apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

That would be great if you have little kids (with no sense of timing or personal boundaries) running around!

Looks great until a child locks himself into a room or bathroom. That would make an interesting call to a locksmith or fire department...

What a fantastic design!

http://www.carinagardner.com

Loved it until I read inkstainedwriter's comment.

What if a person fell down and needed help, and couldn't reach the door? I really hope that slot underneath the knob is a key hole of some sort. jejeje.

Otherwise, I love the concept. I'd put one in every door on my house.

Maybe, though almost any kind of locking doorknob would present the same problem that inkstainedwriter pointed out. I remember my baby sister somehow locking herself into the bathroom (repeatedly) and we had the kind of doorknobs with the little locks in the door that you have to turn to the side unlock (sounds more complicated explaining it than it is in practice). Unlocking those things from the outside was a huge PITA. Getting someone to push a doorknob to 'unlock' the door seems a lot easier.

I agree with the others, the only danger is pushing the exterior knob in and locking yourself OUT of a room.

I guess it would be enough if the knob didn't get all inside the door, just for safety... or popped out after a given time!

Related question: I never understood why light switches are often outside the bathroom. Does anybody know?

In Ireland (and also the UK) bathroom lightswitches are always outside the bathroom door, and it is illegal to have electrical outlets inside the bathroom (except for special shaver sockets). I think it's because of the all the moisture, so you don't electrocute yourself.

pantzini - My mother-in-law used to live in an apartment with the light switch outside the guest bath. It was very annoying til you could "teach" yourself where the switch is. The light switch for our kitchen is actually in our living room, so it can be annoying at times.

Pantzini
In my experience, the reason the lightswitch was outside my bathroom was because of it was tightly (and poorly) designed and there was no wall space for a switch when you opened the door. The only wall space was on the other side of the door meaning you'd have to close the door to hit the switch. Since it was also windowless, there would be no light with which to see while you groped for the switch and that probably posed safety/insurance issues so I suppose they figured it was easier to put the switch outside so the room so you hit it on your way in and out.

I would hope that it would be made so you can only "Pull" the lock from the inside and not "Push" it form the outside.

I REALLY like this design.

The concept is awesome. But I would totally lock myself in or out of rooms constantly.

i think it's a great idea.

Great for airplanes, but I like lever type door handles for my home, so wouldn't work for me.

My elderly father's lady-friend has an old house with some weird doorknob in her bathroom. I'm having difficulty remembering exactly what the trick was, but she had me step inside and needed to explain how to escape -- I think there was a lever next to the knob that had to be released or something. Everything old is new again...