When I bought the house October 2013 I new full well how much work the house might need.
The main bathroom did not have a shower only a bathtub. Most all of the rooms had hand any work done on them since the 1940's, with the expectation of the kitchen, witch is a different situation all together. Something need to be done with the bathroom.
The picture makes it look ok. The truth is the ceiling was only about 6 feet tall with the only light on the wall. The room also had a "closet like thing at the back. It was cold and cravenness. With limited head room and nothing in the room taking advantage of it I was always hunched over.
The bathroom is part of an addition that was made to match the original house. The floors and ceilings don't line up. The result was a small door, about 4.5 feet tall, and a 3 inch step down into the bathroom. The room as it was conceived was (most likely) not meant to be used, something akin to an attic space. A new design was called for.
The other side of the wall is a "second" set of stairs that had been covered and used as a closet. The closet while large is not very useful and useable only from the hall. I decided to use part of it in the bathroom to get some more head room. In order to get the required head room for a shower it had to either go over the stairs by door or into the small dormer. I decided to place the shower in the dormer even though the plumbing will get tricky but I figured that it would be better to have the sink closest to the living area.
I plugged all of the measurements and dimensions into Illustrator. I moved things around until I came up with a layout I liked.
Part 2,
here.