apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't right now, but have in previous homes.

Pros:

Natural light coming from a window reduces the need for electric lights and decreases electric bills.

If the window opens, the shower will be better ventilated and less likely to attract mold and mildew.

What objections are you trying to overcome?

The window over our tub has window frosting film on it for privacy, but the light is nice and the top of the window allows a glimpse of sky and treetops. I like it. (Showers are landlocked, though -- no windows there.)

The window is the only good thing about my tiny bathroom. The drywall is rotting, the clawfoot tub is rusting, but there's a huge lemon tree right out the end of the shower. It's so leafy that I don't even have a curtain on the window. (Actually, the window itself is in pretty bad shape too, so I guess the lemon tree is the real advantage.)

I used to have a window in my shower. Natural light coming in on spring/summer/early fall days helped me wake up while I got ready in the morning. And in a old house I lived in as a teenager, having a shower on a summer day with the window open was lovely and refreshing.

My folks have a skylight over their shower and a little window in their powder-room: Space is tight since they live in a motor-coach, but it's nice not to have to turn the lights on - and there's something to look at other than tiled walls...

natural light in a shower/bathroom is the BEST!

I have a window in my shower that's very conventional - four panes, two panels. I hated it before, when my landlords had it covered with mini-blinds (!!) that would get all musty and gross in the shower, no matter how often I attacked them with cleaners. But then I bought the faux frosted glass coverings (I think they've been covered elsewhere on AT) that you stick on, and now there's tons of natural light but no awkward showering while facing our common yard.

I have a window in my shower and I wouldn't mind it if it were higher or I was a man or if I lived in the middle of nowhere, but I'm a tall girl with lots of neighbors that can look right in and the sill is just below boob height! So I've got Smith & Noble waterproof blinds in there now.

The other thing I hate is when people use the sill in their shower window to store their shampoo bottles. Tacky.

Not to mention when it is sunny out you can get some extra Vitamin D before hitting the daily grind. And sometimes every little bit helps.

Natural light is way better for putting on makeup and for waking yourself up in the morning. It's easy to install privacy film on a window. You can buy it in the window section of your local home depot.

i have a window in my shower. it looks out at the street i live on, and i'd never have to be talked into not getting rid of it. it's privacy glass thank goodness. the window faces south and there's no fan for ventilation.

i open it just a crack when i'm showering, but when i get out, i open it up most of the way. i don't have the mildew problem i was afraid i'd have, and really... the light is great. it has to be totally dark outside before i have to turn on the light in there.

btw, what's so tacky about keeping my shampoo and stuff on the sill? it's tile. one of those things that hangs off the pipe for the shower head will not stay where it belongs, and the only other place i could keep the stuff is on the soap dish. or would the edge of the tub be better?

my parents have a huge window in their bathroom and a skylight. i LOOOVE showering in their bathroom when i'm visiting. not only do i get to look outside to their backyard when i'm showering, i also feel a little naughty. hehe. (but i definitely have to make sure no one in my family is outside when i'm showering!! yikes!)

Joolzie--you can get shower organisers from Ikea that suction cup onto the wall. I have some and they're very handy.

I stayed at a teeny hotel once in Pompeii, Italy. The room was nothing special -dingy, in fact - EXCEPT that it had a window in the shower. I have memories of (badly) singing in Italian while the breeze blew the steam around and the sunlight poured in. ...That was what that window inspired me to do. It was the most glorious and amazing shower I have ever taken!

I'm a renter these days but ever since that trip I promised myself I would have a window in my bath someday. :-D

I had a shower window for 5 years in a house that was built in the late 40's. The bathroom had no ventilation fan, the window was the only ventilation.

Pros:

Natural light! I could have a plant in the bathroom.
LOTS of ventilation when the window was open.

Cons:

Frosted glass is not nearly as private as you think it is. A former owner of my house installed a homemade curtain in the window when she realized that when she was showering, she could be seen quite clearly from the parking lot of the complex despite the frosted glass.

The window ledge collected water and mildew and mold like nobody's business. Might not have been so bad had the window ledge been designed not to collect water.

When I started looking at replacing the window (I wanted to gut the bathroom and start over), it turned out to be prohibitively expensive to do so for a lot of different reasons. However, that was probably more about the rules of the complex than anything else.

Opening the window to ventilate the bathroom was *cold* in the winter.

Um fresh air on your nekked self whilst showering in warm seasons.

If this isn't reason enough... i can't help there people.

Oh, and natural light for make-up application.

Fresh air, sunlight or natural light, ventilation, a view, flowers on the sill, no need to fight mold and mildew, less effort to clean, no electric lights ...

Come on! What else do you need to convince a normal person? I would kill to have a window in my bathroom!!! If your parents insist, you and the rest of the family should change your last name, nothing less.

I've only had a window in my shower once - but it was my absolute favorite part of that apartment! I miss it terribly now, in fact.

To keep mine more private, I just took an old shower curtain I happened to have, cut it down to the right size, and put it up with one of those tension curtain rods. And yes, I did double check the opacity from outside! It worked fine, but still let in air when the window was open and lots of natural light.

I just had a window installed in my bathroom because there wasn't one. The window is about 3' x 3' and it is sooooo nice to have fresh air and sunlight. It also made the room feel bigger. I think the reverse is true too...I think your parents will be disappointed upon removing the window and having the space feel smaller.

Sadly, I only see my bathroom when it's dark outside (early morning and late at night), so its windowlessness doesn't bother me. But if I had the luxury of showering in daylight, I would love to have a window, especially one with a view like Photo #1!

Is climate an issue? I'd love a shower window in theory, but it's sub-zero here half the year. Doesn't sound fun to be in a cold draft while showering.

I will amend my comment just slightly - if the window is the only source of natural light in the bathroom, best to leave it. I have another window in the bathroom, so the shower one I'd be okay to lose (or raise).

The best disinfectant in the world is sunlight. A bathroom without sunlight will have a much greater problem with mold and mildew. Nothing improves a bathroom so much as a window---even a tiny one.

I lived in a house growing up that had a porthole window in the shower. It was wonderful to take a hot hot shower with the window open---and cold cold air flowing in :)

When I lived in Brooklyn I had a window in my bathroom. Right next to the tub actually. Even in the dead of winter, I would open the window a crack while I showered. The combo of piping hot water on my body and bracing cold air on my face was surprisingly invigorating, and I loved it.

The window made the extremely small footprint of my bathroom feel not so cramped and pokey. I currently live in Singapore, and I again have a window next to my shower. I don't have to worry about cold weather here, thankfully! And I'm now on the 21st floor, so having a window in there seems practically decadent!

I have a (frosted glass) window above the shower/bath in my house. I have a white bath, white mosaic tiles and white shower curtain. The bathroom faces south so on a sunny day the light pours in to this little cocoon and it's the best shower experience ever!

Oh, and I deliberately got the tilers to tile the windowsill and set it at too steep angle for storing anything on so that no shampoo etc bottles could be stored there, and it would drain easily - successful on both counts.

the only thing i don't like about my apartment is that it doesn't have a window in the bathroom. it makes such a HUGE difference in the room

My shower has a glass door right in it that opens onto a porch. The porch is screened with lattace that has beautiful jasmine growing all through it.

I love this shower. I open the door morning and night, in rain, snow and sun. It is the reason I get up and go to work in the morning, because if I lost that house and that shower I don't know what I'd do. Really.

Advise your parents to keep their window and enjoy the light, sun and stars. Nothing beats natural light, not to mention fresh air, in a bathroom.

Window height at boob level. Imagine an outdoor shower on a private island with no walls, curtains, trees or anything! So liberating...http://www.neckerisland.com/

I have a window in my shower. The landlord (or his maintenance crew, in fact) wanted me to put up a half-length shower curtain, but I didn't do it. Even with the window, I get a lot of mildew. I just wouldn't want it closed while showering and I don't think it would protect the framing from moisture that much, or scrunched open while I let the air circulate. I also have faux wood blinds that I deduced came from Hunter Douglas, due to the valance clips breaking, and matching them up at a blinds store. I'm up on the 3rd floor with trees in the back yard. Presumably someone could peek up from the yard while walking their dog or spy across the adjacent back yard from the building whose yard that is, so I shower with the blinds turned to block up and across peeps. Presumably squirrels and other tree-climbers, and the occasional eagle-eyed helicopter pilot can still see me nude if they are at the proper angle.

I do like having that window in there, if only to be able to air it out, but when it's cold outside, I love to take a hot, hot shower with the window open, that seems to get a lot of tension out of my neck and back. When it's too warm outside instead, I feel like I can't get a comfortable water temperature.

My guest bathroom has a window in the shower. It's pretty high on the wall, and I like being able to see the trees outside. Still, it's not the shower I use every day.


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Another vote for the window. All the above positives. Really, the negatives are so easily dealt with.

Ohh! Convince them to keep the window!!! I've had a window in my shower twice and LOVED it each time.

You absolutely cannot beat natural light and fresh air.

i have one in my shower. it's high enough i don't need a curtain. all you see is sky & tree branches.

the natural light is wonderful. & i have a feeling it keeps mildew at bay. it also helps a small room seem more open.

there are no cons.