we need the measurements of the bathroom including the location of the window and doors, ignoring the wall between shower and linen cupboard and photos would help but how many will be sharing the family bathroom and how many sharing the ensuite?

You will need a clever designer to think out of the box to give you a solution especially with the tight space you have. I think you are on the wrong track trying to squeeze two functional bathroom into the current bathroom space as both will be compromised. You need to consider other options to provide the flexibility you need. Many two bedroom houses manage with one bathroom, and building two new bathrooms is never going to be cheap.

A clever designer will need more information for a creative, different solution but would need more information about your household size and why you think you need two bathrooms in such a small house.

Best of luck with your thinking outside the box (or engaging the right designer to come up with a solution)

Dr Retro
of Dr Retro House Calls

with very careful choice of new fixtures and all new plumbing in the dividing wall something like this might work..bathrooms are never cheap but careful planning would find the most cost effective solution but i suggest that a quotes from specialist bathroom companies would probably be cheaper and easier than trying to organise all the trades by yourself and potentially having to live without a bathroom for weeks or months while you wait for one tradesperson who is delaying all the others..project managing a bathroom renovation is nothing like the TV shows

unfortunately smaller fixtures are not usually cheaper and for two new bathrooms i'd expect to spend at least $20,000 (assuming no surprises) as the whole room needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt including new floor, repairs to old walls, probably new ceilings and possibly a new window (although swapping the bath into the ens with a shower curtain instead of a glass screen might save the window) but i'd start with researching available fixtures and design the spaces around them although some thing things can't be compromised as there still needs to be walking/drying space in front of the shower, bath and vanities and also enough knee and elbow room for the toilet, regardless of the size of the actual toilet but, built inside the wall toilet cisterns can save space but are much more expensive to buy and install (mine were $1500 + installation several years ago and you need two new toilets) but i found a small cast iron bath on sale for under $1000, you need 5 sets of taps @ about $250 each, floor wastes and then there's demolition costs (plus any asbestos and dumping fees, carpentry and/or concrete for new floor and carpentry to move or replace the cavity sliding doors, waterproofing, tiles, shower screen and painting...research ens and powder room vanities to find the most suitable sizes as custom made vanities are usually more expensive ... my plan allows for up to 750 wide x 450-500 deep wall hung vanities and then you'll need exhaust fans and space heating and/or underfloor heating and electrical wiring for lights and power points and, depending on who will use the bathrooms, it can be useful to include grab rails around the bath, shower and toilet and new towel rails, soap dishes and towels..and a holiday to recover after organising all that

Why do you require two bathrooms? Would a second toilet with vanity, be adequate?

You could have two smaller bathrooms, the ensuite door needs to slide the other way and you could go for a hinged door but would take up more space.

The other bathroom could have a lovely tiled shower bath, resort style. The other thought is to turn the WIR into an ensuite and just have a normal robe

Being in the middle of this right now and unfortunately not having the funds available - apart from grovelling to my mum for a loan - when I got what was a good quote from a builder for whole Reno (Mum insisted on second quote) which wasnt In the timeframe of available builders and then being sidetracked by study and new job of teaching which had me working day and night and on weekends.....etc......I would strongly listen to oklouise advice.......and plan extremely well.....with ALL costing done before commencement.....it is hard enough doing bathroom Reno’s but when you add the complexity of splitting up current spaces into two rooms, the challenges of very small spaces etc etc, it becomes very stressful if there is not one expert project manager overseeing the job. if you dont have an expert managing the overall job, you will be surprised at how many things can go wrong and space wasted despite what you had drawn on your plans .... because each trade will have their own perspective but none with an overall view and if you pay by the hour, and if one trade does something to stuff up another trade’s work as has happened in my case, it then becomes difficult to get It fixed without extra cost incurred to yourself unless you keep an agreed log of hours worked each day , which you need be at home at all times to do. waterproofer . I feel at present like there is a bathtub of money swirling down the drain and it is too late in the process to change tradesmen. Do not spend days and days like me, looking at tiling of bathrooms on Houzz , because it is only when you get to the nitty gritty of getting quotes for tiling that you will realise how expensive anything but 300x600mm can get to lay, and extra costs for laying mosaics will be......also what looks great in bigger bathrooms can look too busy in tiny bathrooms ..... I suspect that including vanity, fixtures , tiles etc etc, that you Reno will be closer to $25-30k best case scenario

You are totally right CP the house does have an in balance of rooms. Sorry to hear how disappointed you are with what's been allowed on the block next door, unfortunately that's life things change and you have to change too whether it's being dragged screaming and kicking, that's how I imagine you at the moment.

I'am sure your house will still be beautiful even after the adjustments you have to make to your bathroom. Did you have a win on not being overlooked. You won't have the views you anticipated or the breezes but you can now create another view using sliding panels etc. Any photos to show

Don't know why I called you CP, sorry, But just quickly looking back over this thread along with your name, you would be someone that should have had a builder to run things, as you are now finding out it sounded expensive to have a builder involved but things would have been sorted and less costly. And for those doing their own building or Reno's without a builder or sometimes with you should always be there to over see things and to make sure everything you thought you had asked for was done. This is also why you pay an Architect, they are worth their weight in gold, well almost.

No. I initially had to borrow the funds but when I did have my own funds the buildier was booked up for months and months...I had resolved myself to the fact that his price was good. At the time too I knew of a good tiler I wanted to use but builder wanted to use all his own trades.....I understand why now, but have gone thru big learning process to find out. I am also not assertive enough to get trades to change what they have done if it is different from the drawings and Other things....eg constantly not showing up or being 90 mins late to agreed time etc etc

all sympathies to Creativelychallenged for your long hard renovation..our modest success has only happened as a result of numerous projects where we can recall reliable trades and suppliers who have worked for us before..although sometimes the response has been "not you again" we usually have a reasonable result but for the last biggest renovation we decided that a builder with his own team of tradespeople and suppliers was the best way to manage the project but we waited almost two years for that builder to be available ..again i suggest that for anyone who has a family to look after and/or a living to earn for one off small projects like this bathroom conversion a specialist bathroom company is easier (not necessarily cheaper) but hopefully far less stressful

I would have agreed with the bathroom specialist up until we had friends who did that and ended up with a bathroom of mistakes, some were able to be fixed but more noticeable ones weren't, very disappointing. I think a good interior designer with your builder is a better option. Have my fingers crossed that the rest of the bathroom Reno;s will end up just as you wanted and don't let what's going on next door fog your vision.

I so appreciate all of your time and input. I have decided that the best approach is probably to keep the bathroom as one with a reshuffle. I will then divide it up by adding a wall where the linen cupboard is and turn that space into a European laundry. I will then turn the current laundry into a small bathroom.

Wow Leigh that is a weird solution. Having a bathroom opening directly off a kitchen would be very unacceptable for many potential buyers when it comes to resale. If you moved the door to face the living room it would be very unappealing as well.

I strongly suggest that you engage a local design professional to steer you away from making some very expensive bad decisions.

Best of luck with your considerations,

Dr Retro
of Dr Retro House Calls

Without correct details and details of building a possible solution would be to add a powder room into part of the entrance. I would have also suggested that the entrance could be moved across and opening directly into the living room

Hi Dr Retro, I appreciate your caution and believe that you are right regarding engaging a local design professional. In the meanwhile, does this seem plausible. Extending the internal wall where the linen is and dividing the bathroom and linen into two separate rooms. Add a shower and vanity in that linen space. Keep the laundry as is but add a toilet and basin near the external door away from the kitchen entry. Would a combined powder room/laundry be acceptable off the kitchen?

i would be happy to draw up this idea for you but we need accurate measurements of the existing bathroom and also consider Siriuskey's suggestion of using the entry space but are you needing a full extra bathroom for a full time resident or just an extra toilet for occasional guests and what are the floor and walls made out of ..i notice that you've also posted a question about the kitchen and suggest that if you're planning such expensive changes there needs to be a whole house approach rather than looking at separate areas at a time and to do this we need accurate dimensions of every room including the laundry, entry, wiw, biw and bathroom and check that the dimensions on all other rooms do or don't include the various built ins

Hi Louise, thank you for your response. We are still waiting for handover and my measurements are not accurate at this point. I definitely put the cart before the horse with asking for advice without giving measurements. I am overwhelmed by the effort you all take in offering advice, even when I have given so little information. So thank you to all of you.
Our builders will strip the cottage and replace all floors, bathrooms, kitchen, etc. A complete freshen up. However, I don’t want to be too silly about moving plumbing unnecessarily and driving the costs up further. So my thoughts were how best it would be to work smartly in the rooms I have. I will have accurate measurements in this week and would so appreciate you drawing up an idea - keeping in mind costs. Thank you in advance. I will message as soon as I have the information I should have had before posting.

I don’t believe u need to knock a hole in wall ,when the bathroom is around the corner from both bedrooms anyway.
It will be expensive and achieve nothing, step it out it might be a few extra steps.
Second powder room is mighty handy addition in my home, and it’s placed near the laundry.
Just my amateur opinion.

as usual the real estate plans are very confusing and i've made a rough guestimate that you can use to double check the dimensions of EVERY space but we still need answers to all the other questions: without knowing answers to all these questions it's challenging to make realistic suggestion eg are you renovating for resale, investment rental, for yourself, two singles, family with kids, elderly couple or? and if you're prepared to gut the house you should also ask your builder and local council about options for extensions as that can sometimes be more cost effective than rearranging existing spaces

Thank you for your rough guestimate, Louise. I will try to get to the cottage on Wednesday to measure and will post them then.
Your questions answered: we are renovating to live in it for two years whilst we build our house. Our two sons will visit but probably at different times. I will place a daybed in the lounge in the event that we are all there at the same time. Once our home is built, we will Airbnb this cottage. We are in our 50’s and our intention is to move back into this cottage when the house gets too much for us. So it’s a long term investment with the view of having made the choice of where we would ultimately want to be later on in life - as much as one can make these decisions with all the unknowns.
It is very close to a beautiful town - two minutes walking distance to all the amenities. We cannot do extensions as we have an easement and the land is small. As much as we do not want to be ridiculous in terms of costs, we also need to think long term and are therefore prepared to make the changes when our builder strips the cottage. The location will probably support the investment long term.
Also to note, my thoughts: We need to add a freestanding gas fireplace into the living room. My thoughts were to place it on the wall that is shared with the kitchen. I intended to remove the wall between the family and dining. This will also allow the northern sun to stream into the living area in winter. The family room would become a dining room/eat-in-kitchen. The dining and living will become the whole living room. The entrance consumes valuable space and I like siriuskey’s idea of adding a powder room there - perhaps with the addition of an extra shower and basin where the linen is and skylights above both rooms for ventilation and light. Moving the front door would be problematic as it would throw off the symmetry and involve changes to the eves.

Measurements:
Laundry: 2360x1660
Kitchen: 2950x3180
Family: 3120x3740
Dining: 3600x3300
Living: 3100x3400
Entry: 2050x2340
Bath: 2300x3200
Bedroom 1: 3540x2900
WIR: 2340x1120
Bedroom 2: 3710x2350
Robe: 640x2350
Passageway: 3650x840

Above are the measurements of each room.
It seems that there may be an opportunity to divide the WIR space between the two bedrooms and then use the existing robe of bedroom 2 and a sliver of the entry as a possible en-suite. That space could potentially be 2350x1280. Not sure if this would be too tight for an en-suite? Also would mean access to the closet would be tight against a bed. But I would assume a plausible option?

attempting to squeeze another bathroom into the wardrobe spaces would cramp the entry, sacrifice all the best storage and be far smaller than using the old bathroom for two ensuite sized bathrooms ... my suggestions retain the original bedrooms, opens the space between old dining and family room, adds sliding doors out to an enlarged patio and reduces the width of the kitchen to add space into the living area for a built in heater and extra storage for TV music and books and uses the original living area for a sofa bed and study nook...with limited room we need to begin with the furniture and circulation space and then make the best use of what's left

If you are going to do the overhead shaving cabinets as oklouise has suggested, I strongly recommend that you purchase them before the builder does the dividing wall between the two bathrooms, as it will help him to consider how best to do the wall framing to ensure the shaving cabinets appear custom made into the wall. (To actually get them custom made into a space after the fact is a lot more expensive - I learnt the hard way).

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this, oklouise. This Houzz community’s generosity of time and selflessness in helping others is truly inspiring - even more so as we all negotiate a new normal with COVID-19. Dr Retro’s wise “warning” had me realise the importance of planning and forward thinking - so thank you. I think you are right on the nail, oklouise. Thank you so much for drawing this up and setting me on the right path. I will be sure to post photos when it’s all done. Thank you to all of you who have contributed to this post and helped me to organise my thoughts. Take care and stay safe.

Just something else for you to consider keeping both bathrooms on external walls and using part of the entrance for the powder room. Hope you can still proceed and that your builder is looking to keep working, essential services. Stay safe during this unknown territory

Hi Leigh, without seeing the full picture of how the house is positioned on the block, driveway, and if the new house going to be a Battle axe build.

I say this as I have always considered possibly turning the existing garage into the master suite, this would be on a different level to the rest of the house but would give you a valuable 3rd bedroom. If there is a driveway down the R/H side of the house could a garage be built on that side, in front, beside or behind depending on what access is needed. cheers

Hi Siriuskey, thank you for your message and generosity in helping me with this. It’s an existing cottage and is a battle axe that cannot be extended - a small piece of land with an easement. Funnily enough at the start of this, I did think of the garage as a potential master bedroom but with no ability to build a new garage, I thought it better to retain it due to cold weather in winter and the advantage of getting in and out of a warm and dry car. Thanks again for helping me to think outside of the box.

is the cottage at the rear of the block? could you consider building on top of the garage and what is the easement for