Happy Monday, friend!
Thought I’d share a blog post about a room in our home that I’ve never blogged about before. Our master bathroom! It still looks like it did the day we bought the place (five and a half years ago) because remodeling/personalizing it hasn’t been a priority. It’s a teeny tiny space- just 6′ deep by 4′ wide (excluding the water closet and shower spaces) so we don’t spend a whole lot of time in there, to be honest. I used my wide angle lens to photograph it for you this weekend, so it looks a little bigger in photos than it does in real life:
We haven’t used the shower in a couple of years because it started leaking through the floor (we noticed because a water stain appeared on the ceiling downstairs). There’s a shower in Steevenson’s bathroom, so we’ve just been using that one ever since.
Another thing we’ve never loved about this shower is where the controls are in relation to the shower door. You have to step way in to turn it on and if you forget to turn the shower head, you get doused with water that hasn’t warmed up yet!
It’s clad with a faux travertine-style ceramic tile that isn’t our style so one day we’d love to have it removed and have something lighter and brighter installed.
Here’s a look back at the other side of the room. That’s the bathroom door on the left:
Everything is currently coated in a shade of tan. Even the trim and door is painted a light tan. I know the designer who worked with the builder on this (spec) house probably thought she was choosing “safe” colors, but to use so many of the same shade really doesn’t let any part of the room shine because *nothing* has personality. It’s all just different shades of the same.
Even the light switches and outlets are almond-colored! 🙂
The countertops are granite, but again, they’re just deeper shades of brown. Nothing wrong with dark brown if it’s your favorite color, but it’s not one of ours. 😉
The cabinets are sort of mustard-tan but they’re really nice and solid.
I wish they had done a pocket door on the water closet area, but maybe there wasn’t enough room inside the walls? (I’ve just got that old church window in there for the time being while I’m not using it on the mantel.)
There is a big upper cabinet above the commode, but other than that the room really lacks good storage space too.
You can really see how small the space between the vanities is in that shot. If you count the 12″ tiles, you’ll notice that there are only three between the fronts of both cabinets. We learned really quickly that only one of us could stand there to blow dry or spray anything on our hair- ha!
Back in the day, I wouldn’t have been able to wait to even temporarily remodel a space like this, but as I’ve gotten older, I prefer to wait until we can tackle it all at once. (I should mention that I did have the shutters and woven wood window shade installed a couple of years ago because it was easy to do that one window and we needed the privacy in there.) And in the back of our minds, we’ve never really known if this master bedroom would always need to be a master bedroom (and need two vanities) because Kevin’s mom and dad built a master bedroom downstairs. One day, that will likely become the home’s true master bedroom, and our current master bedroom/bathroom would likely become a second bedroom upstairs.
Here’s a look at our upstairs right now:
And this is how the Bungalow Barn attaches to the first floor:
Obviously, the possibility of expanding our family comes in to play, too, as we think about how rooms may need to serve different purposes sooner rather than later. If we do adopt again, maybe Kevin and I will move into Steevenson’s room and the kiddos could share the master bedroom up there? But does that rule out the option of adopting a daughter because both the foster care system and our adoption agency says boys and girls need separate rooms for the home study? The piano room doesn’t have a piano in it anymore, so maybe with a little more remodeling, that could become a (weirdly-placed) bedroom for a season or two? Either way, I’m thankful to have options and family that isn’t afraid to think outside (and possibly rearrange) the box! 🙂
Layla
Do you have a piano? If so, where does it “reside”
Nope. I mentioned that in my post near the end. It’s just got a desk in it right now. 🙂
That’s a whole lot of space for just a toilet. I’d rather have those walls down and have larger more workable vanities even if it meant the toilet wasn’t in a “closet”. Especially since you have other bathrooms to go to for privacy if the other is getting ready. We have a wonky bathroom too – and man are they pricey to fix.
No! Haha – my kingdom for a water closet! Toilet spray is a thing, and more than one person using a bath at a time, as a dressing area is a thing – smaller vanity area is far preferable to an exposed toilet. Our very minimal remodel involved adding double sinks and enclosed toilets in every bath. If it was my room to change, I’d start with the shower area, and maybe even forfeit some of the bedroom for dressing area. I don’t typically hang out in my bedroom, except at night – ymmv
That MBA is awkward!! At least the layout is an easy fix! Mpve the WC door to the right side (pocket door!), rotate and expand the left vanity, lose the right and then the shower can be opened up with a glass door. Would feel so much bigger and brighter, and you would get some counter space out of the deal 🙂
can’t wait to see how you change things up…
Melissa, I agree with your ideas. When we redid our MB there was only room for one sink, but it sits in the center of a five foot counter. I’d rather have the counter space than two sinks.
I think you could probably get away with cutting the master bedroom in half, and still have room for a hallway past the first bedroom to get to the second bedroom (which would adjoin the current master bath). OR take out the current master closet and master bathroom, make that a hallway, and cut the master bedroom into two smaller bedrooms for kids. Then you’d have to rework Steevenson’s bathroom to have hall access. But none of those are quick or inexpensive solutions, so they might not be realistic for your life. 🙂 I know when I looked at the floorplan of our house on paper, it helped me see where I could rework some areas that I couldn’t envision when I was actually standing in the room. Good luck! Whatever you do, it will certainly be beautiful!
Oh, how I have mulled over those *exact* same ideas, Sarah! 😀 Kevin’s not a fan though, and since I’m not 100% about them either, we’ll probably just keep the room as-is.
Expand 2nd floor out over sunroom for third BR. That is one strange bathroom floor plan. Move door from bedroom to where one vanity is. Drop the second vanity and install double vanity under window. Open up shower with glass wall opening on the left.
All I saw was, “$$$$$$$$”. LOL! 🙂 Sure would be fun if we had it though! Couldn’t put the vanity under the bathroom window though. It goes down near the floor and it would look odd to have a tiny window out front. (All four windows are the same height across the front of the house.)
you can build in front of the window. Just put in a half window shutter that closes off the bottom part to the outside – then build the vanity around it. Or you could put in an entire shutter in the window – then build around it. You would love the light that way, but not sure that matters.
ALSO – if you want to build another bedroom, think about getting a home improvement loan. that’s what they are for!!!
Oh, we’re not in a position to take out a loan, and unfortunately that window goes almost all the way down to the floor. Good idea if that was possible though! So fun to see your name pop up, sweet Joni! 😀
Try a bi-fold door for the WC
Just a random thought about a future bedroom:
Save your pennies and build up – over the sunroom 🙂
Already had plans drawn up for that but WOAH. Tens of thousands of dollars. Not. Gonna. Happen. LOL! 😀
Take out the water closet wall when you re-do the bathroom. It’s wasting space. Then if you move things around you gain so much more room to work with.
Oh, we don’t have any plans to remove that. It’ll always be more of a “toilet room” than a bathroom, I’m sure. 😀
Yes, the bedroom arrangements for fostering is what ultimately prevented us from bringing home a little boy two years ago. He was too young to share a bedroom with my teenaged son and could not share with my daughter because of the gender difference. We could not afford to add on a bedroom and there did not seem to be another workable alternative within our home. I was angry and frustrated that the logistics of a bedroom prevented this. Two years later, I console myself with the thought that if God had intended for us to add this child to our family nothing could have prevented it. Conversely, if He had other plans, nothing in our power could have made it happen.
Does Kevin’s parents mind that you have to go through their breakfast room to come and go. I imagine for both that would be a little intrusive or uncomfortable.
Nope…that’s why we designed it that way, of course. 🙂
Cue 1000’s of women simultaneously mentally redesigning your space. It sure is an awkward layout….obviously not designed by a woman!
…or designed by a woman with VERY specific ideas about EXACTLY what her family needed, without much thought toward future flexibility! I chuckled in total agreement about the 1000’s of us mentally redesigning the space 😉
OR, designed by a woman who didn’t have an actual family in mind because it wasn’t built for anyone in particular. 😉
She commented here on my blog one time…something about not having much flexibility for some reason.
What is the reasoning behind not allowing foster/adoptive children to share a bedroom? Or do you mean just opposite genders can’t share? I can see your frustration with the bathroom situation. But I also understand the logical part that one day (a day no one wants to think about but it’s a reality) your in-laws space can be a great master suite with kids’ bedrooms upstairs. It is a shame that it costs so much to go over the sunroom roof. We looked at a similar option in our old house and because the roof trusses were going the wrong way it added a ton of cost, plus the ceiling from the main level would have needed to be torn out to make it functional as a floor for the upstairs bedroom. My dreams were dashed when the quote came back at $50k (this was 15 years ago so today it’d be outrageous!!)
Anyway, good luck…..you do such a wonderful job with space planning and working with what you have so I know you’ll figure it all out!
Yes, just meant that we were told opposite genders can’t share.
Thank you for the compliment about my space planning skills. It’s a fun thing to play around with! 🙂
What about this: take out the walls for the w/c, rotate the toilet to face the front window, put double sinks on wall against shower wall (facing the door to bdrm.) The wall space then left as a shower wall could become a glass wall/shower door. Only plumbing to change would be the vanity that is currently by the bdrm. door. I *think* you can reconfigure the plumbing for the double vanity relatively easy. And they now have paint for tile, although I wouldn’t paint the shower tile unless the product says it can be used in wet areas! At least it would be less costly than a complete gut job!
As to the future possibility of needing another bedroom, the music room would be easy to convert to a master. You could get by with just the powder room, since you already shower in another bathroom! A couple of walls for hallways to bathroom and to back door, so no one has to travel through the bedroom itself.
Hey Layla. Kinda fun to think outside the box and re-imagine your spaces. Might it not be possible to break through from your master bedroom closet (the large one alongside the laundry) through to and including your master bathroom to make into one bedroom for another future kiddo? I am not sure if your drawings are to scale but it appears that this might be an option? You would then need to obviously remove your passage door that blocks your entire master suite and put a door right at your bedroom – if that makes sense. Good luck and happy imaginings!
Does your shower really need a door? Appears showerhead etc are at end next to vanity, looks like that partial wall would contain most the water?
As to water closet , Boy wouldn’t it be nice to rip out the wall where door hinges, leave partial wall next to toilet and still gives some separation, but sure opens space up for accessible storage. Always surprises me how things open up just by removing doors that aren’t really necessary!
For possible siblings, Is the current master large enough to become two kids rooms and you move into Stevenson’s? Looks like each could have access to mb if made door to bath and made closet smaller?