help with master bath floor plan no tub


  #1  
Old 08-22-05, 10:51 AM
midwestmom
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help with master bath floor plan no tub

Hi we are currently building a house. Right now they are setting up the forms to pour concrete for the basement. We had plans drawn up and now I would like to change our master bath. We've decided not to have a tub and to have a large shower. This is the kind of shower we are thinking about getting: http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatal...=2&category=12
Can anyone help me come up with a beautiful and functional plan for my master bath?
Here is a link to the floor plan that needs completely reworked.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...om/house12.jpg
Please help!! I've seriously been making myself crazy with this for a week now, night and day. I've got to get this decided right away. We'd like that large shower, a large vanity, a linen closet, I'd love to have some sort of open display shelving also, if it'll fit.
I'm so looking forward to everyone's input and ideas and I'd love to see pictures to help me out. Thank you!!
 
  #2  
Old 08-24-05, 06:10 PM
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These are just my opinions, so feel free to ignore them...

First, I would get rid of the bifold door connecting your toilet room to the closet. Bifold doors feel "cheap" and you will be giving up a good deal of space in your closet.

Second, I think it is hard to incorporate much drama into a rather standard 5' pre-fab shower stall. They just lack the visual impact of the large soaking tub you are deciding against.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the soaking & jetted tubs that get installed in everything these days. They have good sex appeal to sell a house but I find them lacking. They use a lot of water and the jetted tubs are very noisy and are really useless in the winter if they don't have a heater.

A custom tile or stone shower with either heavy glass or glass block can be very dramatic but does not come cheap.

If you are set on using the pre-fab Kohler shower you mentioned, you could turn the old shower space into a linen closet and put your shower stall where the soaking tub is now. Put it on an angle to add some drama, and use only a partial height (does not go all the way to the ceiling) wall between the shower and your vanity. You cannot do much with the shower itself, but you can make it feel larger and less claustrophobic by keeping the top as open as possible.

As for the vanity with a sink mounted on each side of the "L". If they are not far enough apart it will be difficult for both of you to use your sinks at the same time since you will both be standing in about the same spot. They can work well though if you each want your own "space" but will not be using the vanity area at the same time.

Your toilet nook looks rather tight, and it's walls may make the bathroom seem smaller. Without a door is has diminished privacy so you may just want to have the toilet in the open or make the walls around it half height. It would still give you wall space for a toilet paper holder and magazine rack but half height walls will not "shrink" the room as much when you walk in since they are not at eye level and the top of the walls can be your display shelf.
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Another totally different thought would be to put a proper toilet room where the soaking tub is currently shown. Put your 5' Kohler shower stall where the 4' one is currently shown and make your vanity a long straight one along the wall adjacent to the closet. A round or interesting shaped window in the toilet room can let in light, add drama and reduce the cramped feel of a small room. For increased drama the toilet room walls can be totally glass block or have glass block "windows" (or just an open cavity) to allow some of the light from the window to filter into the rest of the bathroom.
 
  #3  
Old 08-25-05, 08:39 AM
midwestmom
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pilotdane - those are some great suggestions. the layout that i posted is not what i'm wanting to use. i agree about the corner vanities and the bifold door. i would like to completely rearrange it. that picture was just to give an idea of the size and outside walls & where the door to master bedroom was. i like the idea of a little room for the toilet where the corner tub is, with a window above. i'm worried about putting "room" inside an already small room. I just wish I had something to go by, a picture of a room this size or something. It's really hard for me to visualize it.

OH and we decided to go with a tile shower. You are so right about the pre-fab shower stalls. I would love to have a big walk-in shower. I'd love even more to have one without a door. But have no idea how to go about that. What size would it need to be? Again, wish I had some guidelines or pictures to go by.

I really like this bathroom. I like the little toilet closet & the shower. It is much larger than my space though.
http://www.absoluteremodeling.com/DobbsFerryBath.html

Thank you and I'd love to hear some more of your suggestions.
 
  #4  
Old 08-25-05, 07:00 PM
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You are right about puting a toilet room in an already smallish room. You could think of making your toilet room walls out of glass block or incorporate a "window" from your toilet room into the main bath area.

I think a toilet room needs to be about 3' x 5'6" if using an elongated bowl and 3' x 5" if using a round bowl toilet. The 3' width allows you to have a decent sized door for access and having the room a bit wider helps keep it from being so confining. You can get by with a room 30" wide, but that just feels small. A window is a very major plus in a room so small. Round or octogon windows create a neat "porthole" effect and if located a bit high can offer privacy without curtains.

A shower with no door is not too difficult. It works best if the shower head is aimed away from the door or if it is offsett from the entrance. I love it in the summer, but I like to close the door in the winter (the door is recessed out of the way for 8 months). A shower without a door sounds great until you come inside on a cold rainy day and want to warm up.

Our master shower is 4' x 8', but 24" at one end is a bench seat and 30" at the other end is the entrance area and it has a 1'6" high x 4' wide casement (crank out)window mounted about 5' up from the floor. Being able to look out makes the shower feel larger and the window provides great ventilation in the spring & fall. The window is plain old vinyl (cheap) and the interior trim is stainless steel (not so cheap). I love our tile shower, but it does require more cleaning than a pre-fab shower. The grout and texture in the tile love to catch dirt and soap scum.

The bathroom you linked is pretty nice. Pocket doors can help save space, but I personally don't like them for high use areas. If you do go with one, it is a good place to spend the extra money and get a quality unit.

I love heavy glass but is quite expensive and requires a lot of cleaning. If you don't like water spots be prepared to squeege or wipe it down once a day. There are some very nice glass doors that are a compromise and some only have a frame on one or two edges.

I'm also do not like using marble in the bathroom (or kitchen). Sunscreens and some makeups/lotions can soak into and attack marble. I'm sure you can oil or seal it, but again it makes it higher maintenance. I'm sure you have seen pre-fab cultured marble vanities. Custom sizes and configurations are available for a reasonable cost and higher end "Corian" looking vanities are available. They are more expensive than the marble style but much less expensive than real stone.

I do not know how tall you are. In our bath, my vanity is severl inches taller than standard so I do not have to bend over so far when puting in my contacts or brushing my teeth. My wifes vanity is standard height and her makeup station is 30" so it is comfortable to use a standard height chair.
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If you want some fun little luxuries:

Kohler makes a heated toilet seat (less than $200). All you need is to have an electrical outlet mounted next to your toilet during construction. Ask for the toilet seat next Christmas.

In your toilet room, have an electric outlet mounted about 6' up from the floor right next to the toilet bowl. Plug a bright nighlight into the outlet and "the man" can hit the toilet in the middle of the night. A nightlight mounted elsewhere tends to blind you or cast shadows where you need light most.
 
  #5  
Old 09-04-05, 04:38 AM
midwestmom
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suggestions

pilotdane - you have some great suggestions. do you have any suggestions for the room layout? I'm thinking about just having a half wall by the toilet now instead of the toilet room. but i'm still not sure how to lay it out. i think we are back to a standard pre-fab shower unit due to costs. but i still don't know how to lay out the room. we'll have a 5' vanity and hopefully a 5' shower. i'd love a separate makeup vanity area somewhere and i'd love to have a linen closet. i'm also thinking about putting a tub back in there. i'd thought about not having a tub at all, but the last few weeks i've been not feeling well and have been soaking in our tub now frequently, so i'm thinking maybe we should have a tub in our master bath. but i don't know how to fit all of that into a 11x10 room. i've scoured the net looking for some layout ideas on a room that size and looked all over for inspiration pictures, but most of them are so much larger. can you help me with some layout ideas? that'd be greatly appreciated!!!

we have a basement in the ground now and hopefully they'll be building up next week. i've got to get this nailed down soon!
 
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Old 09-04-05, 07:38 AM
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Make a list of what you want to have and place the most important things at the top of your list. I don't think everything will fit so something might have to be dropped.

You mentioned wanting a 5' shower. That is a big shower especially if you also have a tub. What size & stlye tub do you want?
 
  #7  
Old 09-04-05, 11:18 PM
midwestmom
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my list

things i want in master bath, in order of importance.

toilet
5' vanity (we already have the 5' marble top, so that's definately not changing)
large shower, doesn't have to be 5'. would like it to be big enough for two ppl at once and have two shower heads. will have to be a pre-fab due to our budget.
small window on only outside wall, preferrably over toilet, up high. not over tub where it will be too hard to reach to open shades or blinds or such
sit down vanity for makeup
linen closet
tub

i don't really want to give up anything, but i can't seem to make it all fit. i'm still serioulsy going nuts over this. i've spent countless hours and sleepless nights on this computer with SmartDraw trying to figure something out. I really appreciate your help.
 
  #8  
Old 09-04-05, 11:31 PM
midwestmom
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layouts

here's the really horrible layouts i've been drawing
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...m/another2.jpg
 
  #9  
Old 09-05-05, 05:45 AM
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Midwestmom you've got a private message.

I've got a layout that has everything but a built-in linen closet, but there is room for a med-small piece of furniture (armoire, cabinet...) to hold linens. The layout has an enclosed toilet room with window, a standard 60" tub, your 60" Kohler two person shower and your 60" vanity. I have wall space next to the tub, shower and vanity so there is a place to hang your towels. There is a large bit of open space in the center of the room to keep the bathroom from feeling too cluttered. My layout does not have an interesting architectural detail but it does use standard fixtures to keep the cost down. If your budget permits a fancier tub (like a corner soaking tub) will add some sex appeal but at the cost of floor space (no room for a piece of furniture to hold linens).
 
 

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