it would be better to consider the room in relation to the whole house as a few cms in any direction can make a giant difference (eg i've estimated the length of the storage alcove and don't know the purpose of the small space with the arrow on the original plan) but my suggestions include dividing the space into separate zones and swopping the wide vanity in favour of a wall hung handbasin and wide mirror doored wall cabinet and wall shelf to allow more space for towel rails and standing room and a hinged door between the laundry and bathroom spaces is more private, cheaper and allows for extra space for clothes hooks or an extra towel rail on the back of the door ... a window in the shower space and a glass door for the laundry would allow for light and ventilation and all doors are 820 wide

but a view of the whole house plan may suggest other options

That's a brilliant use of space oklouise - thankyou! You're right about seeing the room in context, so I hope the image below helps. As you can see, the small space has been set aside for plumbing. We wouldn't be able to have a window to the shower as shown on your plan, but I'm not sure if that's an issue anyway ( we don't have a window in our current unit bathroom). I like the added privacy provided by the separate zones too.

This idea removes the laundry/bathroom door away from the entrance to the Master bedroom and removes the door from the study into bathroom laundry, this removes one of the three doors and improves the access to study/bathroom laundry and Master bed room,

Sorry I should have explained more clearly, the third door has been removed, which was a waste of space into a small area and if using the toilet the sliding door, or not, between the powder room vanity and toilet can be locked, as can the entrance to avoid any unexpected surprises Without knowing if this is actually a family bathroom and how many will live in the house. I also like Oklouise idea . I'am just offering Matt another solution that he might like to consider which could suit his family needs, it's up to him, as they say there's more than one way to do things and we all live differently.

Hi dreamer, yes, the lack of privacy and access when the laundry or shower/WC areas are in use is a big downside to this design, so a new design would have to take this into consideration. Thanks for sharing your views - all grist for the mill as 'they' say!

Thanks siriuskey for your design and comments. A bit of background would no doubt be useful, so apologies for this late addition to the discussion. The house will accommodate a reasonably fit and active retired couple in their 60s (us!). We have elderly Mums and expect that 1 of them will end up moving into the guest room/study (hence the desire to have a connection between this room and a shower/WC). We'd also like to be able to access the backyard and have visitors able to access the WC - although we accept that at times we can't have everything...although it's worth a shot! We've struggled with the layout of this space for some time now and picked our builder's brains, but so far no-one has been able to come up with a solution. Both oklouise and you prove that other options are out there.

Another idea, still trying to eliminate the 3rd door into that space for more privacy, which will help stop surprises, as the original plan a door opening directly into the bath from the study bedroom could cause a problem, as I mentioned I also don't like the entrance into the bathroom laundry coming in from the passageway next to the master bedroom, once a again noise and things that go bump in the night and I hopefully don't mean mother.

If the laundry is well designed it could

have both the washer and dryer under bench with just a sink and wall cabinets which extend to a hanging rack in front of the window.

The shower room would just need a shower curtain

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Laundry hanging rack, this space has kitchen, pantry and then laundry with a cavity slider between laundry and Pantry

if the bathroom is to be used by aged and/or disabled people the shower curtain makes using and cleaning the shower much easier (with a shower grate against the outside wall) ..side walls for the toilet and shower also make installation of grab rails much easier but walls for cavity sliding doors have to be reinforced to support the grab or towel rails and strongly recommend that you incorporate the grab rails immediately as we discovered that the grab rails make excellent matching towel rails and are so useful for able bodied people that we should have had them years ago and they're much easier installed during construction that added later

Ensuite is quite large. Trim it back to allow a separate laundry, probably also get more cupboard space too with a little bit of rework. You're not trimming much space either say 300-450mm. Still end up with a more than generous shower. Relocate master bedroom door a bit perhaps, designer will be able to sort it pretty quick.

I combine laundry with a bathroom if there are no other options available or its been something the clients have preferred such as one I'm working on right now....