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Remodeling Design Dilemma Bathrooms

Closet/Bathroom remodel - Do I need to hire a designer?

last year

last modified: last year

Hello everyone! My wife and I are looking to expand our closet space, and possibly our master bathroom. The main goal her is to get as much closet space as possible as my wife is sick of not having enough space in our "walk-in closet". So the situation is that we have a full bath in the hallway that we would like to turn into a powder room and take that space and add it to the closet and the master bath.

So, first question, if I already have a contractor I like, do I need to pay someone to provide detailed plans? I will be removing/adding at least 2 walls but nothing will be load bearing so I will probably not permit the work. I am a structural engineer and have enough experience with AutoCAD that I believe I could provide detailed enough drawings that the contractor could work off of.

Second, any thoughts on the design or how we could maximize our space. Here is the current layout (ignore dimensions for now as these are pretty rough):

Here is it just with the walls:

Here are 2 options taht I think could work. I will have to figure out just how narrow the powder room could be and still work (anyone have experience with this!?!) so that we could maximize space. I just painted our vanity so I'd prefer to not do a total remodel in the bathroom, but if you have ideas to move everything we are pier and beam so moving plumbing is not a problem. I'd love to hear any feedback on these 2 options:

and just a blank one in case you wanted to play with it :)

Thank you so much for any input! I always appreciate all of the feedback from all of you smart people!

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Comments (3)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
IMO use the master space for a full bath witout changing the other bath at all. Move the tub / shower to the left wall that now makes the bathroom a normal 5 x8 space with a single sink vanity and you now will have almost 3 ft deepr walkin for very little cost and you keep the 2 full baths which IMO are a must
Karenseb
last year
Why is the closet door not on the same wall as the bathroom. Is your bedroom on the right side of the bathroom? What is to the south of that closet you want to enlarge?

Can the door to the bathroom and or closet move?

Do you need a tub and shower in the master? Any other tubs in the home?
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Thanks, I will post it in the bathroom forum as well. The fireplace will be a sealed natural gas unit. We don't have a firm budget, I expect the reno to be between 15 and 25 thousand, it all depends on what we end up changing. The door way can move in the walls but we would like the walls themselves to stay, just too many issues with moving them. I expect everything in the rooms will be new.
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Congrats on embarking on fun bathroom remodels. :) that said, decide what is most important to you. Looks like storage might be critical. In the rendering, I assume that isn’t to scale because those sinks are rinky dink and the mirrors are out of scale. I would opt for one large mirror, for example. Chops the room up a lot less. Back to what is a priority— this will help determine your budget and help you spend your budget the way that helps you. Is this the only bathroom? If so, keep the tub. Starter homes generally need tubs. Places to save money include tile choices and major changes like adding window or changing footprint. Sometimes a change like more storage, another sink, etc., will make your bathroom feel so much better or more functional for you and if you are moving in a few years, you don’t have to spend a huge chunk of cash you could save for your new house.
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Is the closet that intrudes into the bathroom necessary? If you remove it, you could tuck the toilet there and regain a longer vanity directly opposite the door, in the location that you plan. Of course, it means moving the toilet, but you already plan on doing that.
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I can only speak from my experience remodeling. My remodel included a kitchen and two baths (among other things). I hired the designer who drew up plans which were the basis for submitting to the City for permits as well as to the GC's in order to get bids that were apples to apples. You can't get a meaningful bid unless the GC's are bidding on the same specifications. Even the design of the tile (for example) will be relevant as certain tiles, materials and designs are more costly. My designer who was very knowledgable about construction also acted as my Project Manager and so was a very experienced eye and advocate in terms of determining the quality of the work. She could let me know what was normal in terms of stuff and what needed to be corrected. She also had a relationship with the contractor and although I got along great with the guy he obviously had history with the designer and also would be motivated to make sure the job including all of the punch up stuff was right since if things went well he would be more likely to do future projects with her than with me - thus more clout. Clout is also a great thing in terms of having stuff ordered through a designer. They might not care about one customer but they are very likely to make sure a designer is satisfied 100%.
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Reed C
Original Author
last year
The master bedroom is on the right side of the master bath and closet. The master closet door comes in through a hallway into the master bedroom (hallway is what is south of the closet). We could move the door but it would actually make our master bedroom less functional so the closet door will stay on that wall. Wouldn't make sense to move the bathroom door either.

My wife 100% has to have a tub in the master bathroom. That is non negotiable. We have other bathtubs but they are upstairs.

We have a very nice home and may be selling in the next year or 2. At the price point we are at we believe that people will expect a larger master closet as well as a bathroom that has both a walk in shower and a separate tub. We have put it off thinking that we would let the next owners expand and customize it all how they wanted it, but we are at a point where we are trying to make it work by doing minimal work but increasing the size of the closet and possibly the bathroom.

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