Forever ends when you have to be in a wheelchair.

Where is the person that designed the house on this?

I would move your sink over to the right a bit, and then do a drop down for the make up portion, or have it the same level.

literally 50 diff ways to do it

I have a seperate floating makeup counter. used the same countertop material, Super White, as my vanity

Natural light is the best for doing makeup. If I were setting up this bathroom, I'd give the 6' vanity to hubby and rotate the other vanity to be on the window wall. The vanity would be under the window, next to the tub.

Thanks Mark, My architect doesn't feel strongly about it's placement and said she would defer to what I wanted and the cabinet people say. I'm sure this is because as Beth said, there are just so many ways to do it. I just wanted to get the thought process started before I have to make decisions. I am leaning toward the lowered counter in the corner, with putting drawers on either side of the counter and sink so the my area looks obviously different from DH's.

I agree with you Jennifer, about natural light for makeup. As I mentioned, I hardly wear makeup, and will primarily use this for doing my nails. In the rare instance I am doing a full face of makeup, it is usually for an evening event, and the sun has either set or is well on it's way. There are two other large windows in the room, with the shower window behind my vanity. I also really like the vanities on either side of the doorway, so they will stay in their locations.

Thanks!

Where do those doors lead? A chair in front of the door could be problematic. You have a lot of wasted space in the hallway by the linen cabinet. Wouldn't you rather be sitting next to the window? Why don't you at least move the doorway over and switch the vanities so the larger one is next to the window? But really, the whole room looks like it could be arranged better with all of that empty, wasted space.

Sorry a forever home needs to be much better planned and honestly I have never found putting on make works one bit better when you are seated , bathrooms are poor places to store cosmetics and there will come a time whemn mobility will be an issue and there will be no access to that bathroom That sillt toilet room is IMO wasting space and again blocking any useful accessibility down th road . I think no one should be using the toilet while someone else is in the bathroom so no need for a toilet room ever. The lighting all needs to be LED 4000K for sure and IMO you can do a lot better for layout and accessibility There is no symmetry in the space as it is shown .

Ok well I guess I asked so I won’t begrudge your opinion Patricia. As you may have read, I will not be using the counter for makeup, primarily nails.

The toilet room has a 36” wide door, in fact all doors in the home are at least 36”. A separate toilet room is not silly and therefore not a waste of space. I am not going to justify my desire for a separate toilet room. This does not have to be a fully ADA home, but with one with some intentional age in place features incorporated as best we can.

The door by the long cabinet leads to our walk in closet.

I was never trying to say the room is already symmetrical, I just like it. In fact my architect suggested that the room would seem visually unbalanced to have the shorter items on the same side(4’ vanity, shower) and long on the other(6’ vanity, tub.

I’m not looking to redesign the bathroom, I am confident in what we have designed given all of our constraints and wishes.

I just was looking for advice on incorporating a vanity counter into a sink vanity. This was obviously a request from me well after the bathroom design was made, so I was looking for what people who have done them and what their thoughts are.

Thanks!

Hi catbuilder,

The door by my 6' vanity leads to our walk in closet, and the door into the bathroom(between the vanities) is from an entrance alcove between our bedroom and a back hall. The linen area backs up to our bedroom, and the toilet room is beside our steps to our lower walk-out level. It was designed this way so we could get up in the night to go to the bathroom without having the toilet backing up to our bedroom wall. It also adds privacy so that there is never any chance of someone in the hall seeing into the bathroom.

I know space to maneuver is important if needing a person or device to aid. We had a prior home with this same spacing between vanities and bathing, and it did not feel wasted. I am not looking to pack every wall with fixtures and want space for a nice stool in front of the tub as well as another towel bar under the window. I can add a pic of more of the area for context.

In a perfect world, yes I would like to do my nails in front of a view, but I am often doing them late at night while watching a movie on my laptop, so tbh it never occured to me! I'm not sure we could swap the vanities, but even if we did, that does not answer any of my original questions about how to include a counter(for doing nails) with a sink vanity in a 6' space.

Thanks!

Is the thick area of wall for a plumbing or HVAC chase? If not, I'd move the wall between the closet and the bathroom down and gain yourself some extra vanity length.

Not sure about that doc5md-I’ll have to check. I could also probably take some inches from DH side to get more space on my side.

Most seniors are not confined to wheel chairs and there are young people who either are in wheel chairs because of an accident or a chronic disease. None of the seniors I know need wheel chairs to get around their homes even when they are very frail and have a 24/7 care taker to assist them for safety. At most they use a wheel chair when they need to otherwise walk a good distance.

I remodeled my bathroom and replaced the two sinks with one sink and a lowered makeup vanity where I could sit comfortably. I have always sat while doing hair, makeup, tweezing, nails or any other equivalent activity. It is far more comfortable than standing and leaning into a mirror.

In terms of natural light I have never had it in a bathroom and when I did have a vanity in my bedroom, it was actually an issue because I had an eastern exposure and the glare from the sun rising meant I needed to lower the shades and use artificial light. Most people aren't in natural light anyway as they are in offices, restaurants or other indoor spaces for the most part.

At any rate if "natural light" is a huge issue there are mirrors that duplicate different lighting conditions. I had one that was natural, evening and fluroescent.

Thanks for sharing your personal experience Helen.

How wide is your lowered area?

I am not an expert, heres my opinion. That bathroom layout is so awkward, theres a ton of wasted space and inefficiently. We’ve just finished our build and i totally understand the agonizing over every inch but dont be against looking at other ways of rearranging that space. I have no opinion of whether of not the amenities youve chosen are what I would have done, ( i love my WC) so it has nothing to do with that. Whats particularly odd and wasteful is the entry vestibule for the WC. Be open to other ideas that dont discount what you want in your bathroom. It could be better.

"that does not answer any of my original questions about how to include a counter(for doing nails) with a sink vanity in a 6' space."

What exactly is your question? 6 feet is plenty of room for a sink and a sit down area, but if you're not willing to rearrange anything (which I totally do not understand since it is extremely easy to do that in the design phase of building new), then you will need to put the sit down end by the vestibule door and the sink by the closet door. Otherwise the chair will be in the way of getting into the closet. Simple as that. But it's probably going to be an annoyance.

You should change the swing of the door to the toilet room to swing out. By the way, a 36" door does not yield 36" of clear space. But that is a moot point, since there isn't room to do anything with a wheelchair in that space anyway.

The total length of my bathroom vanity is a smidgeon longer than six feet. My measurement was probably not exact but seemed to be about 76”. The division between sink and sit down area is about 40” for the sink and about 36” for the vanity but I think that divison was because of the comfigurations of the drawers and doors.

All of the cabinets have roll outs imcluding the underneath portion of the sink cabinet. The narrow section to the right of the seated section is configured with slots for brushes and other hair tools.

I don’t think you need to protect the surface of the counter with a permanent layer of glass. I have thin clear plastic placemats which I use to protect surfaces and I use them at my wood desk as well as my dining room table. They are easily stashed away in a drawer or you couid get a rollup protective mat.

My bathroom is narrow so I couod not block the aisle with a chair thst has a back that wouldn’t slide completely beneath the vanity. I have a lucite bench which is perfect spatially and also doesn’t add visual clutter.

I attaching pictures. I have a Human Touch magnifying mirror which is great for close in work.

Wow!

For the record, I wasn’t posting a ‘rate my floor plan’. I am not so hard headed that I can’t receive advice, consider alternatives, or answer questions. From reading the responses, it seems our bathroom is so terrible that no one can even give input on how to address the questions I listed in my first post. I find it hard to believe it is so bad as that! Meanwhile only one person has said they have a counter such as I am asking about.

I also never said I was unwilling to change things around, just that I didn’t think a simple swap of vanities would work. I even included a bigger view of the adjoining areas to show it would not be as simple as that. What even would you have me tell my architect? That some random people on the internet think her design could be better?

I could spend my time trying to justify why we didn’t put the long vanity on the opposite side of the room, or under a window, or why I will be including a toilet room. And then you would either understand why we have come to this design, or you would tear my entire home apart. If you have ever built a home, especially a design from scratch custom home, you know that it is like putting puzzle pieces together. We all have our lists of must haves, wish items, and constraints of design and budget, and time. At some point you just have to decide to be finished. I actually never said I was in the design phase. Walls are not up yet, but none of you ever asked where we were in the build process.

I’m an introvert and sensitive person who has had a pretty traumatic last year and a half. It’s taken me a while to feel like I can venture out of my shell and reach out to others-even in a basically anonymous way online. If I had read such negative and generally unhelpful comments a year ago, I would have probably spiraled into a deep depression and doubted myself, what I wanted in my home, as well as the talented professionals I have partnered with to design our home. It’s unfortunate that people can take the time to comment online without taking the time to read the post, think about whether they are giving any constructive advice, or if their tone is derogatory. Not to mention, ignoring the topic at hand.

I have been a member since it was just gardenweb some 10+ years ago. From discussions about kitchens, baths, home building, and pools, I used to always find these forums helpful, informative, and a generally positive experience.

I will try to remain optimistic that I will still experience that.

Juls

“I find it hard to believe it is so bad as that!”

It is. And its a lot easier to fix on paper than in studs and sheetrock after its built. You need to be working with a better architect and kitchen and bath designer. That layout is awful.

I’d do a pocket door - or even no door, just a nice arch - into your WIC. We made that change in our house and just love it. And that will eliminate some possible awkwardness with the placement of your nail chair.

I also wouldn’t worry one bit that your vanity is longer than his because this isn’t a space that you’re looking at from another area all the time.

Having really good lighting at your mirror, with the right color bulbs, has always worked for me, makeup wise

"For the record, I wasn’t posting a ‘rate my floor plan’". Yes, you were. As someone who has been on here for more than 10 years, there is no way you wouldn't be aware of that. Posting a floor plan is fair game for any input from anybody.

"I’m not looking to redesign the bathroom, I am confident in what we have designed given all of our constraints and wishes." Then this: "I also never said I was unwilling to change things around". So, which is it?

"From reading the responses, it seems our bathroom is so terrible that no one can even give input on how to address the questions I listed in my first post" Did you even read the responses? You got input from several people.

It appears that what you actually wanted was validation for your choices, and not constructive criticism and suggestions on how to make it better.

"Meanwhile only one person has said they have a counter such as I am asking about." Out of the 7 people that had responded to you before you wrote that, 2 of them said they have makeup counters. Perhaps that's because only 2 of them actually do have makeup counters. One of those posters actually provided you multiple photos of makeup counters. I would never tell you that I have such a counter, because I don't and I never will. It doesn't mean that I can't see flaws in your design.

"What even would you have me tell my architect? That some random people on the internet think her design could be better?" No, you tell her that you think the design could be better. But only if you actually think that.

You are free to listen to suggestions, then take them into consideration or not. It's your house, your choice. Just don't beat up the messenger. Designing a new home is not a game of tetris, as you seem to think (in your words, putting puzzle pieces together). From what little you posted, I don't believe you actually have a "talented professional" designing this home. It actually looks more like a remodel, trying to design around existing spaces with no possibility of moving walls.

Do you have wall cabinets that need to be incorporated into this design or just floor vanities?

Do you need 2 sinks? If you can get by with one or one larger sink to share, I would use the smaller space (currently DH's) and put the makeup counter there, make the sink larger (if necessary) on the other counter and both share the rest of the 6' counter. Putting the makeup desk as the smaller counter would also make sure the chair doesn't block any of your doors.

In fact in that 4' space maybe you could incorporate a small hand-wash sink next to the counter to clean your hands/brushes/washcloths etc when you are doing your make up but keep most of the counter-top avilable.

And yes I have built a completely 100% custom home, it can be stressful, and yes I did tell my architech that I think his design could be better and we made several changes. It was MY home, and this is YOURS. If you want the architech to change things around tell her, if she is too thin skinned and will run off crying because you don't like it, then she shouldn't be in the business. You are probably spending upwards of a half a million to build a custom home these days. GET IT RIGHT, get it YOUR WAY and yes LISTEN TO OTHERS WHO HAVE MADE MISTAKES.

And YES you have too many doors. Imagine its the middle of the night, you wake up sick and need to rush to the toilet from your bed. How many doors and corners do you have to negotiate to get there? Imagine-Walk through your floor plan, doing normal things, laundry, pissing, making dinner, needing to change from work cloths to party clothes and you only have 10 minutes, etc, and see where the potential roadblocks are. And then walk through it in a Wheelchair or on Crutches.... if this is a forever house you better be able to negotiate it that way just in case. Can you get everywhere that is essencial easily? I walked through my house hundreds of times before any concrete was poured, to make sure it was accessible and made sense, and by the time it was up could do it blindfolded I knew it that well.

Have you asked your Designate Hitter how much space he needs/wants? Give him that much and take the rest. Get rid of the gas chamber.

Does the makeup counter need to be dropped? Would a nice barstool work so it could be one level and then tuck under when not in use?