ᐅ Additional Bathroom Adjacent to the Bedroom or a Storage Room Instead?
Created on: 12 Oct 2016 11:22
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sauerpeter
Hi everyone,
a quick question and I hope you can help us decide. We currently have a storage room on the upper floor (4.54sqm (49 sq ft)). Below it is a bathroom (11.74sqm (126 sq ft)). We definitely want to make the bathroom a bit smaller, around 10sqm (108 sq ft). That would leave the storage room with about 6.3sqm (68 sq ft).
Since our bedroom is above the storage room, we are considering converting the storage room into a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. Access would be through the bedroom, and it would be just for us 😀
The bathroom downstairs would then be for the kids later on—our first child is just 6 months old now—for bathing or if there’s a queue. If needed, there would also be a guest toilet downstairs.
What do you think about this? The cost would be reasonable, around $3000.
We realize that this would be a luxury. Many people might prefer to keep the storage room for extra storage space. On the other hand, we have a large utility room and a spacious guest room where things can be stored. Plus, there is a big garage and a large shed on our property, about 60sqm (646 sq ft). Of course, some items probably won’t be stored in the shed or garage (like bed linens or towels).
Whenever we think about what might go in the storage room, not much comes to mind besides a vacuum cleaner, suitcases, or similar items. But those things could be stored elsewhere—vacuum cleaner in the home office and suitcases in the attic.
Of course, over time stuff accumulates that you want to store, things you don’t even think about now, but we don’t want to clutter the space unnecessarily either 🙂
What do you think?
a quick question and I hope you can help us decide. We currently have a storage room on the upper floor (4.54sqm (49 sq ft)). Below it is a bathroom (11.74sqm (126 sq ft)). We definitely want to make the bathroom a bit smaller, around 10sqm (108 sq ft). That would leave the storage room with about 6.3sqm (68 sq ft).
Since our bedroom is above the storage room, we are considering converting the storage room into a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. Access would be through the bedroom, and it would be just for us 😀
The bathroom downstairs would then be for the kids later on—our first child is just 6 months old now—for bathing or if there’s a queue. If needed, there would also be a guest toilet downstairs.
What do you think about this? The cost would be reasonable, around $3000.
We realize that this would be a luxury. Many people might prefer to keep the storage room for extra storage space. On the other hand, we have a large utility room and a spacious guest room where things can be stored. Plus, there is a big garage and a large shed on our property, about 60sqm (646 sq ft). Of course, some items probably won’t be stored in the shed or garage (like bed linens or towels).
Whenever we think about what might go in the storage room, not much comes to mind besides a vacuum cleaner, suitcases, or similar items. But those things could be stored elsewhere—vacuum cleaner in the home office and suitcases in the attic.
Of course, over time stuff accumulates that you want to store, things you don’t even think about now, but we don’t want to clutter the space unnecessarily either 🙂
What do you think?
sauerpeter schrieb:
Our living room is currently this size and more than sufficient. Everyone has their own opinions on this... We don’t like a large one because it wastes a lot of space that we believe isn’t needed. For example, the dining area—especially if you have a large kitchen. And if you want a guest room downstairs and a bigger utility room.
But that’s not the point here... It also says that access should be from the bedroom.
Hmmmmm...I find your floor plan a bit “old-fashioned,” to put it that way. Do you really want to cook and work in a kitchen where you constantly face a wall or look through a tiny window? That’s no better than living in an apartment. You can’t even see the children in the living room while you’re working in the kitchen (assuming you have any). We used to have a 24 m² (260 sq ft) living room, but that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Have you looked at show homes or model houses to see how big the rooms are? I also noticed your staircase looks very short. How is that supposed to work? It seems like it’s missing about three steps. Or do you have unusually low ceilings?
Best regards,
Sabine
S
sauerpeter12 Oct 2016 17:06Curly schrieb:
I find your floor plan a bit "old-fashioned," so to speak. Do you really want to cook and work in a kitchen where you constantly face a wall or a tiny window? That’s no better than living in an apartment. You can’t even see the kids from the kitchen while cooking (if you have any). We used to have a 24sqm (260 sq ft) living room, but that doesn’t mean it always has to stay that way. Have you looked at show homes to see how big their rooms are? Also, I noticed your staircase is very short. How is that supposed to work? It looks like it’s missing about three steps. Or is your ceiling really low?
Regards,
Sabine Where do you look while cooking or working? I look at the stove, the plate, or the cutting boards...
As you can probably see, there is a double sliding door between the kitchen and the living room. Regarding your point about children playing, the doors have glass panels. But if that’s the case, how do you see your kids when you’re on the toilet? Do you have an interior window in every wall? This is exactly the issue—that you complain about something in one place that exists just as much elsewhere and can’t be changed.
Regarding the wall: you need a wall there because of the kitchen cabinets.
Generally, nowadays most people follow every trend. Open kitchens and spacious living rooms are trendy. But we wonder why follow every trend if you don’t actually care for it? What’s the use of a large living room if the other rooms feel cramped and you hardly use the space when sitting on the couch? Why have an open kitchen if you don’t want your whole house to smell after cooking and frying? Also, furniture and walls suffer from that.
But everyone has their own opinion. For us, that just isn’t suitable.
Stairs? Steps? The dimensions comply with the standard. Also, the ceiling height is a normal 2.60m (8 ft 6 in). Some stairs are longer, some are even shorter and therefore steeper. The staircase has regular standard measurements.
Just because you once had certain room sizes in an apartment doesn’t mean it has to be bigger or different in a house if you don’t need it. I grew up in an apartment with a bathroom of about 5sqm (54 sq ft). Now my bathroom is 10sqm (108 sq ft). But that doesn’t bother me because the 5sqm were enough for washing, brushing teeth, and using the toilet—just as a comparison. In the new house, the bathroom is even about 12sqm (130 sq ft).
Sure, you can always follow the latest trends and build those kinds of houses. But for me, a house must also be functional and the rooms useful.
Well, you want to follow the trend of having a third bathroom now, and then en suite as well—that’s really trendy!
Sliding doors between the living room and kitchen are also quite trendy...
Wasn’t it the case that you didn’t want sliding doors anymore, but rather a proper dividing wall?
But of course, everyone is free to live the way they want and design their home accordingly.
You deserve all your rooms just as you want them!
However, everyone wants to watch TV comfortably from a suitably spacious couch that can fit the whole family without twisting their heads. When vacuuming, you shouldn’t have to move every piece of furniture around. I understand what Curly means by “old-fashioned”… I also see in your living room the living space of the Becker family, where the Christmas tree loses its needles early simply because you constantly bump into the branches due to tight space, and where for space reasons you have to do without a dining table and rather use a swivel tile table instead.
The issue of cooking odors is also something that comes up in every second floor plan discussion here in the forum, so I won’t repeat that now.
It seems to me that you haven’t yet participated in any floor plan discussions or explored room layouts and their “standard dimensions.” Therefore, you shouldn’t dismiss the understandable advice, as well as the surprise over your reasoning and stubbornness.
we used to have those too... now I’m done and don’t want any changes. Those are really remarks people grow out of.
Why is the bathroom 12 instead of 5-6 square meters? Why are the kids’ rooms that size? Why not just build 30 square meters less living space overall—the kids will also grow up in one room? Exactly, rhetorical questions, and the answer is: you want to improve yourself. 🙂
I wonder if you will still answer my question about the bedrooms? 🙄
Sliding doors between the living room and kitchen are also quite trendy...
Wasn’t it the case that you didn’t want sliding doors anymore, but rather a proper dividing wall?
But of course, everyone is free to live the way they want and design their home accordingly.
You deserve all your rooms just as you want them!
However, everyone wants to watch TV comfortably from a suitably spacious couch that can fit the whole family without twisting their heads. When vacuuming, you shouldn’t have to move every piece of furniture around. I understand what Curly means by “old-fashioned”… I also see in your living room the living space of the Becker family, where the Christmas tree loses its needles early simply because you constantly bump into the branches due to tight space, and where for space reasons you have to do without a dining table and rather use a swivel tile table instead.
The issue of cooking odors is also something that comes up in every second floor plan discussion here in the forum, so I won’t repeat that now.
It seems to me that you haven’t yet participated in any floor plan discussions or explored room layouts and their “standard dimensions.” Therefore, you shouldn’t dismiss the understandable advice, as well as the surprise over your reasoning and stubbornness.
we used to have those too... now I’m done and don’t want any changes. Those are really remarks people grow out of.
Why is the bathroom 12 instead of 5-6 square meters? Why are the kids’ rooms that size? Why not just build 30 square meters less living space overall—the kids will also grow up in one room? Exactly, rhetorical questions, and the answer is: you want to improve yourself. 🙂
I wonder if you will still answer my question about the bedrooms? 🙄
I completely agree with ypg—if something can be improved compared to before, why not?
The sliding door will probably always stay open anyway, especially when (or if) there are children around. They definitely won’t go from the sofa through the living room door into the hallway and then back through the kitchen door into the kitchen 🙂. My kids would say, "You go around the outside if you want the fun." While cooking or working in the kitchen, you can still chat with the rest of the family and occasionally look up. As it is planned now, you always have to turn around. I just wanted to suggest a few ideas; if you’re perfectly happy with it as it is, then that’s fine. In a forum, there are always many opinions and ideas, and everyone picks the information they want from them.
Regards
Sabine
The sliding door will probably always stay open anyway, especially when (or if) there are children around. They definitely won’t go from the sofa through the living room door into the hallway and then back through the kitchen door into the kitchen 🙂. My kids would say, "You go around the outside if you want the fun." While cooking or working in the kitchen, you can still chat with the rest of the family and occasionally look up. As it is planned now, you always have to turn around. I just wanted to suggest a few ideas; if you’re perfectly happy with it as it is, then that’s fine. In a forum, there are always many opinions and ideas, and everyone picks the information they want from them.
Regards
Sabine
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Andre-Jana13 Oct 2016 13:54Hey Sauerpeter.
In my opinion, everyone should build the way they think is best because everyone has different needs and ideas. Although I tend to seek advice from "experienced" homeowners. At least I incorporated some tips from friends into our plans. Personally, I also find the living and dining area somewhat small, but that’s not really the point here.
If you place your bed under the window, on the opposite side, it should work with the door and the master bathroom, right? Of course, the condition is that you don’t use a floor-to-ceiling window. Whether that is practical for cleaning, etc., you have to decide for yourself.
But I wouldn’t give up the additional bathroom just because of cleaning. And as for storage options, you’re not doing too badly. Space is like money — you can never have enough :-)
In my opinion, everyone should build the way they think is best because everyone has different needs and ideas. Although I tend to seek advice from "experienced" homeowners. At least I incorporated some tips from friends into our plans. Personally, I also find the living and dining area somewhat small, but that’s not really the point here.
If you place your bed under the window, on the opposite side, it should work with the door and the master bathroom, right? Of course, the condition is that you don’t use a floor-to-ceiling window. Whether that is practical for cleaning, etc., you have to decide for yourself.
But I wouldn’t give up the additional bathroom just because of cleaning. And as for storage options, you’re not doing too badly. Space is like money — you can never have enough :-)
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