is that tub cut in half?

This just reminds me of the Seinfeld episode: "This book has been in the bathroom!"

Sorry - spelling nazi.
"This space-exploiting idea is a common sight in Paris apartments".

And... this just looks messy.

There is a used bookstore in Capitol Hill (DC) where the french books are stored in the bathroom...

I would not wish it upon anybody to be sitting in that seat when those shelves decide to collapse. The shelves look like just wooden crates piled on top of each other. They're probably nailed to the wall (like the boxes in her kitchen), but still...

The door on the left though, with the white-and-red striped cloth, looks pretty cool.

I recognize that little sticker from my old Berlin shared-apartment-- "Kein Sitzpinkler!" I don't know how to say it in French.

whoops-- I mean "Kein Stehpinkler!"

Mariann- I really like your apartment- but......toilet reading creeps me out. and I think a library encourages that behavior so I would have to say nay!

now that's really a "water closet"

i really don't enjoy spending a lot of time in a smelly bathroom, so i never read in there. plus, the room is usually pretty humid because of the shower and that is not good for books.

Perhaps I'm a stuck-up North American, but...

...anyone who spends that much time on the toilet needs to eat more fiber. Can you say "constipation"?

I feel sick thinking about all those germs going all over my precious books.

When a toilet is flushed, the water from inside sprays into the air in a fine mist. In this case, the urine-and-feces contaminated mist will settle onto those books. Not my idea of good reading...

This just grosses me out.

I lived in paris and visited several friends with their own apartments..
This is so odd.

No one keeps books above the toilet in a a paris flat. The french love their books and most wouldn't do it.

Where do you get this stuff, AT?

This is gross...yet somehow this topic keeps popping up...why????

Is that a package of pink TP on the top shelf? Please say it isn't pink. Please.

Whats wrong with pink TP, is that a faux-pas too?

there was a post here on AT about french pink tp a few months ago.

i couldn't imagine keeping my books (or magazines even) in the toilet, ew!

There are a lot of germophobes on AT. In a small apartment, I think this isn't a bad idea for your not-so-beloved books, and it gives the white bathroom some color.

If not wanting doodie hands on my books means I'm a germophobe, well count me in! ha

This isn't entirely on topic, but I'm so glad I don't live in France anymore with one of those toilet-only rooms. No window, no ventilation of any sort usually. It smells and you have to go to another room to wash your hands (touching light switches and knobs on the way). The bidet is a great invention, the persistence of these toilet closets. not so much.

Doodie hands, germs, fine mists of feces... Are there (((that))) many people out there unable to manage bathroom duties without involving hand to fecal contact? This is shocking to me. And as for fine flushing mists, does no one lower the lid first before flushing? Also a handy habit to get into overall for the aesthetic and feng shui aspects. (I hate an open toilet lid, period.)
I keep a smallish library in the bathroom but mostly for bathtub soaks. It never occurs that this might be "gross" especially in an obviously clean bathroom.
Carry on.

There's nothing germaphobic about knowing basic sanitation and knowing that the toilet (as a FACT) sprays those germs throughout a bathroom. If you're not bothered by it, fine, but don't resort to namecalling people who have their facts right.

Some people...jeez. I'm pretty obsessive compulsive myself, but the way folks respond to bathroom related matters makes me wonder how they even manage to use the toilet without having a panic attack on the pot.

Seems like a clever solution for find a bit more space. We're moving into a new apartment this weekend and it has it's own little toilet closet, and I think I will use the space above for storage, as well. Probably not for our books, but something can go up there.

As someone who would feel uncomfortable sleeping under wall shelves with books or other heavy items on them, I don't think I'd want to sit underneath them, either. Crash!!! (It's happened!)

i love our toilet only room (or well, i really like it), it has a little corner sink and a ventilation system. and is really practical in an apartment with 2 people and 1 bathroom.

hahaha, where can i get a "Kein Stehpinkler" sticker for my toilet?

As regards reading material in the loo, Alexander Kira in The Bathroom Book suggests psychological reasons and not lack of fiber:

"People who experience shame or guilt in connection with elimination, particularly defecation, very often must take their minds off the act in order to defecate at all. Otherwise, tensions produced by guilt or ugliness associated with the act will prevent completion. One of the most common methods of accomplishing this is reading."

"It has been suggested by some psychologists that reading also serves as a symbolic way of replacing the material lost through defecation and helps to prolong the act of defecation and the consequent loss."

Books in the bathroom...hmmm this does not strike me as sanitary. I certainly wouldnt want to borrow a book form that library.