Pocket Doors

As we received the architect's first pass at our second story, I realized that he likes pocket doors. And, now that we're living in the house, I'm glad he does. I did a little reading online and learned that many builders and architects feel that these are an underused space-saver.
Our old house was new construction and had a nice layout for the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms. The renovated house is a perfect rectangle upstairs and forced us to be a little more creative in the space planning. We only had so much space to use, and we needed to have three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a large laundry room upstairs. (The other two bedrooms and bathrooms are on the lower levels.) The home previously had four large bedrooms upstairs, however, the bathrooms and closets were very tiny. So, in adding some larger bathrooms and walk-in closets, we lost some space. The two pocket doors really helped to allow normal traffic flow in smaller spaces. One was placed in master bath entrance, and one was placed in our son's bathroom entrance. The photos below show that it's possible to place both a vanity and tub just inside the bathroom doorway without either being blocked. The only downside to the pocket door is that the walls that encase the door may not be used to hang artwork or towel bars, as a nail or screw will interfere with the movement of the door inside the wall.