Door Woes

Plan view of the second floor bathroom

This view shows how the door swings into the ceiling plane overhead as it opens. The toilet is hidden behind the orange door.

Another view showing the door intersecting with the ceiling

I spent a bunch of time today puzzling over the best option to solve a door swing issue in the second floor bathroom. Hopefully the images make clear that the door, when opened, swings into the ceiling overhead as it opens to the right.

There are a number of solutions, but all of them involve some compromise.

• The most obvious might be to reverse the swing from right-hinge to left, but that means that the sink would have to slide off-center from it's intended location and the the light switches would be behind the door when as it is opened entering the room. We could manage the switch relocation if need be, and the sink scootch could be accommodated if we had to.
• The next option is to have the door swing outwards as you enter. This could work, but it involves a lot of travel as you pull the door towards you in order to open it wide enough to pass. I worry too that the door could be ajar in the darkness and easy to bump into.
• Another option is to carve out a triangular section of the ceiling over the door. Though unorthodox, this is possible because of the offset framing situation we have in our roof. We could carve into the roof plane without much consequence. At worst we'd have a slightly smaller R-value in that area.
• A forth possibility is a little more of a stretch. This would be to design and build a curved pocket door that would travel into the wall to the right of the door as it is currently located. I'm not sure if this would even work, but I could figure that out pretty quickly. From there it would be a lot of work to build a curved door and custom track, not to mention opening up the wall.