Please clarify what you mean by it takes away design choices? What is the overall size for the bath? The room you have to work with will dictate how to make the best use the space.

Personally, I don't care for a toilet stall. I feel like I'm at a store or something and that door knob would drive me crazy. I'm with your other half, make a wow effect.

Regarding design choices, let's say we remove the toilet stall and the walls that surround it, would that give us different options to use space?

Here is the space currently as we have it designed:

I've never liked the separate toilet room thing. They're always too small, and I end up feeling claustrophobic at the least and unable to be comfortable. I feel like people are trying to hide the toilet - why? It's a bathroom, you know what's in there.

If you didn't have walls surrounding the toilet, you would have space for a shelf or a hamper or something like that.

Toilet room is good but it needs a window. Is the tub freestanding? I'd want it on an angle. Hard to get a wow factor without a line of sight no matter what.

we're planning on having a window in that room. The tub is freestanding and we do plan on having it angled if we go ahead with this design.

If you want "wow", I would center a free standing tub on the far wall. Run a glass frameless shower on the left side and your vanity area on the right side. Have the door to the shower open on this end. Expand the toilet room toward the shower and make room for a nice either separate table/storage area and mirror so it feels more like a powder room. That way, two people can be using the bathroom at the same time if necessary. When you enter the space, make the wall behind the tub and in fact that whole wall a knock your socks of floor to ceiling great tile! That would be Wow and retain the separate commode area. Best of both worlds.

I could personally go either way, but now we've owned two homes where there was a separate water closet in the master bathroom (I was told that's what the toilet room was called, I dunno..) and now my hubby absolutely insist on having that. Almost 25 years of marriage, and he still gets irritated if I accidentally open the door on him. LOL! At least with the water closet, I can still use the rest of the bathroom without him feeling like I'm invading his privacy... and while we don't normally wake up at the same time each morning, us using the bathroom at the same times still happens rather frequently.

But, he hates those short walls... he would either want it all open and not let anyone else use the bathroom if he's using the toilet, or he wants a separate water closet.

Not sure about the fireplace.

The fireplace is a bit much, suzy's right. I never cared for a potty room (what we call them in my neck of the woods) but if it's something your husband wants, give it to him. It takes up a lot of space, though.

What about sinks in the entrance hall and where the potty room is, shorten down the doorway in the main section and put the potty room to the right of the door. From the end of the potty room to the window could be built-ins to store towels, toiletries or cleaning supplies. Think about how a hotel sets up their bathroom with the vanity nearest the bathroom door. It makes sense, why tie up the whole bathroom just because you have to brush your teeth or put your makeup on?

I just redid my bathroom and I really wanted to get rid of the water closet but had so many conflicting opinions thrown my way. Mostly my realator friends who thought getting rid of it would decrease the value. Anyway we ended up making the water closet slightly bigger so it didn't feel closed in and we used a pocket door to keep that space feeling larger. Just a thougtht.

Given that no one other than me or my spouse see our master bath, I have never understood wanting a wow factor in the bath. Without a separate room for the toilet, my husband would monopolize the bath for like half an hour of prime getting ready time in the morning. Honestly, there would be bloodshed in our household over this.

A pocket door is a good idea and depending on your age, think about access for a disabled person.

All I can think is nobody will ever have clean hands exiting that WC... The doorknob will become a science experiment.

erica - moist towelettes. Do you use public facilities? LOL

I like a WC if you have the square footage. Toilets only look great when not in use.

There are problems with the toilet room that only a girl can understand.

suzyq53 - moist towelettes are becoming plumbers nightmares:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/10/are-wet-wipes-wrecking-the-worlds-sewers/504098/

I always want the toilet close to a source of fresh water - enough said.

I am with skmom's hubby . . . I want my privacy on the commode. Some things are better left unshared, even after 36 years of wedded bliss.

mark, when doing my remodel, I went for a water closet. it's actually a little too big! I think I borrowed too much space from the closet in back of it. I had planned on putting in a ledge-shelf thing, but decided not to. Anyway, it's nice to have it separate.

I always prefer a water closet. Keep some of the mystery in the relationship, ha

I don’t understand the need for a separate toilet area. Why would you being doing a “wow” when someone else is in the bathroom? Too public bathroom feeling for me. No….no…no.

All I want is privacy…nothing that goes on with a toilet needs to be shared with another’s ears and nose.

JudyG Designs, LOL!!

I once stayed in a hotel in Vegas that had the toilet separated by a glass wall (like a walk in glass shower enclosure). There was a frosted stripe in the middle of it (a few feet high) that gave a person complete privacy in there while seated. But having the glass wall kept both spaces feeling much more spacious and open than having a solid wall there. Probably costs more that a solid wall and door, but that in itself, along with gorgeous tile, will give a definite "wow" factor, and no one will feel trapped.

Yes to a separate closet for the toilet, especially for a shared bathroom. Plus, if you can avoid a direct view of the toilet from the bathtub, all the better.

Usually the master bathroom is not the only bathroom in the house. No reason it cannot be a private place.

You have to define 'wow' when speaking of a master bath - because it really is subjective. Create the separate toilet area. It offers needed privacy when one is brushing their teeth or taking a shower and the other must go now!

I would not have a master with an exposed toilet. Go with the water closet for privacy.

There is nothing attractive about a toilet, no matter how much it costs. It needs its own room.

I kind of like the separate toilet rooms.

We are on our third house in 12 years of marriage and finally have a water closet. Love it! Don't know if I would ever go back unless oceanfront in a tropical paradise. I don't find the knob disgusting. We leave the door open most of the time and only close it when the other person or our kids are milling about in there.

yeah,,don't get the doorknob thing in ones own bathroom. Do y'all pee on your hands or something? (and even if you did, urine is sterile so there's that)

Interested to see what your final decision is...

Personally, I have one in my master bath and think it's dumb...Just because I don't see you, doesn't mean that I don't know what you're doing...

I don't think a loo is so horrible to look at that I would give up valuable space for the walls...

When my bathroom door is shut...well...go away (comes from having 4 kids and one bathroom, I guess...)

Plus....not to get too graphic, but if you've ever been drunk or hungover, or had a virus and can't move...the space is nice.

I live in Australia, where separate WCs are much more common (the British influence, I think) - and if you have the space, I think a separate room is great. Ours has windows (high up, but windows nonetheless) and is big enough not to feel like the walls are closing in. And the hygienic aspect is not a huge one to my mind - wash the door handle as often as you wash the toilet flush handle.

In our last house there were two WCs in the master bath. I got the good one with the window. Hubby's didn't have a window. He would only use his while dressing and during the night. He'd go to another for number two. I liked having my own toilet.

Consider expanding the WC to include a compact sink. It will solve a lot of problems about sharing and hygiene! I would never plan a dark, enclosed WC with a door knob without a sink in the room. Houzz is filled with compact euro-style sinks. I have shared a master bath for 20 years now. The only thing better would be his and her separate baths ;)

Wow.....Somehow there is a just a bit TMI...on this post.

Hmmm...a powder room INSIDE a bathroom...

Mind blown, himaj...

Guess I am the weird one, but I am designing our master bath with exposed toilet. Shocking! I like “going” in a spacious room. If my husband has to use the bathroom, there are two others on the same floor.

Something about being confined to a space while at the super bowl that doesn't sit well with me.

I'm quite sure I've never seen a toilet and said "wow." Or at least not in the way you're probably going for. If two people are using one bathroom it sure is nice for one to be able to use the toilet while the other person is in the shower or brushing teeth and not be in direct line of sight (or hearing, or smell). But you do need adequate space, and sliding doors are a lot better than swinging ones. And a window is pretty important.

Definitely but not too small and with a window. Two is even better.

My husband wants to put an additional small sink in the toilet room along with the double vanity just outside. Is this too much?

I'm in my second home with a water closet and I'm now living alone. Call me crazy, but I like the feeling of being nestled in a small space when I'm doing my business. I can't imagine what it would feel like after all of these years being out in the open in a larger bath.

I am redesigning my master bath in an older home we just purchased. The original bathroom did not have a room for a toilet; the redesigned bathroom will. We did have to be a little creative and ended up adding a foot to the layout that came from a nearby closet. Having a private toilet room for my husband and I is an absolute must.

Interesting commentary here. I’m remodeling the master bathroom right now and so glad to finally get rid of the WC. We always kept the door open since they tend to feel stuffy and claustrophobic. Looking forward to a more open space. Good riddance!

I have a very nice home but when we remodeled the primary bath there was no way to create a WC without great expense and giving up the soaking tub, so we don't have one. Now that I am old enough to have to get up to use the bathroom every night, I'm kind of glad that we don't because that would just be harder to navigate in the dark when I'm sleepy. If one of us is getting ready and the other one needs to go, we just choose one of the other 3 1/2 baths in the house.

In my ideal world there would be two WCs in the master. Both with windows. And two closets and two vanities and a double shower arrangement. I don't need a tub.

To each their own! I much prefer a separate room for the toilet ( what is apparently called a water closet). I don't have one, but if I ever remodel, I will.