Bathroom Puzzle
Hi,
im looking for some pointers and I'm hoping someone out there can help.
I moved into my three bedroom terrace house 2 months ago. The layout upstairs is shown in the atttached sketch. All three bedrooms upstairs and the bathroom down stairs. I knew I'd want a bath/shower/wet room upstairs and the first couple of months have confirmed this!! The target would be to convert the backbedroom into a bathroom. The question is whether I can/should convert it into a spacious bathroom (and therefore a two bedroom house) or is it possible/wise to split it into a small shower room and bathroom.
Any design asvice or experience would would be appreciated.
Many thanks in anticipation
Stuart
Upstairs Layout
Back room dimensions
Comments (8)
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Comments (17)Hi Stefka, The bathroom is coming along nicely. Is the bath panel a match to the sink base? What material is the floor, vinyl or wood? If it's wood and you're not happy with the colour, have you considered either bleaching it, then colour washing it to a similar colour to the tiles around the bath or staining it darker? (Going darker will make the bathroom seem smaller.) To keep the textures and colours as simple as possible, paint the plaster walls a colour that is 2-3 shades lighter than the square wall tiles. A different colour will chop the room up more. A big mirror over the sink ledge, wall to wall, will make a huge difference to the feel of the room. It will reflect light all around and visually double the space. Colour can be added through towels and accessories like special bottles for oils and lotions. Your tiles look to be a pinky beige so look at neutrals or pale turquoise. Dunelm Mill has a good selection http://www.dunelm.com/product/so-soft-zero-twist-towels-1000016871 or http://www.dunelm.com/product/egyptian-cotton-bathroom-collection-b01010 If you are overlooked and want privacy throughout the day and night, why not consider waterproof plantation shutters. They will give you light if you angle the louvres and total privacy at night. http://www.purelyshutters.co.uk/window-shutters/plantation-shutters/waterproof Because your window is in the shower area, fabric will rot and mildew very easily. Plastic shutters can be wiped down with ammonia and water in the course of cleaning the bathroom and allow access to the window for cleaning and ventilation....See Moresizing for splitting a room into a bathroom & utility
Comments (21)Update:- I'm looking at whether we can move the wood burner so we could put the dining area where the lounge is, which would increase the bathroom/utility room inside the house by another 4'4 wide x 7'1 . Also means we don't have to build a side extension just for the extra porch etc thus saving us money! Fingers crossed it can work, but this is the space that we would have to play with to split the bathroom and utility now. I've allowed for more hallway space where it recesses to the right to accommodate coat/shoe storage How would you split this down now? The bathroom would have a nice outside window now so not as dark....See MorePlease help with mysterious water leak
Comments (8)It’s puzzling and no doubt very frustrating. Is there a crack in the tile grout in the shower cubicle? We had water through the ceiling in our kitchen many years ago. Someone had pulled the plug out in the bath and the pipe became disconnected and it poured through the ceiling underneath. At least we knew what it was. Good luck. I hope you find out whats happening and get some good suggestions....See MoreAre we missing any clever ideas for floor plans here..?
Comments (14)Hello, thanks so much both of you for your ideas, really interesting. There is one this we can't change, which is this area highlighted red - it's the circulation area at the top of the stairs, so we need to keep this clear and can't use this space for the bedrooms or bathroom. We also have two smaller floor to ceiling windows which I think the measurements might have hidden (highlighted blue), which add extra complexity! It would be lovely to have the room with the best views. Re the kids. They are on the second floor, these rooms are the middle floor. That's fine, I was just mentioning it in case anyone suggested putting the master bedroom on the ground floor, which would be too far away. Re making the bathroom smaller on this middle floor... We would need to make the second floor bathroom bigger in order to fit in a bath, which would lose space from those bedrooms on the second floor. This is not impossible though, if we can figure out how to fit everthing in those bedrooms if smaller (bed, wardrobes, etc). We could just copy the bathroom layout we have proposed on the first floor to the second floor. It would also mean the 'family' bathroom (i.e. the room with the bath) would be on the top floor between two kids bedrooms, which might be a bit weird for adults...? But then quite handy to have the bath next to the kids' rooms? Very interesting idea anyway......See More
7 years agoHi. Thanks for the tips - you've answered one of my key questions (how small can a practical showerroom be?).
The back bedroom is above the current kitchen. The bathroom at the moment is in converted outbuildings that extend out from the kitchen downstairs.
There is a soil stack that runs up the outside of the back wall. It is also clear from the brick work that at some point a soil pipe ran from the back room to the outside.
The location of the loo is further complicated by the fact the joists run from left to right in the diagrams so the soil pipe cannot be lost below the floor. There is a conservatory downstairs and the roof of which would not allow the soil pipe to exit the left hand side of the back room.
Thanks for the advice to date.
Cheers
Stuart
- PRO7 years ago
I think the thing is, the only way of using up the least amount of room from the bedroom perspective is to have a shower room at the entrance, otherwise you have to have a hallway running further through. Like this:-
It is a small shower room, and, as you say, not possible in that position. If you do it the other way then the bedroom just isn't big enough.
I'd consult an estate agent to see what their views are on the value of two beds with luxury bath compared to three beds with downstairs bathroom. They often say, that the people that buy these houses accept that this is how they were built and are happy with the extra bedroom and live with the bathroom as is. If it's going to devalue it, then i think you'll have to live with it.
On the up side, the room is quite large and I'd consider not giving all of it over to a bathroom, I has two windows, which is nice and I think you could have an extra bit of landing with a chair and more storage before you get to the bathroom. The only pipe you will struggle with is the shower outlet, as it's low down and should go under the floor. You could raise the tray, or amend the joists to accommodate / drill through them etc
I think i would expect that a 2 bed with luxury bathroom would be the same as a 3 bed with less desirable accommodation. Also, if you have your bathroom upstairs, then you negate the need for one downstairs and can possibly improve on the downstairs facilities too, thus making improved access to the garden etc.............Seeing the whole house plan would be useful.
What's the loft like?Stuart Nixon thanked User 
7 years ago
Here are a few options.
1 is a smallish bathroom with tiny (but I've seen worse) bedroom. All shown with UK standard single bed. 2 is probably the most liveable option, larger bath (shown here 1700mm bath) with open study area. With the thought that it could be partitioned off if necessary. 3 is the small shower room option and smallish but doable bedroom. This one has possible issues with drainage.
Stuart Nixon thanked J- 7 years ago
J and MATH thanks very much for the sketches, they've helped illustrate the possible layouts and many that I hadn't considered.
The loft could be an option, though interestingly, none of the other houses in the terrace have gone into the loft space as there are no signs of Velux windows nor dormer windows.
For completeness the downstairs plan is shown here.
Apologies for the poor sketch! You can see the current downstairs bathroom in what, I presume, was the old outhouses. I will retain this in some way along with an upstairs bathroom.
The major project is to put to demolish the upvc conservatory (room c) and put in place a side return extension, knocking through rooms A B and C into a single living/kitchen space. This will be a future Houzz post!! during that project the only access to the downstairs bathroom would be through a "building site" therefore I wanted to get the upstairs bathroom sorted first. However, this simple bathroom project became complicated by the drainage issue.
Many thanks for your suggestions and sketches for the possible layout for an upstairs bathroom.
Cheers
Stuart - PRO7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
Stuart, just had a thought, following the info above. If you're going to do a proper extension at the point 'C'. Is there a possibility of going over a portion of that to make an upstairs bathroom. This would be substantially better than any other option come up with thus far.
If you were to do that, you could in theory retain a downstairs toilet and use more of the space for living. Or, you could knock the bathroom down too and have one open space across B & C on to your Garden.
I know it will be inconvenient for you to do it, but you would end up with a better layout, otherwise the house is going to be very bottom heavy. By making that a proper room, you'll have to bear in mind that you'll be making the dining room darker. Lots of people that do that conversion don't go full width and leave a slim window. Two options:-
Stuart Nixon thanked User - 7 years agoIf it is your intention to knock down the conservatory and dig foundations for an extension you could potentially move/extend the drains which in turn could mean an alternative bathroom location. The benefit of it being in the middle of the house is that you can either have a more efficient layout with less corridor or have more than one bathroom.
Before you start any changes to the bathroom you should plan the whole house. You should do this to make sure that you have sufficient budget and if not you can prioritise. It may also be the case that if you are planning major changes it may be more cost effective to move out and do all the work quickly and at once. Even if you decide to stay you may put off the bathroom for risk of movement from the alterations disrupting what you have done.
Stuart Nixon thanked Jonathan
J