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Design Dilemma Bathrooms

Small L shaped bathroom layout - how to arrange this 3/4 bathroom?

last year

I am remodelling my guest bathroom that has an awkward L shape to it and was wondering what you guys thought the best arrangement would be for a shower, toilet, and vanity. The previous owners had it with a shower stall to the immediate right of the door, vanity on the wall left of the door, and toilet in the back right.

I was leaning towards shower on back wall, vanity in approximately the same place on the left wall, and toilet where the former shower stall was.

Featured Answer

Karenseb

last year

I drew up a scaled layout of your plan, As Coray said, you would have to do an outswing door or maybe a pocket door. A 30 inch door would be preferred, but a 28 inch door would work if you can't fit a 30 inch door. I showed an inswing door with dotted lines to show how you would not have room to enter the bathroom and close the door.

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Comments (6)

tracefloyd
last year
last modified: last year
I would leave it the way the previous owners had it but reverse the door swing so the first thing you see upon entering is pretty framed art in the immediate corner in front of you with a nice stand, then your gorgeous vanity, then your towel racks, then your beautiful window treatments, and finally toilet and shower. Use door hinges that keep the door from opening too far to stop it from hitting the shower.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
last modified: last year
Moving a toilet is a big expense and in this case for no real benefit.I am trying to figure out how there was a shower in 28" Can you post a to scale plan of the bedroom that this bathroom will be connected to .
Alexander Fick thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
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You are going to want more than 32" for the toilet. 36" is standard (and perhaps even code in some areas???? Not here in Maine but I heard people saying that on other forums...) We have 34" and it feels fine but I dont think I'd want to go much tighter. You could solve that simply by flipping the closet and shower. So, have your shower -rotated 90 degrees and witha glass end wall- at the end of the tub (which is a nice setup you can see in many bathrooms, the tub deck can actually protrude under the shower glass wall and be a ledge or seat in the shower). Then the passageway moves to the left, and you can steal a bit of space from the other closet for the toilet. Either that of have a shorter vanity. 48" isn't a size I'd fight for. It's too short for a double vanity, really (unless you're using one of the new two-faucet 'trough" styles) so why not go down to 42" and have a better toilet area? For resale, though, you should consider a double vanity. Some people I guess expert truly huge ones, like at least 5+' long. But you CAN get smaller ones, Ikea has some great ones for tight spaces. But if you're not selling anytime soon, do what YOU like!! (But I still think you'll want more toilet space...)
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Sorry I'm so late getting back to you. I think that oddly sized fixtures can be off-putting. Many home buyers are looking for an "ideal" and they can't see past that. If the tub is well made and the bath is located where it's most needed a shorter size tub might not be a problem. If the bath will be used by children then its size is less important, but children grow into teenagers. acm voiced a concern I had about the location of this bath to nearby bedrooms. My mistake in calling it water-resistant drywall. It looks like drywall but it's better referred to as tile backer board. It's most often 1/2 inch thick but I have seen a Hardie brand backer that was only 1/4" thick and came in 3 x 5 ft. sections. HERE is a link to more info on these. There are several types with differing properties. On toilet location, I don't think "obstruction refers to the nearest wall or fixture. I think it refers to something directly in front of the toilet. Looking at your floor plan an angled toilet would not have anything in front of it. There might be room between the toilet and the vanity for a waste basket.
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Hi Kate, thanks for your comment! I smiled a lot when reading your idea of encouragement to pee in the shower ;) We could hang a big sign there. But if it is not directly noticeable: we separated the guest-shower from the guest-toilet because we would like to have a window in there. We expect that guests will use the toilet more often than the shower. I tried "Sweet Home 3D" to visualize the ideas but that tool somehow shows a window very similar to a door. So I added another plan with more notes in it. In the new plan I changed the direction of doorway for guest-rooms and laundry; but we havn't consider pocket doors yet. Your questions: 1) It's meant to be a window :) 2) Yep! We can change plumbing, walls and size/position of laundry room. 3) Master Bedroom is located far away... on the left bottom corner. 4) Guest area will be 5m x 3m, but it has a "-100 cm level" (which needs a staircase). I hope this helps your inspiration.
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coray
last year
Since it’s a small bathroom, I’d try having the door swing into the hallway (or whatever is to the left of the bathroom)…I like your ideas (this would allow for a bit bigger shower), but as Patricia Colwell says, moving the toilet drain won’t be simple or cheap. (Easier if this is ground level with a crawl space.) If you’re really up for it: to save even more space inside this bathroom, consider a wall-mounted toilet with the tank hidden in the wall. (I know many Americans resist this idea, but it is super common in Europe. Germans say we (in US) have the most “old-fashioned” toilets, even though ours are all updated, sleek look, concealed trapway etc. Why? I asked…..because they’re not wall-hung and show the tank.)
Alexander Fick thanked coray
Alexander Fick
Original Author
last year
Patricia, I should have said that all the plumbing to the bathroom needs and is being replaced anyway. It will be no difference in expense due to how major of a renovation it is for this bathroom.

The doorway also goes out into a hallway near the stairs between the dining, living room, and downstairs bedroom (that is used as a home office)
Alexander Fick
Original Author
last year
After playing around a bit with 3d homestyler website we feel like we have narrowed it down to one of these two layouts

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