Our house is 100-year-old 2-story, and the original (only) bathroom is on the main floor, directly off the KITCHEN of all places. All 3 bedrooms are upstairs. Somewhere along the line, previous owners remodeled an upstairs porch into a half-bath, but when we bought the place, the only tub/shower was downstairs. We've since remodeled the upstairs half-bath into a full bath with a large shower. With that being said, I still LOVE having a full bath with tub downstairs. It comes in extremely handy for bathing our dog, and on the occasions where we've had multiple houseguests overflowing the upstairs bedrooms, they've had a full bath to use on the main floor. Since it's off the kitchen, the tub has doubled as excess pot-and-pan drainage after having 20 guests for Thanksgiving dinner (and no dishwasher!) Even though we hardly ever use it for baths, we end up using it for other things... and when the time comes to remodel that bathroom, we're definitely keeping the tub.

You can look to what traditional homes in your area utilize for inspiration. You can also look on Houzz for inspiration, the filters let you hone in on home style, room, etc... My home is in Maine, our rugged climate definitely factors into traditional home design. My house is less traditional, more contemporary, but I still wanted it to feel in tune with the environment. My main floor has wood floors, natural ash, 5" wide. My entry runs into the powder room, and laundry room. These areas in a traditional Maine home would very often be Maine/Vermont slate due to its durability. I went with a more contemporary porcelain slate tile, in a larger size. I also thought about running the tile in a stacked layout, but ultimately the tile felt right staggered. A diamond layout felt very wrong, in a more traditional home diamond would probably have worked best. For another example, I am redoing my masterbath currently. I am very drawn to traditional bath tile layouts, using square tiles on the walls. I love a base molding of 6x6 squares followed by a trim, then 3x3 squares. This does not work in my house and letting that go really delayed my project. The tile I ultimately went with is in now and is perfectly in keeping with the style of my home, but getting there was a journey.

How about this: Install an awning window (hinged at the top) which swings out so that it does not intrude into the room. Place the bathroom's entry door (from the foyer) as close as possible to the pantry with the hinges on the left so the door opens against the wall shared with the pantry. Place the toilet on the wall opposite the door and next to the window. You can use a normal-height toilet because the toilet is not under the window. (A Toto Drake elongated toilet is 28" deep so I guess you'll have enough space in front of it in this 4' wide bathroom). Place the vanity to the left of the toilet (i.e., across from the door). Be sure the vanity is not too deep so the door does not hit it when open. -- amateur

Bathroom is 79 inches on wall with tub and 96 inches the other way going toward where vanity will go on the wall. Not a lot of room really for a bathroom but sufficient for this tub. I found another tile 24x24 that looks similar to the subway tile in color but is marble-like design and porcelain. The large tiles can be cut to fit this bench (aka step) and resemble a remnant of quartz or marble. I think it will end up looking cleaner with this extra space and make the bench easier to clean over time. If they were to cut up the 4x16 subway tiles I think it would look too busy. I was also told the shower door may have issues unless it's perfectly flat where the glass rests on the bench. I do like the idea of going all the way to the ceiling with the bench area, but am concerned the side area will have a half tile (4 inches) going up and may look too busy). Also, I just want them to finish the project. We have had so many problems with this contractor (recommended by a Realtor friend) and I am worried every day they are here. I've learned a lot through this process, and definitely will be more careful next time I select a contractor.