Hi Caryn, I can help with this but I need a little more info and maybe picture of your existing bathroom would help. What size is the window? Where is the door, slider or hinged? Do you need a loo in bathroom too? Is this ensuite or family bathroom? What rooms are next to this room? This is not so important but gives context to the house...I assume it is house and not unit?

This picture sure looks relaxing and inviting. Are you on stumps or slab? Existing fixtures may dictate the cheaper options of new room.

Love to help and design for you a sumptuous haven! Cheers Margot

Thanks very much Margot.

Answers below that are not answered by the photos:

We are planning on changing the door to sliding - internal or external if necessary or opening out to increase floor space.

House is on stumps not slab.

Yes we need a toilet in there.

It is a family bathroom in a house. Left side of room is the playroom (or a bedroom) and right side is my daughters' bedroom.

I am keen to make this bathroom awesome. Even if it requires completely moving plumbing. A corner bath has also been suggested. Our whole family loves bathing and we want to put as bigger on in there as possible. Have considered a shower bath but I know some people hate these. I am not particularly a fan. We don't as yet have an ensuite but are planning one as well.

Thanks again for your insights.

Hi Caryn, Here are some ideas for you.

First existing

A door not moved

B I picture with frosted glass to ceiling by shower and loo for privacy. Double vanity with lots of storage. moved door and cavity slider. Please replace with full length window and plant ferns!

C similar layout to now with larger window looking onto ferns!

D might be best with as big a bath as you can find. Double vanity and storage.

Moved door and use a cavity slider great for being out of the way when not wanted.

Next question of course is how are you looking to ass an ensuite: thro some dimensions here and I will have a play if you like!

Cheers and happy planning, Margot

Thanks so much. They look great, I was thinking B myself with a corner bath to maximise space. SO helpful seeing it like that. I really appreciate your help.

Ensuite is 3.16 x 1.4 m at the end of a main bedroom. Incorporating the fire place into the design. Here is the photo.

Hi Caryn,

Love the Klimt!? If that is what it is!! So about a meter to the left where air con (which I assume would go) is and about 700 in the shelved corner? Light from the right would need another window for ensuite. Any plumbing near by? And the fire would come out to make an open fire for bubbles in bath, glasses and eyes!!? Also is the 1400 from the far wall or the front of the fire place?

I don't think you would fit a corner bath in any of these plans as they are usually 1500 in two directions.

Here I go.....Watch this space...…!!

A tiled bath with shower over would give you a bigger bath, more space in the bathroom and the WOW factor. The following photo is by an architect and called the north street project

WOW amazing. Thanks so much, We were thinking about a shower bath. Someone told me it the the single biggest reason people renovate their bathrooms (ti get rid of them). What do you think? We loving bathing so want the biggest bath possible!

Thank you Margot. It is 700 from behind the fireplace. The fireplace encroaches 23cm into the 700m.

These tiled baths are like staying in a resort and are fun, I love them. they are also very people friendly when using smaller mosaic tiles as they are the most non slip able surface with a flat surface If you have the wall space to add a Barn style door to the outside wall would add some more glamour, much easier than fitting a siding door, I will try to do a diagram of a possible layout.

We are planning on knocking out the smaller and base of the fireplace so only the main wall will protrude into the space.

And yes it is a copy of a Klimt. My fav artist!

Siriuskey - is this a custom made concrete bath tub? This was the other option we were considering, Filling the whole 2.3m wall with a tub!

No the low front wall would be built with bricks, concrete blocks and perhaps Hebel. it would be great the full width, keeping in mind how much water it would take? What a shame to lose a fireplace, can the layout for the ensuite be changed

Sorry Caryn,

Let me see if I have this correct: the fireplace is not centered in the wall. about 1100mm left side, 1300 across the face of the chimney bust and 700 ish in the right side. Totalling 3160? Then the other way the chimney is 230mm with 1140 for the ensuite? What is that measurement based on? Is it to a window on the right hand side of pix? If these dimensions are correct, I shall scribble away merrily and see what I come up with! If not you had better put me straight with a sketch with millimeters of each bit? Is the rest of the room your bedroom in which case do you have enough robe space?

Thank you Margot

PS I would always have a bath and a separate shower but if it is a house that can get crowded (house guests, pool or large family) I would put an extra shower rose over the bath too. For the cost (depending on the lux of the fittings) It is an extra, generous and useful additive!

Hello Margot. The left side of chimney is about 85cm. Right side is about 42cm. 70cm from wall where you can see air conditioner to where we would have to put a wall to enclose en-suite as there is a window of the main bedroom. The brick work sticks out 23cm so from there to wall would be on 47cm so we are considering a no door and wide opening into en-suite.

Siriuskey. We are keen to keep the fireplace and use it as a feature of the ensuite. It is a shame not to use it in all its glory but this we think will be the most cost effective and best option for us as we won’t need to extend the house to get a second bathroom.

Thanks so much to both of you. So helpful bouncing ideas and getting feedback!

Oh by the way while I love the idea of a custom bath and have really consider it again. I think we need two separate options in this family bathroom as we have four children. It’s so much easier to have a production line of showering / bathing and often some want showers while others want baths. Aesthetically I am totally sold on the concrete shower / bath look and I am tempted! someone thinks a corner bath 1500 x 1500 would work and I’m trying to work out how as we don’t want a shower door. Our kids have broken two in short succession!

Would you be able to share a floor plan of your existing house.

And on another matter, you mentioned removing the lower part of the fireplace but you would need to remove the chimney as well?

Wow. How have they managed to break 2 shower screens? Screens are necessary in small rooms like this to keep the splash down. I would look at the root cause of screen breaking. Is it hitting towel rail?. This is a small room for production line bathing, but kids will grow up and start to want sole occ use. I would combine shower and bath to get a bigger bench. Also consider putting toilet cistern into wall as well as shaving cabinet and shower niche.

Thanks Kate. Yes toddlers break everything!! Yes had thought of that re toilet - thanks and am aiming for a larger vanity than we have. Currently there is not a great use of the space. I am starting to think you're right re shower screens - was trying too think of everything possible way around it but have started to resign myself to a door over night!

siriuskey - we dont have a proper one but here is my artist impression of our flooroplan. hope it makes sense! the room we are intending on adding an ensuite is to the front right of the entry. It was an original lounge and we use it for our main. we are intending on adding a built in and ensuite to this room. we have a huge deck and are planning on adding bifold to the back of the kitchen / dining where the sliding door is across the whole back wall there.

ps that living / dining / kitchen is a huge room - all open plan.

with limited space for the master suite i would remove the fireplace and chimney (can the heater be relocated to the family living area?) all the hard work and mess will be worth it otherwise the ens would be uncomfortably narrow... extra daylight and ventilation could be achieved with a skylight when you repair the roof and ceiling after removing the chimney to allow space for a 1500 vanity and 1400 x 900 walk in shower and the offsett doorway allows for a chest of drawers in the master bedroom and more standing room for two in the ens and, by relocating the door in the family bathroom, there should be space for an 1800 x 750 built in bath under the window with ledges on either end, a 1500 x 450-500 twin vanity to help with the queue, 900 x 900 shower and toilet stays in the same location...with limited wall space i would have a hinged door (with floor stopper) to allow towels and clothes to be hung on the back of the door and a wall hung vanity would allow room for a low clothes basket and/or waste bin underneath and would also help the room feel more spacious

or, by rearranging the biw and door into the new master suite there would be a better location for the bed without encroaching on the window but this depends on how the front door/entry works

Wow. Thank you Louise. I’m glad my drawing was able to give you an idea of what the house looks like. That’s exactly it. Great ideas. Do you think it makes a difference between having a 1400 x 900 shower v x 850 in the en-suite? If we went with 850 we could have the shower at the other end and keep the fireplace. This is what I was originally thinking. We are looking at cost savings. That heater will be disposed of. We have another one in the main room.

Ps Louise no there is no door between entry and living room. I didn’t draw it well. Its about double the width between bathroom and the big cupboard than than corridor that goes from bedrooms 2-5. It is quite a big opening between the end of the cupboard and the kitchen wall beginning. Will send you dimensions later. I’m out of the house at the moment. Thanks so much for drawing the house. Looks great! I didn’t see that earlier.

always depends on available space it's not the depth (ie difference between 850 and 900mm of shower that i'm concerned about it's the space between the front face of the chimney and the new wall)... and there needs to be about 800 x 800 for toilet space including knees and elbows and around 90cm walkway and then about 500mm deep vanity allowing only about 20cms for the chimney

and you haven't said if the 1400 is from the corner to the architrave around the window which means that we also need to allow another 10cms for the new wall?? if you could draw a plan of the old lounge showing the distance of each wall from each corner to the edges of the chimney and from each corner to the outside edge of architrave around doors and windows i can draw a plan of the space for you to confirm and we can try other ideas but and what are the walls made out of

Have you checked with council for a floor plan of your house

Have you considered using bedroom 1 and taking the bathroom for Ensuite and adding a family bath next to it in Bed 2 then using the rest as of bed 2 as a study, connecting the plumbing on the same side of the house The Living room can be a MFR with a character fireplace

So Now we are getting into all new territory!! Dimensions will help and I'm thinking the existing bathroom could be better used as ensuite and bathroom maybe.

Depending on the size of the kids bedrooms, you could pinch a bit for bathroom. For ensuite put 1200 wide shower backing hall, basin and loo under new big window with CSD, robe lost can be made up for built backing onto entry.

Then use bath plan B but as narrow as possible to use least space from bedroom. Then too the bathroom is not off the entry! While doing all this build a robe into Bed 2 or build it out under eave. Make bedrooms 2 & 3 to same size.

Then you have sitting with fire for the eldest child who is always special! Or the neatest child could win the bigger room or the one who wakes the most!?! I would NOT use a floating vanity with children who can break shower screens. Washing and rubbish bins /baskets etc can fit into cupboards in vanity out of sight!

See how that works....It all depends on the bedroom sizes. Cheers Margot

Hi sparkle8

two reasons that made me think to move the master bedroom over to bedroom one

1 ) By the time you take space for an ensuite in the current master/living you will have a similar size room as bed 2.

2 ) Easier to make ensuite and family baths back to back

My other suggestion would be to add space ( 1m) from the family room for the ensuite which would need 1500 min total depth

Wow thanks so much for all your comments. We are heading to swimming now. Will digest all these ideas and get back to you. Thanks so much.

remember we need accurate dimensions for the whole house plans to make sure that any suggestions will fit into the available spaces

So here is a real scribble: a Mud Map of my idea but dimensions would tell you if it will work or not. I assume you are trying to get the children their own rooms x 4 but they maybe too small without some creative carpentry, folding, stacking, store on top of beds type things! (children or furniture?!)

Sorry it is very feint but hopefully you will get the idea. Love to help further if you have some measurements of the bedrooms...…...I do think this is a better idea than using(wrecking) the sitting room which can become a sitting room again for you later or others if you were to resell. It is lovely to have two living areas when you have teenagers about. Twoagers are in bed before you but not so when they are older! (The laundry and toilet by the deck I was just playing with too.....again no idea if it would fit into the space if you want to change that)

Love to know how you go.....Margot

Just adding a VERY rough sketch of what I suggested you might like to consider, without dimensions it's not worth drawing up floorplans, IE: are the bedrooms all 2.4 wide which is quite small, if you can supply dimensions you will receive others ideas and comments to help you.

Hope this makes sense. sorry for the delay. I have a 2, 4 yo plus a 9 mo and am at home with them alone 12-14 hours a day! It's full on!

Lounge 3.16 x 5.6

Bed 1 - 3.45 x 3.5

Bed 2 - 3.45 x 2.3

Bed 3 - 3.5 x 2.3

Bed 4 - 3.5 x 2.3 (but this room goes sideways. I didn't draw it well. The 3.5 goes left to right / across the page)

Living area / dining / kitchen 7.5 x 6.95.

Laundry is 2.3 x 1.9 (2.3 is from back of kitchen to back of house. the 1.9 is from bed 4 towards sliding door of kitchen).

There is no built in in the lounge right now by the way. I was just thinking of doing that with the ensuite.

Bed 1 was the main when we bought the house but we have a king bed making the room tiny.

Entry between lounge and bathroom is 2.4m, between cupboard and bathroom wall is 1.7 and down the hall between kitchen and bedrooms 1m.

I agree re having a second room for teenagers.

We are tossing up having that and an ensuite because right now an ensuite would be awesome and good for resale if we sold the property.

What would you do for resale v staying in the house?

Many thanks for the dimensions, you do have a lot happening at home with 3 little ones.

Do you have any house photos to share it would be great to be able to preserve the living room for yourselves and for resale.

i think you're trying to squeeze too much into the original house and a modest extension might be a better long term investment than rearranging so many internal walls that will only reduce the size of the bedrooms..,.,i've attached a copy of your plans including dimensions and happy to adjust any discrepancies so you can have a rough plan to work from but, while attempting to clarify the doors into the laundry and bed 4, i'm wondering if there's enough room to add a new master suite or rumpus room out the back instead of changing the existing rooms..how far is it to the rear and side boundaries, what are the walls and floors built out of and is there a garage somewhere?... strongly recommend that you investigate all possibilities and plan long term as a well maintained home in original condition is a much better investment for resale than a huge mortgage for renovations that may not be suitable when the kids are not much older

Hi Caryn, Like idea still of master where it is with ensuite then bathroom. but make one big bedroom next with 5.5 x 2.4 is good for two kiddies. Having two sitting areas is really good.

Sounds like you need a rent-a- granny!

Good luck! Margot

This is my 3rd suggestion, Bedroom 1 as master and family bathroom as ensuite maintaining the bath. Bedroom 4 is used as bathroom with WC, shower and vanity and part for a laundry, the old laundry could become a WIP or remain a laundry cheers

Thanks very much for all your comments. I am going to have a think about it all. I agree we are trying to do too much with the house. Was just hoping for a quickest effective solution that didn't involve council approvals etc... Thinking we may need to think more about the ensuite. We didn't want to have to knock walls out etc where possible - hence the lounge / ensuite idea. There are so many options. I am thinking we need to focus on the bathroom first but then that will eliminate the Bedroom 1 ensuite idea - which I do think is the best one but probably too much to tackle at this point knocking out so many walls and reconfiguring the house. We have 3 children and a 4th step child that comes in the holidays so we need lots of bedrooms - hence my hesitation at losing one of them. Thanks again for all your comments and ideas.

I think it would be a great idea to just update the family bathroom for everyone to use, not all houses have ensuites, later on you cold look at another bathroom , just a shower WC where the laundry currently is.

This renovation by McManus Lew Architects of a 3 bedroom house with only one bathroom with a second toilet in the laundry, the shower in this plan could have your shower bath as previously suggested, Like walk in pantries you don't have to have an ensuite.

thank you. yes that may be the easiest and cheapest for a second bathroom without major works. the laundry is quite big.

I had a bathroom renovation guy over the other day and he wasn't very adventurous. while i loved the idea of moving the bathroom door (as per margots design). he said it would be expensive and may create structural problems in an older house. He was keen on revamping / modernising the current design - as per Margot's drawing of existing. The only change would be a vanity of 1200mm with double sinks instead of the one we have now which is 1000m and one sink. While he almost convince this would be best given the room size, we feel disappointed not getting a bigger bath for $20k+ renovation. So then I am wondering if we could do margot's second design D except leave the door where it is but have an external barn style door so we can have a 1000mm vanity next to the bath. Then we could have a 1700/1800mm bath along the window. do you think it would be weird sitting on the toilet between the shower and bath? and hose close to the sliding door entry can the vanity go?

how much room around a free standing bath do you need to clean it. I was thinking we may need a fixed bath tiled etc in the small size room - what do you think?

I would still go with the built in shower bath, it gives more space for a family bathroom, vanity on the right WC behind the door

Hi Caryn,

I think you would need about 800mm inside the door to the end of the vanity. If vanity is 300 deep with semi recessed basins (hope kids don't break them!) the room would look like larger, be less intrusion into room and have some storage that even a boy could find anything in!!! You would not fit two basins unfortunately which I think would be invaluable & maybe more use than a larger bath!?

I would get another bunch of quotes: I didn't think moving the door would be that difficult or expensive. The benefits would be worth it I would think to get the space for double vanity.

Have you thought about going up? Have I suggested that before?

What about a beautiful Child FREE zone master, retreat, ensuite with huge bath, kettle and toaster...I'd never come down! Stairs open to living room but storage under to the hall? Easy!!

Solve lots of problems! Cheers

Margot

PS Could you jot a comment in my page on Houzz please....I love designing and have skill to offer others. Thank you in anticipation. Margot

Thanks so much Margot, SiriusKey and OkLouise for your help and great ideas. I cannot thank you enough for all your ideas and expertise. After hearing all your feedback and ideas I saw this bathroom when watching a re-run of house rules. It is the charity house main bathroom. It seems to be a similar shape and size to ours. If we move the door as suggested when can do this bathroom I think. It will allow us to have a bath and shower and larger vanity with 2 sinks. While I adore the bath shower at the end of the room SiriusKey while we only have one bathroom in the house for the moment we need 2 options for bathing / showering. They are often used at the same time with the moment. Thought you might like to see the pictures of what I am currently thinking for our bathroom reno. While I love your ideas for creating an ensuite in the current bathroom and moving the bathroom across a bit. This is probably too bigger renovation for our current situation. Sorry for the delay in getting this to you. I have had a sick 9 mo who only wanted cuddles. Not much time for anything else with 2 others to also look after! Best wishes to you all and thanks again for all your comments and feedback. It has helped me immensely.

It looks fab. Enjoy!