apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I certainly wouldn't want all that steam in my bedroom....

i *hope* a toilet isn't tucked away discreetly! ew!

no. just no.

In an appropriately sized room (like the one pictured), this seems fine.

But baths for me are a once-in-a-while luxury, not a daily maintenance ritual...I'd still need a shower somewhere.

But having the tub in the bedroom takes away the whole escape factor of a soak in the tub! You're just out in the middle of a room, not shut away in your own little steam room.

that is a trend i really don't like. while i find this bedroom aesthetically pleasing, it's just not something i would want in my bedroom.

I would NOT like a tub in my bedroom. I've spent a few nights in hotel rooms with whirlpool tubs in the same room as the bed and I didn't enjoy it. I want more privacy if I'm going to sit in a tub. Not really an issue as I much prefer a shower anyway.

My friend in Amsterdam placed a gorgeous free-standing tub in her spacious bedroom many years ago. The WC and shower are both off other rooms. It seemed odd at first, then oddly luxurious. Her elegant sense of style, comfort & calm was prescient: master bedroom soaking tubs started turning up in Hamptons' summer rentals in the mid 90's. Many were ghastly, due to cookie cutter execution (starfish, anyone?) But with a great eye and a large, clean space, a bath and bed can be exquisite roommates.

hmm.. not for me.

Doesn't make any sense to me. No.

I think this particular example is well-executed. Though the room seems more like a small suite at a spa or mountain retreat. Not sure how it would work in the average person's bedroom.

I am torn...It is very "Dangerous Liaisons". I am picturing myself as Glenn Close bathing in pure extravagence. But, I have a feeling those tubs were rolled in and weren't hooked up to our complex plumbing systems. Ok...forget it!

Actually, I didn't realize this was a trend. But I have always had a bathtub in my dream bedroom (the one in the house I might actually build someday). It seems very relaxing to me and also very private. Of course my children will be older by then and no longer sleeping with me :o)

This was one of the "never dos" on the UK show "How Not To Decorate" -- an aging pair of 70's hipsters had a deep soaker tub and a toilet (both brown) in an attic bedroom. The bedroom also featured deep shag wall-to-wall and a massive, ornate four-poster.

The potential for mould, damp and other liquids made it most unpleasant to contemplate. Besides that, it was a 99 on the tack-o-meter, and one of the most revolting things I've ever seen.

No, no, a thousand times no.

I first saw the idea in the movie Housesitter. I loved the idea then and still love it, assuming that there's a real bathroom elsewhere with sink, toilet, and shower. Add a fireplace, and I'd be in heaven.

i love the idea. i've never understood why one always places a toilet (probably one of the germiest things in a house) right next to the place where one is supposed to clean oneself. it doesn't strike me as quite sanitary or logical, and the idea of soaking in a bathtub while staring at a toilet just doesn't appeal to me at all.

also, some asian cultures don't really consider the bath a place to scrub oneself clean -- you do that in the shower, and only afterward do you relax in a bath. i like that idea for something like this.

Love it.

Erika has it right - I'd love to have a big tub right next to a fireplace.

Hell, forget the bed, just give me a big room with a big fireplace and a built in shelf to hold my bowl of grapes, ice cold drink, and whatever book I'm currently reading.

I don't like this mainly because I think bed linens and steam are a recipe for mold. Also, you'd have to have alternate flooring under the tub area for water splashing.

Re: lemonpie's comment about "Asian cultures". I think it's only Japan that separates the bath from washing and you have to keep in mind that their showers and tubs are differently designed and that this is something which derived from the fact that most homes didn't have their own plumbing for a lot longer than the U.S. (public baths were common).

Taking a separate bath and shower the western way is immensely wasteful of water. The Japanese tubs are designed to save the clean water and reheat it again and again (by sucking the water into a heating element near the bottom of the tub and spitting it back out into the tub until there's enough of a hot and cold mixture to make a hot bath). They have a cover for the tub that is kept on while the water sits around for days of reuse. The tubs are also usually deep, but not long. You can't even stretch out your legs in some designs. (The one in my apartment is a small cube - about 4' x 4').

The best way to design a house to keep the toilet and tub separate is to have a water closet separate from the tub and shower area. This design is not very popular though because it's claustrophobic in the toilet area. I know because this is how my apartment is designed. There's also no storage at all in either my shower or bathroom.

The humidity will destroy any artworks on paper and can even create mould on painted canvas. So if you like art in your bedroom, nix the tub. (I don't even want to think what kind of mould problem you could get in the bedding. Yuch.)

I know this is a hot trend, but it always reminds me of one of those Japanese sex hotels or a Niagra Falls honeymoon suite.

In the Japanese household I stayed in you were supposed to wash up and rinse off using a basin (but not a shower) before entering the tub. It was the opposite of wasteful.

I can't think there's more humidity or steam than a radiator would. Closed up sweaty showers are different than taking a bath in a wide open room with probably a lot more access to ventilation and such. I would do this if I had the room and other resources. I have to think people are imagining the bathtub they have now in their bedroom the way it is today, and I'd agree, there's no practical way for it to be so for me. But someday, it can be part of the plan.

A tangentially related anecdote about my last apartment had me (for some reasons I can no longer remember) thinking of moving my bed to the kitchen. It was a half-second thought as I became disgusted with the very idea, but I used to have a studio apartment so small and narrow that I could almost fix myself a bowl of cereal and wash the dishes after without getting out of bed, which didn't really upset my notion about proper limits of room at the time.

Bathtub in the bathroom? I don't mind the idea so much. Move to the upper west side of Manhattan and maybe you'll be lucky enough to move into a pre-war with a bathtub in your kitchen. Now that is gross.

I absolutely loved designing my open plan bathroom in my bedroom. The room has gorgeous proportions, so a good long soak doesn't steam up the bedroom in any meaningful way. I have a gorgeous, old, very deep clawfot tub. It's the most luxurious thing in the world, and I wanted to look at it every day when I woke up. I love it.

I live in a small condo. Since I'm in a wheelchair things have to be very handy. One of the first things I did this year was to take the door off my bathroom. The door was only 4 feet from my bed anyway. If I want privacy - I close the bedroom door which is much easier the way things are situated. I don't have a problem with mold etc. I turn the fan on. I have a shower with a bench and not a bathtub. It doesn't bother me a bit. I dare say there are probably more germs on your shoes and on rugs than my very own toilet seat that no one else uses.

No thanks!

The notion that mold will grow and moisture will destroy artwork just because there is a tub in the bedroom is pure poppycock! Even a daily bath would not generate enough moisture into the air to do much of anything... unless you were taking 10 hour baths. The reason that there is as much moisture build up in your bathroom is because it is such a small space...

Jeesh.... Learn a few things about physics folks...

Hate to disagree with so many folks, but I already voted with my renovation dollars on this. One big happy room including clawfoot tub and bed. A big room with lots of air movement and an exhaust fan. My showers are apparently short, not steamy, and if I splash water on the floor it's no more of a problem in a big room than a small one.

Different priorities--I want to be able to soak in the tub in front of a sunny window, reading a book, nursing a glass of single malt Scotch. For that I need space. As for privacy, mine isn't a family home or shared with roomies. I hope any guest in my bedroom is someone I'd be prepared to bathe with.

For some reason, this makes me think of historical homes. A bathtub (literal tub) in the kitchen would have been more likely in most early homes. But a bathtub in a bedroom seems like the luxurious idea of a wealthy person with a lot of servants (to tote hot water) and a penchant for slipping right from a warm bed into a warm bath.

In my opinion, I think most of the above arguments against this set-up are trivial or invalid. It's a quirky idea that's not new. It will not stick with the 'masses' but seems quite proper for posh eccentrics! Bravo to those who dare.

How funny - I didn't even notice the bathtub in the room when I posted that photo (thanks for adding the link to my site, by the way:) - I think the idea is pretty crazy...I'd like to keep my tub in my bathroom.

done right, as in the posted photo, it's a wonderful luxury. wouldn't want a shower in my bedroom though (and of course no toilet), just a tub. it would also have to be something along the lines of a clawfoot tub and not a hot tub.

Stayed in hotels with this before, and saw one or two when looking at apartment open houses. I've never seen a toilet or sink in the bedroom though. I think a big soaking tub in the bedroom would never create enough moisture in the room to be a problem, and it could feel very spa like. I would want a bathroom with toilet, sink and shower in a separate room.

I think it entirely depends on the room. If my room were like the one above, I think it would be lovely, cozy even. But it would not work in my current room. I agree that the wc would have to be elsewhere.

I saw a lovely studio flat with jacuzzi in the corner of the living room next to a window overlooking the city- it was cladded in a sort of rusty-coloured metal...sounds gross but it looked amazing as it fit in with the industrial style of the flat concerned and had plenty of room to breath...

It seems like if you add a toilet to the room you might as well be setting up a nice jail cell. I really don't like to hear the sweet sounds of trickling and flushing while I am resting in my white bed. I can def. see that if you were really trying to work with a small space that this could def. help out to make more room for other purposes. Toilet somewhere else please! I have actually been to a great loft where they had a clawfoot soaker tub in the middle of the space by the living area. Obviously it was only used in privacy but they did fill the tub with ice/champagne for parties...Looked fabulous...

Carly Simon has a bathtub in a bedroom: See it here! http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2008/06/carly-simon-selling-west-village-digs.html

Having a tub in the bedroom isn't for me--and I don't even have a bedroom--but then neither is having a sink in the living room, which feature has moved from an unavoidable necessity in low-end mobile homes to standard design in zillion-dollar condos. To me, this is all retrograde planning.

A bath in room that big isn't going to steam the whole place up.
I love this idea, and would do it if i had the space/money

I take a bath maybe once a year, so I don't see a reason to take a bathtub out of its natural habitat. Plus, it doesn't feel private enough to me, and I live alone!

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