You know the kind of idea I’m talking about. The kind where you stop mid-sentence, look at your partner, and go, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” The kind that’s a little scary because you already know — before you’ve even said it out loud — that it’s going to be amazing AND it’s going to be a lot.
That’s where we are right now with the girls’ bathroom. Buckle up.
The Problem: The Scrunched Jack & Jill
Right now, Polly and Faye share a Jack & Jill bathroom. Pocket doors from each of their rooms, a double sink, a soffit over the mirror, and a window on the far wall that should be filling the room with natural light. But because of the way the room is partitioned, the light feels blocked and the whole space feels half its actual size. I kept looking at it thinking, “We have to open this up.”
There’s a storage cabinet in there that’s so shallow it can’t even hold a full basket. (Truly. I tried.) There’s a door to the bathroom from the hallway, on top of the two pocket doors, which means this already-small bathroom is basically all doors and no room. And the soffit over the mirror? Bye. That’s gone no matter what we end up doing.
So that was the original plan: open up the soffit, rework the storage, lighten things up, give it a moody modern traditional refresh. A solid little Jack & Jill makeover.
And then I walked out to the landing, looked out over the entry, and had the idea.
The Scary Big Idea
What if THIS space became a bathroom?
But the more we looked at it, the more it made sense. We could square off the space from corner to corner, frame in a wall, add flooring over the entry, and turn that area into a brand new bathroom for Faye — connected directly to her room. Which means the existing Jack & Jill stops being a Jack & Jill at all. It becomes Polly’s bathroom. Just hers.
Two girls. Two bathrooms. Both with way more breathing room than they have now.
It would be a lot. It would be a LOT. We’d lose the natural light from that big window, but we could make up some of it in a new front door (which we’ve been considering for a little while). The Jack & Jill bathroom is small and tight, but it has charm. There’s something to that.
I sat with it for a minute. Chris sat with it for a minute. We both knew it was a big swing. But we’ve done it before, and it may just be the solution we’re looking for long-term.
What It Means for Both Rooms
This is the part I’m getting really excited about. If Faye’s new bathroom takes that landing space, we can rework Polly’s room layout in a way I don’t think we could’ve pulled off otherwise. From the new landing space, Polly’s new door would mirror Faye’s door, which is so nice — twin sister symmetry without the actual shared bathroom. Walk into Polly’s room, and the bedroom side is to your right; to your left is the doorway into her closet and bathroom area (the old Jack & Jill, reborn). Closing up the wall where her current door is gives her a whole new wall to work with — which, depending on how she feels about it, could mean keeping her bed where it is or finally moving it. Either way, more wall = more options.
And here’s the part that ties it all together: closing the entry gives Faye the floor space we need to build her a real walk-in closet. The armoire was a wonderful solution for many years, but she’s getting older, and her clothes are starting to overflow the space. That alone almost sells me on the whole plan.
The Tradeoffs I’m Still Chewing On
The Jack-and-Jill bathroom does have its charm. We would also lose the Juliet balcony that juts out over the living room, which has been a player in many of our parties when our kids throw a performance. That will be where Polly’s bathroom is, so we wouldn’t want it to overlook the living room.
The real math, on the other hand? Logistically, this option is a lot easier and a lot less expensive than blowing out the front of the house. We’re not moving the front door. We’re not chasing natural light around a brand new wall. We’re working within the bones we already have, and we’re giving each of our girls something better than what they share now.
Chris’s main concern: plumbing sounds echoing down into the entry. Which — fair! Putting a bathroom directly over your front door is the kind of thing you only want to do once, so you’d better get the sound-dampening right. I’m sure there’s a way around it. (Said with the confidence of someone who has not yet called the plumber.)
Before Someone Asks: Why Not Just Give One Greta’s Bathroom?
I’ve already had a few people raise this in direct messages on Instagram. Greta will be out of the house in a few years. Why not just shift one of the girls into her bathroom once she’s gone? It’s a fair question. It would be the easy answer.
But I always design for the forever home. When the girls are grown and visiting with their own families, I want each of them to have a space that feels like theirs — not a hand-me-down, not a temporary solve. I’m not saying they couldn’t share long-term. I shared a bathroom with my sisters my whole life, and it was completely fine. I have nothing but good memories. But if we have the room (and the chance) to give them something more permanent than that, why wouldn’t we?
That’s the lens I keep coming back to. Not “what’s the least we can do,” but “what’s the version of this house we’ll still love in twenty years.”
So that’s where we are
What started as a small Jack & Jill bathroom makeover is, somehow, a two-bathroom-and-a-walk-in-closet-and-a-bedroom-reconfiguration project. Classic.
I’ll be sharing the moodboards as we firm them up — Polly’s bathroom gets to keep that natural light it was being robbed of, and Faye’s new bathroom is a totally fresh canvas, which means I’m already deep into wallpaper pins that I have no business looking at this early.
We just know it’s going to be good.
One thing I wish my house had was a two story entryway. Yours is gorgeous as is.
Adding a transom window between bathroom and hallway? To get some more natural light to the hallway without loosing privacy? Or that might not be possible for some other reason.
I just can’t imagine blocking off the gorgeous entryway! Also you’d lose all the natural light upstairs and beautiful landing space. Seems like it becomes all hallway at the top of the stairs?
I absolutely love the idea and agree with the notion of loving the house for years to come rather than finding easier solutions which really only cause temporary setbacks. I love having my own space with my own bathroom when I visit my parents – It really makes it feel private and comfortable, especially having a family. I recently needed to repaint our bonus room and decided that sectioning off a portion of the room for an office/guest room, changing the layout, flooring, adding trim work, and wallpaper was a simpler solution than just picking a paint color because I didn’t want to redo things twice…I completely understand how your project escalated haha
I’m so excited to see the plans you come up with! It will definitely be good. I thought I remembered you saying in stories that you weren’t going to do this. Must have misheard or you changed your mind.