Top plan just change double doors to a single 1020 door.

Keep wide entrance as well just centre the door.

Thanks. I've considered this. Will an internal 1020 door look odd? I've not seen one that wide so I don't know how it would look. Any pictures would be helpful.

I would definitely change toilet location to window, as in 2nd plan. Also, you could have one towel cabinet positioned between the his and her sinks, just move them further apart, and two separate mirrors. I agree you only need one route through WIR and bathroom (we had same in our last house & worked perfectly well). That's a really good size for your WIR, so don't sweat the loss of half metre. I think you will love the longer shower (we have same). Is there any chance you can position the laundry chute inside your WIR?

Also, is this laundry chute servicing the other bedrooms on this level? So it needs to be centrally located?

Thanks oklouise - I like your layout - I hadn't considered the laundry chute going there. I'm not sure if its going to be possible though, as it doesn't quite line up with the laundry but maybe changes downstairs will sort that out.

We were thinking the exact same thing with the balcony sliding door - i.e. reversing it and a lounge chair in the corner as you've suggested. So will definitely be doing that.

We probably won't have seperate chest of drawers - instead we are getting the WIR fitted out. Due to the L shaped window in the WIR, this area will be all draws - plus we'll have other draws along with the hanging space - in other words, lots of draws.

But don't want to leave the large bedroom looking empty, so definitely need some furniture in there, not sure what we can do - I like the blanket box idea at the end of the bed.

Thanks annb1997 for your feedback.

I hadn't thought of having one cupboard in the middle - will definatley consider it, but I'm not so sure about it. I'm concerned it may feel boxed in - but there seems to be plenty of room, will need to get the calculator and tape measure out to get an idea of space.

The laundry chute needs to service the kids bedrooms as well, so not practical to have it in the WIR, although a lot more convenient for the adults.

I was hoping for a two way chute that can be accessed from outside the master and also inside - it just wouldn't work out.

The location where it is now means the kids have access to it (it's close to their bathroom) and it's just outside the master bedroom door.

Throwing my hat in the ring.

Move the BIG shower to the other wall this would give you space for full height linen/towel storage, great access for towel rail, a bench for shaving legs,drying and dressing

The dressing centre becomes large drawers (can never have enough) with padded seat at each end for dressing/undressing.

Please make the box at the end of the bed padded velvet to save the person sleeping next to the window from killing themselves. Getting up at night to go check on the kids and bang over you go, as you miss judges the length of the bed and box at least this is a softer landing

A couple of photos for you.

cheers

more options for the laundry shute with two way access but we need downstairs measurements to be sure where it might fit and and the shute must be narrow enough so the kids won't be tempted to try a shortcut

Ok, so our Architect has drawn up the alternative layout for the ensuite / WIR properly and some compromises were needed in order to make it work.

I'm torn between the original plan and the new plan as there are advantages and disadvantages of both.

Here's the original plan again:

Here's the new plan:

I prefer the second plan as it has only one entrance to the WIR and ensuite. The 2 seperate doors on the first plan is a little old school in my opinion and reminds me of houses from 30 years ago.

With the one door, I like that someone can shower and get dressed without having to open the door and wake the other person up (usually me).

Our current house is more like the first plan with 2 seperate doors. We find the lights wake someone up as they shine right in their eyes. Also, having to use both the WIR and ensuite tends to wake someone up as there's more doors to open / close.

However, what I don't like about the second plan is that we have lost a towel cupboard in the ensuite (which the first plan has).

Our current home has a towel cupboard in the ensuite and it's great - you never run out of towels, and if you forget to grab a towel while in the shower, spare towels are right there.

We will be having a floating vanity which will only be 2 draws high - so there's no room for towels there. Also, we don't want to display spare towels in pigeon holes or anything like that - it looks great in photos, but in reality it will be messy (trust me).

So the only option is to have spare towels in the WIR, which is inconvenient when you forget to grab a towel and you jump out of the shower and have to go dripping wet to grab a towel.

Would love some feedback to help us decide.

Not looking for alternative layouts - just feedback about which layout you prefer and why.

Thanks.

Hi jojo, I don't know what happened but when I posted the photos above my sketch should have posted as well, I know you don't want other ideas but why waste it cheers

our floating 1200mm wide two drawer high vanity has plenty of space for several towels and your vanity should have space for drawers and towel space, as long as you have a mirror doored wall cabinet for most of the small things that get lost in drawers...the cabinets should be designed to suit what you need to store

My sketch is not to scale, but I also think it's better to look into the bathroom at the vanity and not the shower, no privacy in the new layout this way the shower is tucked away and you should have space for towel storage.

Beneath our wall hung vanity which is also two drawer high, we have placed a floating shelf where we store extra towels as well as toilet paper. The depth is not the same as the vanity so it does not protrude, nor is it that visible.

Thanks siriuskey - it’s an interesting idea.

Unfortunately this is using my initial mock-up as a base - i.e it has a narrower entrance to the bedroom and single entrance door.

However, the architects new plan keeps the original wider entrance with double doors.

The narrower entrance didn’t work as it caused other clashes. So we’ve had to keep the wider entrance. This means the dimensions of the ensuite a different. See the new plan from the architect I attached in my last post.

Hi there, yes the ensuite is shorter in the new plan but I still think it might be possible to swap the shower and vanity and still have room for towel storage next to the shower, you would enter the shower from the long side.

Gosh your master is surrounded by bathrooms which are all noisy places, hopefully there are plans in place for sound proofing.

What brought this to my attention was thinking about ensuites and being noisy, they are.

When my husband worked different hours he would use the family bathroom to shower and then come back into the WIR to dress.

Even when he's not going to work he always uses the toilet in the other bathroom, again noise.

My thought was to suggest this to you but your other bathroom is positioned almost like another ensuite. Cheers

After much thought, we’ve decided on this new layout for our ensuite / walk in robe.

Although not shown on the plan, the laundry chute will be two-way, I.e accessible from inside the ensuite, as well as from the retreat outside the master.

Each side will have its own separate cupboard. Ie there’ll be a cupboard on the ensuite side, and a separate cupboard on the retreat side.

The chute will be at the bottom of the cupboard and up top there will be adjustable shelves.

I’d like some feedback ...

1. The cupboard will be 420mm wide. It’s pretty close to the wall. I’m worried the door will smack onto the wall and be difficult to open / close. Plus a handle may not be possible and not a fan of handleless, but may just have to.

2. The shower is 1800mm wide. We want a double shower with two shower heads on either side. Our architect says it’s not wide enough for a double shower. I believe it should be fine, especially going by feedback from Houzz. It’s only on the rare occasion it will be used as a double.

Don’t want to decrease the shower or toilet to make more room for the cupboard.

We could reduce the master bedroom entrance and increase the ensuite to make more room, but the external sliding door will be off center, which may look odd.

Your feedback is much welcomed. Thanks.

two way access to the laundry chute without projecting outside the wall is so much better, 420wide should be ok (washing machine opening usually smaller and drop towels and sheets in separately) ... you can stop the door smacking into the wall with a simple door stop... a small slot or hole in the door can substitute for a handle if you don't want anything projecting from the door and don't like handle-less doors ....a double shower could be as little as 1200, depending on how friendly you want to be, so 1800 should be plenty...block off 1800 in a hallway (similar width to a shower) and then stand together in the space 1800 x 900 and see how the size feels for you both..and there's plenty of space in the vanity to store a few towels if you consider a mirror doored wall cabinet for most of small storage...best design yet

Can you have a door hinged at top so you open it upwards (like in kitchens)? I know they cost more for the hinge...

I'm referring to the ensuite cabinets on top of vanity

I',am with the Architect, If as you say you would rarely use a double shower then why go to the expense and not just do a single which will fit one person, Trend?

If you still prefer a double shower the Architect is correct, that's what he/she does professionally it needs to be bigger.

The towel cupboard shouldn't be needed either way, the vanity is big enough for your towels.

It would be much better to use the proposed towel cupboard space to enlarge both the WC and the shower, that cupboard is taking up valuable space and visually looks awkward , I would also consider widening this space from 900 to 1m.

The problem you mentioned regarding opening into the wall, just swing the door the other way.

For the laundry chute I would use a pull down door that is supported on either side with chains etc, this could open into the retreat or passage way built into the wall on the retreat side

the towel cupboard is using space above the two way laundry chute which is ideally positioned to suit downtairs opening and can't be moved elsewhere

I know, but I think that whole cupboard should not be in the ensuite, I will try to sketch what I was suggesting

The second Architects plan is very good, which has the Laundry Chute in the passage way, if it had a drop down door with storage above for extra linen/bedding this would work.

It has the bigger shower and WC, if it was felt necessary to have extra storage in the ensuite, I'am suggesting a slim cabinet either end of the vanities, these cabinets would form part of the return walls with Mirrored wall cabinets and vanities running between them.

I would also consider a single wider door as the entrance to the Master which should have a clear view through the room

As someone who lives with an external bathroom on our bedroom wall I think this is more of an issue. Do yourselves a favour and insulate that sucker with industrial grade sound proofing or better yet move that. I HATE it as we now have a teenager who gets up and goes to sleep at different hours and disturbs our sleep.

excellent reminder, Ruth BT, we hate hearing bathroom, laundry and dishwasher noise from another room and always sound proof around all bathroom, toilet and laundry walls and also use solid core doors throughout the house...makes a huge difference but the insulation has to be planned in advance to allow for the thicker walls and, rereading joejoemetoo's original dilemma, i think her latest variation is closest to her wish list

As mentioned earlier the master suite is surrounded by bathrooms at least on two walls which is not a good situation unless, sound proofing has been carefully considered, I do notice that the family bathroom against the Master doesn't include the WC which is the worst offender. The Architect has considered that.

Personally I prefer shower and toilet near windows as in sirikuseys plan especially good x ventilation for shower to help keep mould at bay and steam from wir but if could only have one I’d have shower near window as shwr near door causes slippery floor - for same reason in main bath I’d swap bath and shower

thanks girlguides, I agree with what you are saying, it would also allow a better fit within the vanity for the Laundry shute and still be two way, with the shute hole in the retreat so as to still allow the vanity to be floating.

I think siriuskey's latest plan is better, as it extends length of double shower which resolves the issue of chute/cupboard combo door, and allows for a wider door into master bedroom. A wider door will be a more dramatic entrance to this large suite, so worth seriously considering. The plan does eliminate the linen cupboard; however. Personally, I would not want to store my bed linens in a bathroom simply because of moisture/steam. The generously sized walk-in robe has more than enough space for bed linens to be stored. That's where I stored mine in our last home. It was very convenient and only a few steps from shelf to bed. I stored all other linens in the wardrobe of upstairs spare bedroom, close to the kids' rooms.

Re the double shower - I mentioned previously a 1.8m length is sufficient IF you have a glass sliding door that slides alongside track like a barn-style door. Hubby & I did regret not thinking about how awkward a hinged/pivot door would be. Current dbl shower is 2.2m and has the sliding door I described. We didn't request a longer shower, but the architect drew it up that way. Given my choice, I'd always go with bigger.

We Had pivoting shower screens on our holiday Villa, single small shower space and because the door was able to pivot inwards and outwards it worked beautifully. If you a re putting in a double shower make it worth the space/cost and effort and the resale value, we're all not the same size or in the same situation so make access easy.

Very good point!