The building blocks of interior design are all squares and rectangles. If you’ve ever had the (mis)fortune of using floorplan software, you’ll know: at the very basic level, everything is broken down into small boxes shuffled around in bigger boxes. But where does that leave you if the space you’re working with isn’t quite square? Gabled ceilings are a common feature of older architecture; even newer builds aren’t immune to the occasional angled wall. On the smaller end, they can be a nice bit of architectural flair. But when you’re trying to install a bathroom in a space with a significantly sloped ceiling, they’re a headache waiting to happen. The good news? There are ways to make a bathroom with a sloped ceiling beautiful, functional and even – dare I say – comfortable.
Rule #1: Watch Your Head
Whether you’re building an attic bathroom, converting some other space, or even working with an existing bathroom, the most important thing to keep in mind at all stages of your renovation is: head clearance. The smaller the bathroom and more prominent the gables, the more likely you are to smack your head into something. Worse, “something” is likely to be hard tile or metal hardware. To avoid both mild irritants and the possibility for serious injury, you absolutely have to plan your layout accordingly. Anywhere you need to stand full-height should be placed carefully in the highest part of your bathroom. Move everything else strategically to the gables. What does that look like?
Rule #2: Make Sure You Can Stand (In) Your Shower
The more stuff you want to fit into a bathroom with a sloped ceiling, the harder the project will be. Adding a half bath is relatively simple, while a 3/4 or full bathroom adds complexity to the task. For the latter two, mounting your shower at the highest point of your ceiling should be a top priority. No one wants to feel cramped in the shower; making sure you have as much head clearance as possible is key to ensuring the space won’t feel oppressive. That said, it’s fine to have the slope at your back; as you lower yourself onto a shower seat or into a bathtub, you’ll naturally dodge the grade of the roof. So while the shower might look a little cramped and awkward from the outside, a well-positioned shower head should save you from accidentally touching a cold shower wall.
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Rule #3: Don’t Give Your Bathroom Vanity Top Priority
Similarly, you want to be able to stand comfortably in front of your bathroom vanity. Many people default to putting vanities against any straight, full-height walls to avoid the room’s slopes. But depending on the slope of your ceiling, that might not be the best choice. As long as you offset the sink and mirror, you can easily nestle your vanity under a slope. The taper to either side is less disruptive than you might think. When you stand back from the vanity to use it, it shouldn’t feel oppressive. You can even get away with placing your vanity under a ceiling that slopes toward you, with two caveats. 1) that there’s enough room for a mirror; and 2) that the slope is gradual enough that you can still stand straight in front of the vanity comfortably.
Rule #4: Make Sure You Really, Really Want A Bathtub (Before You Try To Build Your Floor Plan Around One)
Building a full bathroom with a sloped ceiling is definitely hard mode, but it’s not impossible. The biggest restriction is that you need more space for a bathtub than you do for a shower alone. A shower can work mounted at the center of a steep gable, but a bathtub underneath it would be difficult to get into, even if you had enough clearance to install one in the first place. That said, bathtubs don’t mind a low slope, within reason. Most often, you’ll want to opt for the same configuration as a shower: with the tub-filler at the taller end and the head of the tub at the low point. Alternatively, put your bathtub at the lowest point of the ceiling. Depending on the slope of your roof, this configuration can produce a tub that’s awkward to get into, but with plenty of room to soak comfortably.
Rule #5: Put Your Toilet Somewhere You Can’t Stand (Because You Won’t Need To)
A toilet is a must-have, no matter what else you have going on in your bathroom. But the good news is, toilets actually play quite well with sloped ceilings. As with a shower or tub, as long as you can stand at full height in front of the toilet and sit on it without bumping your head, you’ll dodge the ceiling while sitting down, and hardly notice it’s even there. The caveat is: the taller you are and the sharper the slope, the harder this is to pull off. But in most cases you can afford to put a toilet in a spot you wouldn’t want anything else. That’ll leave you more room to make things like your shower or vanity more comfortable and accessible while standing.
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Rule #6: If All Else Fails, Bump It Out
Of course, sometimes it’s just not possible to bend a too-small space to your will without a little architectural invention. Still, adding a dormer or bumping out your roof is really truly a last-ditch option; this is NOT a small, quick, or budget-friendly project. But, if you absolutely need a usable bathroom and your options are converting a space with a sloped ceiling or doing a full-room addition? Modifying your roof is almost always going to be the less expensive option. How much you need to change will depend on your existing architecture. But even a small dormer window (with or without skylight – though why would you not?) has the potential to turn a cramped bathroom from a head injury waiting to happen into a sun-soaked, architecturally interesting space.
Almost by definition, any bathroom with a sloped ceiling is going to be a little bit cramped and awkward. Worse, every space is uniquely different, which means there are no hard-and-fast ways to optimize them. That said, keeping comfort and accessibility in mind at all stages of the design process can make the awkward angles and unusual layout blend into the background. These petite bathrooms will probably never feel like a sprawling master suite. But with a little care and clever design, they won’t feel like an inconvenience.
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