Master Suite Created from “MasterLaundryBath” & Open Doorway

The addition of a house onto our old house in 2005, essentially gave us space we needed while our girls were at home: bedrooms and baths for them and a library and dining room for us all. But, we neglected the mom and dad’s “greater needs” in the process: a private master suite and a garage (We tackled the latter this summer; a new post about it is upcoming).

Instead of a master bathroom we had a “masterlaundrybath” consisting of a fiberglass tub/shower combo and a washer & dryer behind old folding doors. The room cloyed like a cave–no window–no ambient light. Besides the (oftentimes humorous) annoyance of girls’ knocking on the door in the wee hours looking for their clothes while daddy was showering, the room, like our bedroom, opened up into the living room/kitchen area. I didn’t like it when guests arrived for dinner parties as my husband, Kerry, was still in the shower. Conversations in the kitchen were punctuated by the sound of spraying water. To me, the lack of privacy chafed, though Kerry didn’t seem to mind.

Below are pics of the old bathroom. I’m posting plenty so that you can see just what an unappealing/inefficient space it was.

So last summer, with a bit of arm twisting, I convinced Kerry that we simply had to do something about our master suite. We had both studied the situation for years, and we knew that adding on wasn’t an option; we didn’t want to lose the view where the bathroom would have to extend. So, with existing square footage in mind, we figured out how to get what we wanted with as little investment as possible.

The first thing to tackle: privacy. We had an opening into a little square area from which the living room, bathroom, bedroom, and a closet opened. We postured that if the builder could make a doorway out of that opening, then we would essentially create a private suite. The builder, our great friend, Tony Beckman, agreed.

It is interesting to note the doors we used in our remodel. Years ago before my mother’s family’s home was torn down, my aunt, who owned the house at the time, allowed Kerry and me to go in and remove whatever we wanted. We pulled out windows for a future greenhouse. We removed as many doors as were still viable and stored them in our barn. When the remodel started, I twisted my husband’s arm again to allow us to clean up the doors and use them throughout the master suite. This was not necessarily a cost savings; doors had to be painstakingly cleaned & sanded, some painted, and all adapted with hinges & knobs. As a lover of doors, the process was exciting.

The bathroom took well over two months to complete. It would have taken less time had we stuck to the original plan. But, after adding sentimental doors and other “slip ins” to the project (like a small closet re-do) and new lighting for the kitchen island, we stretched out the timeline. It was so worth the effort, however. Below are interim stages of the project. They are important because they show what our limitations were. Each issue that popped up ended up in this kind of conversation:

Me: I want a shower too! Can we squeeze it in here?

Tony: No. You only have so many inches of space to deal with. You have to choose. Bathtub or shower with no windows if you can’t move the washer and dryer.

Me: You are really a buzz kill! Do you know that?

And now for the finished product! It’s cozy and warm, light and efficient. It blends elegance and rustic simplicity. It’s not fancy, oh no, or lavish. It suits us perfectly.

I can’t stress enough that when you work on projects, you must find talented builders who are intuitive, can decipher your ideas and temper those that are impractical, and whose work is always the utmost in quality. We are thrilled with our new master suite. It’s not perfect–I would never choose to have a laundry room in my master bathroom. But, that’s an addition for another day.