Mrs Pete thank you for those suggestions! bringing me back to earth a bit. much needed!!!

Chris so true. we are working with a designer and architect but we really want to make sure the space works for us. also no way i could just sit back and let the designer do their job 😂😂

" We are working with.........."

Forgive me. But any arch and designer, who didn't tell you at day one to steal two feet from the bedroom is a team for whom I have some suspicion that anyone is doing their job.

I see no point in a four bed /two bath house. of "no clue why bedrooms are so huge" and a that second bath is not even conveniently located.

I;d be looking at more like this.......UNLESS moving a stair and a reconfigure of the entire second floor and the first we are not even seeing. Hope your budget is huge : )

versus.....................makes no sense to me below

I'd be curious to see what the arch has wrought, and you share.............rather than your little computer rendering baths of limited function : )...........beyond two adults sharing tubby time

Forgive the ugly little thumbnail sketch, and the fact of no clue where windows are.

Bottom line on this site, is the so often case of questions posed in total isolation. Nothing lives in isolation, Matters not whether that is a counter top within a kitchen undeserving of new tops, a boring wall in a single room posted as ONLY a boring wall......or a too small bath with easily accessible space directly behind.

All dimensions too faint to read......so who knows, but it appears doable.

You get more help with a full picture - not just the weeny thing you may be obsessed with at that moment.

Khabeer Sal, I get it. I went through 4 designers. one even let me go… because our styles were too different( or I was too annoying🤣) No one is perfect including architects and designers (and myself!).They definitely know more than I do, but I had a good idea about our family’s needs/wants. I learned so much and drove the builder crazy. At one point he asked if I was an engineer( I’m not)… because he swore he’d never work for one again. Details can make a big difference.

Just visualize your self in a space… where you will reach for something or store or hang things( bath towels, hand towel, toilet paper)… where you might bump your toe or head.. where you will reach to turn on the shower…stand.. walk around someone or put a clothes hamper… where you’d like to hang your favorite art.. if you see a picture you love of a space, ask yourself what does not work as well as what you like about it.

Ultimately, we adapt even if the spaces aren’t perfect.

Lol @Jan I wish we had a huge budget to rearrange everything but we really don’t. You are so right though about needing the full picture and taking part of that other bedroom.

@chris thanks for the words of advice and encouragement!

ok here is the new idea based on everyone’s suggestions. It involves stealing 3 ft from the other bedroom to make a 9'X11' space as you all suggested. Also we realized the chimney area is actually a partially blank space and then the chimney. That space is 2’x3’. So Scout’s suggestion could actually work. here is what we were thinking. in the corner i also added a 12" linen cabinet to the left of the vanity. Another cabinet could go over the toilet. I have the door as 24 in wide. For the bedroom we would be left with the 12x15 space Jan suggested which is definitely big enough for a bedroom. i think this also gives space for all of the other needs ppl suggested considering! we also added in a freestanding tub

That’s great that you can take more space. With that much space maybe you could get the toilet into a water closet and away from the doorway so it’s more private?

This was another option I drew that moved the toilet away from the front door. Puts it by the tub. Idk if that’s better or not

Glad you have more space to work with! How big does that make your shower now?

I think you will like tucking the toilet in its own space and having a long counter space with cabinets and drawers.

Id still draw or tape the whole room out to scale somewhere. And walk around in it😊 so to speak… especially have the real measurements of a tub included as you explore this new idea.

Where was it mentioned you cared about a tub? If that is the case, you need to sit with the architect and get a much better handle on your must have, would be nice to have. You need to consider the REST of the second floor. How many beds baths and where, Unless you plan to die in the house and give zero importance to a possible re sale.

You've shown nothing of what the arch has given you. Not a scrap.

The most dangerous thing to do......? Start second guessing the very folks you hired, or don't be clear on your wants, needs, and MUST haves. Give him limited parameters.......and then open the floodgates and the purse.

Personally, I want nobody in a bath or shower with me. That is up to you. but your drawing as just above? above??/No........big fat no. You are still under sizing shared vanity space it seems.

Get your head on straight, before you start doodling around . Know that wet room concepts generally stink. Just because it exists online doesn't make it convenient or practical.

You're wasting the money you are PAYING for in advice. Trust, discuss, share openly, listen.......... or fire them. Or they will definitely fire you.

well a tub was a no if we had a smaller space. if we expand the space and can fit one then we would add it. we are ok with a wet room from prior experience

@Chris shower would be about 48x48. Also i forgot to but we taped it out like you suggested!! that was a great tip and helped alot

As I said.................................half info gets you half answers. A 48 x 48 shower? Great for one, not really long enough for two, other than for the obvious endeavors. . I think you are in make up your mind land. Sort it all out, then post for opinion. Take ALL of this up with the design help for which you are paying.

You began with the constraints of 7 x 11 and you are now at "wet rooms" Call the arch. : )

He's there for all that is POSSIBLE. within a budget,

Or ideas can evolve. We wanted a huge shower but it was pointed out that that wasn’t feasible. This is the “make up our minds” phase and that’s exactly why I’m here asking questions with simple sketches. Thanks for all of your suggestions though

A 4 x 6. or by 7. or 8 shower is pretty darn huge. Wait until you clean it. " Feasible is when you share with an arch a budget.......a what you are willing to do. ...how far you are willing to go. You're missing the point and the help. An arch IS for IDEAS.......

IF THE ARCH HAS THE PERCEPTION, THAT YOU NEED TO fit a two head shower into a 7 x 11 space? He is either not asking, or you are not asking for the POSSIBLE.

You then are asking him to read your mind as you ask US to read your mind.

Happy New Year and good luck.

I personally would go for more space and privacy. I would run the vanity along the window. It’s long, but would be dramatic and give lots of storage. I put in one this size in my master and I love it. I would put the toilet in a water closet with a pocket door. I’d just do one shower head.

I am a fan, Scout. what about making the shower a bit bigger and water closet a bit smaller. What are the dimensions of that window? How low does it go?

@chris Thanks! Definitely the water closet could go smaller. I was wonderng the same thing about the window.

You could fit a shower bench in that bit of extra space in the shower

Great idea! The wc could also be a little narrower but I dont think it could be any shorter, unless the pocket door was removed. Just edited to add this. Maybe this would work? I put a bench on the side. The shower is about 5’x4’. I added a linen closet.

great idea!

How about this…with an added bit more width to the water closet… enough to fit the pocket doorinto the wall. I’m terrible doing drawing on my phone…

Oh….make sure you put the shower handle to turn on the water where you can reach it without getting wet…maybe even on an opposite wall.

Very confusing. You said you wanted a huge shower. Then as soon as you got the space from the bedroom to give you a huge shower, you reduced the shower size and added a tub... You might want to listen to Jan M on this one, as everything she has stated is true. It doesn't seem like you've really established what you want and if you have an architect and designer, probably a good idea to go over the whole floorplan and see what they suggest. Good luck with your reno!

Well if you look at all of the suggestions, none of them give a much bigger shower than what’s in the option with the tub. So if we expand the bathroom and there’s extra space, it make sense to add a tub if it’s possible. If we had to choose between a separate toilet room and a tub, we would choose a tub. We are in the very beginning of this process and are in talks with the architect planning everything out. I don’t see what the problem is with asking the good folks on Houzz for suggestions. If the answer was to just do whatever the architect says, I wouldn’t be here. Everytime I’ve worked with an architect or designer, I’ve found it’s best to come with a good foundation rather than a blank slate. The many great suggestions here have helped us do that.

In the end we are definitely:

• taking space from the other oversized bedroom
  -putting tape on the floor to help visualize the space
• working to narrow down what is most important and what we really need (in case architect says something isn’t possible)
• keeping the less obvious things in mind (storage, towels, trash can, actual utility)
• keeping the toilet away from the door and making sure it has a bit of separation
• being realistic about how big of a shower we actually need (we went to a showroom and looked at some different shower sizes)

All of these were suggestions came from here and shows me I was right in posting here even if our ideas weren’t solidified yet.

Trying to be open and learn so that we can have a great design. This is just the beginning of the process for us and isn’t the only avenue we are using to make sure we have a good design.

@Chris do you think the shower handle has to be under the actual shower head or can it be positioned away from the shower head

Ours has two handles and both are positioned below one of the shower heads closest to the door but the bottom one controls the shower head on the back wall.

BTW…. I’d love to see how it all turns out one day… if you can ever get around to it… send us pictures😊

Here’s the handles…and arrows show they control different shower heads.

Everything exists in a CONTEXT of the rest. Interesting thread,,,,,,,,,,,,and the importance of forethought within total context. An entire floor, for example.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6215600/options-to-close-off-office-guest-room#27433980

Thanks Chris! I’ll definitely comeback and post pictures! It’ll be in a few months though!

Jan point well taken. Read through that thread. The initial posts def were missing information. Even outside of the perspective of posting on a forum, I often find myself thinking of each room in a silo and not of the entire space as a whole. Good point!

I'm glad you read that thread. The author never came back. For obvious reasons I assume. Truth after money spent is quite brutal

As to yours? Well before you worry on getting wet before you step into a shower, well before you worry on tub, no tub, how big a shower? You ask yourself how you want that second floor to function over a long term. And for how many people. Just you and the Mrs? Well you bought it, I suppose someone else may too at the right price. But for an average family, your glam bath wouldn't mean much if the rest is inconvenient as all hell.

You ask yourself honest questions , as they relate to length of stay, the numbers of folks inside, will you ever have a guest for the night, the entire neighborhood, ALL of it.

Anything less is a horse ahead of a buggy,

If at this moment, you had two teen girls, and a pre teen boy? You'd not be sweating a two head shower. You'd be looking for another bath on that floor. The End.

So would anyone ELSE. Which is why I drew the ugly sketch with THREE bedrooms. People do remodel in phases, for a long term goal.

It's the reason for an architect, a designer......it is the MAJOR reason, in fact. Circles and squares...concepts first

Ugly is fine.......: ) The possible, and the impossible. Then the shower heads.

With the caveat that virtually nobody gets everything they want! Resources, time, and site are the dictators. Tiny home or mansion - matters not.

Great insight. I really do appreciate it!

@Jan Moyer 👀 and everyone else. Wanted to give an update about the bathroom design. Currently we expect to be done in October. We ended going with a combination of the different suggestions you all provided. This plan doesn’t show the bathroom we are adding the other bedroom addition (bottom of screen) but we do plan on adding an en-suite later and are having the contractor rough in the plumbing. We coughed up a little extra money to shrink the other bedroom and rework the hallway as Jan suggested. Will show photos when its all finished. We are soooooooo delayed because of permits and materials 😔

ps: the shower door wont be like that in the actual bathroom.

We have now 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms on the second floor. The bathroom on the bedroom at the bottom of the screen will be pretty large.

Everyone was super helpful but extra thanks specifically to Jan Chris and Scout

We will eventually have the extra bathroom when we have more money from selling our current house….

Hey. Quick question…how big is the closet in bedroom 3?…. You may want to try and claim any extra space under the stairs that you can get if possible. 🤷‍♀️

Oh. And… maybe a pocket door? It seems to open straight into a window.

We had an area like this hall. We had to angle it a tiny bit and switch the bedroom door. It would have been tight turn for people and furniture. Sorry. You didn’t ask for input… I have a compulsion to help.

Great point about that corner!! That will probably need to change. It feels like a lot less of a dramatic turn in the actual house than it looks on the drawings. Gonna see if i can convince my contractor!

Bedroom 3’s closet is decent sized for a kids bedroom. We plan on putting a larger wardrobe in the room for my son. the closet is over the stairway so it can’t be made larger (that’s the stairway to downstairs) and yes it opens straight into a window smh. we plan on adding a window into that room in the future. Adding windows to both bedrooms

Is it too late to change the direction of this door opening direction?

ABSOLUTELY no to the tub as shown in master bath, and go back and add every dimension not on here. Walls, windows, all of it. To every single room Please, and good grief.

It does seem like you could get the few inches you need to straighten out the tub by taking a tiny bit from the shower. Or putting it on the wall with the window… then you’d could have an even bigger shower.? Though you may be too far in the process to adjust. House building is an expensive and bumpy ride. Hang in there.

That is not the spot for a free standing tub. Make it a good looking built in. The entire master bath is poorly laid out. Go back, print that cad drawing, and add the dimensions for every wall. Lots of other improvements possible as well. Can't do it without DIMENSIONS.

Thanks for the additional advice! We are good where we are though. 😊

Got consultation from designer and the architect as well as you all and we love the bathroom layout. Plan on changing a few other items on the second floor later down the line but the bathroom design is set. When it’s finished, I’ll post pictures and we can get all the judgement then lol. Thanks again though because the suggestion to make the other bedroom smaller was critical!!!! Wouldn’t have gotten that without y’all!

Also we like the diagonal tub. That was actually a design choice. We didn’t like the straight on tub when it was against the wall. The shower is actually curbless (opens facing the tub with no door) and the it almost forms a wet room with the tub. Architect just put it like that in the drawing but they assured us we could change the door without a problem.