Can a master bathroom be open?
It can, if four conditions are met: the WC has its own door, the bathing zone is separated by glass, air flows from the bedroom to the bathroom extraction, and the zones follow the order bedroom, dressing room, bathroom. Without them an open bathroom turns into damp and smells in the bedroom.
An open en-suite in a luxury home exists so that the bedroom, dressing room and bathroom work as one personal block: in the morning you do not cross a corridor, the wet zone has no extra doors, and the whole floor area works as one space.
But comfort demands engineering. An open layout carries moisture, smell and sound directly, so the design is built around ventilation, floor materials and doors, not around a pretty sketch.
What sequence: bedroom, dressing room, bathroom?
The most convenient scheme is bedroom, then dressing room, then bathroom. The dressing room acts as a buffer between the dry and wet zones: moisture and smell stop in it, and clothes sit further from steam.
The scheme brings another advantage: in the morning you go from bed to clothes to bathroom along one route, without doubling back. For a couple, two entrances to the bathroom, or two basins and a separate shower zone, are convenient.
The alternative is a bathroom between the bedroom and the dressing room, with a passage on both sides. It works if the bathroom closes with doors and the dressing room has to stay dry. In this variant the glass and ventilation work at their limit more often, and it is done in large spaces.
Can you put a bath right in the bedroom?
You can, but it is a difficult solution. A freestanding bath in the bedroom looks like sculpture, but it needs a waterproof base under the whole bath zone, a drain in the floor or the wall, extraction, and a floor that does not fear water.
Parquet next to a bath suffers from splashes, so a zone of stone, tile or microcement at least 60 to 80 cm wide is made around it. Waterproofing goes under the zone and up the walls, and at the edge the transition to parquet is made without a gap where water can run in.
The weight of the bath with water and a person also counts: in old buildings with timber or vaulted floors it is calculated before installation, as we explain in our article on freestanding baths. And filling a 200 l bath needs a reserve of hot water: a 100 l heater will not manage. A bath in the bedroom is for someone who uses it often, not once a month.
How do you separate the WC in an open bathroom?
The WC goes in its own compartment at least 90 cm wide and about 160 cm deep, with a door: sliding, solid or fluted glass. We have a separate article on fluted glass.
The compartment gets its own extraction. Under the CTE (DB HS 3), in a subdivided room the extraction opening goes in the most polluted compartment, which in a bathroom is the one with the WC, and transfer openings are left between compartments. That means air from the bedroom passes through the bathroom to the WC and from there into the duct.
The compartment door has a good perimeter seal and the wall around the WC has acoustic insulation. If the WC is behind the headboard wall, the flush will be heard at night: better not to put the bed against that wall.
Won't there be damp in the bedroom?
Not if the air flows the right way and the extraction is sized. The CTE (DB HS 3) principle is that air moves from dry rooms to wet ones, so the supply goes in the bedroom and the extraction in the bathroom.
For a home with three or more bedrooms, the code asks for at least 8 l/s of extraction per wet room under constant-flow ventilation. For a master bathroom with a bath and a shower that is little: use an extractor with a humidity sensor and a boost mode that starts with the steam.
Other measures: the shower is separated by glass to the ceiling or at least 2 m high; walls and ceiling in the shower zone are in moisture-resistant materials; a heated mirror does not mist; underfloor heating dries the tile. Electrics and lighting in the bathing zone are chosen with the right protection.
Sound, smell and night lighting
An open bathroom transmits sound: bath filling, the fan, the flush. The fan is chosen quiet, up to 30 dB in working mode on the data sheet, and the duct gets a silencer. Drain pipes are made in low-noise materials and wrapped in acoustic insulation.
Smell is solved by separating the WC and by extraction. If the WC door is closed and the air flows from the bedroom, the smell stays in the compartment.
Night lighting is thought through separately: the route from bed to WC is lit with low warm light at floor level, with no bright overhead light. A motion sensor switches on a warm, low-level light. That makes the night visit to the bathroom calm and does not wake a partner.
How to design it, and what we do
Begin with the plan: the order of zones, the bed's position relative to wet walls, the extraction route, floor materials. Then settle water, drain and electrics before the walls are closed.
In a penthouse or an Eixample flat with a long layout, the master block often ends up along the facade, and the bathroom then takes light from the window. It is beautiful, but needs particular attention to ventilation: a window cannot be counted as extraction.
BCN YARD runs such a project in full: layout, waterproofing, ventilation, glass and the dressing-room joinery follow one schedule, and the exact price is set in the estimate after the visit and measurements. If you want an open master bathroom, we visit and look at what can be done in your plan.
Frequently asked questions
Can you put a bath right in the bedroom?
Yes, if the bath zone has waterproofing, a drain and extraction, and a floor of stone, tile or microcement 60 to 80 cm wide around it. Parquet suffers from splashes. In an old building the floor is checked for the weight of a full bath, and 200 l needs more hot water than a small heater gives.
How do you separate the WC in an open bathroom?
In a compartment at least 90 cm wide and about 160 cm deep, with a sliding, solid or fluted glass door. It gets its own extraction: under the CTE (DB HS 3) the opening goes in the WC compartment. Avoid backing the bed onto that wall, because the flush is heard at night.
Won't there be damp in the bedroom?
Not if the air flows from the bedroom to the bathroom and on to the extraction, as the CTE principle requires. For a master bathroom use an extractor with a humidity sensor and boost mode. Separate the shower with glass, use moisture-resistant finishes on walls and ceiling, and do not count a window as extraction.
What sequence: bedroom, dressing room, bathroom?
The best is bedroom, then dressing room, then bathroom. The dressing room buffers between dry and wet zones: it stops moisture and smell and keeps clothes dry. The morning route from bed to clothes to bathroom has no doubling back. For a couple, add two entrances or two basins.