Expanding the Master Bath
I got some great feedback on my dining room post, so I’m hoping you can now help me with my master bathroom. When we started looking for a house, one of the things high on my list of “must haves” was a cushy bathroom with a big soaking tub. A few years ago, I lived in a fancy townhouse with a garden tub - it was great for taking bubble baths. Since then, I have always wanted a tub like that again. Unfortunately, the house we picked didn’t have a cushy bathroom, but we have thought about doing some renovations. They say that you will get back the money you put into a bathroom renovation. However, ours would effect our master closet, so I’m hoping for some other opinions.
This is our current bathroom. I like having two sinks, but I would love to have a bigger tub.
The rest is behind a link since there are a lot of photos.
The bathroom is next to our closet, which is technically a walk-in, but it’s really narrow. I get the long row going back, and Thomas gets the short row across the back. It’s 11-ft long.
We have considered expanding the bathroom to include the space where the closet is. The big question is what to do with the closet. I have three ideas so far. To help, here’s a diagram of our room. It’s 13.5 ft by 17.5ft.
More photos of our room are here:
Idea 1 -
Install a closet like this along the A to C wall in our bedroom. It’s the Pax system by Ikea, but I would prefer all solid doors, rather than glass or mirror. This wouldn’t stick out much further than our dressers but would hold about the same amount of clothes as now. I assume we’d get rid of our dressers. My concern is that in resale, I think walk-in closets are preferred.
- Here’s what it looks like with the doors open.
Idea 2 -
Build a wall so a long walk-in is along the A to C wall. This one would make our bedroom a little smaller, but it’s already pretty big. It would go where the dresser and mirror currently are. We may be able to find another place for that dresser. Note: The drawers are pulled out because the sliders are broken and Dad is fixing them.
Idea 3 -
Turn the current closet and the linen closet into very small closets. On the other side of the wall where the plant is hanging, in the picture above, there is a linen closet. If we moved the linen somewhere else, we could put a door in the master bedroom and use that as a small closet. These would still be tiny closets, but our room would not get smaller and we could still use our dressers.
So, if you made it this far, what do you think? Where would you put the closet?
Posted in nablopomo
Hmm. That’s tough. You’re right — people do like walk in closets, so I think it’s important to keep a closet. The best solution seems to be building out a closet on wall A to C. That way you can have a big master bathroom, which will be good for resale and still retain an actual closet.
You are an engineer, my friend. I’d go for idea one. I too would like a big ol’ tub in my next dwelling.
the bedroom does look huge. to save space in the bathroom you could install cabinets further up on the wall and have two free standing pedastel sinks with no cabinets below.
I vote for idea #2. I live in an apartment in a house built in 1946. I have 2 closets in my place and they are tiny. I hate tiny closets and I think it would effect your resale down the road. Unless you plan to leave the Ikea wardrobe thing if and when y’all sell the house, I would try to optimize your closet space as much as possible.
As for jill’s suggestion of using pedestal sinks, it would save a lot of space. I also adore the look of pedestal sinks. However, just something for you to consider: I have a sink with a cabinet underneath but there is only about 2 inches of counterspace around the sink. I hate that I can barely fit a bottle of liquid soap at my sink. I like having things handy and it drives me crazy that I don’t have stuff on the counter right where I need it.