Floor Plan question: Walk-through Closet or Bathroom? (light, design, hallway)

[MrRational]

An alcove dressing room with closets on each side and a door on the end wall to the bath can work.

But I'd want more floor space than just what a walk in closet would require.
Call it 4 feet open plus the depth of the two closets (27"each?) and you have a 8'6 or 9' wide room.

[CAKD]

We find our bathroom and walk in closet too large. I mean who needs it? Our bathroom is approx. 14' X 15' and within that a double vanity a large tub a compartment commode and a huge 6' 1' X 6" ? steam shower. On the end of that bathroom we have a large walk in closet that is 13' X 13' at least. We joked when we moved in this home that we could take it from a 4 bedroom 4 bath to a 5 bedroom 5 bath for resale if needed by turning the master bath into two baths and the closet into a bedroom. Don't get me wrong I do love the built ins in the custom closet but we could put a sofa in there and a TV if we needed to and not change the layout. If my kids were still small I may have done just that with a wine bar and lock on the door! Master closet or she shed?

[emm74]

Originally Posted by CAKD

That sounds like it takes up a lot of what could be good usable wall space???

I would rather have a closet than "usable wall space" that I have to buy additional furniture to put up against that wall to have the same amount of storage. I am single but I think that for a couple, it works well for one person to have the walk in closet (which is small for a walk in) and one person to have the reach in closet. But one closet would definitely not be sufficient space for two people.

[CatwomanofV]

I would say have the bathroom first and then the closet. At 3a.m. the walk through the closet may seem awfully long.

We "created" our own master closet-well, it is really MY closet. My husband got the small closet that is in our bedroom and he has 2 dressers in there that are his. Across the hall from our bedroom (with our bathroom in between) is the smallest bedroom in the house. I commandeered it for MY closet. It also has a small closet (like the one in our bedroom) and I have 3 dressers & a vanity in it. But, I also have the washer & dryer. When we bought the house, we had no idea where to put the washer & dryer. I thought this was the perfect place because it is right next to the bathroom and we can steal the plumbing from there. The problem is that the doors going into the room are VERY narrow-too narrow for a washer & dryer to fit. They had to be hoist up on the front porch roof and brought in though the window. I am worried when these die and have to be replaced. We do have to walk through that room to get to our office.


Cat

[CAKD]

Originally Posted by emm74

But one closet would definitely not be sufficient space for two people.

I'm assuming you mean in your personal space, as one closet depending on the size of it is certainly adequate for two people

[cargoman]

I must be living in the dark ages....or maybe it is not common where i looked at homes. But walking through a closet to get to the bathroom just seems like a poor design choice!

[Qwerty]

We rented an apartment once that you walked through the closet to get to the bathroom. I didn't like that the clothing was always subject to the steam from the bathroom. Logistically it wasn't an issue really. I guess I don't see that bathroom--->closet is better than closet--->bathroom if you have them attached. I much prefer that the closet be separate from the bathroom.

[Retire in MB]

I currently have a home where you walk through the bathroom to get to the closet and love it. While house hunting I saw a house that had a door from the closet to the utility room with the washer and dryer. I really liked that design, no more lugging clothes back and forth through the house.

[Sollaces]

I prefer the closet in the bedroom and the bathroom by itself. Too often homes have the closet off the bathroom and in a humid climate + humid bathroom = Black mold and mold problems and it's not the right environment for your clothes. I've actually had mold spots on some clothes. . . .


A bathroom I loved is where the vanity was on one side, the closet facing it. Walk through the doorway and the toilet is straight ahead, the shower / tub is on the left and a cabinet and shelving on the right.


Another problem I have is the master is always sharing a wall with the family/gathering/TV room. Oh and the kitchen is just across the way so all the noise ALWAYS comes into the master.

[Briolat21]

When we were house shopping/building (a decadea ago, in the midwest) - there were a few designs that had the closet off the bathroom.

I found it odd.

In our prior home, there were double doors to the bathroom, but if you literally took one step to the right, - there was the closet door. So the closet was *techincally* off the bathroom, but you didn't have to walk THROUGH the bathroom. You barely entered it.

Even so, I didn't love it, but it wasn't enough to prevent me from living there.

The best design I saw in building new homes (not the floorplan we chose, because it was absurdly expensive for a bunch of features that were FLASH not function) - was one where the Master bedroom essentially had a large hallway leading to the bathroom - with the tub centered at the end (under a window, of course).. Off that hallway, there were two walk in closets (facing each other).

The symmetry was outstanding.

And the hallway was fairly wide (maybe 4 ft). You could have put a console table, and a nice painting. It would have beautiful to decorate.

But, even then you were walking down a hallway to get to the bathroom, not actually through the closets.

Our current home (new build, 10 years old now) is typical in the area. 2 walk-ins off master (1 larger, 1 smaller -- neither is huge); and master bath also directly off master. Closets are not attached to bathroom in anyway.