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Bathrooms Design Dilemma

Squeezing a separate shower in a small bathroom

last year

Hi there. I’m trying to add a shower to our upstairs bathroom and have come up with a design that would allow me to fit everything in. Just wanted to share and get your thoughts about layout. Is there anything glaringly obvious I have missed. I’ve tried to work with the following parameters.

Keep toilet where it is
Keep current bath / cast iron free standing. One of the bath edges is not as rounded so the edge is wider than shown on the plan
Avoid moving sink

I’d be open to moving the sink if it fits better somewhere else.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

Karen Sargent
Original Author

last year

Thanks so much for all your comments.

I’m thinking we might have to move the toilet after all. I was trying to avoid it as we have this antique high rise cistern that we love. But if we moved the toilet it would look a lot better I think.

We did look at the option of moving the door but since the bathroom is just left of the stairs there’s no wiggle room. Here’s a revised plan.

Comments (27)

H A
last year
I think it looks a bit tight getting in and out of the shower. Here’s the plan for our bathroom, where we went from shower over bath to separate items. We got in touch with a local bathroom shop (recommended) and they came and measured and drew up the plan with no obligation to buy from them.
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
Yes that the idea layout. It’s amazing what a difference toilet position can make. We have this antique wall hung cistern that we r reluctant to move. I think moving the toilet adds a lot of complications. Thanks for sharing your plan
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@keiblem I'm starting to think so too! @LTS yes it is @McKiernan Architects Ltd. Thank you! I believe there is a small basin in the room with the toilet (the image was taken from the estate agents website so they must have have drawn it in). But agreed with @Carolina we would need another sink in the bathroom, as you say we should be able to fit a small one! @minnie10 yes similar idea to above, I will try this out on paper, seems like the best option. Thank you everyone!
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siobhanmcgee90
last year
The bath at that angle is a dust catcher and I think the space is too small. Best option is to have shower over the bath.
CWD
last year
The bath is too big and the shower is too small to be enjoyable to use. If you won't move locations of existing items then I think you need to swap the bath out for a smaller one that can fit along the wall under window, in order to get a bigger shower.
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
Unfortunately shower over bath is not an option. It seems like we might need to move the toilet to fit everything.
C Wilson
last year
The bath positioning takes up such a lot of space. Could you have the bath against the wall where it and the shower currently are, move the loo as close to the wall as possible and put the basin between it and the bath (near to window) then have the shower be more of a wet room flush tray or tiled tray with screen in between the bath and the door to the room?
toby godfrey
last year
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Sarah L
last year
It all looks to squashed. It's worth moving items to get a better layout.
CWD
last year
Also, consider moving the door so that it opens into the middle of the room, as at the moment there's more circulation space than you need.
H A
last year
Or change the door so it opens outwards, giving you more bathroom floor space.
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
The window is placed right above the toilet - the plan also considers moving the window but I think that would just make it too costly
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
@c Wilson. Great suggestion. I never considered moving the toilet slightly closer to the wall - and that might just give us the clearance we need. And lets us keep the high level cistern.
Anna G
last year
Best arrangement without buying a new bath might be to put the shower where the loo is, move the loo over to the left, line the bath up against the 2.10 wall and leave the sink where it is. If the soil pipe has to run into the shower corner, build out the wall in line with the soil pipe boxing leaving for shampoo bottles.

If you can bear to part with your bath it may be worth more than an acrylic replacement would cost. This would fit under the window in your plan https://victoriaplum.com/product/the-bath-co-dalston-grey-back-to-wall-freestanding-bath-with-chrome-ball-and-claw-feet
Anna G
last year
Sorry, just spotted I was offline for a bit and have basically just described your latest plan!
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
@anna don’t worry - it’s reassuring. And I didn’t think about the wall as a shelf. I love how each comment sparks a new idea :)
Mary Best
last year
Wow! Thank you! It is very helpful post for those, who start bathroom renovation, like me
Luciana
last year
If you don’t want to move the cistern, how about just having fun with the pipe

https://www.houzz.co.uk/hznb/photos/eclectic-cottage-ripon-eclectic-bathroom-phvw-vp~116722439
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
Luciana! That’s certainly a creative way of adjusting the cistern.

I’ve also discovered something called an offset flange which means you can shift the toilet a few inches either way. Without touching the e soil pipe. If I move the toilet two inches right it would create a little more space between it and the bath. The whole toilet space is 68 cm which is just 2 cm shy of standard. Do you think this would work?
PRO
Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre
last year
Hi @Karen Sargent,

Looking at the designs you uploaded, my comments below:
1. First design (assuming everything to scale) is just too crowded, and I don't think will be comfortable to live with.
2. The second design is a good layout, but may cause some problems with drainage and your soil pipe (difficult to give more advice without seeing the detail of the installation and current plumbing & directions of joists etc)
3. The third option is probably the best value and still makes for a very usable space, as long as the slight shift of the WC can be accomodated wrt your soil pipe - I've seen some properties & WCs where this would be fine, other where it might cause problems. This is probably my recommended option, and if plumbing were tricky, you could probably move the WC closer to the door and build a small bit of studwork where your cistern currently is (full room height) so that any "fudging" of the plumbing/waste is all hidden in the void.
Let us know what you do!
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
Thanks so much for your thoughts Caldicot. I think I’m going for option 3 but it’s probably cheaper to replace the bath to a shorter one. That way everything fits better
PRO
Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre
last year
That works too!
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
All done. Changing the bath meant everything fit in well and the room feels cosy and so cute.
Sarah L
last year
Looks great! You (we) made the right decision
C Wilson
last year
Looks brilliant, love the dark tiles in the shower and white elsewhere, makes the shower recede
Karen Sargent
Original Author
last year
Yes they’ve worked really well. Also took a bit of a risk with a dark ceiling but it makes the room feel cosy. The one thing I regret is having the shower 900 x 760 - 760 is too small but hopefully we ll get used to it
CWD
last year
note to others: read all the comments fully and take a note of ALL suggestions, not just about the one thing you are stuck on in the moment. every decision impacts on more decisions so when you change something (get a smaller bath as suggested), then it means you have more space elsewhere (for the bigger shower that was suggested).

it will be fine, first world problems and all that. and you learn something from every project which you will take with you to the next.

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