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corey_prescott

What am I missing with my master suite remodel plan?

Corey
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago

We are planning a remodel for a wing of our house (gray section, below). We've never attempted something of this scale before, so I would love to know what people smarter than me think. This house has some...idiosyncrasies...that have complicated things, but I think we are getting close.

Here are some questions:

1. Are the master closet and laundry room an adequate size?

2. Any concerns with the position of the toilet in the master bath?

3. Should we be concerned about have a bedroom adjacent to the master suite?

4. Anything else I need to consider?



Comments (15)

  • bpath
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Can you provide more information, like All dimensions? And what the rest of the upstairs is like? I understand idiosyncrasies, but are you compounding them by making the laundry accessible only through a bathroom, and what is the lone toilet in the top left?

    And I would find the toilet at the closet door very odd.

    Corey thanked bpath
  • One Devoted Dame
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    1. Are the master closet and laundry room an adequate size?

    Closet - Depends on how much/what kind of clothing you have, keeping in mind that hangers take up 24", and long sleeved men's formal wear can take up 26"-28"+ depending on the guy. ;-)

    If you can fit all of your hanging clothes along the 11' section, you should be okay (but I'd put a bench or something under the window, along with a window covering so that the sun doesn't fade your clothes).

    Doesn't seem like an efficient use of space. :-( If your window is 2' wide, then you have 9' of hanging space, 4.5' on each side. I don't think the other walls could accommodate hanging clothes very well.

    Laundry - Depends on how many people are living in the house, how much you hang dry, etc.

    2. Any concerns with the position of the toilet in the master bath?

    Depends on your comfort level passing someone else using the toilet, if you need to access to your closet. Assuming you are sharing your master suite with someone else. Some couples don't care; some do.

    3. Should we be concerned about have a bedroom adjacent to the master suite?

    Depends on how active you are, maritally speaking, and if that bedroom will actually be used as a bedroom and not an office or sewing room or something. ;-)

    4. Anything else I need to consider?

    Windows in the master bedroom.... They seem to have been forgotten. :-D

    Corey thanked One Devoted Dame
  • PRO
    KIBV Inc.
    3 years ago

    Here are some suggestions:

    1. Are the master closet and laundry room an adequate size? YES

    2. Any concerns with the position of the toilet in the master bath? visible from the bed in the master = poor placement

    3. Should we be concerned about have a bedroom adjacent to the master suite? only if not sound proofing your walls adequately for that privacy you need in a master suite.

    4. Anything else I need to consider? hmm.. does the closet at the rear rather than at the for-front to the bedroom seem out of whack?


    I see the shower stall in that nice cube at the rear near the W/D counter space on the opposite of the support wall to the shower you designed. Toilet in the corner left of the support wall backing onto the other toilet so as to eliminate excess plumbing. Front area would be a walkthrough closet with large shelf/shoe rack in place of toilet/counter. Move door north of location to eliminate visuals add door at back of closet (louver is ok) to keep closet from bathroom separate. Problem here would be where to put a good tub? But a nice 4x4 walkin shower with a bench might eliminate that need?


    Bedroom has no window placement?

    Laundry is really throwing all the balance out of this.

    Makes for too many hallways which is wasting a ton of floor space.

    What is the square room next to the main bathroom? And is that toilet attached to anything else at the upper corner or could it be incorporated into the master suite as a toilet cubby instead?

    Corey thanked KIBV Inc.
  • PRO
    Mark Bischak, Architect
    3 years ago

    1. It depends upon how much clothes you plan to store in the closet during the time you spend in the house and the activities you plan to perform in the laundry.

    2. It depends upon if it impedes on the circulation between the bathroom and the closet, how it effects the existing plumbing, and how much moisture you want to feed the mold in the closet.

    3. It depends on how loud you plan on playing the harpsichord in the master bedroom. (that was written in code)

    4. You need to consider existing site conditions, structure, roof lines, roof drainage, heating and cooling, tax assessment, resale value, ways of avoiding a step, window placement, natural light and ventilation, and probably more.

    You will have to settle for that until I find someone smarter than you.

    Corey thanked Mark Bischak, Architect
  • Corey
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Thank you all for your comments. This is exactly what I was looking for. You all quickly picked up on the deficiencies of my drawing (missing windows, doors, etc.). I've updated it and zoomed out a touch so you have a better perspective on that side of the house. We are a family of 4 with two little ones, if that helps!


    bpath--I'm certainly not trying to compound them! The laundry is accessible from the hallway, not through the bathroom. The lone toilet is a bathroom adjoining another bedroom. Hopefully that's more clear in the new drawing.


    summit-- "Flip the tub and the shower to eliminate the orphan door that will bang into the tub." Good thought! That's worth noting.


    one-- "I don't think the other walls could accommodate hanging clothes very well." I was hoping to utilize the 11' (excluding the window) and the two 5'6" walls for hanging. Any reason you think that wouldn't work?


    KIBV-- "does the closet at the rear rather than at the for-front to the bedroom seem out of whack?" Possibly. The existing master bath is in the same location (it is the width of the shower and runs from the shower to the tub). The remodel expands the footprint into a hallway and closet, where the toilet/vanity is in the remodel drawing. The wall separating the shower from the toilet/passageway is an existing wall, as is the opening with the step from the bath into the closet. I was trying to design around these features knowing that we have a healthy but not unlimited budget and that other areas of the house need attention as well. But, that might be compromising too much!


    "What is the square room next to the main bathroom?" That is an office.


    Mark--"It depends upon how much clothes you plan to store in the closet during the time you spend in the house and the activities you plan to perform in the laundry." We don't have an extensive collection of clothes, so smaller/efficient closets and laundry are all we anticipate needing.


    "You need to consider existing site conditions, structure, roof lines, roof drainage, heating and cooling, tax assessment, resale value, ways of avoiding a step, window placement, natural light and ventilation, and probably more." Tell me about it! It's a lot to consider. I've tried as best I can to work with what the house is giving me.


    Another plan we are considering would essentially flip the bedroom adjacent to the master with the master closet/laundry area. But a closet with 10 ft ceilings and that very big window is not ideal either, and we would have to move the existing electrical panel as well.


    Thank you all for your input!

  • PRO
    KIBV Inc.
    3 years ago

    what is existing now?

  • PRO
    KIBV Inc.
    3 years ago

    if walls are being rearranged anyway some let's look at it from minimizing extra cost as bang for buck. Plumbing.
    So original bathroom suite is now closet?
    I would turn the WD to a closet access in the main bath and recover 3-4 ft of space by moving the laundry wall south (in pic directions) this makes the suite more square. Shower NW corner, toilet stall SW corner Tub NE corner. Sink SE area.
    Door to room stays as drawn, closet stays as walk through is a redundant hallway to room entry. Main bath door also faces master door is this necessary? perhaps entry could be adjusted to eliminate the excess hall as second small closet in master bedroom.

    Extra layer 5/8 gypsum along south wall for added sound proofing or better put in some roxal insul first then gypsum zero sound then.

  • bpath
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Is the only way to get from the kids’ bedrooms to the master, through the bathroom?

    Is there a way to make the master bath into two closets on either side, one a reach-in and the other a walk-in but probably with a rod only across the back and hooks, racks, shelves elsewhere, then the bathroom where the closet currently is, and absorb the little ensuite? That bedroom can use the central bath.

  • PRO
    Sabrina Alfin Interiors
    3 years ago

    I am really not a fan of walking through a bathroom to get to a closet. I would re-work the layout so that there are two reach-in closets on either side of a small hall that leads to the master bath from the interior of the bedroom suite.

  • Toronto Veterinarian
    3 years ago

    Even if there's no one in the bathroom, I think it's backwards to have to walk through a bathroom to get to the closet.

  • PRO
    KIBV Inc.
    3 years ago

    Most of the clothes are going to be affected by the steam if in the back area too, not good. Not everybody remembers to turn on the fan

  • One Devoted Dame
    3 years ago

    I was hoping to utilize the 11' (excluding the window) and the two 5'6" walls for hanging. Any reason you think that wouldn't work?

    Clothing in walk-in closet corners usually ends up getting sucked into a black hole. ;-)

    Here's an illustration of the problem I envisioned, when I mentally placed hanging rods in this closet plan (your actual plan may be different; I have no idea, lol):



    The black boxes represent the space taken up by clothing along the 11' wall; the yellow boxes by clothing on the 5.5' wall; the red boxes by difficult-to-access clothing on rods; the aqua line is the space y'all would have to reach the yellow box.

    It all seems very, very crowded, without much utilized area, given the square footage of the room. It's shaped poorly for hanging rods on more than 1 side, if the goal is easily accessed storage.

    My tract-built house has a master closet that is also poorly shaped, with a short wall dimension of 57". They put in 2 hanging rods opposite of each other (seriously!!!), leaving me with 18" of space to walk through (which I can do, because I'm the size of the average 12 year old, lol, but my master closet stresses me out, partly because it's so poorly designed). Even leaving the other side empty (rod is still there; I just hang empty hangers on it), the closet still feels cramped. :-/

    I realize y'all's here is 66", which means if you leave the bottom wall (shared with the laundry) blank, you'll have much more room to move around than I do, but having only 42" of usable, accessible hanging space (yellow boxes) on each side of the closet just seemed really unfortunate. :-(

    Anyway, I acknowledge that y'all may not even care, lol, but I wanted to mention it all, anyway, just in case. <3

  • PRO
    KIBV Inc.
    3 years ago


    This is what I thought would be least amount of damage maximum use of space.

  • lyfia
    3 years ago

    In the existing you can't get into the closet when someone is using the toilet. There just isn't enough space. It also will likely be a detriment to resale. Most people won't find it appealing.

    Closet space has already been pointed out that there isn't much.

    I like KIBV's changes.


    I don't like the step though to get into closet or bedroom. If it is a step down try to eliminate it by building up the floor and if a step up see what you can do to avoid that. Steps are generally a hazard. I had one in my old house and although I got used to it anytime we had a worker doing something on the plumbing or electrical they tripped and when I interviewed realtors they all tripped even though I told every single one of them about the step. When selling I ended up taping blue masking tape in the form of step down and marked the edge as I didn't want the liability of someone getting hurt.


    Here's another option, but it messes with the windows of course in that bedroom, however it does make all the bedrooms off to one side and gives more privacy to the master except for the access to the laundry.