Bathroom Types

Introduction

Coutesy of Mansfield Plumbing

Today's master baths are often spacious and designed to be luxurious.

We’ve come a long way since outhouses and closet-sized bathrooms. Today, one person’s bathroom is another’s studio apartment, at least when it comes to square footage.

“I have designed master baths ranging from 144 square feet to 378 square feet, and everywhere in between,” says Alan Hilsabeck Jr, CMKBD, ASID, of Hilsabeck Design Associates, a design firm with offices in Houston and Dallas. He points out that as the size of new homes has increased in the past 50 years, bathrooms have followed suit.

Of course, not everyone has room for a 378 square foot, behemoth-size bathroom. Katheryn W. Cowles, CKB, CKD, of K.W. Cowles in Milton, Fla., says the average sizes of the bathrooms she designs are:

• 25 to 39 square feet for powder rooms.
• 40 to 55 square feet for full-size baths. 
• 56 to 150 square feet for master baths.

Cowles’ guidelines are good starting points if you’re laying out or building a new bath. The following pages will show you layouts for master bathrooms, powder rooms and full bathrooms.