Bathroom layout - opinions please

[Dingdongthewitchisbread]

We are about to do up our bathroom and are looking to change the layout as it doesn’t work very well as it is, but I am a bit stuck on the best way to do it. So thought I’d see if anyone has any good suggestions.

I’ve attached a rough floor plan and the issues we currently face are:

Toilet is too close to the wall, can barely move when sat on it.

Can’t have a shower screen as the bath overlaps the window.

Built in cupboard cannot be removed as it houses the boiler. It can be made a lot smaller though!

I’d absolutely love to have a walk in shower as well as a bath but I don’t think it’s possible because of the boiler.

Is the block labeled 2 the boiler cupboard? Which way does it face - does it open in to the bathroom or out in to the hall?

My first instinct s to flip the tap/shower position so it's against the boiler cupboard which solves your shower screen issue, and to reverse the door to be outward opening which helps a lot in a small bathroom

Turn the bath round and put the toilet and sink on the wall with the boiler.

How old is your boiler? Any likelihood it’ll need replacing and putting in the loft soon?

How about move the radiator closer to the door if a possibility and having the sink next to it on that wall to allow some extra space?

Ikea have a 3-D bathroom planning option on their website if you want to be able to move things around to see how it would look in real life.

Hi, I had the exact same bathroom layout as yours which I changed, as it didn't work for me, and like you, I found the toilet positioned to closely to the sink vanity.

I guess it depends on whether you are happy to forego the bathtub in favour of a walk in shower? That's what I did. So I now have a large walk in shower, and positioned the toilet 45 degrees so that it is now attached to the wall, which according to your graphic has a radiator? I'll see if I can fish out some pics for you.

How old is your boiler? Any likelihood it’ll need replacing and putting in the loft soon?

Good point. My boiler needed to be repositioned and given how costly it is to get a boiler moved (£500-600), I was better off replacing it altogether.

If your boiler is old, you could use the opportunity to getting it moved, and I would look to get a heated towel rack positioned where your current boiler is (this is what I did).

Yes that’s the boiler cupboard, it opens up into the bathroom.

I don’t think there is enough space for the sink and toilet to go next to the cupboard as the bath would end just cm’s away from the wall.

I was thinking flip the door, radiator will become a towel rail so will take less wall space. Then was thinking turn the toilet so it’s facing the current bath but was unsure about the toilet being so close to the door, turn the bath so it’s along the wall under the window and then sink on the wall where the current bath is.

I like the idea of the sink on the wall where the radiator currently is and the toilet on the opposite wall but that means a lot of changes to the services. Does anyone know the cost implications of this?

Our current bathroom is very similar to this. I have decided we will remove the bath and have a large walk in shower instead. We have used the bath once over the past 4 months and I much prefer the layout of our new downstairs bathroom with a spacious walk-in shower.

You could move the plumbing for the bath to the other end and install an L shaped shower bath or a walk in shower enclosure, get rid of the radiator and have underfloor heating, move the sink to the wall where the radiator was and move the toilet further towards the bath.

Sorry forgot to reply about the boiler. Yes we are actually replacing the boiler, never heard of it going in the loft before. Don’t you need access to it? We’re planning on having a loft conversion next year so access wouldn’t be a problem then but in the meantime what would we do?

I have a toddler and newborn so not really feasible to get rid of the bath unfortunately

Our boiler is in the garage

What is the bathroom floor - ie can pipework go under it? Could you put the bath along the window wall with hand basin or toilet at end, leaving current 'bath wall' for a shower cubicle? Lots of ideas depend on the size of your bathroom kit, ie we're looking at a wall-hung basin that is 400x320mm and a loo that is 360mm wide. Depends how close they and things like whether you wanted fitted furniture. If you're moving the boiler (later) you could add a shower in that area.

Here are some pics of my before/after... You can see I had a similar setup to yours. I guess if you have young children, getting rid of the tub isn't feasible. I'm not a bath person so I couldn't wait to have mine ripped out.

@Smallgoon wow I love your bathroom!
Yeah I can’t get rid of the tub unfortunately. But I could just turn the toilet and if I can convince DH to move the boiler I could have a walk in shower where the boiler currently is and no shower on the bath.

OP, that sounds feasible. I would deffo get the boiler moved.

Bath under window with shower screen where toilet is currently. Toilet between bath and boiler. Sink on opposite wall to toilet. With radiator either under the boiler or by the door.

What many square feet do you have ?

Once you work that out you can work out what will fit in the space

For example see attached photo

I spent ages drawing out various options to see what would fit in the space we have and it only fits one particular way.

www.improvenet.com/a/7-awesome-layouts-that-will-make-your-small-bathroom-more-usable

Might help you

@Smallgoon what are your bathroom dimensions please and how big is your shower?
I'm in the process of buying a house which has two small bathrooms (less than 2mx2m) and I'm going in circles trying to figure out what goes where when we remodel.

You may have enough space for this if one wall is more than 2 m and 30 cm

A standard bath is 1400mm long and a you could get a 900 x 800 shower at the end?

You could have a big walk in show with a small tub for the children like this: www.babykingdom.com.au/7040353288031-3272.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwu8r4BRCzARIsAA21i_DKdOO_Tl1kpjnjK7aM_e2HKT3v7vuUCKhGEXWlNeDBCIIZezIzaA4aAgTPEALw_wcB

I would put the shower/taps at the other end of the bath and if there is space go for a p shaped shower/bath to give you more room. Then shuffle the sink and toilet over. Swapping rad for towel rail will help too.

@Smallgoon what are your bathroom dimensions please and how big is your shower?

@HelpMeh Embarrassingly I'm not sure

I do know that the shower tray was 900 x 1500, so it is fairly spacious, which is what I was going for.

don't put the boiler in the loft, access and maintenance disaster.

Would you be able to change the door to a sliding/pocket door? That would give you more freedom with layout, not having door swinging in to the space.