Masculine Modern Farmhouse Bathroom Floor Plan

Our masculine and modern, farmhouse bathroom remodel is starting in about two weeks, and I am so excited to see this space transformed. Today I want to talk about the bathroom floor plan and design. I knew as soon as I saw it that the space had a ton of potential to be so much better than it was.

Existing Layout

I mentioned in my last post that my clients wanted a double vanity with more storage, a freestanding tub, and a better shower with some privacy (no full glass walls). Floor planning is one of my favorite parts of any project, and I like to challenge myself to come up with as many options as possible while meeting the clients’ requests. Sometimes there is only one good option, and oftentimes there are several.

The primary criteria for designing the floor plan were:

• Incorporate freestanding tub under the windows.
• Create a double vanity with plenty of usable storage.
• Enlarge the shower to let in natural light, making it feel open and luxurious.
• Incorporate wall niches in the shower and at the tub for toiletry storage.
• Include a bench in the shower.

I also wanted to explore the idea of creating an enclosed water closet even though my clients didn’t request it. I knew that I was definitely going to use the space from the office closet, so each option takes that into account. These are my basic plans completed as part of my Phase 1 conceptual design service.

Bathroom Floor Plan Option #1

In this first option, I slid the toilet down into the area I made by removing the office closet. That allowed me to create a double vanity almost seven feet long, which is a great length for two people. The shower is a generous 42″ by 64″ on the interior with a stone top bench along the exterior wall. The freestanding tub remains under the windows in every plan. I like this option because of the potential for a cool vintage-style rug and the long continuous vanity.

Bathroom Floor Plan Option #2

In option two, I shifted the toilet towards the exterior wall in order to create an enclosed water closet. I played around with a slightly different configuration for the shower, and the vanity is still a generous 66″ long.

Bathroom Floor Plan Option #3

This option is similar to the last option except I swapped the water closet and shower. This option creates the potential for some different design details at the shower. I like that the shower head is on a short wall opposite the bench.

The downside is that the hand shower would be farther away from the bench, which isn’t great for aging in place. I could remedy that with a full-height wall, but then the shower wouldn’t get the great natural light from the large windows. I do not place plumbing on exterior walls here in Iowa with the extreme temperatures.

Bathroom Floor Plan Option #4

In this last option, the shower configuration is similar to the first two plans. I did tuck the shower back by a few inches just to make construction a little easier. I created an asymmetrical corner vanity with a wall cabinet in the corner.

Ultimately, my clients selected this fourth option. They liked the corner vanity and the extra storage in the wall cabinet. After exploring the vanity design a little more, I tweaked the cabinetry slightly. I am a very symmetrical person, and I was struggling with the asymmetrical design.

Final Design

This is the final layout from Phase 2 Design Development after tweaking the cabinets and adding some details to the shower.

The right side of the vanity is longer, so I planned to make it feel symmetrical on its own. The right side is shorter and part of it runs under the window. I knew that I wanted to emphasize the asymmetry by using different lighting fixtures on each side rather than try to make them feel the same.

Aesthetically, I wanted to add architectural interest and dimension to the room through the use of moldings, while still keeping it simple and modern. I didn’t feel like shiplap was appropriate to this project (and I’m a little tired of it), so I went with a simple board and batten detail for the wainscot. The mirrors will be integrated into the trim with a simple painted frame.

I haven’t specified pendants at a bathroom sink before, but I do like the look. In this design, they made total sense. I didn’t have space to mount them on the mirror, and I needed them to coordinate with the light on the smaller side of the vanity without matching. I felt like using two different wall-mount lights would look off, so pendants solved all of my problems brilliantly.

On the left side, the vanity is shorter with less wall space for the mirror, so I did have to use a light over the mirror. I only do this as a last resort as overhead lights cast more shadows on the face.

This section view shows the interior of the shower with the floating bench as well as the niches at the tub and shower. We are adding new casing to the windows to give them more architectural presence and painting them the same color as the wainscot.

This elevation shows the shower pony wall and how the board and batten wainscot continues around the exterior of the shower.

One change I will make before construction is to flip the shower door swing. (I always plan my doors so that you can reach in to turn on the water without getting wet. In this setup, you wouldn’t be able to do that because the controls are behind the door.)

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my design process. I love doing these technical drawings and thinking through all of the little details. It’s the perfect marriage of my interior design love and industrial engineering education. In my next post for this project, I will share all of the fixtures and finishes that we selected.