Yes, awkward. Can you have a pocket door that slides to right as entering bath?

I keep the location of the door as is but I would replace that door for a pocket door.

Could door open out into adjoining room instead of in?
We are starting a very similar remodel (same dimensions and door placement) and have decided that door will open out. It's unusual but should work well.

If you are still in the planning stage I would redesign the bathroom. Move the window or do a clerestory window. Great for bathrooms because they allow light and privacy.

You could move the tub under the window and move the door to the other windowless wall.

I wouldn't want the bathroom door in the center of the bedroom wall, but if you did decide to do that I would switch the sink and toilet positions so the door would open to the vanity instead of the toilet.

I would never do a pocket door for a bathroom, but that might be a just me thing. Feels too not-private.

Move the door to the center, swing it the other way, and flip the sink and the toilet. This will get the door swing further away from the window for light and fresh air infiltration, no front-and-center view of the toilet, and less worry about the view into the window from outside. Surely you will have a window covering of some kind.

Is this existing or new construction? If you keep the same layout I would opt for a pocket door (as it looks like the door swinging into the bedroom would block one of your bedroom windows?). But if still designing I would agree w/others to consider having your tub on the windowed wall and move door to where the tub currently sits.

Can you place a 180 degree hinge on the door as it is now? This way you won't block the window and the door doesn't block anything in the room.

Simple answer keep the door open if it is a big deal and really what does it matter if the window is not visible outside the bathroom? The hinge mentioned could be an answer I do not like pocket doors on bathrooms . Are you having a shower with the tub ? If so the plumbing is in a really weird plsce for a shower .I think outswing doors are safer than in but that of course only comes into play if someone falls in the bathroom

Consider placing the plumbing on the chase wall

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC made me think of another option: What if you put a café door (door that stays always close when not in use and swing inward/outward when you need it)? You would need to put a glass in the door to make sure you see the person on the other side that is going to get in or out of the bathroom. I would probably put a large glass on the door (maybe frosted) so it does not completely look as a cafe door where it usually have just a small window.

I have never seen a cafe door for bathroom but it seems very handy. You never see the inside of the bathroom unless you are in the bathroom. You get natural light all the time.

If budget permit, I would change the vanity. I would extend it up to the wall which would give you 2'2" of counter top and drawers.

Post a proposed plan and existing plan that shows more of the house. If the Bed is centered opposite on this wall, as you say, then that means the Bedroom is only 11' deep, which is typically a non-Master. So I wonder about the size of bathroom and where it's closet is. The most reasonable solution if remains as is, is a pocket door.

But I agree with JHogan, a rethink might be better served for a remodel (it's always fun to spend other people's money). I see circulation down below, which means you walk across the space to get to the bathroom. I see a wide unassigned space next to vanity. I see a huge chase for only a 3" radon pipe that can be hidden in a stud wall. I see a tub, no shower, with a side filler which portrays a relaxation environment, where if so a tub would be better against a window and not tucked into a cave-like space next to a toilet.

Thanks for great feedback. I really appreciate it.

To answer questions:

• It’s is a shower only, not a tub. Plumbing for shower is on chase wall. (We have two other tubs in the house and my husband and I don’t take baths so we wanted a shower only. We have the option to have a seat in shower but I haven’t decided if I want one built in or moveable (teak)
• Toilet can’t be moved due to something with plumbing. Well it can between move a little. As close to outside wall as 6 feet and as far as 8 feet.
• it is a master, but a long one broken into a sitting area with doorway (or whatever the large opening is called). The inside of the closet is not designed yet. I have to decide how much hanging and shelf space we need.
• windows can’t be moved.
• good question about the random chase size. I don’t know. I’ll have to ask/check into that.

~kelly

Have you considered a barn door on the bedroom wall, it will require clear space equivalent to the size of the door opening to the right. I removed a pocket door and implemented this change when remodeling my master bath. Although not perfect this currently seems to be a trendy solution.

Patricia Colwell Consulting, I hadn’t even thought about someone falling, what a good point! Thank you.

It is a shower only with plumbing on chase wall.

Don’t know why this didn’t post with my response. Must be user error :)

Richweiss, does a barn door provide more privacy than a pocket door? I am more of a traditional less than trendy girl (I have no decorating ability so I need timeless). But if a barn door affords more privacy, I do admit they can look cool.

I don't think a barn door provides more privacy than a pocket door, and then you are limiting what you can do on the bedroom wall when the barn door is open. Personally I don't care for barn doors in homes unless the home is a converted barn ;)

No, not necessarily. Visually both provide privacy, however the barn door does not provide a tight seal which could allow some noise (like exhaust fan) and moisture, however any house i have ever owned has promptly lost any pocket door...for a swing in, swing out or barn door option.

RickWeiss, now my curiosity is peaked? Why do you get rid of pocket doors? That was a popular suggestion to our design dilemma.

Additionally the pocket door will require framing modifications & drywall removal and replacement on a least one side and most likely both sides making it a more costly option...

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC, good point about the wall. I am not trendy bc I have no decorating abilities so when we change things they need to be pretty timeless.

My daughter has a pocket door on her bathroom and is putting another one in when she remodels. She already changed a bifold closet door to a pocket door and loves it. Use a good quality pocket door!

I have two pocket doors in my house and they work extremely well.

A previous house had a builder grade cheap pocket door and I would avoid that.

personally i see pocket doors as a last resort kind of a design flaw, which is why you seldom see pocket doors in upper end custom homes. glad you like what you have...

I have an upper end custom house and it has two pocket doors. Love them!

Many doors in Europe swing into the room rather than into the corner.

If the bathroom door is going to be kept mostly open, it will probably be kept resting against the wall. in the almost -180 degree position, not in the 90-degree position so it's not like you have to squeeze around it to get into the bathroom say, if there were something that allowed it to open only so far. I had a powder room door where it only opened a bit past 90 and you had to squeeze in and swing the door past you to close it then to get to the sink. That was awkward, but probably only equal work to a pocket door.

In this case there is plenty of room around the door either way.

More awkward than opening against the window? Maybe, but not much. and better than having a door in the middle of the wall instead of toward the corner, in most cases.

We stayed at what I consider to be an upscale casino last week. Our mini-suite had a barn door over the entrance to the bathroom, which was off a short hall between the bedroom and the sitting room.

The barn door was AWFUL. It would not stay pulled all the way shut unless you held it still for 20 seconds. But even then, there was a gap of 1.5” along its whole length. Sounds were very clearly audible thru out the suite. And tho it was only DH and I there, I hated it.

Particularly with that bed position you don't want to move that door to the center of that wall. You don't want the view from the bed to be the toilet, since you can't move the toilet.

I remodeled

Originally my master bathroom door opened into my small bathroom which was inconvenient since it blocked the entrance to the shower when open and since it was the master bathroom it was almost never shut because there was no need to do so for privacy.

When I remodel I had the door open out. It worked well in my situation because the door actually opens to the side of one of my closets so that was dead space anyway.

I am not sure why you can't have a door open in whichever direction makes the most sense when it is actually open. Bedroom doors traditionally open into the bedroom because they would block the hall but I could actually see a situation in which there was a wall in the hallway that wasn't used for anything and by not having the bedroom door open into the bedroom one would have more functional bedroom space.

Of course I also don't have the horror of seeing a toilet in a bathroom the way some people on houzz seem to have - it's a bathroom and it has a toilet. My toilet isn't less attractive than the sink.

I just have ideas about what you should see front and center from the bed, or probably from the sofa. I think in each, ideally you should be facing a wall with some art on it, out a window, another seating group, or a TV.

You should not be facing the front door, into a closet, a big air conditioning return, a weird spot that is half in one room half in another. Or probably not a giant mirror. A toilet falls in that category. But for me so would a vanity with a lot of clutter on it and a wastebasket underneath. Why set your views up to see something like that if you don't have to.

It would not be the end of the world if I moved into a house where you could see the powder room toilet from the front door or the toilet from the bed if the doors were open. Or my sofa faced a bunch of clutter in the kitchen or the butt end of the refrigerator.

But room isn't even built yet: why set something like that up intentionally?

Omg i feel this has lost its way.
Pocket doors are a good thing. They close fully and even can have locks. They, like all doors need to be quality. A cheap door is not good in
Any format. Pocket doors are not a trend as may be barn doors may going the way of shiplap. Have seen historical homes Where pocket doors make a statement opening a wide expanse. And There are times when a pocket door solves the problem of having an inconvenient door opening
Since you are ,i think, in Design phase from your original post, putting in a pocket door now is not a problem it just requires planning and the frame work inside the wall before putting up the wall. But it isnt a great problem after walls up unless you are dealing with things in the wall …. Pumbing electric hvac.
The first posts answer your problem. Put a pocket door in solves your problem with the window light and you husbands concern with getting around the door.
Ps. I have had expensive home with pocket doors in formal dining room and now in a historical home where there was no way a doorswing could fit in the powder room. Loved them both

If this bathroom will be used only by the bedroom occupants, I would totally use a pocket door. If you use quality hardware and a quality door, there is plenty of privacy. I put in a pocket door with obscured glass so light would filter through and even that provides plenty of sound barrier and other privacy unless you stand naked right up next to it. The glass is beautiful, too. It actually has less clearance at the bottom than my guest bath door which needs clearance for a rug in front of the vanity.

I would just reverse it and block the window, if you can’t do a pocket door. If it opens into the bedroom, it will block a window there too. Can you move either window? Our bathroom door does open out into the bedroom because it was pre-existing when the now-bathroom was an office, and it’s worked fine—but it also doesn’t block anything in the bedroom since the house was designed to allow for the swing.

Well, I have three bathrooms and two have pocket doors. One is in the primary bedroom and we really never close it. If we need privacy we close the bedroom door. Or from each other we tend to just use the other bathroom. But it's a solid door and it has extremely high quality door hardware, I think the lockset was $400 odd some years ago. I'd do it again, sure. Neither really had room for a door swing. I'd do that again too.

That said, I am not sure somebody who doesn't like the way a door swings is going to love how a pocket door functions. Its not like shoving a swinging door closed.

Funny, Pal, I kind of love closing and opening my pocket door. It feels a little magical to have it appear and disappear.

Definitely agree with changing door swing. Actually, I would do pocket door as the first option. I work for a builder that builds $10M+ custom homes in Northern California and we use pocket doors all the time. But you seem really set against a pocket door so changing the door swing might be the way to go.

We have a bathroom in our house where we have to walk around it to close it and get to the toilet on the back side. It drives my whole family crazy.

Thanks everyone! It sounds like pocket door is the best option followed by changing swing into the bedroom with 180 degree hinge.

We do like pocket doors and have been contemplating putting them in 6’ doorway between sitting area and bed area for the off chance we want to close the area off at night. It sounds silly, but we never thought of pocket door to a bathroom.

Thanks again for all the great advice!
Olychick - do you have a photo of the pocket door with translucent windows? I have never seen that. It sounds beautiful.

I really appreciate it!

Kelly, here is a link to my bathroom remodel thread many years ago. There is at least one pic of the door. The door is a Simpson clear Douglas Fir - I don't recall the door hardware, but it's the kind that's highly recommended and reviewed. It's flawless. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2313630/my-master-bath-in-the-treetops-finally-pics#n=44 

I would not want ANY view into the bathroom from outside. I use frosted glass or semi-sheers for privacy. I like a solid core door to give privacy while doing one’s business.

@Olychick Looked at your link to check out your pocket door in bath. Simply beautiful bathroom! Love the wood you used. Seems quintessential PNW which I love…I see this was 12 years ago & everything you did is timeless! Just as pretty today.

I have a barn door on my bathroom. I absolutely LOVE it. It is so easy to slide back and forth

Count me in the pro-pocket camp! Good ones are functional and classy. Our old house came with four — including a pair of french pockets.

If you change the swing into the bedroom, I'd consider having it open against the wall and window rather than having an 180-degree swing. If it swings the other way, you lose a big chunk of that wall for any furniture in the path of the swing. If the bedroom is very large that might not matter, but I would find it frustrating not to be able to put a dresser/bookshelf/desk/etc. along that stretch. A pocket door seems like a much better option for a new build, where you don't have to worry about disrupting existing spaces.

Thanks KW; I'm still enjoying it every day!

Olychick, your door looks great! Thank you. I couldn't visualize that in a million years. Thanks again to everyone for all your help