Bathroom and Laundry Planning Help
I am looking at renovating the bathroom and laundry area of my house this year. I am just starting to look into layout ideas and researching etc. I haven't got a huge budget but will put as much as I can to it, I am hoping for around 10K depending on which route I go down...otherwise a bit more and I'll have to wait till probably the year after.
The house is 3 - 4 bedrooms with only 1 bathroom, 1 laundry and separate toilet all off the hallway at the end of the house near bedrooms. It's okay for us as it is just myself and Son living here. I definitely will keep the seperate toilet.
The bathroom itself is quite small, awkward and dated and needs a
reno.
I have posted a pic of rough layout as it is currently. The dimensions of both rooms are the same. Each room is roughly 1.7 x 2.5 - essentially a 3.5 x 2.5 room with a wall and door opening in the middle. The shower and bath are smaller than appears in the fisheye photo, but had to do that to provide full view.
My main two options so far:
Option 1. Remove the interior wall between the laundry and bathroom (still have to find out if load bearing) and make one open bathroom and laundry space. As it is you cannot access the laundry if someone is in the bathroom, unless you can get in from outside door which leads to the back of a deck near clothesline (that's always locked really). Plenty of space and options if I go this way, but more expensive... the bathroom will then have an exterior door in it which might be weird (but has to stay due to laundry - outside access. Cabinetry could go along a wall of the room to hide all utilities away.
Option 2, leave the wall as is and just reno.. The main issues with Option 2 is there is a rectangular window that goes across the upper far wall over the vanity and bathtub. You can't put a mirror over the vanity there which to me looks odd. The space is cramped. Really limiting the things you could do with it. I would possibly would be blocking up the window to allow for larger vanity and mirror and putting in a new bath and shower where the old ones currently are + Installing a skylight to give light.
Would really appreciate some more guidance and ideas on this one...
Comments (38)
dreamer
3 years agoWhat a weird set up.
This is my suggestion.
Change the direction of the toilet, and access toilet from the laundry. Block up door in between bathroom and laundry. This will give you more workable space straight away, in the bathroom, as at the moment it is a walkway.
Change placement of external door.
Above changes would require little plumbing work. Therefore dollars saved.
Put overhead cupboards above the sink and washing machine. Or invest in a front loader and have a bench installed with sink. You could have hooks on laundry/bathroom wall for hanging coats etc.What are the walls, internal and external made of? Is it brick or stud wall?
dreamer
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Shared bathroom, doubles as ensuite, long narrow space! Help!
Comments (13)Thanks houssaon and rinqreation! Funny - hubby has the same 2 door hate! It sounds like I'm being outvoted on the shared ensuite idea. :) We've actually been set on both the configurations you suggested, we moved away from yours houssaon because we really wanted to keep a closed off office space (and hubby built the front deck and landing already for the door at the end of the hallway!). And I don't know why we shifted the door on the bedroom back to the same area, I think it was about having easy access to all the kids bedrooms. But maybe we should shift it back as you suggest rinqreation. Joice, the door at the end of the hallway is the front door, the entrance closest to the street, that you would come to first if you were a visitor. Not totally necessary, but we reinstated it before we decided we wanted the entrance up the stairs (middle bottom) which would be under a carport. Thanks for all your input!! It's really helpful to have some unattached opinions. I'm keen to hear from anyone else on the shared ensuite or 2 door hate question! :)...See MoreFloorplan- walk through laundry to get to bathroom
Comments (5)Could you put the laundry behind doors so that you won't see it with the walk through...by the way...I am just over the water in OZ, know what you mean by costs... will get some pics....this would be my option...just going on what you are saying.... The good thing about this is that you can shut the laundry away except for when you are washing...... I would have the washer with the dryer next to it if you can and put a bench over the top of the both of them....for this it is worth getting a front loader if you haven't already got one.. this will avoid the bench on the other side...it can all be contained and done on the one side of the laundry. Don't go for sliding doors ...the glass look great but they will need a bottom track and if they don't have one...they will move a lot....not great for this even though they look great. As for having the bench over the top of the washer and dryer, you can then have overhead shelving, does not need to be cupboards as the bifolds will hide what is in there...double cost other wise. hope this helps...Robyn...See MoreLayout assistance for bathroom & laundry needed please
Comments (1)This thread deserved more attention. The layout was pretty good too! dart, pest spraying service...See MoreFloor plan improvement - need storage! Extra bathroom would be a bonus
Comments (1)Hi Mandamaree, You are fairly limited in space and in the size of the bedrooms to introduce what you request without compromising these spaces and future expansions to the house. The lounge too is a bit of a thoroughfare in the current layout. However, a few suggestions to ponder. Ensuite to B1, this could be just a 1m wide x 2.7m long space either along the wall to bedroom 2 or expand the wardrobe to 1m wide and re build a 600mm int. depth W/R along the B2 wall. If you used the existing wardrobe for the ensuite though, B3 would have no robe, but if it is to be a study, this may not be a concern. Alternatively, you could build in the space where the back door is and incorporate a toilet beside the laundry. Put the back door in the laundry. The toilet could be either beside the bathroom or B2. You could also economise by not having two accesses to the back corridor. (one from the living room and one from the kitchen) If you are looking at renovating the kitchen, I'd block off the back hall access opening and build a full wall of bench and joinery along that wall and either make an opening in the wall between the kitchen and living room or open it all up, except the back 600-700mm portion at the end of the joinery. If you remove the wall between the kitchen and living - might need a beam to replace it, then I'd extend the peninsular bench between the dining and kitchen, making sure it does not make the dining too small. You should have a minimum of 1200mm between kitchen benches so 2560 is good for this. You can butt the dining table upto the peninsular and still have 5 people seated around the table rather than have a breakfast bar. The space is too tight for a bar. Storage - always a drama in these older homes. Work high level units into the laundry and if possible, the bathroom. If you can afford to lose a few mm from the living room, make B2 robe the proper 600mm deep and include the old fireplace area too. As it is only a guest room, make part of that for the storage you need, i.e, suitcases, boxes of 'stuff' etc. The robe in B2 should be no less than 1200mm long to future proof this as a kids room or for rental. Hope that helps. Cheers, Christine....See More
Kate
3 years agoOk so you really have laundry in bathroom. So embrace that and open up the space by removing part of wall. To save costs I would leave bath and shower in place and sink and put washer where laundry sink is. Make a true powder room by indenting a basin into the laundry. Extend the vanity till it hits the washer. Make vanity basin bigger to serve laundry. Still think you budget will more than double if you are planning on pulling up tiles on floor.
teeg00
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agodreamer, See this is why I post here! Ideas I would never have thought of!
The only issue with that is the placement of external door. There is a concrete ramp going up to the external door to meet it on the outside.
teeg00
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agodreamer
3 years agoMmmm that is a good point about the door and ramp.
What about the following, it would be more expensive and disruptive. Remove toilet from present position. Change it to area where your sink is currently. Window will have to be removed and smaller ones installed. Plumbing for sink needs changing.
This suggestion might be more expensive than actually my first suggestion. To move the door, window, and enlarge the ramp might be cheaper. A qualified builder could give you quotes on both.
Anyway food for thought.
dreamer
3 years agooklouise
3 years ago
siriuskey
3 years agoDepending on actual dimensions, retaining exterior door and existing window, A Laundry cupboard, a Japanese style side by side bath and shower and vanity with mirrored shaving cabinet
teeg00
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agoThe bathroom layout above has a glass screen and door into the bath shower so you will still get light coming in through the existing window.
The other option is to make the bath shower space into a Resort style tub with the shower over, these are a much safer option. Add a long skylight over this and you have a small but beautiful bathroom
andrewjason1 · More InfoKate
3 years agoAnother option, moving toilet and washer so you can enter laundry for the toilet door, which is rehung the other way and closing off door from bathroom and indenting into laundry for a bigger vanity, Not you will need redo your floor as gaps where walls are removed.
dreamer
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoteeg00
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agoThanks, I love your new layout siriuskey.
The next thing will be to get a couple of quotes.The first one for renovating the rooms as they are without any major structural changes. I am thinking:
Bathroom
- blocking up the window (because it is old and ugly and will be cheaper than ripping out the plaster to remove from frame and replace, also gives me more layout options)
- installing a skylight
- adding a nice shower over bath option
- wall hung vanity with mirror.
- Recess the doors so I don't have to allow for opening space.
- Keeping the floor tiles if I can find a nice complimentary match for walls and shower/bath area....?!
Laundry + just some nice cabinetry and tiling for the laundry.
Some inspo for what i'm thinking:
I will definitely look at getting a quote for the completely new layout option, you never know.. but I have a feeling it will be just too much to spend, considering this will always be a 1 bathroom , 3/4 bedroom house it may not be worth putting all that money into it... I love having the ideas though, you never know what things may come out of the ideas...teeg00
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agodreamer
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agodreamer
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agoView from powder room with door open is looking through the hallway section into an office / spare bedroom built in wardrobe (if the door is open). Not too concerned with that as door to room is usually closed. I definitely think I'd prefer to save that money and use it on something else, like maybe popping in a little basin over the top of the toilet.... I think it also creates easier access to the toilet when in the main part of the house instead of so another turn...
Re the measurements: 930 x 2130 for laundry external door including trim.
Also, I am currently just having a look at revamping the toilet room and am in process of painting the walls antique white from a very dark purple (don't worry, going to add interest in there somewhere won't be all white haha) and now figuring out how to embrace the tiles I have with some design and colour choices with walls and window trim or resurface them.. I have a photo below if anyone has ideas but maybe this warrants another post in a different section.. (also note i had to paint on the top of the wall tiles in a line as previous painter had done a shocker of a job...) I am contemplating a toilet/basin unit to save space and putting a kind of inserted custom shelf and frame option in the window to hide it (ugly old window with old paint marks all around the outside) to put plants and some small glass vases on but still have some light coming through.(Also, can't remove the window as I can't match the bricks outside (80's mottled brick) as directly in front of entertaining area. I also can't afford to replace at this stage).
siriuskey
3 years agoteeg00
3 years agomeasurement from corner of laundry to window 338 to edge of recess
plus size of window 810 width 840 height
and from window to door frame 345
plus just door size.. 770 x 2040
"It would be better if you recessed a small vanity into the wall cavity in the powder room, what size is that door as well". Agree. The door in powder room is 770 x 2040
Haven't had anyone look at it yet...Have a couple other projects I am finishing up atm (this small list keeps getting bigger by the day lol)
House is 1981 brick veneer with ironstone colourbond and timber extension out the backPhoto of the front when I bought it: (I have landscaped slightly -pulled out and planted- and put some small trees in boxes in front of the ugly slider since this photo... still have to do lots more for the front, on my longer more money and time required list!)
siriuskey
3 years agoTaking into account your windows and rear door, The following keeps these insitu, you will have a 3 way bathroom, The powder room/toilet, I would be better opening towards the bathroom/laundry keeping privacy, better to spend the money on this instead of a new toilet with handbasin included or separate basin and plumbing and window treatment.. The second floating vanity with a large round mirror will not only look good but gives easy access to the powder room and allows the bath/shower to be used still giving a second person's access to teeth brushing etc. Bath towels hung below the window and on hooks behind the door, likewise the second vanity will have access to hand towels.
The laundry can have bifold doors or not depending on what you like, I think a new door with a glass panel would be a great addition to throw light back into the entrance, this could have a blind for night time or maybe frosted glass depending what the view is like looking out.
teeg00
3 years agosiriuskey
3 years agoTwo things that we have to work with is a small space and budget.
This could help you visualize what I have shown, the floating vanity would have a large round mirror above it, the same matching vanity within the bathroom but with mirrored shaving cabinet above the vanity for extra storage or not, you could have both with a mirror, this a great extra space for the 3 way bathroom and wonderful for the Powder room. The vanity could be a linen cupboard but I prefer the vanity.
teeg00
3 years ago
siriuskey