3rd Floor Bedroom Addition - Looking for suggestions

[Hoosier Foursquare]

Welp, with the arrival of our baby girl one month ago, we are looking at making a couple of bedroom changes here in the near future.

Our house is 3 stories. Currently, the 3 designated bedrooms that we have are on the 2nd floor. Our 2 boys, 4 & 2 1/2 share a room and our 14 y.o. daughter has her own room. The baby is temporarily in our bedroom and will be until she's out of her bassinet which will probably be around the 8-month mark.

Our plans are this: Keep the boys in the same room, move the 14 y.o. up to the 3rd floor into the "Bonus Room" and move our baby girl into the 14 y.o.'s former bedroom. Clear as mud, right?

There are two rooms on the 3rd floor, a smaller room (10'x16') which was originally the Servants Quarters and the Bonus Room (15'x23') which was storage and also the Servants Bathroom. The smaller of the two rooms has been reserved by my wife for use as a Scrapbooking Room/office and the Bonus Room is slated to be converted into a 4th bedroom for our 14 y.o. Oh yeah, the 3rd floor does not have A/C at this time and heating is provided by hot water radiators.

We were hoping to divide the Bonus Room so that the entire room wouldn't be a bedroom. After measuring and thinking a while, I figured that i could add a wall w/a door at the 14' mark back from the front dormer which would give my daughter a 15'x13' room. I would also add a sizable closet on the left or right. I also plan on updating the electric (Lights, Outlets, Smoke Detectors, A/C, etc.), refinishing the hardwood floors, repairing cracks in the plaster and painting.

Here's a few issues we haven't conquered:

#1 - A/C: Mini-Split or traditional A/C? We have room in the kneewall storage for an air handler and the supply & return ductwork can be ran between the two rooms due to attic access. All we would have to do is set the condensor outside and run the refrigerant line and drain. To "hide" the lines I would run a faux downspout with the lines inside. Any thoughts/concerns or ideas?

#2 - The Bedroom: Do we split the room as planned? This is a sticking point at this time. Our (my wife and I) don't wan't to "waste" space by giving our 14 y.o. a 15'x23' room. Is this being selfish or good planners by utilizing the space better?

#3 - The Bathroom: The wall mounted sink and toilet are in working order but the clawfoot bathtub was removed from the dormer for use in our master bathroom. Should we replace the tub with another clawfoot and add a shower riser too it so that she can have her own full bathroom or should we leave it the way it is now, a half-bath? The flooring in the bathroom area is oak hardwood and I am a bit paranoid having a working bathroom with a hardwood floor. The nearest full-bath is at the bottom of the steps on the 2nd floor. Also, do you guys think we should enclose the bathroom in some way shape or form? Oh yeah, and there isn't a bathroom vent installed either!

#4 - Lighting: The bathroom area in the dormer has a single bulb cheap-o temporary porcelain base fixture. The 15'x23' has the same, one bulb. Don't hate me, but, I was thinking about installing 4 recessed lights in the new bedroom with a ceiling fan/light in the center as well as a surface mounted light in the closet. Thoughts?

I've attached a couple of Visio drawings and a few pics of the current bathroom area and front dormer for reference. 1st drawing is the proposed future state and the 2nd drawing is the current state.

[Hoosier Foursquare]

Here's a picture of the front dormer in the Bonus Room.

[shazapple]

The bathroom/hallway-like space is kindof weird, I would definitely wall off the bathroom, maybe make it T shaped with two doors so you can get in through the bedroom or craft room? Then you would have a buffer zone between the stairs and the bedroom (I'd remove the doorway at the top of the stairs for better flow)

[nezwick]

I second what shazapple said!

[JRC]

Just a comment/question on the pic with the toilet and bath: was the vintage toilet paper there when you bought the place, or did you add that to stage the photograph?

Now as for your layout, I agree with the others that said the bathroom should be separated. Also, I don't know how much you have to deal with sloping ceilings, so this may not be a good idea, but what if you moved the closet to be between the bedroom and bathroom? That allows the bedroom to be a more uniform shape.

Something else you might consider is that this space could become a "master suite" to a future homeowner, so you might want to consider adding a tub, and not leaving so much space between the new bedroom and office. If you put the closet between the bedroom and bathroom, it gives you the opportunity to build in a linen closet in the bathroom, too.

[Don M]

I agree make your daughter's room smaller as you suggest & use the rest of the space for storage. 13 x 15 is a good sized room. I would definitely install a tub/shower & make it a full bath; better for resale as well as nicer for your daughter. Don't worry about the hardwood floor; all 3 of our bathrooms have hardwood floors & that's never been a problem. Definitely improve all electric, A/C is a must in an attic room. Recessed lighting & a fan is a good idea as those spaces can be dark.

[PowerMuffin]

Hmmm. I would put your daughter in the 10 x 16 space, make the large space a family area in which your daughter could have input, include your wife's office there, make a proper, closed off full bath utilizing some of the family space as necessary. I think this makes the most of all spaces and would be best for resale. Other wise I think your proposed plan leaves an awkward space left in the middle.
Diane

[Josiecat]

Oh my gosh! I love that bathroom.

[Hoosier Foursquare]

Thank you for all of the ideas, suggestions and input. We've pretty much come to the decision that the bedroom in the bigger of the two rooms will be the best solution. The room will actually be about 2' smaller so it will end up being an 11'x15'. I put tape down to give my wife & daughter an idea of what things would look like and they were both happy with what they saw. WINNING!

Now onto the fun part! I've already begu spec'ing everything out from framing to electrical. I plan on doing everything myself with the exception of the HVAC install, drywall finishing & floor refinishing.

When I saw that bathroom for the very first tme I thought "How odd!" An open bathroom with a clawfoot bathtub in the dormer! The toilet paper in the picture was there when we bought it and was there up until two weeks ago when I repaired the toilet and got it back into action. Sounds kind of weird but, I ended up saving the old TP!