LAYOUT LOADED
I basically have available a 7ft (at long side adjoining bedroom) by 6 ft rectangle. I have two choices for the layout
Here is the basic requirement:
Must have 2 doors; pocket door to adjoining bedroom for access from interior and outswing door to back yard for guests (entertaining is usually centered around back patio). Without the exterior door entertaining guests (not overnight guests) would have to come through the house and through a bedroom to get to the toilet
Two alternatives:
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recess shower into laundry room by 2 ft. this allows a 2nd utility closet to be built into the remaining laundry room space. However, this means the toilet sticks out from the shower about 18" which might look odd. And, it requires an alcove type shower which always looks dark and dingy to me and I would not be able to take advantage of a nice 2 sided glass enclosure (whether a corner angle type or square type) This layout is loaded into the photo group
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recess shower AND recess toilet into laundry room. I would lose a full 30 wide full height utility closet. I think I need the utility closet more than a glass shower. I need to store all of this into that laundry area:
brooms, mops and vacuum (these alone will take up most of the one utility closet because of height)
Rags
at least 2 shelves of cleaning products
large bags of cat food and cat litter
some large extra coffee pots and chafing dishes I use for entertaining
My only other alternative is to add a full height utility closet into my master closet (since I am redoing my organizers in there as part of this project). But, really, who wants cat litter and mops in their master closet??
If I go with alcove design I might be able to squeeze about 38" interior shower size after tile and walls
I though for a minute you were talking about the studio apartment and blinked a bit when you said the shower would only be used once a month! I guess I need to catch up on reading the thread.
From what you’ve said, the shower will get little use. And you want to keep the utility closet. So not really a difficult decision - your frequent patio guests will just be happy to have a convenient bathroom, and your infrequent indoor guests will be satisfied with a shower of any kind, especially if you include a light (with colored lights and music ;))… Maybe you could put in an 18" half wall to define the toilet area so it’s not just sticking out on its own? Possibly with niches for storage on the toilet side and a towel bar on the shower side.
I would not get rid of your utility closet.
Have you looked into getting a smaller toilet? Something like the Galba that doesn’t stick out as far as traditional toilets: https://www.amazon.com/Bathroom-Shortest-Projection-elongated-Concealed/dp/B00GYR3J10
I highly recommend a 10" rough in toilet for any tight space which would put the toilet 2 inches closer to the wall. We had one in the powder bath where the space was an issue. Toto makes one (Aquia), and it flushes well.
Can you swap the sink and shower locations; put a small pedestal sink (even one of those tiny house ones) next to the toilet and slide the pocket door down towards the sink side? With a small enough sink, you might be able to minimize the recess and still have a shallow broom closet area in the laundry room closet.
“brooms, mops and vacuum (these alone will take up most of the one utility closet because of height)
Rags
at least 2 shelves of cleaning products
large bags of cat food and cat litter
some large extra coffee pots and chafing dishes I use for entertaining”
here’s a suggestion- cant all of those items be stored somewhere in the garage? I seem to remember you now have lots of space there.
That’s where we store ALL of those same items.
Just to clarify… I will still have one 24” wide tall utility cabinet available in laundry room but would really love to have a 2nd one.
shorter toilet and a half wall for toilet are great ideas
My garage is in the back of my yard, up some stairs, on the alley. It’s not convenient to go up to my garage to get anything. I’d probably use it as an excuse to never get any cleaning done:). Or the stuff would just end up all over the house and never get taken back up to the garage!
I just found this toilet which is only 25 inches deep and it has a longer seat and I can stick with standard 12 rough in but get an even shorter length than a 10 rough in drain line
https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/swiss-madison-st-tropez-dual-flush-elongated-toilet-seat-included-swmd1016.html
That toilet has great reviews and looks sleek. Go for it! ?
My only concern with the sleek short toilets is that they are only 15” tall. I have to check if that is going to be OK since my friends and I are getting old!
I could go with a wall mount toilet since I’m building a new wall. But they are extremely expensive to purchase and install. That would put me in the realm of $1,000 toilet
Maybe the bachelor pad guy doesn’t like his wall mount and will give it to you. Ok…maybe not.
In the end, he agreed that they were a large expense and probably not worth it.
I am finally ready to order my kitchen counters (should have done it a long time ago!) I thought I was set on Pompeii Quartz but now I found two more I like. Has anybody had any experience with MSI or Wilsonart? I read a few not so great things about MSI but then lots of good reviews as well. Can’t find much on the other two. Nobody will give me exact prices but it looks like Wilsonart and MSI are the cheaper ones and Pompeii is a mid priced brand (they told me LG Viatera was the most expensive which surprised me for some reason.)
Right now my porcelain floors are still going in, for some reason only one poor guy was workmen here for two days so he did not make much headway! They are supposed to finish the living room and grout today plus they are about down with the entryway, front hall and half of the laundry room hall.
Tomorrow is the day they rip out my kitchen cabinets so I need to get packing, I have tons more to box up tonight.
Did you mean to post in the Home Improvement thread?
Oops sorry - haha - I follow both threads!
There is a lot of overlap!