apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sharing a bathroom is a loss of privacy already. More than one person using a bathroom at the same time is just plain gross. Rather than going to the trouble of having two sinks and showers, might as well have separate bathrooms.

Just as an aside, those wall-mounted taps are impossible for children to reach. VERY bad idea for a family home.

While most of these are styled just a little too sci-fi for me (very stark, covert, gov op if you will), I still really like the ideas behind them. And I really really like the dual showers and large bathtub with the duckies.

I'm thinking that these bathrooms aren't in one-bathroom homes.... space and privacy clearly isn't a problem for these home owners.

I'd much rather have the extra counter space than another sink and faucet (plus the extra cost) to clean.

I can't help but think the double showers in these photos make the bathroom look like a men's locker room.

Uck, all of these bathrooms are ugly. And people who say they NEED two sinks, two showers--or even two bathrooms--are spoiled. I worry that we are raising an entire generation of children who have never had to wait or share or in any way be inconvenienced--and all because we adults are the same way!

I like the gray wall and floor tiles in that second bathroom. Are they concrete? Anyone know?

I can tell you one reason for second sinks for heterosexual couples, madsarah. My husband and I share a sink (even though we have another bathroom, we both use the master bath). My dear husband gets hairs in the sink and doesn't wash away his toothpaste globs. It's rather disgusting, and I wish he had his own sink and vanity. Or his own bathroom.

We've been married for a very long time.

I think some of these bathrooms look great. I particularly like the one with the double shower, I wait an endless amount of time trying to get in the bathroom in my home which often makes me late and all my problems could now be answered. Great.

madsadah, how about one communal bathroom per block? That would really teach everybody how to share...

Bromelia,

How exactly is two people sharing a bathroom at the same time gross?

we have a double sink in our masterbath, which on the face of it seems pretty useless because the room is so small, you can't really get 2 people in there (it is barely 3 feet wide before you add the sink, so it is impossible for one person to move behind the other), but hey, we've found it useful for the cats -- they drink from their own faucet and don't meow to use ours.

I like our two sinks and I would have no problem with dual shower heads as it might save some time in the morning but these rooms are just ugly examples. This isn't industrial chic or modern its institutional!

iselin, I was thinking the same. What is gross is the hair straightener, make up, tampons box and so on lying around.

And one thing that noone mentioned, open double shower can bring up some fun...

Regarding the number of bathroom. After living in England and France, I find that the US is ridiculous with the bathroom size and number. When I am looking at places, they seem to end up having the same number of bathroom as they have of bedroom. Anything over 2 bathroom is just a waste of space I think.
I grew up in a family of 5 (i.e. 4 bedroom plus 2 other room that could eventually be called bedroom but that were used as tv room, office) and 2 bathroom were fine.

I recently moved in to to a 1950's home with one bath on the second floor. The room was on the large side for a full bath, (not ginormous, but 3 adults can fit inside easily) and had a shower stall and tub. The vanity was quite wide and had one sink. There was almost too much counter space. Being that the vanity and sink had to be redone, we did a double sink. Though we aren't often prepping at the same time, we have found the extra sink to be quite worth it, even if one often becomes the emergency laundry station for our 6 month old. And once more kids come in the picture... I just remember growing up with 3 brothers and teeth brushing was chaos.

We are in the process of renovating to 2 sinks/2 showerheads, and one of our reasons is our height difference. Hub is fully 14 inches taller than me. Sinks that work for me are at his crotch height, not so fab for shaving. Shower heads that work for me are horrible for him, and moving it up and down every day is a pain.

We have dealt with this for years, and I acknowledge it's that that big a deal. But while we're at it, we'll make our bathroom work for us...

debtex, how about standing on a stool?

iselin, do you really need to be there when your significant other wants to squeeze a pimple, floss his teeth, examine his problem bodily parts in the mirror or clear his sinuses in the shower? And do you really want an audience when you are doing the same?

Am all in favour of sharing a bubble bath in candlelight, of course.

Wow. This post has definitely brought out people's passionate beliefs ... about bathrooms. I have a house with a double shower (it's arranged differently than these though. Think wide shower with one set of sliding doors and a head at each end.) It's a great time-saver and can be handy for other things, of course. I also love our two sinks. I am really not "grossed out" by brushing my teeth/showering/etc. at the same time as my partner.

"Sharing a bathroom is a loss of privacy already. More than one person using a bathroom at the same time is just plain gross. "

So when you use the restroom at the office, a large restaurant, conference center or at the airport - do you block the door so that nobody else can come in? Are you going to pay for the installation of private bathrooms in all the schools and dorms at the colleges and military installations across the country so that our students and men and women in the Miliary won't have to suffer through someone else using the sink, toilet or shower after them?

What an absolutely ridiculous statement.

Anyone who insists that double sinks are a necessity is just plain spoiled. Clean drinking water and healthy food are necessities - double sinks are a luxury, and a rather foolish one at that. Indulgent bathrooms are a waste of space and money. The ratio of money to time actually used in the bathroom is ridiculous. I can think of many other ways to blow thousands of dollars than installing a second sink because my boyfriend spills toothpaste.

I grew up in a big family, and all of my life I have lived with roommates and/or boyfriends. All with one bathroom, with one sink. Once in a while there are traffic jams - but overall you learn pretty quickly how to avoid them and how to clean up after yourself.

Modfan,

That's exactly what I was trying to say earlier, and what got people so riled up. People 100 years ago had bigger families in smaller houses and rarely had more than one bathroom. Somehow it worked, even when the kids became teenagers. So many people these days justify their extravagant lifestyles by using the word "NEED" when really they just should say "I can afford it; so what?" In some cases, though, they really can't afford it, which is why we find ourselves with lots of people over their heads in real estate.

Modfan, what's wrong with luxury? People choose to indulge themselves in various ways, and as long as they can afford it and don't break laws while doing it, why not? Let the owner of the money decide what is a waste.

bepsf, I don't lock the door to public washrooms; however, I still detest the lack of privacy. Other people's lives and bathroom arrangements are their own affair.

Nothing wrong with luxury at all. But don't mistake it for necessity. Most people reading this blog have no idea what real necessity is.

Sometimes I think the blog should be split--into half that features small, modest homes and inexpensive solutions to decorating problems, and half that showcases cool design ideas of any scope or price. I come here because I am committed to simple, "small-footprint" living, but clearly a lot of people with McMansions or McCondos and lots of disposable income now use it as a source of ideas too.

madsarah: I think you can take ideas away from both segments you've mentioned. I personally live in a fairly small place, am not much of a shopper (when you look at product and decor all day, personally it's nature and people that have the most appeal rather than stores). But when I do shop I want to purchase things that I appreciate, that last a long while and may seem like a luxury to some occasionally. But I do strongly agree with the sentiment that there is a problem with equating needs with wants...we'd appreciate these luxuries more if we recognized them as such instead of necessities.

Ah, luxury vs. necessity. Where does one stop and the other one begin? Is having your own shoes a necessity? Your own bed? A bathroom in the house vs. communal faucet in the village? A shower every week? Every day? Your own room? You own bathroom? It all depends, doesn't it?