Any thoughts/tips about my draft master bath layout/colour scheme?

2 years ago

Hi! We are renovating the masterbath. This is my draft layout (not to scale of course) looking inside the bathroom from the door. Anything I should change or would be better?

Also, considering the following colours of vanity with brass hardware (but black shower frame): mid tone wood (it’s a little bit lighter in the photo below; not sure about countertop colour?) or white vanity (again not sure about countertop?).

Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

Featured Answer

kandrewspa

2 years ago

If the tub filler is between the tub and the window you will have to reach over the tub to turn the water on. Whether this is an issue for you or not is partly a matter of personal preference. We rarely use our tub anyway, so I guess it really wouldn't have mattered to us if it was positioned differently. We couldn't put ours there so we ended up with the more convenient location. :-)

In another bathroom we remodeled we had a half wall on the short end of the shower and put the controls in the half wall. It always confused our guests the first time they visited, but it did solve the problem of having to reach all the way in and get wet turning on the shower.

For lighting we have sconces on either side of the mirrors (we have a double vanity). We also did medicine cabinets. We have a semi-flush ceiling fixture roughly in the center of the room. I did this in our previous house when we remodeled the master bath and I like the quality of the light better than what you get with pot lights. It is good general illumination. Then there is a fan with a light between the toilet and shower. Because two sides of the shower are glass I don't find it necessary to have a light in the shower. I haven't even used the light that is part of the fan yet. All lights are on dimmer switches.

I will leave the question of mixing metals to others as I prefer a more uniform look. I actually did all chrome because it is the least expensive finish and I was interested in the shiny/sparkly look.

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Comments (8)

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Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
How big is the space where you are putting the tub ? I do not like that horrible Edison bulb light fixture it will cast a yellow glow on everything and pretty useless for any real lighting. . I like large format 12 x24 porcelain tile for both bathroom floors and shower walls and IMO ideally the same tile for both. A to scale drawing will get much better response and that tub needs min. 12" all around for cleaning .Why the blck frame for the shower ?For that matter why the brass either I need to know a bit about the style you are going for.
Mellaf84 thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
ptreckel
2 years ago
Do reconsider Edison bulb fixtures. They are very harsh and not the kind of lighting needed in a bathroom.
Mellaf84 thanked ptreckel
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Thanks for the advice! I used OmniGraffle (Mac only) to do the drawings. It's not really specific to doing this kind of drawing, but it's pretty simple and does a decent job. slc2053, we're tentatively (everything is tentative at this stage!) planning on a frameless glass shower with a glass door. We would like to have a water closet, but I just don't think we have room for it without sacrificing other things we want more, unfortunately. The powder room is right outside the door to the master suite, so generally one of us will just go use the powder room if we need to. Not ideal, but it could be worse. Houseful, I did consider a corner tub, but it seems like most of them are actually fairly large (i.e. nearly as long on both sides as the long side of the 5' tubs I'm looking at are), so they don't seem to help all that much. It may just be that I haven't found the right corner tub yet. I did do a drawing where I dropped an oval tub (a Kohler Seaside 5') in diagonally, and that saved quite a bit of space. In the drawing I did, I left the tub area square, leaving a lot of tile surrounding the tub to set towels, soaps, decorative items, etc. But I could easily angle one of the corners to open up more floor space and have less open tile if I wanted to, and that would be very similar to an "official" corner tub. Not sure if the oval tub is the route I want to take, but it's intriguing. A pony wall would be nice, but it would require making the vanity shorter, and we don't really want to do that. Truthfully, we'd actually like a longer vanity, but we don't have room for that either. What about making part of the vanity a fold-up piece, like the part they have in bars to get behind the bar? It could just fold up when someone needs to use the toilet, and fold down when not. (Kidding! ;-) )
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I remeasured my husband's closet and it's 7 x 12. This is the arrangement he has, without the mirror, and he has lots of space to dress and walk around in. Normally I'd stick with a single door, but in your case I'd use full size cafe swinging doors, each 18" wide. The storage cabinet across from the entry is 20" deep and 50" wide. It has a double bank of drawers with matching open shelves above. The flat surface between the shelves and drawers serves as a landing spot and would be perfect for jewelry boxes or whatever. I suppose it most resembles a hutch. I can post a pic if you like. The shelving to the left of the entry is open and measures 14" x 48". It's perfect for sweaters, tees and with organizer boxes would be wonderful for purses and accessories. The bench to the right of the door is actually a hamper for dirty clothes with a padded top for seating. If you wanted a wall hung mirror it could be placed in the center of the far wall so you could have a full view of yourself. Of course, an 8'- 10' wide closet would be wonderful, but a closet your size offers great opportunity for a nice dressing area. As I said, my husband's closet works very well for him and I'd be very happy if it were mine. (Mine's much larger, though, and I'm not trading.)
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The hand held is mostly for making cleaning the shower easier (or pets etc.) I don't necessarily think we'd normally have them on the sometime just was thinking it might be "fun" like a carwash haha. Do you know how much hydronic under-floor heat runs to install? I was leaning towards the mats because I think they are a few hundred and there is no way I will be able to convince my husband if they are much more. He is already not keen on the extra expense. I have never heard of guardian glass- thanks for the tip! I believe the water is hard in the town- was going to get a whole house water softener. Do you think the glass would still be necessary? The bench really was just for shaving but that being said, my husband has already needed knee surgery twice so I have a feeling it might come in use if he manages to re-injure a knee (granted I also but a full bath on the first floor as an option if he won't go upstairs). I like the idea of the bench in the vanity- do you have one? Do you use it often? I was currently focusing more on storage so I was thinking of drawers between the two sinks but maybe a lower bench/sitting area would be better. The vanity will be around 9'. I defiantly want a tall cabinet on each end (for electric toothbrushes, razors, etc. so the counters are cleared). Do you think there is adequate space for a bench? My husband won't even think twice about being by the toilet. If anything, it's probably more convenient for him since he will probably be the one spending more time there :)
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kandrewspa
2 years ago
This layout is similar to my master bath which we remodeled last year. We do have enough room around the tub to get around for cleaning, and we put the filler on the corner of the tub next to the vanity so it's easy to reach. While you do see it on the far side in a lot of pictures on Houzz, this strikes me as being impractical.

I'm not sure from the drawing, but it looks like you're going to have a similar difficulty reaching the controls in the shower without being blasted with cold water. In our bathroom the position of the shower is reversed with the toilet. Of course I don't know where everything is in your bathroom now and you may be trying to avoid moving plumbing. We did move some plumbing which added a couple thousand dollars to the cost.

I agree with the previous posters about the edison bulb light fixture. I know there are similar fixtures that have frosted glass, so try one of those.
Mellaf84 thanked kandrewspa
Mellaf84
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Thank you @Patricia Colwell Consulting. I tried to make something to scale with all the measurements (see photo). For the tub I bought a 59” x 28” white bathtub. As you will see the window is not centered (the current bathtub is centered with the wall). I was thinking of centering the bathtub with the window.

Okay for the light fixture I didn’t know that would be the result. What does give proper lighting?

I like 12x24 tiles.

Black frame is because we changed much of the nickel we have to black, I did not find inexpensive showers with brass, and budget won't allow for a custom shower.

Brass was because whenever I see brass hardware or taps for example I saw ohhh, so thought doing brass could be a good idea (and different from our other bathroom where all fixtures and hardware is black).

For style, I'm a mix… I like a bit rustic, a bit modern, a bit industrial… I like cozy and warm, and hotel feel. Maybe why I am so confused!
Mellaf84
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks @kandrewspa. I'm glad to hear someone else has a similar layout (to be honest I haven't seen many if not not at all). My current bath has less than 12" to the window (I can still clean there) but it does have 12" on each side. By putting the tub filler "on the far side" do you mean between the tub and the window?

For the shower I think you're right it will be difficult to reach the controls without getting sprayed. I put a sketch in my previous post of where everything is. And you're right, we don't want to move plumbing to save money... The only thing we will do is move the plumbing of the toilet so the toilet can be straight (currently it's a corner toilet!!).

For fixtures I am clearly unaware of what is the thing to do. I just heard you need to "layer" lighting. Right now I have 2 sconces and 2 small pot lights integrated in the upper vanity above the sink.
Mellaf84
Original Author
2 years ago
@kandrewspa thanks that makes sense for the tub filler. I will need to determine if I have enough space for the filler close to the vanity. Perhaps I could install on the opposite side".

For the shower maybe I will install a shower kit that has the tub filler (you can test the water with your foot before turning the full shower on); maybe the only option I have other than moving plumbing around...

What type of sconces do you have (and bulb)? I like the idea of a semi-flush fixture! I was thinking of adding a ceiling fixture (more small chandelier type) over the tub. I don't know what type of lighting is best. I also already have 2 sconces on the wall facing the vanity wall (in each corner essentially). Not sure if I should keep those?

You're right about chrome being less expensive, brass is SO expensive not the best for a budget...
Mellaf84
Original Author
2 years ago
@Patricia Colwell Consulting, was the additional info I provided helpful?

For light fixtures, what do you recommend as the best lighting for a bathroom?

Any thoughts/tips about my draft master bath layout/colour scheme?

kandrewspa

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Any thoughts/tips about my draft master bath layout/colour scheme?

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