Personally I would rather have an extra (smaller) bathroom so it's more convenient especially withe 2 girls in the household.

If you can have 2 bathrooms, go for that. Just think how you are going to function as a family of 4 with just one bathroom.

That is kind of what we thought but after using our downstairs bathroom this week to get ready, I am just not sure anymore! Our downstairs bath will be larger than the master and I felt crapped! But I guess it is just want you get used to!

If you have a bathroom downstairs, then you could have just one bath upstairs. It would be a problem if the house had just one bathroom.

What about making the master bath into a 1/2 bath instead of a full? You can put the vanity where the tub is now so you have more room to get ready.

Must decide what you and husbands needs are...Shower or tub? Same for girls...shower or tub? I had two bathrooms of equal size 5x9. First I took everything out...and moved center wall over 8" to accommodate 5" jetted tub across end of bathroom (where shower used to be), 48" vanity along center wall, toilet next to vanity..as I do not like having toilet next to tub. Other bath closed wall where door was leading in from hall, installed wall in center of side wall from guest room. Floor to ceiling tile shower is to right of door (where old door came into room), vanity w/vessel sink is next to that, free standing cabinet and toilet across other end. See photos.

It appears to me that you could have two bathrooms of decent size quite easily. What if you moved w/d to wall alongside tub or stacked them, placed vanity between them and toilet, turning toilet toward door if possible, and moving door over toward toilet, allowing wall between rooms to be placed in line with bathtub, which I would change to large walk-in shower w/glass wall and door for light...unless you really use tub often. Second bathroom would then have plenty of room for everything. Google, Small bathroom designs for more ideas and get creative! If your master bedroom is large, consider setting up a lovely little makeup vanity...to pamper yourself. :-D

@kreationsbykaarisa: great idea, but the bathroom door can not be moved, there is a staircase

Have you considered making this into a Jack-and-Jill bathroom? If you wished to sacrifice the closet space, you could configure it so that the wd units were side by side across the bottom of the drawing and put in a door where the washer is shown on the drawing. Then, you would have access to the bathroom without going through the hall, access to the laundry when someone is using the bathroom and still have the spacious bathroom space. You could even put in another vanity in the current closet area if you chose.

I have two 16year old girls.......definitely two baths!!!!!

Sorry for the late reply, have been dealing with a dog emergency! @Linda I am not understanding what you mean, sorry! @larkspurproject....I think I agree with you!

Sounds like you are having lots of doubts about making it two baths. I would keep it one bath. Not sure how old the girls are but if you are planning on staying in this house for a long time then I would think long term. How would you feel about your decision after they leave the nest?

I like Scott design's layout a lot. each room feels roomy - even the girls' bath has just enough room for them to both spit in the sink at the same time - if needed. ( lol - my definition of a big enough bathroom!)

You would have to make sure your floor is strong enough for weight and movement of the stacked laundry.

I like the Scott design layout as well, but unfortunately the toilet can not move to that wall. @ Kari: I am struggling because I really want 2 baths but lose all storage by spliting it into 2 baths and storage is key in my house because we have no storage space upstairs.

Wendi - Thanks for the input as to toilet location and storage. Here's an approach to those concerns. As you can see there are several ways to deal with storage here and probably elsewhere in your home. Based on your input to date, these sketches are an attempt to show you possibilities while maintaining legitimate active space with natural light and ventilation.

Based on my experience as building designer, contractor, mother of two kids and the unexpected care giver to a parent, it is far better to have two baths ...one for the master bedroom and one for the secondary bedrooms. They will greatly improve daily functioning as well as increase the value of your home. You are investing money, time and energy into this project and you deserve a good return on that investment (financially and in daily time-savings), now and when you sell.

@Scott Design: I like you layout alot! I will need to go up and map it out to see if it would work if we made the opening for the w/d into the bathroom. I just realized that we will not have enough room to have a door to the w/d in the hallway because it narrows as it goes into our bedroom. Also as Kathy mentioned I need to check with the contractor to make sure our floors could support stacking; my guess is they will not.

Scott Design has given you some great alternative layouts--much more efficient and attractive than the original ones proposed. If you can't do the stacked laundry on the second floor, what about putting it on the first? The side by side laundry in your original bathroom sketches is just such a waste of precious space.

OK...turn the stacking unit for access from the bathroom. It's behind the entry door but it is what it is (unless you go to the cost of another pocket door and many people do not like pocket doors on bathrooms). Concern for weight is understandable but if you have a bath tub on the 2nd floor, then you can follow the same framing modifications to support a stacking washer and dryer (if needed at all). Venting options also need to be considered (up and across the ceiling of the new master bath in a soffit over the shower and small chase above the doorway or up into the attic and out).

It's obvious that every inch and every adjacent space be scrutinized in order to make a double bath happen. Additionally, alternate ways to consider the use of space such as Feeny's suggestion to move laundry to the first floor and finding closet space elsewhere which you have recognized needs to be explored further.

If your GC is familiar with bathroom and laundry installations, then he can help in laying out your space. You will have to weigh the cost of stock cabinets vs. custom, standard size shower units vs. build-on-site, etc. all of which will influence your space considerations as well. This sounds involved, but I feel the end result is worth it.

No place to put the laundry on the first floor. Also with the amount of laundry I do I am not willing to but it in the basesment; plus our basement is creepy and damp. I wIll talk to the contractor and plumber to get their thoughts on this plan. But again concerned still concerned where I am going to keep towels, cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. No other closet space to be obtained on the first or second floor. (The plan uses our current master bedroom closet, so we will need to build a closet in our room or take space from daughter's room.)
We have the cabinets selected (Kraftmaid). We are fine with just showers since we have a tub on the 1st floor, but want to stay with standard sizes because non-standard marble base is way more expensive. We have flooring picked out and selected the granite today. The contractor cannot start until 2nd week of October so we have alittle time to decide.

Towels, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent can go into the 15" deep tall cabinet with 28' of shelving in the girls' bath and 10' of storage in the master bath.

If you would like to keep your washer and dryer units, you could do something like this. Waste lines, vents and supplies will have to be worked out with your plumber but these floor plans are doable.

Please don't focus on style of light, floor tile, color of walls, countertop material, shower door, etc. This is just for concept.

This plan is not as consistent with elements and placement but can work.

I also vote for two bathrooms. I had the same situation. We opted for a smaller master bathroom with only shower and created a full bathroom for our girls.

Scott Design's ideas are outstanding.

If you have the option to add a sink in each girl's room, that can fend off arguments and traffic jams.

Also, an easy $5 solution to the "I need to brush my teeth but my sister is in the bathroom" problem is to put a second set of each girl's toothbrushes and combs in the downstairs bathroom.

As for towel storage, some people find that they can do with a lot fewer towels than they used to. Two towels per person, one stored and one in use, may be an option to consider.

I appreciate all the comments!
Stacking the washer and dryer is not an option for us. After measuring I would barely able to reach clothes in the dryer and my girls would never be able to without using a stool. @Scott Design- the new plan with the side by side washer will not work because of space (not enough space to have a wall on that side of the window and the w/d and the doors are on the front so would open into the vanity. We talked about having the shower behind the door, but agreed that would not be best. I really appreciate you trying to make it work, but think we are stuck with our 2 above designs. I think storage is going to trump everything...keeping it as one bath also give me the room to store all our bed linens and blankets whick will free up floor space in our room and my daughter's bedroom. If it becomes problematic as they get older we do have a 3rd floor that would be finished as 2 bedrooms and a bath.

Would pocket doors work?

As you can probably tell, I find it hard to accept that we cannot put two baths, laundry and adequate storage into 178 sq. ft. of floor space. The fact that you have a 3rd floor possibility does not help the 2nd floor 3-bedrooms-on-one-bath scenario particularly when the opportunity is there.

Based on your dimensions and your latest feedback, here is another attempt at a floor plan.
1.Relocated shower door so that it is not behind the entry door. Looks like you have some room to move the current closet back wall closer to the bath entry door trim to maximize the depth of a shower and width of a linen closet.
2.Created a linen closet accessible from hall using a 24” door opening. Don't know just how "narrow" this wall is but I pushed the door over keeping the casing on the hall side and no casing on the inside.. 21’ of 21” deep storage, deep enough for blankets, sheets, etc.
3.Created 15” deep closet storage in girls’ bath that will accommodate towels, personal products, etc.
4.Created laundry area with upper storage for detergents, paper products, etc. min. 15’ of 12”-18” storage
Please note the bifold door approach…it is two standard doors hinged together folding to one side. In addition to the jamb hinges, they are supported with small casters on the floor. When they are closed, they use magnetic catches. I have attached door trim to the leading edge of the door to mimic door jamb casing without the jamb to keep the door opening as wide as possible for washer/dryer door swing. Your GC should have no problem pulling this off.
5.Master bath: I do not like a window in a bathing area (tub or shower). If this window is not in the front of the house or necessary for exterior symmetry, etc, I recommend relocating it. Doing this will accomplish two things…keep natural light and ventilation in the bath and allow flexibility for positioning the wall common to the laundry area. If you must keep it, I recommend a vinyl or fiberglass fixed unit very carefully installed to eliminate leaking. It will be tiled-in therefore eliminating the casing and allowing the wall common to the laundry to move beyond the existing casing limitation (this allows for the 5'3" space in the laundry).

If you find this still does not work, then at least I have prompted you to consider many options and enable you to firmly prioritize your needs rather than “go crazy with decisions.” It’s been a challenging puzzle to try and solve especially from long distance. Good luck.

PS If you choose your two-bath scenario, consider pulling your master bath toilet forward to give you enough room behind it to build a linen closet accessible from the hall or keep some closet space in the master bedroom.

MkMort: we could do pocket doors possibly for the master bath it just depends what we find running in the wall when we open it.
Thanks Scott Design, that is not one option we had come up with, but we can not put a linen closet opening into the hallway...that is the entrance to our bedroom. We definitely can not do a small shower, Hubby is a big and tall and thinks that shower would be too small for him, but we will tape it off :) and see

Relocating the window is not an option for us. We have already ordered 2 vinyl windows with frosting on the lower portion.

You can increase the master shower which will also increase the storage closet but decrease the vanities as shown. Please note that the shower is much bigger than the tub shown on your two-bath plan.

The dimensions are finished wall to finished wall based on your dimensions. They may increase or decrease a bit when you take down plaster partition walls and rebuild less thick sheetrock walls or when you apply tile. But at least you get a sense of where the variables are located.

Sounds like cerberusdog is in too far to want to change her mind. Too bad...Scott Designs were all excellent.

@cerberusdog I appreciate your feedback and willingness to tape off the size of the shower. I'm unclear on your final approach...are you still "stuck with your two designs" or have you decided on one bath?

Sorry if I have made you feel uncomfortable during this back and forth. It must seem as though I'm a dog after a bone!

We are still trying to decide. I want to divide it into 2; hubby wants to keep it one. However he is winning me over with the idea of storage upstairs.....with 2 baths I would have less storage than I currently have which I am beginning to see is going to be a problem.
Also the extra storage we would gain with keeping a single bath would get rid of a blanket chest and amoire in our bedroom which would really help!
The reason I said "stuck with our 2 designs" is that we have done many designs and they have logistically not worked. The plumber/friend was over today to watch the parade and we can not locate the toilet where you have it in the master without losing too much space in our downstairs bedroom which we can not afford to lose. So if we add a master bath, the toilet either needs to stay along the outside wall of the house or where it was in the orginal design. Also our current washer and dryer with drain pan is 63inches long which takes it to the window; so not enough room for the wall and W/D.
I have to make a decision in the next 2 weeks so that we can get everything ordered so they can start in October. Right now I am leaning towards doing the one large bath design since the girls are still young and once they get older moving them both to the 3rd floor and creating a bath for them on that level.

Toilet on outside wall... Sounds as though you have enough room on the third floor to handle items not in use on a daily basis or for seasonal change over.

@ScottDesign. Excellent ideas, wish you were in my corner!

@Scott Designs:
1. The 2nd picture what size vanity is that and is it 18in or 21 in deep?
2. It looks like there would be ~35inches bt the vanity and wall which is enough but is there enough room to get the W/D out of that space where you located them?
3. This one has the best potential for storage (I could go 84 inch tall cabinets and put staorage above the w/d.
Also since I will need to put in a door from our bedroom to the bath I would make that corner next to the master toilet a closet for blankets. Then we would use daughters room for our master closet.

Keep the finishes of the bathroom true to the home. Hex floor tiles, ceramic tile with quarter ends, etc etc. a large shower for hubby and good laundry space for you. The girls will love the new large bath.

Hi cerberusdog

1. Vanity is 54" with (2) 15" wide x 18" deep flanking cabinets and 24" wide x 21" deep sink base.
2. The partition wall can be any depth, if there is a wall at all. What is the brand and model of your machines?

I strongly suggest you take a critical look at putting the W & D on the outside wall in that area as in the first plan of the recent pair. It gives you greater front access space. It looks as though your 66 1/2" dimension is to the window trim. Is that the case? If so, when they remove the trim there will be space before the actual window frame starts. You can take 1" of that space and build a 4 1/2" wall or keep that dimension and build a 3 1/2" wall in order to get the space for the 63" pan. You can also ask your plumber to build a pan with drain like he would for a shower. It then becomes part of the wall dimension leaving you plenty of wiggle room.

3. You may find that a sheetrock closet will be less costly than an 84" cabinet and it will provide a better transition into the surrounding walls. You can also put deeper wall cabinets over the washer and dryer.

You may also want to ask your contractor if there will be a problem in the future converting the attic space...code required head room and floor area, load bearing capacity of the floor, deep enough rafters for insulation, opportunity for natural light and ventilation, window egress requirements, stairwell clearances, etc And, if you can pull it off, the cost may be more than you want to spend.

Thanks Scott Design, We have a whirlpool duet. The w/d is on 56.5, it just has a huge pan; but so far I have not found anything substain enough to replace it with...it is about 4 inches deep; everything I have found is shallow. I take take 2 inches off for trim which makes it only 61 instead of 63. I will ask again about keeping the w/d on the outside wall, but if I remember correctly he said it could not work with the wall even with shrinking the window trim, but maybe it could work if we did not use trim...that would definitely work better so I will check.
I will show my contract tor this new plan this week and get him to map it out.

Our 3rd floor is already finished with hardwood floors as the rest of the house including 8 windows (2 on each side of the house). We will just need a separate heating and a/c unit for the space. Stairway clearance is the only issue for my hubby hence why it will become a room for the girls. We already had the plumber tell us he can put a bath up on the 3rd floor. The only reason we do not do it now is we do animal rescue and have a rescue cat that lives up there because she is scared of everything and everyone

Lucky cat...her own penthouse! Do you think by the time your girls need the space, your visitor will give it up!?

Sounds like you have enough windows to convert one into a code required egress unit. I hate to rain on the option but if your husband can't make it up the narrow stairs easily then neither can a fireman with a pack on his back. The codes are written to enable first responders to enter the building with fire fighting equipment as well as lift people out (egress window and fire engine ladder).

Since your window will be in the shower, you won't be using window trim. You will be using a tile that either wraps the window jamb or overlaps its edge. In either case, you will have flexibility in space.

When you hand off this layout, please ask your GC and/or plumber about building a pan for your W & D since the floor will be remodeled anyway.

She is a very lucky cat! We fostered her and her 6 siblings and she was just never able to be handled except by me, so we kept her! She is the main reason we bought this house 10 years ago so she would have a place to live! It is her 800 sq ft penthouse :) We probably only have a few more years with her, she is getting old; but the space is hers until she is ready to leave us. My girls are only 6yr and 8yrs.
As for the attic, hubby can make it up but does have to duck midway, it is quite odd how they put in the staircase; but everything is odd in our house :) We already know we need a new staircase to be compliant if we add the bath; if we just keep it as living space we are fine as is. We already have a place to relocate the stairs or we can raise the dormer (I think that is what the engineer said)

@Scott design do you know if there is a way to save the image so it is not so small?

Yes, I can send it to your email address as a PDF. So glad to hear you had an engineer involved in your third floor option.

@Seattle Staged To Sell: Not sure if you will see this but how big is your master bath? Do you and your spouse get ready at the same time? My hubby and I experimented this morning getting ready together in the downstairs bath and it was down right comical!

The two bathroom option would be more of an option for a modern family, and will definitely add to resale! :)

We, too, own a Victorian with one bath and 3 bedrooms upstairs, and a 3/4 bath and added half bath downstairs. Oh, and two daughters aged 10 and 11 when we redid our upstairs bath. A near-perfect match (our laundry is in the basement).
I voted for one bath because when adding on is not practical it gets really hard to move plaster walls and plumbing in a Victorian on any thing approaching a reasonable budget. And because we in fact did just one bath and survived quite well.

The trick for us was to divide the bath --clawfoot tub/shower and toilet in one room, Vanity with Drawers for All in another. Doing one bath meant we could afford a custom vanity and medicine chest, and a beautiful patterned hex-tile floor.

Read the Not So Big House books, and consider what you might be able to include in one divided bath versus the things you have to give up to get two baths. In the case of the Scott Designs layouts (which I think are very clever and hope the engineer okays them), the master is very small and the girls can't get to the toilet while someone is working with the laundry....

Just to update.....Our project got delayed due to some major work needed on the house. We decided on one big bath, but after everything it was far too expensive to change the layout so the foot print will remain the same. We are able to change the tub to a 48x48 shower and we plan to move the washer and dryer under the window and put a granite countertop over it with storage to the left. We are going ahead and putting in the plumbing for a 3rd full bath on our third floor.

Are you going to post pictures? I'm kind of wondering what the outside of the house looks like too!

I have a combined bathroom and laundry and I like it very much.

We already know we need a new staircase to be compliant if we add the bath; if we just keep it as living space we are fine as is. We already have a place to relocate the stairs or we can raise the dormer (I think that is what the engineer said! The girls will love the new large bath.

Hello I like your solutions, in what program are drawing it, and in what program you did the illustrations?