Somewhat off topic,

How small can I make a 3 piece bathroom (shower, commode, and sink)?

We need to add another bathroom and do not have a lot of space.

This is for our lake house. We run out of bathrooms when all the kids and grandkids show up.

I was thinking about a 3’ x 8’ or 10’ area. I could also do a 5’ x 6’ area.

The small bathroom would be for parents. There is a large bathroom for grandkids to take baths.

With my old WWII houses, some of the bathrooms are abnormally small and narrow, especially when you start getting into jack-and-jill-type bathrooms with doors to two different bedrooms, plus another door to the hot water heater, plus another door to the linen cupboard-- disrupting the available layout and preventing me from using it in the optimal way.

The biggest thing I noticed was regarding the toilet. How far out does it jut? Round vs elongated? How does that affect its usage (men vs women, adults vs supersized adults, etc)? What's across from the toilet? (ie, a tub? a sink? a blank wall? a door?)

The second biggest obstacle is usually a window, back from the days when it was the primary ventilation for that room. Is it smack in the middle of where the tub/shower goes? If so, are you going to tile around it? Board it up and put a surround over it? How will it look from the outside when you're done? (Hint: never hang miniblinds up, because they'll eventually warp and droop... and there's no way to get to them to fix them.)

A third obstacle often involves the placement of the toilet paper holder. :) Is it going to get wet from the shower? Do you not want to drill holes into your vanity? Is it too far away for convenience? I actually like those little over-the-tank toilet paper holders for my awkward bathrooms that don't have an obvious place for it to go.

A fourth obstacle others talk about, but I haven't paid much attention to, involves how many different walls have water coming out of them. In theory, it's cheaper/easier if all your water is coming out of a single wall--- but sometimes you get to the point where what makes sense vs what's cheapest/easiest aren't always the same thing. However, I do try to avoid my waterlines on exterior walls as much as possible because of cold weather/freezing.

We just installed a new bathroom in our home because our family is growing too. It is in an old closet which was 24" deep - finished bathroom ended up being 36" x 9.5' and that's about as small as it can get and still be to code. Even if you are not having it inspected, having stuff to code makes it easier if you ever get caught...

So you need 15 inches on each side of a toilet and 24 inches in front of the toilet. DH put in a 10" toilet off the wall which gave us 2" in the front. Makes a difference as we only use elongated toilets - small round short ones are just too small for today's Americans.

We used a tiny IKEA type sink, hung on the wall. It's 8 or 9" by 12". Enough to wash your hands and brush your teeth. Sunk the medicine chest into the wall to save space for your face ;)

We used a sliding pocket door to save floor space and the sink is opposite the open door but there is still enough floor space if you close it.

The shower is 36x36 and that determined the width of the bathroom - there is a 32x32 shower so we could have saved 4" but DH hates them - just too small and confining. Like showering in a phone booth he says.

To save the space I was using a wall mounted toilet. Tank is inside the wall.

Also you can look for a wall mount radiator/towel warmer.

Robert J,

What fixtures did you use and how did you lay it out to get a 3 x 7 bathroom?

WMH,

Is the 36” x 9.5’ big enough for parents to deal with the little grandkids?

I have looked at some of the IKEA sinks. Are they big enough to use? There is no counter space.

MMIT, DH installed a wooden shelf next to the sink that can hold toothbrushes, etc. Takes up much less space than a vanity.