existing house ... and essentially impossible if you have a slab foundation (do you know what type of foundation you have?). The bathroom, as it exists now, is 6'4" across ... so 4' for the slope leaves 28" for the tub and the entrance to the shower. You could use a shorter piece of shower glass, but that would leave you with trip hazzard in the spot where the floor transitions. You could do this WITH A CURB. It would eliminate the slope problems, and without the clawfoot tub, you're eliminating the problems of cleaning around the tub.
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lhmarmot
2 years ago
Perhaps enlarge the "guest bath" to include the tub or shower- whichever you would use less. Move it out of the master and keep what you would use most often.
pricklypearcactus
2 years ago
A pocket door would allow access without taking up much space. Obviously you can't have the pocket door walk into the actual shower, so that would need to be shorter to allow for a door. My parents custom built home has a master bath with two doors: one from the master bedroom and one from the hall. I'm not sure if it was to allow guest access or easier access for them, but it seems like a similar concept. Alternatively you could do a tub/shower combo in your master bathroom and take the extra space and make the second bathroom a full (or 3/4) bath with shower as well.
chispa
2 years ago
You didn't say your age or how long you plan to stay in this house, but even young people can have accidents and need crutches or a walker. If you are planning this as your "forever" home the interior stairs might not be the best design.
bpath
2 years ago
I just realized that the den is likely also a guest bedroom. I wonder, if you move the den to where the bathroom is, and shift the bath and bedroom to the left. so the bath is between the den and bedroom, the bath can be accessed from the hall only, perhaps the door tucked back a bit.
nhb22
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
chispa - I often wonder about the European housing designs. One that stands out the most is the 3rd floor apartment (was actually on the 4th floor as they don't count the 1st floor) that we stayed in while visiting Amsterdam. We had a heck of a time getting our luggage up the stairs when there was no elevator in the building. I can not imagine what residents do when they get injured or break a leg! From then on, we made sure that we rented places that have access to an elevator. We don't mind doing the stairs, but carrying the luggage up and down is not fun.

František Škuta - You asked how to hide a door. There are many bookcase types of doors that open to reveal an opening. Invisible door
Helen
2 years ago
@nhb22 - Not relevant to OP's question, but there are loads of five story walkups in New York City. Under older housing laws, that was the maximum height without an elevator.

Older people do have it rough if they live on an upper floor without an elevator. Not sure how they manage but I would imagine many become recluses because getting out is physically challenging. Many of them are dying as they age but many of them had to live there because their units were either rent controlled or rent stabilized so they couldn't afford to move.
nhb22
2 years ago
😯
ladybug A 9a Houston area
2 years ago
Some comments are puzzling. Are people actually saying that if they visit someone who doesn't have all the amneties you have back home, you would not visit them again? If so, maybe it's for the best.

I have a huge home with more bathrooms than people. When I visit others, both here and in a different country, I will happily sleep on a sleeping back on the floor and share bathrooms. Most people do. You visit people because you want to spend time with them, not because they have a great guest bathroom.
Hope Stewart
2 years ago
Dobrý deň, František. Where do you live in Slovakia? I lived in Košice for 2 years and got to travel all over your beautiful country! I am looking forward to visiting again and bringing my husband and children (I was only 22-24 and single when I lived there)!

I know this might seem strange but I am curious if you could simply have your shower built so it can be accessed from both the wc and your master bath. A sliding glass door (perhaps you could use colored or smoked glass for more privacy) in the wc that could stay closed until you have visitors. If you have a curb/step on your shower access from wc that (along with the door) could help prevent most water from entering wc. Move the washing machine to where the toilet is as you have suggested and slide the shower down a bit into space where washing machine was, so access from both sides is better. Or if you can move the washing machine location out of bathroom (both my flats in Košice had washing machines in bathroom so I know its quite common) you could keep that second toilet, which could be nice.
Helen
2 years ago
Honestly based on OP's life style, I wouldn't worry about having a shower that can only be accessed through the master bedroom - unless she is worried about resale value.

In my experience hosting guests (and being a guest) in metropolitan areas, where a pull out sofa is the norm, having guests use the shower on such an occasional basis through the master bedroom isn't a huge big deal.

As long as one has an actual toilet so they don't have to creep into the bedroom in the middle of the night it is fine. Many people host guests (and live) with one ONE bathroom and manage to schedule showers so it would not be a huge inconvenience for the person to need to walk through the master bedroom to take a shower once a day.

The only time I ever felt weird was when the only toilet in the apartment was only accessible by walking into the master bedroom and so if one wanted to pee in the middle of the night when my host was sleeping, it felt awkward.

But again, it depends on lifestyle and also resale. I wouldn't buy a home that had a master only accessible through the master unless it was a coop or condo in a place like San Francisco, London or NYC where one makes all kinds of compromises unless one's budget is well over a million.
Fori
2 years ago
Instead of a hidden door, one that locks to keep random walk-ins out of the master bath should be fine. Visitors that try it and find it locked should be too ashamed of their nosiness to comment. :)
calidesign
2 years ago
I think your plan is fine as it is. Guests have a toilet and sink to use anytime, and once a day if an overnight guest would like to shower it shouldn't be a big deal to coordinate with you to use your shower.
Mrs Pete
2 years ago
I don't get the need for a secret door. Why not just put in a door that locks?

How to have Guest Access to Master (only) Bathroom?

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