I'm just trying to figure out what "more interesting" means to svmilligan. :-)

What is the ceiling height without a tray?

The ceilings are 8'. I have a window in my closet now and I also really like it. Saloon doors? I agree with Lori... No way. Sorry Fred.

I really didn't think so, but classical home design does have a point about two small doors if you actually plan to use them most of the time. If they are more for decoration and occasional use, then they are better than a single door imo.

A tray ceiling would look good in the bedroom, but will have to wait and see what the final floor plan is for the bathroom. What direction will the roof trusses run? Are they trusses or stick framed?

The roof will be stick frame. I'm also giving consideration to entering the master bath to the far left, into the closet area, that would give me more wall space in case I decided to place a bed or furniture on the wall shared with the bathroom

Could you post a picture of what that floor plan might look like? Often times that creates a lot more wasted space in walkways. Maybe just flip the whole plan left to right. And use a smaller door? Otherwise, if there is nothing at all to the left of the door, you create a long hallway just to get back to the center of the room. Also, 2' to the wall outside the bathroom would leave room for a chest/dresser.

Carrera Marble in the bath. I went to the granite shop today and really loved the Carrara marble. Strongly considering this for,the vanity top. Good or bad idea? By the way, I still haven't settled on a layout for,the bath.

If you could consider doing away with the walk-in closet and having closets that open into the room, here's one layout with a 4 feet double door opening into a view of the freestanding bathtub right in the middle with windows flanking it and a chandelier above. If the wall space between the windows and the wall is sufficient for a good presentation of the mirror, the his and hers vanity cabinets are on each side of the freestanding tub or if the wall space is insufficient, on left and right walls. A single double vanity could also be installed on one wall while the other wall is kept for some seating or additional storage. Otherwise the original layout provides the most regular space inside the bathroom while providing for a walk in closet.

Here's one more suggestion.

svmilligan, because the drawing of your floor plan shows a width of 14 ft but you said you increased it to 16 ft, would that be possible to give us the measurements of the windows' wall .i.e. how long is the wall between the 2 windows and how wide are the windows?

Hi Suzanne, 2'-8" wide, 20" off the floor, about 2'-6" out of the corners. Can probably move a few inches.

Thanks Fred ... I guess I should have read the comments above before asking, at least the ones from svmilligan :). I am going to do that.

Got that off the plan mostly ;).

Suzanne, Fred's correct in that the windows can probably be moved a little without looking too out of order with the existing house. The distance in the center between the center of the window to the center of the window is 6'10.5" and the distance from the exterior wall to the center of the window is 4'11.25"

By the way, I like the idea of opening the doors and looking at something of interest, the tub, the shower or the vanity... I guess with the current design I could always put a nice painting on the way to have some interest, if nothing else works out.

This floor plan has a distance of 6 ft 8 in. instead of 6 ft 10.5 in between the center of the 2 windows. I have done this minor change to allow for a 3 ft wide bathroom.

svmilligan, I read in one of your previous comments that you may decide to put the bed on the wall adjacent to the bathroom. Does that mean that having the closet opening from the master bedroom is a no-no?

Also, in the above floor plan and the one below I added a fireplace and a television just because you said you want a contemporary bathroom. Am I going too far with these ideas? I have seen Candice Olson, a reputed international designer, adding a fireplace in a bathroom. I was under the impression that it was more like an opening with some fake wood and butane burners that did not required a chimney but I can't find the image on internet. However, you could do something like in the picture 2 below. It is another bathroom designed by Candice. It is only an opening where you could add a mirror at the back and place some candles. Another one that Candice had done is, she put a curtain made from rows of steel beads. It looked like a water fall. See image 3 below.

Here's another one with the window inside the closet:

Would moisture be an issue in walk in closets or closets situated inside bathrooms?

For moisture to be an issue, the closet door would have to be left open all the time and the bath door shut all the time with no use of the exhaust fan. I do prefer to use a standard door rather than a pocket for this reason. Pocket doors get forgotten, but a door that is slightly in the way gets closed. The header on the door helps as well. At one point here, I suggested not having a header on the bath door and no tight fitting door. This would dissipate the humidity throughout the house. With a properly installed high efficiency HVAC system, excess moisture is quickly taken away throughout the house. If a person is prone to making every mistake in the book to actually cause a problem, the clothes should be the least of their worries. Think of it as a parakeet in a coal mine type of thing. If your clothes are feeling the effect of the humidity, then your walls are getting mouldy inside. If this is the case, then you need to put the properly sized bath fan on a humidistat so it turns on automatically when needed.

I drew the first plan below just because you mentioned that you may like the idea of having the bathroom door to the far left so you would have enough space on that wall to place the bed if you choose to.

The second plan is pretty much like my last plan above except that I switched the toilet and closet so you don't need to move the windows to much compared to your original plan.

This is just a recommendation: If you plan to put your bed on the wall adjacent to the bathroom and if the plumbing is all on that wall, you may want to increase the insulation inside that wall so the noise of the sinks and toilet won't wake you up.

There is a bit more information, I would like to add to the floor plans above:

- My software is drawing walls 4 in. thick and a standard wall is 4 1/2 ".
- I should have reserved 24 in. deep for the rod in the closet, not 20 in. This would make the space to move between the rods 8 in. narrower. It would also reduce the rod length by 8 in.
- I put windows 2'-8". I don't know if you have a flexibility on the width of the windows.

In the plan below, I drew the walls 4 1/2 in. thick. I also shortened the vanity by 6 in. to increase the width of the toilet area. This makes the walk to the toilet look less of a corridor.

Hi Suzanne, I was wondering if anyone else would think putting a headboard on the bath wall was a bad idea. To me, it is just bad traffic flow in the bedroom, and wastes space in the bath area. It is a matter of wanting everything and ending up with less.

Hi Fred, I agree with you. Personally, I think the bed would better if it is on the wall facing the entrance of the bedroom. I am sure svmilligan will re-evaluate if having the bed on the bathroom wall is working for him or not before he decides if he should center the door or placing it on the left side. With the floor plan above, svmilligan knows that there is at least one possibility of moving the bed on the bathroom wall if it is something he really wants.

I think the bed facing the entry door has a better look than putting the bed on the bathroom wall. It was just a thought to leave the wall open for that possibility. If the bed was on the bath wall it would face the window which opens to the view of the Tennessee river and rolling hills. (The reason for living here). Just a thought....I do see that the flow into the bath isn't as good with the door moved to the far left.

I would love to have a view of a river from my bedroom window so I understand completely why you considered that option. Maybe you can try to get that view using a mirror strategically located.

With the new master I really want a nice bathroom. I can always sleep over in the current master and wake up to a view facing the river if I want. For this new addition I want to have a good bath area. My current bath is a 10 x 9 hall (vanity on the right, toilet and shower on the left, window right in the middle). It's very functional but not very interesting. I guess that's why I'm agonizing so much over this bath layout. Argh....

svmilligan, maybe we can help more but we would need to know what you like and dislike from all the floor plans already suggested. This way we can work towards the things you like and avoid suggesting things you don't like.

I would leave it exactly the way you have it, and angle the tub instead of fitting it in a 90 degree corner... Does it make sense...?

I like your September 2 layout... The one with the window in the closet. Given a choice of a window in the closet or in the toilet room I believe I would prefer it in the closet. I like the idea of having the tub front and center right in front of the doors. I also like an alternative suggestion of having the shower and tub share a wall beside each other. I think that might be a nice look.

Yonube you simply mean leaving it all as drawn originally and angling the tub in the corner?

svmilligan, does it mean you would be ok if the windows are 8'-3" apart? Are you flexible on the width of the windows?

I have two doors from my master bedroom-one into the bath and one into the closet. It's a total waste of space, and I've been racking my brain to figure out how to combine them.
The other big plus is a grand walk-in closet. I don't like the sliding door variety...that looks too "builder's special" and it isn't convenient or have much usable space.
And please, don't give up the hidden toilet....I hate seeing them right in the middle of a stunning space...they are ugly and utilitarian at best....Just my two cents!

I drew 2 plans where the tub connects with the shower. I find in the first one there is a lot of space in the middle. I was not sure if you like it to be that empty. So I drew a second one that uses a lot more space.

I don't know if you are flexible on the width of the windows. In these layout, the windows are 2'-8" wide. You may reduce the space between them by 4 inches if you go with 2'-6" wide windows.

I find this could be a nice compromise ... something a bit more spacious than the last one above. I did not center the master bedroom door because I don't want it to be in conflict with the toilet door.

Nice job suzanne_m... Wished I had got in on this conversation earlier. But it looks like the basis have been covered very well. That's the way you give them a visual! For anyone else looking for a home plan or professional drafting services:
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Hi Suzanne! The first one of the three is similar to what I was thinking when he wanted to leave the wall open, excepted flipped left to right. The good thing about it would be the wall available for a dresser/cabinet (see picture) and the shorter access to the bath in general. The thing I don't like about it is the person using the first sink needs to keep getting out of the way for person #2 going in and out of the bathroom, as more evident in your second plan. The door would need to be a minimum of 48" wide, imo, to make this comfortable.

The windows are probably the same width as the ones on the rest of the house, so moving them would look better than making them narrower.

Good point Fred about 2 people being close by the entrance when one of them is at the sink. In the layout below I pushed the toilet 6 in. back so svmilligan could install a 4 ft doo for the bathroom. The storage behind the toilet is only 18 in. wide but should be enough to store bed linen.

I see Fred's point about mold on the clothes. It is just a symptoms of what would be inside the walls when you see mold on the clothes. However, on my last drawing the closet is so close to the shower that I think the mold will get into the clothes before it affect the interiors of the walls even with good ventilation and door shut at all times. What is your opinion Fred on this particular situation?

There may be a point at which it is better to be cautious.

Thank you Fred. I think this would be the reaching point. Paul, at the end, I don't recommend my last drawing. I did not realize how close I put the shower to the closet at the time I drew that floor plan.

Sorry, I meant to say svmilligan ... I am following another discussion where the initial commentator is called Paul.

Of course there are always solutions, but how far one is willing to go depends on how much they like the plan. Self closing hinges and weather strip on the closet door could be enough. Along with a second fan on a humidistat in the closet.

I would have the tub in a direct sight line with the entry door with a large window behind it, then play with the other elements.

Agree with jimmianne, if the objective is to have an aesthetically focused and impressive bathroom.

My earlier floorplan was inspired by this bathroom below:


All other floorplans that do not have this visual focus would really be variations of the same theme or a matter of fine tuning the functional aspects. I can't really see much of a difference aesthetically.

This is one similar to the last one except the shower is not as close to the closet:

Two other plans. In the second plan the toilet and closet have been switched to allow the vanity to be in one piece.

looking to make existing down stairs bedroom, bath and office, into a large master bedroom suite.

Is this bathroom still in the works...how did it turn ou?