My peeve is the electric toothbrush. It's ugly, it has an ugly cord that has to be plugged in, it's hard to hide. One day I'll see if an electrician can put an outlet INSIDE my vanity!

Also, there's not enough space for hanging towels in the small bathroom. I'm thinking of switching to hooks, but worry the towels won't dry well enough.

I also have a shower curtain rod that randomly crashes to the ground--I no longer hang anything on it. Also have one of those exhaust fan/light combos and it often vibrates and rattles loudly. Not enough storage space and no room for it either.

Our toilet has issues, where the plunger needs to come in to play fairly often.

Our shower doors NEVER look clean.

Our tub is original to the house, built in 1969, and it's got rough spots on it. So the sink and tub are peach, while our toilet, is white.

We don't keep our towels in the bathroom anymore - they live on the back of the bedroom door. They dry much faster away from the dampness of the bathroom and our bathroom is so small that removing the towel rack made it feel much bigger.

The trick is to remember to bring your towel into the bathroom with you to shower.

The shower rod for my clawfoot tub is at a height that makes my shower curtain liners, which must stay inside the tub, crumple up on the bottom and get super gross cause it can never quite dry. I end up having to cut/sew them to length. Also, again since I have a clawfoot tub and not a tiled shower, most shower caddys won't work right and I have one that I rigged up and is being held up by carabiners. Also, and this is a good and bad thing - there's no ledges around the edges of the tub to put anything, so I have to limit myself to whats in that small caddy, and share it with my husband.

* Grout. Enuf said.
* Large bathroom windows that are hard to cover without blocking all of the light. It's a privacy problem since the bathroom faces all the other neighbors on the cul de sac.
* Those frosted shower doors that are on tracks and always get stuck and dirty? Yeah, I hate those suckers.
But all in all, it's a nice bathroom and it's big.
The bathroom in the next house, on the other hand, what a nightmare. I haven't bought the house yet but I can't live with the bathroom. It's like it is stuck between the 50s and the 70s and not in a good way. If you're going to renovate the bathroom, I'm getting the impression that you need to a.) either stick with what you've got and refinish the surfaces or b.) rip everything out and start from scratch. Don't do half and half. This bathroom is so ugly I can't even begin to describe it except that it has a booger green toilet and tub.
Maybe I should document this renovation...

I've learned to put the plastic shower curtain lining in the washing machine with the laundry to get it nice and clean--that works well. But I need a way to clean the tile shower stall itself quickly and easily.

I've actually moved my whole morning routine out to the old school vanity in my guest room so that I don't have to deal with storing all that girly stuff in the bathroom...and it is a treat not to have to try and blow-dry my hair in the tiny, humid bathroom. Towel hooks are key...my towels seem to dry just fine, but I never double-up on a hook. I've resisted the electric toothbrush because of the issue of it taking up counter space...it would be nice to find one that sits on the outlet and looks non-descript. My pet peeve: finding a tiny trashcan that fits under my vanity--one that you don't have to touch or move to access. I hate looking at an open trash can in a bathroom...yucks.

Oh so many ...

OLD toilet doesn't flush well and I haven't quite talked myself up to replacing it.

Cartridges on old shower faucets are so old they they're going to snap one day soon, but I'm scared of trying to replace those and the amount of wall/tile that will need replacing.

Want a sink with just a little bit of counter instead of a pedestal sink, but space is at a premium.

Want to get rid of the glass enclosure that was installed around the tub.

Cannot for my life figure out how to keep an enclosed shower clean of hard water deposits and moldy spots.

And a minor but still vexing problem: having a hard time finding an attractive bath mat that is big enough to cover the space. We have enough floor space that one mat doesn't quite cover the spots we'd like but small enough that two mats would be overkill.

My bathtub is not leveled, as a result, all the water does not get pushed to the drain because the last bit of water flows backward.

The water pressure seems to be low in my toilet and it takes a long time to fill up.

1. there is never enough storage
2. the caulk around my tub got stained and now the tub always looks dirty
3. my vanity is in an alcove which is 33.5 inches wide and now I have to go custom if I want to replace the vanity (or go smaller)

My bathroom floors are really cold in the winter and while they're really nice and pretty, they're now covered by bath mats because I hate putting bare feet on cold floors.

About the tight space behind towel bars - I got 2 decorative moulding pieces about 3"x 5" and screwed them to the wall behind the rod supports. (Bits of a 2x4 would have been even better.) Towel no longer scrapes the wall.
We have a clothes line over the tub/shower, and use this to hang towels with clothes pins to dry. Quick even with the curtain closed.

Love the colour of my bathroom - a dark colour. Don't love the streaky marks the steam made all in the paint.

The bathrooms in the apartment I just moved OUT of had NO FAN! This is not something I checked, since building codes routinely require them, and thank goodness the new apartment has fans in both of them. What a mildewy experience the old place was!

However, the old bathroom was big enough I could put floor to ceiling shelves in it and now I'm back to the 2 tiny drawers and barely enough room for a laundry hamper....as long as I'm willing to sit sideways on the "throne", which I'm not.

Designers of new houses understand the need for BIG bathrooms with lots of room for storage, but apartment buildings aren't usually built that way.

Any ideas for nearby storage OR creative ways to store in a tiny room the following items?
Hairdryer, straighter, curler that is used only once a week
bath additives like oils, bubble bath, epsom salts
drying rack for sweaters and/or "unmentionables"
makeup, face creams, body lotions
hair ornaments, pony tail bands, clips, etc

I've put hairbands and necklaces on the towel rod over the throne since it's too short to dry a bath towel, but that probably only works for a girly bathroom not shared by a man.

I choose hooks over rods in my bathroom and the towels dry just fine.
Kohler toliet flush beautifully.
I agree with another post; put your liner in the washer at delicate and it coms out clean
I removed my shower doors and opt for a curtain..easier to clean both the shower curtain and the tub without having the other side of the door in th way. (I own so I was able to remove the doors)
I agree that my biggest pet peeve is grout-cleaning and maintaining.
It would be nice if builders went back to the old bathrooms where the linen closed was INSIDE the bathroom. A friends parents have one in their bathroo and it's so much easier to store everything you need for a bathroom. And if you forget a clean towel, it's right within reach.

Basic cleaning supplies, or maybe toothpaste, managed to permanently damage the finish on the faucet and I notice it every time I'm in there! Why would that be a thing that could even happen? I'll replace it someday, but in the meantime...

Also, if I could get a little privacy from the cats, who are fascinated with the bathroom and everyone in it, that would be nice (they try to break in if locked out)!

No light in the shower, so we have to use a clear shower curtain to allow some light in.

No fan in the bathroom. I finally bought a full-sized dehumidifier; the smaller ones weren't cutting it. Less moisture, but one big object on the floor to maneuver around.

Everything looks fairly institutional (mirror, tile). We own the place, but the bathroom is not the financial priority. I'm not particularly crafty to make modifications, and a little scared to pull that mirror off the wall.

2 people + 2 cats in 1 bathroom (the litter box is there) means that the floors need vacuuming every day. I bought a dust-buster to live in the bathroom, but it's so weak I could get the full-sized vacuum out of the closet and vacuum in less time.

I really hate cleaning the bathroom. I really wish some entrepreneur would start a cleaning service that does only bathrooms for $20. They could target apartment buildings, to reduce traveling time, and could clean a bunch of bathrooms in short order. I don't pay for a cleaning service, but I would absolutely pay $20/week to have someone else clean the bathroom. Please, someone take my idea! And start it in DC!

I forgot to mention that I hate the fact that to put on makeup, I have to lean in over the sink. I noticed that the comment posted while I posted my wordy one mentioned an old school vanity. I need to figure out where I can put one of those and have the mirror well lit.

It does sound like quite a treat.

I picture one that would be considered Hollywood glam. Never mind that the rest of my house has furniture from (or looking like it's from) the late 1800s!

having custom built in cabinets is the best thing and I'm lucky enough to have them in both bathrooms (including one huge space the contractors found in dead space between walls and another closet and turned into a cabinet for ALL my towels, best $400 I ever spent).

pedastal sinks are worthless unless you already have two other bathrooms and it's a powderroom.

Oh yeah, the tank lid on my toilet is sorta curved, so I can't really put anything on it because everything slides off. I have just a box of tissues there cause they're light enough not to really slip off and too big to fall behind.

And same for my sink, the edges tilt inwards, so aside from the soap in the little indented/designated soap spot, you can't put anything on the edge. Really frustrating when you're trying to do blowdry your hair and can't put the brush down anywhere without it slipping into the sink and getting wet

My ongoing #1 is the lack of counter space & organization for the many products us ladies use. I don't even use that many products, but never have space for the little I own. Also, nowhere to store heat styling tools & hair dryers. One of my old bathrooms which was seriously vintage - like 20s/30s had an old porcelain/ceramic/tile material cup holder (missing a cup) installed in the wall above/next to the sink - this odd protrusion was a wonderful, heat-resistant spot to stick my still-hot flat irons & curling irons when I was running out the door! It also kept cords out of the way of water. I wish all bathrooms had these!

However my #1 current grievance is the fact that my landlord installed individual 5 gallon hot water heaters for each unit. therefore, even with low-flow water heads, I can't take showers longer than 15 min - and it takes at least 10 just to rinse shampoo & conditioner out of my hair with the low pressure. New shower heads with better pressure cut down my max allowable hot shower time to 5min.

This is in LA, where nobody seems to turn on/up the heat during the winter even though it's 40 degrees, so i REALLY miss my occasional long hot showers...

And one more thing, which is more of a cat problem than a bathroom problem, but they always manage to move/crumple up the bathroom rugs so that the bathroom door inevitably gets caught on the rug

Do you use enough water softener? I grew up with hard water, and after nearly 2 decades my parents FINALLY figured out that new softener needs to be added every week in order to keep the showers from looking rusty.

However, other than that and weekly deep scrubbing, there isn't much to do :/

I hate hard water.

If you don't have an external spot for additional items, I would look for a storage unit with drawers so you could separate them. Additionally, since oils, bubble bath, salts, etc. can all come in different sizes, you should consider buying a set of matching containers that fit neatly inside the drawer and pouring the different things you have into them. As far as having a small bathroom goes, I find that it's much more freeing to just let go of everything that isn't essential for getting clean and find room for the other things elsewhere. I guess it helps that I don't straighten or curl my hair or take baths, though.

If you have one of those builder standard frameless mirrors, don't be afraid at all to pull it off. I was nervous about pulling mine off because it was huge (the whole wall!) but it wasn't actually glued to the wall; it used the ugly plastic clips, and once we got those off we carefully took it off the wall and there was absolutely no damage.

Install shelves in the walls! Or you can find/make some sort of hanging shelf that hangs from hooks in the ceiling, if your walls are tiled & you can't drill into them. It's definitely a project, but worth it!

That's a good point - I don't understand why there aren't any electric outlet options inside vanities/cabinets -- I have some under my kitchen sink for my disposal, but they'd be great in my bathroom for small things that need to be charged like toothbrushes!

1. No window. This is a big problem when I want to clean with stronger cleaning products because the fumes have nowhere to go and I end up choking/feeling nauseated.

2. A fan/light combination where the fan comes on automatically if you turn the light on. Nice for the most part, but sometimes I want to have a nice quiet bath without the sound of the fan whirring away. Candles can only provide so much light in my windowless bathroom (not to mention the fact that there isn't much space to set down 150 tealights!)

you need to use baking soda to clean the shower doors. that'll get off all the grime. mix with your regular cleaner.

Very persnickity toilet, requiring fairly frequent plunging and, yeah, that's just gross.

And while I'm bitching about the toilet, the tank lid is curved (on ALL the toilets in the house) so can't put anything on top without extremely careful placement and life is too short.

We have two sinks - but also two vanities/cabinets, across the room from each other. I shouldn't complain, because we have more storage than we'll ever use, but it means having to have two tubes of toothpaste, two bottles of mouthwash, two hand soaps, two of everything, basically. Thankfully, dollar stores!

The countertops are Corian and they are a pain to keep clean. They show every drop of water, the outline of the bottom of every bottle of mouthwash placed on them for even a split second ... its annoying.

No towel racks - and no good place to put them, so we make due with hooks. Which is just an aesthetic thing, really. I think the people who owned the house before us (who left it in immaculate condition, BTW) must have used towels once and thrown them in the wash. There are floor-to-ceiling shelves in the hallway leading to the master bath and I remember it was filled with towels and other linens when we looked at the house. So I think they used those hooks for robes, exclusively. They are placed so close together that I really don't think they were ever intended for towels.

Well, I do go on, don't I?

We added a bathroom and love it!
Instead of a second sink we added a linen closet (how often do you really need two sinks anyway?) which fits all of our towels.
We splurged on Restoration Hardware towel rods and they seem to have plenty of space between the rod and the wall.
We also splurged on heated floors - they are worth every penny! We used electric heading pads under the tiles, easy to install and not that expensive.
A third splurge was a Panasonic exhaust fan, it's so quiet you don't even know it's running.
We built a little nook/medicine cabinet in the wall separating the shower from the sink for all those little things you like to keep around, so I don't have to dig through drawers for them.
Oh yeah, and a Kohler toilet. It doesn't clog - ever.
I wish the shower was tiled but that had to go due to the other splurges......(btw. Mrs. Meyer's cleaner will keep your tile sparkling clean but isn't safe for fiberglass, Dawn dishsoap does a decent job though).

3. Impossible-to-clean shower door tracks. The doors and tiles look great (it's amazing what a quick squeegee after every shower will do) but the tracks look gross. I live in an apartment so removing the doors altogether isn't an option. So I'll have to tackle it with bleach and a toothbrush (which should be fun given the lack of windows mentioned in my first point upthread!)

My old shower rod was rusty. I bought a "fancy" hotel-style one at Home Depot, and had my handyman install it (required drilling into tile).
The new one is also rusting. Why would a shower curtain rod ever be made in a material that rusts? My fixtures and towel rods are just fine. So frustrating. I read online that I should treat it with mineral or even baby oil, trying that next.

Bathmats with rubbery backing. Poor investment that peel after a few washings.

Low flush toilets....great that we are saving water world wide. In the meantime most have to flush two or three times and the new bathroom decoration - the toilet plunger.

I cannot afford CLR all the time and vinegar and baking soda are only minimally effective. Manufacturers have to create a product that rids hard water deposits from bathroom surfaces. It seems everyone everywhere has this problem.

We recently renovated the entire house, so in our master bath planning, we attempted to solve nearly every problem listed above. It is huge (16'x10'), has TONS of cabinets, electrical outlets installed INSIDE the cabinets for my husband's electric razor, etc., good fan that vents to the outside (not into the rafters like the previous version), etc. However, we paid a fortune to upgrade the grout to quartz grout because we were told it wouldn't stain. However, in white, it stains! And then it doesn't get clean! Our water is slightly rusty so our grout is a mess and we have to re-grout.

Oh, and I can't forget how a random contractor (we still don't know which one) dumped something down the shower drain after our $40/sf calcutta gold marble tiles were installed, leaving a big greasy ring approximately 3' in diameter all around the drain on our no longer beautiful tiles.

Yes. these are minor issues, but they were not supposed to happen and very disappointing when you spend a fortune on a remodel!

The absolute best thing about our bathroom is the Biobidet toilet seat we got after a trip to Japan. I now hate any other toilet!

about the electric toothbrush - we just got them and I keep the charger in my bedroom closet that has a plug. we are planning to charge them monthly

About the single pedestal sink - never enough counter space. We just switched it out for the Ikea braviken single bowl, 2 faucet sink. its the smallest double faucet sink i could find. no more arguing about who is brushing their teeth first.

My biggest pet peeve now is why aren't all doors in a small house pocket ones?? the door swing takes up about 4foot sq in a BR that is only 60 sqft. we can't switch it to swing out since it is at the top of the stairs. we thought about bifold doors, but I think that would not give enough privacy.

also, plunger, toilet brush and kids toys really bring the space down.

The cabinets below the sink are giant open spaces - I need drawers! Same in the kitchen, more shelves in the cupboards.

Yes, what is it with sliding shower doors? Has anyone ever had one that fit right and actually slid smoothly? I will soon be redoing my shower stall and I do hope that a hinged door will be a viable option.

I think the idea of hooks over the towel rod is pure genius - thank you, LyonStill! I am going to take some thick-gauge copper wire and form it into decorative S-hooks. They will be very cool.

I don't understand why shower curtain rods should be falling down - it's supposed to be screwed firmly into the wall (?) Oh, but maybe you have one of those spring-loaded pressure rods - they are no good, just take out your screwdriver and drill and put up a real rod.

@kwp-DC, we had our old cleaning lady only clean the bathrooms (5 of them) and vacuum the house for $85! So less than $20 a bathroom. You might be able to find someone who owns their own business who is willing to do this.

The mirror is too high on the wall because every wall is tiled to about 4 ft and the mirror is mounted above so our children can't see into it without climbing on the counter.

Also, how to neatly and compactly store all the headbands/hair accessories my daughter can't live without? Currently they are in a drawer and it is a tangled mess and always a chore to find the exact one she wants.

We installed hooks for the kids' towels and I think they work better than the bar for ours. And I bought a mesh laundry bag for the bath toys, which has been a much cheaper, less mildewy, option than those devices made to store them.

Do it. Scrounge up an old vanity (mine is a Haywood/Wakefield that I got at Brimfield for $100). It.Has.A.Pouffe. I put a vintage clip-on headboard lamp on top of the mirror to amp-up the lighting. It has changed my life to have that space outside the bathroom. As others have mentioned...no more dropping things in the sink...more room for big bottles and brushes...I have a whole dedicated power strip...and I can put hairbands, scarves, clips and all that formerly-dresser-top-junk in there, too. Morning routine is less fighty and agitating. I am lucky to have the guest room space, but if I didn't I would, honestly, sacrifice a dresser in the master to make space. It is that clutch.

My bathroom is tiny. Tiny. And there's a litter box in there, and I have 3 cats. It needs constant cleaning of litter from the floor. The previous owners put in super expensive stone tiles in a checkerboard pattern that is too busy for the space, so I've never liked it. I really need to get someone to put a cabinet in, as the shelves over the toilet just make it all seem cluttered. Grout cleaning is always a problem. I don't have a bathtub (just a shower), which I miss. I also need to buy a new toilet seat, as the old one is coming off the hinges. And the low flow toilet is a clogger!

Best thing in our bathroom remodel is the heated towel rail, so the towels stay fresh and dry. Biggest regret is not putting in heated flooring, but since the new laminate swells along the joins we might have a chance to remedy that!
I am pleased with our Molger storage stools from Ikea, they hold a lot and provide a place to sit when I wash the cat's face twice a day, and I always brush my teeth sitting down so I don't rush.
A high shelf over the door stores loo paper in the little half-hall which not only gives a pleasing degree of privacy but also stores the linen cupboard.
Makeup, hairdryer and such live in the old school desk which serves as my dressing table in the bedroom, much better place for them! No hogging the bathroom, no steam, and no leaning over the sink to get my mascara into focus.

Our rental bathroom had only one towel rack when we moved in (next to the toilet, we keep it closed but still, ew) not counting those obnoxious little round "guest towel" holders. I did find a plastic easy to install towel rack so my husband and I can have separate face towels. I hung it on side of the horrendous formica monster of a vanity.

We use bath towels only once and then have to wash them since there's no place to hang to dry. The back of the door, the space is too tight for an over the door rack/hook unless the door doesn't go up against the door stop thingy when opened. OCD prohibits this. The floor is so small, because of the humongous vanity directly in front of the tub, I've resorted to hand towels as bathmats. Upside...a fresh one with every shower.

No exhaust fan. I have a small round desk fan plugged into one of the hideous wall light fixtures that sits on the aforementioned vanity. You can't open the window for air since it's on the porch over the toilet! We do live in the country but I can't even count how many times in seven years I've been caught on the toilet or in the shower with someone knocking on the door! That fan is a lifesaver...

Last but not least, the gross plastic shower surround with a fake raised tile detail. Nothing like trying to get the green crap that accumulates from well water out from between each of those superfluous tiles!

Whew. That felt good. :P

Oh and it's too tight to have the shower curtain hanging out of the shower. This is kind of a good thing because I don't worry about those plastic, sometimes clingy, shower liners anymore. I get a polyester shower curtain and tuck it in the tub. We don't have a very strong shower spray so I've never had a problem with water coming through. And I can wash it often to keep that pesky green well water stain and mildew away.

Bathrooms without out some type of heater.
Bathrooms with improperly vented vans or no fans at all.
3 bathrooms here and only one had a fan and heater and the fan was vented directly into the attic for a unique rain forest effect of hot mist into a colder space.
Never mind the buildup of warm moisture on all tile and grout surfaces in a southern climate.
no new fans and heaters in the other baths until we get the electrical panel redone and split from the vintage panel by a licensed person with a permit.

I've redone the towel racks in the last 4 places I've rented as soon as I moved in. It's always been a $100 really well spent at Home Depot, and as long as you have a drill and a level, incredibly easy to do. Often I get cabinet knobs to match for another $2 a piece, and I've never had a landlord mind my upgrades! As for the toilet clogging issues a lot of people mentioned, I was having the same problem but I just changed toilet paper and it made a huge difference. I was previously using Charmin (I think) and now I've got Quilted Northern. Still the soft stuff, but better for flushing. Hope that helps!

When I moved into my apartment, the only towel rack for bath towels was mounted 1 foot above the toilet tank. I insisted that they install a new rack in a space that had proper clearance for towels.

Blue 1970's tile. Sky blue. That blue that makes me cringe. On the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling in the shower. In a tiny bathroom. Could be a worse color, I suppose, but ... not close to my first choice.

Sooooo many problems with my bathroom. It is a rental and I can't do anything about it.

-fan/light combo that is really loud. the switch is on the outside of the bathroom. A really mean person could turn the light out on you
-my toilet looks like it came out of a public restroom. it's one that doesn't have a tank, but has a metal flusher
-bathtub poorly drains so have to scrub a lot. not a drain issue- more like it is tilted the wrong way
-water leaks out of the bath tub and has eroded the side of the vanity
-previous tenant never cleaned and the tile grout is permanently stained dark

I could go on!

My problem is not with my bathroom or any bathroom per se. My problem is with my hair. I have very long hair (well past shoulder length) and any time I comb my hair I end up with big long hairs on everything: the tub, the tile floor, the sink. I pick up as much as I can but I know I miss some and seeing someone else's hair in a bathroom is just gross. I'm thinking of adding a hand vac right in the bathroom.

Low water pressure in one shower---so low, that the faucets shut themselves off after a few trickling moments.

The previous owner of our loft renovated our bathroom and built a sliding plexiglass door with a metal frame that slides away from the shower on a track that runs across the ceiling. It rarely stays shut and causes water to leak all over the floor. When opened, it spews water everywhere as it slides. The frame is rusting and to make matters worse, there are hardwood floors in the bathroom so the water always being everywhere is a problem.

Our bathroom is beautiful... but I hate the headache!

Hmmm...

In spite of replacing the flapper in the toilet tank it STILL runs, abeit slower than before.
During my last fruitless flapper replacement I also discovered the tank lid has a crack in the underside - awesome.
The rust stains in the toilet from the constant running trickle into the bowl.
Based on when I touched anything in the toilet tank, all of the black washers seem to be deteriorating inside the toilet tank and I have no idea why.
The rusty shower curtain rod.
The shower head sprays in all directions.
A few years ago while showering the tub filler shot off (exciting event - thankfully I wasn't crouched down enough to receive the filler in the groin) but the replacement doesn't completely seal with the shower wall.
For some reason the bulbs burn out very regularly (actually this is a problem throughout the place and it makes for some rather dark living).
I'll ignore the tiny cracks in the grout for now.

I think the biggest challenge other than the above is having enough room for wet towels. There is one towel bar and two of us live there.

Storage is a big issue. I want to keep everything I need in there, while also having room for some pretty display items. Also, mold on the ceiling! Bathroom is small with no window and only a fan for ventilation, so the mildew builds up very quickly. Also, my toilet runs.

I keep a soap brush in the shower filled with half vinegar and half blue dawn dish soap and wipe it down at the end of my shower on a regular basis. This really helps keep the soap scum at a minimum and is easy to stick with. I also like to have fresh flowers by the sink. Small touch with a big impact!

We made the mistake of putting in a double-sink in our master bath; it was a dumb idea. I put the poor design down to being pregnant and moving overseas while we were renovating; we grabbed a quick -- and what we thought was an elegant -- solution of matching sinks for our 2 bathroom renos.

The problem is that our master bath is tiny, and there is no way 2 of us can be in there at the same time at the sink.

When you factor in the door -- which we didn't -- the space is too tight. I'd like to fix thinks -- change out the sink, make the door a slider, change the light fixture (damn xenon bulbs are impossible to find!! Never occurred to us as we were running to make decisions).

However, I would say that I would like to find an elegant way to keep clutter down -- the shampoos & conditioners around the tub -- and my husband's shaving stuff. (Yeah, my husband leaves much more stuff around than I do).

That evil tub/shower combo. Not deep enough to soak, a pain to clean, leaks around the shower curtain unless I keep a rolled-up micrfiber cloth at each end, paint peeling along the top of the yucky fiberglass liner, caulk failing (duct tape to the rescue), excruciatingly painful to step in & out of before & after knee surgery.....God, I hate that thing. I'm saving up to replace it with a walk-in shower.
Don't love keeping the litterboxes in the BR, either, but there's no other dog-proof place for them, & sweeping the floor 2x daily beats having cats who are afraid of being cornered in their boxes, & find their own alternative accomodations. I just tell visitors to use the one in the middle.

Toilets that run hot.

The cheap plastic toilet seat that came with our new toilet.

Lack of linen closet. We keep the towels in my hope chest in our bedroom.

No window or skylight.

My biggest problem is the hand towels my kids leave on the floor because they are too short to rehang the towels on the towel rack after drying their hands.

i am a renter with a jetted tub. the landlord has given us "special" soap to clean the jets/tub but IT DOES NOT WORK. help!

My apartment chose to hang the towel rack only a foot above the toilet paper holder. It's fine with one towel shoved far to one side, but I've been forced to install 3M hooks in weird places for visitor towels. There's no way to not have it look tacky.

Also, no bathroom drawers. Drives me crazy.

I'll say it again - bathroom without a fan. Not only has the humidity made the new (3 month old) paint job start cracking already, but the humidity also spreads to the other rooms of our apartment and fogs up the windows causing mold/mildew to grow on the other windows as well - kitchen, living room, bedroom. Is a big (read: expensive) humidifier the only solution?

Our bathroom is small, with 1950s pink and maroon tile and renovated in the 1970s, but I love it.

Unique Mamie Eisenhower pink tiles look lovely with a pinkish beige paint above and a brown, pink & beige shower curtain. Linen cabinet large enough for towels, hamper, spare shampoo & medicines. Large 1970s vanity and sink with a little counter space around the sink and plenty of space underneath to store cleaning products and extra large packages of bath tissue.

The only things I don't like about it are the dog hair that ends up around the base of the toilet, and the human hair around the sink.

For those struggling to keep shower doors or tile clean, try the vinegar & dawn homemade shower cleaner. For those with slow drains, try the Zip It.

Old grout!! It will be the death of me. No way to get it clean. And we don't have a fan in our uber small master bath.

We did take down the sliding glass doors in our guest/baby bathroom and that has made a HUGE difference. Now if someone will just come in and give me a new shower in both bathrooms, I would be soooo beyond happy. It's me against 40 years of dirty grout!

My master bathroom is very cold in the winter due to all the tile. I would love to have heated floors.

The sink cabinet, and vanity... I HATE them! Cheap, flimsy, feels like it's made of cardboard! It's not attached to the wall properly and every few days it wiggles away from the wall at least a half inch. The vanity top wiggles a lot and I can tell it's slanted because water pools a lot of half of it. The knobs of the sink are always coming loose too. I wish our landlord would replace it because I hate it so much, but he's cheap and never gets around to doing things. And I'd feel like an ungrateful complainer.
Also when we moved in, the shelves were missing from the medicine cabinet. How useless.

And I don't mind the pink tile in my bathroom so much- actually I like it more than I thought I would- but the floor is mosaic tile and it's dark green and ugly and never feels clean to me.

Re: plunger - when my husband and I renovated our last house (20s bungalow, had been "improved" in the 80s, imagine the worst and you won't be far off) we gutted the downstairs bathroom so we could redo it in a style appropriate to the house. We wanted a pedestal sink instead of a vanity but didn't have room for an additional freestanding storage unit so we made a little removable, discreet door in the beadboard wall that, when opened, revealed a storage area between the wall joists just large enough for a plunger and extra TP.

We renovated that whole house but to this day Secret Plunger Storage Nook is my proudest accomplishment.

I have all the clawfoot tub problems previously posted--no ledge for shampoo and stuff, shower caddies jut out at an odd angle and get in your way, no place for a bar of soap. The few organizers made for claw foot tubs are expensive--$65 for a simple soap dish that hangs on the side of the tub.

The rest of the bathroom fortunately has the most storage space of anyplace I've lived.

However, I also have the cat litter tracking problem. And guests who manage to get water all over the floor and the litter, creating a kind of cement that is very difficult to clean up.

And the light switch is a good two or three steps inside the room, meaning that one of the two outlets in the bathroom has been sacrificed to a nightlight. A few more outlets would be nice.

After reading all of these comments, I feel fortunate that my biggest complaint about our bathroom is the color of the tiles. The apartment was built in 1952 and the bathroom is all in peach and burgundy tiles, which (for reasons WELL beyond me) seems to have been a popular bathroom color combination of the time. Peach floors, peach counters, peach tiled walls, with burgundy trim. Are you aware that there are NO colors out there that look good with peach and burgundy? I ended up just buying a shower curtain and rug in white, because adding any other color just seemed to make the bathroom look even more busy and bizarre.

Oh, and one more thing...we have a cupboard underneath the bathroom sink, and believe it or not, I would RATHER have a pedestal sink so the litterbox could fit in the bathroom.

No window.

That disgusting but very necessary tub mat. I cannot figure out a way to get it up and dry and clean. It's too heavy to hang by a grommet I could add, too wide to put on a plastic hanger. I buy them three at a time and change them before major holidays.

Blech.

We just got rid of our biggest bathroom problem: the old sliding glass doors on the shower/tub that were constantly in need of cleaning and just plain ugly. We now have a new curtain rod and nice new shower curtain in place that really change the look of the room.

We have plenty of other problems though:

We need more space to hang towels that looks nice and still lets them dry.

I can never seem to keep bath towels look clean and fresh, even though i change them out once a week and wash them. They all just start to look dingy after a few months.

We have a crappy light fixture in the ceiling and the remnants of fixtures on either side of the medicine cabinet/mirror that need replacing.

The seat to our toilet is an awful wood one that is rusting around the bolts that hold it to the rest of the toilet (which is white). I've been thinking about buying a new white toilet seat to replace it.

We also have ugly, awful yellow tile in our bathroom that doesn't match the equally ugly and awful yellow color of our sink stand. We rent though, so I think we just have to live with that.

Our house is from the 60s. We bought it from the original owners' (adult, obviously) children. They had taken a few measures to update things before selling. The bathrooms got a few superficial updates. Some of these updates are problematic.

They got new hardware and a new sink in one bathroom; these are totally fine. The other two bathrooms got new countertops. While they are nice, they are definitely not to my taste. These countertops rest on cabinets that are identical to what's in the kitchen, which means they have the same issues--they don't fit together anymore. Drawers get stuck and have to be maneuvered and manipulated to get them to close.

They all got new flooring that I HATE. It is some of the ugliest flooring ever.

They did NOT get new towel racks. These things are tiny. The one for the guest bath is maybe a little over a foot long, so you can only hang one towel, folded (not for drying!) on it. Likewise in the master bath. I have to hang my towels from my closet doors, which means my closet is never closed, so my room always looks messy...

They left what looks to be the original lighting in the bathrooms, too. Guest bathroom has this awful faded-yellow rectangle to cover the bulbs that's been stamped with tiny fleur de lises. Again, so not my taste.

The guest bath is a wonderfully long bathroom, but the space is so terribly wasted. There is a 2 foot gap between the wall and the sink, a 22 inch gap between the sink and the towel, and then there's a tiny, tomb-like shower stuffed into the corner, between the toilet and the wall. Also, tiny window.

The master bath is small, which I don't really mind. What I do mind is that there's no window, absolutely no natural light. At some parts of the wall, the old pink paint peeks through the white layer they used to try to make it more palatable for buyers. They left the scatter-pattern of pink tile in the shower, though. The toilet faces the (pocket) door that doesn't lock. Basically asking for embarrassment... And on top of that, the sink part is not in the actual bathroom. Instead, it's the first thing you see in the master bedroom.

Basically, two of our bathrooms are begging for heavy renovations. One for new cabinet/counter/flooring/towel-rack. I'm generally getting accustomed to living with them for the meantime... but they're still my LEAST favorite thing about the house.

My cat and I share a bathroom now. I long for the house I owned where my cat had his own bathroom and my bare feet didn't touch kitty litter.

I grew tired of multiple monstrous bottles on the sink and began putting mouthwash, facial soap, hair stuff, whatever in travel size bottles that all fit in the medicine cabinet. Big bottles go under the sink. Lots of room now!! I refill bottles every two weeks and savor the sinktop space.

These are small problems though, I really shouldn't complain.

No drainage hole on the floor in a bathroom. I think this is such an essential thing. You could simply wash the toilet floor and scrub it and then rinse it away.

The "need" to keep linen in the bathroom proliferated by design shows ... I think it is impractical to have storage like towels in a bathroom. Moisture and fabric do not really work in the same room, I dont even want to have bath towels like some other posters said in the bathroom.

For the people with an litter box. A solution could be to fit a cat door in the under sink vanity. Most usually have the clearance and u can make a flap by hot gluing a piece of dollar store curtain to the inside of the door. This helps contain the mess. (if you rent a replacement door could work just store the original behind the loo) Lastly the BEST TIP EVER that I received was to place an open container (I use a pickle jar with a few rocks in the bottom) with a 1/4 cup of vinegar beside the box! This eats the odour better than anything I have ever tried before. Just add more vinegar when u notice the smell coming back.

No counter space - because there's no counter or vanity. Sink is a stand-alone, and the only storage is the medicine cabinet.

No towel bars, either. (I have one I've been meaning to put up.)

Fan noisy as all-get-out. (Cleaning it doesn't cure it, but it would help some.)

Ugly dead-grass-greenish-tan tile around the bathtub.

45-yo vinyl tile that was ugly the day the put it in; and is now cracking, splitting & loose in places.

...maybe I should stop now...

If you have a vanity sink a towel bar (home depot) mounted on the cabinet door gives you a nice nesting place for the hair dryer, and curling irons or Hooks mounted there may work, but u will have to wrap the cords. :)

Oh, the plunger! Yes. Also the harvest gold bathtub that apparently didn't get changed out to white back when they replaced the sink and toilet. Also a super-noisy ceiling fan that I never use because the sound is so grating. The tiny, tiny counter space - four inches on either side of the sink (a one-piece sink/countertop affair) and the lack of drawers in the cabinet below. I don't know why they picked such a small unit; there is still nearly 3 feet of gapped space between the cabinet and the toilet. And the super-tiny mirror above it - part of the medicine cabinet, so I can't just replace it with a bigger mirror. Gosh, I didn't realize I had so many complaints about my bathroom!!

Sorry Missed the part about the no vanity- is there room for adding a wine rack type storage area behind the pedstal sink?

Oh my, where to start! Firstly, my little stone house was built in 1939 and originally started as 2 rooms. Next came the two bedrooms, then a kitchen, then a back porch, then the enclosing of the back porch to ADD ON the bathroom and this is where my problems begin......I need an immense amount of help on a dime store budget.

- It is freezing cold, built on a concrete slab, with the nearest heat source in the original living room.
- Lighting. I have one overhead light that you turn on with a pull string.
- Medicine cabinet/mirror. Obviously, my grandfather installed it, because he was a tall man and I am 5'4". I can barely see the top of my head!
- Sink and vanity. Circa 1950, year of the addition. Old outdated faucet and vanity cabinet with plastic doors. They are white with gold rope trim, yay!
- Flooring. Circa 1950 linoleum.

And the biggest doozie of them all, the shower! My grandfather was a stone mason, so the shower is about 3' x 4' in size and built entirely of un-honed, un-polished, fresh out of the ground slab marble. Of course the slab marble had to be joined together at certain points, which is done with now rusted steel brackets and bolts. I have tried everything to clean the marble and make it "beautiful", but it just isn't going to happen!

I need a total gut job, but want to respect the history of the house as I am now honored to be the family home's sole caretaker.

Oh, and I forgot:

- Toilet. I have to hold down the flusher thing for ever!
- Shower. Again, no light, so I can't see in this dark, stone cave. Nowhere to prop my legs to shave, no where to store my products, etc.
- Lack of storage. What storage? Storage anywhere?
- Ceiling. Some sort of square, soft acoustical tile. Not even sure what is behind it. Not a dropped ceiling, but just the tile stuck to something.
- Shower again. No way to hang a shower curtain. Nothing to stick the standard tension rod between. Can't hang it from the ceiling, because of those tiles, and even if I could, it would have to be oddly L-shaped. Right now I have a rod resting on two nails protruding from the wall, with the other end laying on the top surface of the marble. If I ever get in a hurry, I'll be strangled to death by my own shower curtain!

In an ideal world:
In my tiny master bath, change out the vanity, lights, and all the storage. The medicine cabinet, so help me God, has the world's thickest door. Which swings out past the one outlet in my bathroom. Why oh why would anyone design this? I can't keep anything plugged in and access my cabinet at the same time. I could change the door to the other side, but at this point, I'm going to get a less bulky one anyway.
If the tile was in worse shape, I'd changed it out too. Not really into green floor tile, green ceramic bath tile, which is in the same color tone as the bedroom carpet. Have we ever heard of coordinating rather than matchy-matchy?

My hall bathroom is in its original dusty rose and maroon ceramic tiles, complete with rusting sink, nailed or glued on door overhang hooks, and wooden toilet seat. When they did the addition to the house, rather than rip out the bathroom and retile it, they tiled in the window space. So...I have pink outline of a window in the bathroom. That bath will be a complete gut.
The dusty rose tile was the exact same color as the vertical blinds that used to be in the living room.

Biggest problem is a running toilet, that saps the pressure from other fixtures.

The vanity is white plastic laminate with gold flecks and it is located 3 inches from the side wall. Wide enough to lose a lot of stuff, but to narrow to rescue anything.

The tile is harvest yellow on all walls. The floors are yellow sheet vinyl meant to look like "stonework."

There is a towel rack in the shower and another just over the vanity. One place is too wet for towels and the other space is too short (well, maybe it is supposed to hang in the weird gap between the vanity and wall!). They are hung on the shower curtain rod.

The space is really cold. The space is surrounded by exterior walls on three sides, of uninsulated brick and the radiator is tiny.

Would love quick solutions. (I like the discussion of hooks instead of rods!) I think we are ready to "throw in the towel," and renovate.

My bathroom is tiny, so the swing-in door takes up a huge amount of space. A pocket door isn't possible, so I may get a bi-fold.

We have a plastic sink instead of ceramic and the frustrating part is the wetness, always the wet seems to get under the soap dish and under the soap dispenser - I wish it was better designed to drain, because it requires daily cleaning. I wish there were drawers, or more cupboard space. The good points would be the frosted window above the bathtub, the lack of mold - likely due to the fact of the good amount of air flow, plus the plastic interior of the bathtub/shower walls, which makes it easy to clean. I don't mind cleaning the bathroom and I've added a few art items - a framed drawing of St. Paul's Cathedral, plus postcard art. Plus, I have a little ceramic dish of scented potpourri and I splurge occasionally on nice soap, and I display these items on the back of the toilet. I'm glad there are adequate sized towel racks (two) because that solves the dreaded mildew towel smell (ugh). One other annoying thing is the nicotine stains that come through the paint, sign of previous smoking tenants, which is gross.

Whichever builder thought cathedral ceilings in bathrooms were a good idea should have to shower in said bathroom in cold weather. Luckily we live in an area that does not get cold very often, but stepping out of the shower into a big bathroom with super tall ceilings on a cold morning is not fun. The only good thing I can say about it is that we never have to worry about steamy mirrors.

I love our bathrooms.

The one thing I would change...that the upstairs master bathroom had the same heated floor technology as the guest bathroom. Upstairs is either on or off and in a central swath down the middle of the tile. Downstairs has its on control box on the wall and is under the entire floor space.

Had a two pane folding glass shower door in the last place that was cloudy from hard water deposit. Not plugging the brand, but it does work; 'Orange Glo' takes off the deposit easily and without harsh funes. But, BIG caution, spray your cloth OUTSIDE of the tub/floor otherwise it could get dangerously slippery. ALso works on the fixtures.

Otherwise, current place, do need a stronger tension rod over the tub. Very cold floor & no fan. Plus, all bathrooms should have an overhead infrared heater as well as good lighting.

My biggest bathroom problem is that after trying to fix a running toilet myself (successfully), I accidentally smashed the toilet tank lid... this was a year and a half ago..

DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND A REPLACEMENT TOILET TANK LID?!!? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY DIFFERENT STYLES AND MODELS OF TOILETS THERE ARE AND THAT THEY KEEP CHANGING ALL THE TIME?!?!!!

ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND AN IDENTICAL TOILET...ANYWHERE!!!!

THERE ARE PROBABLY NO TWO TOILETS ALIKE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!!
(ok, so maybe thats an extreme statement).

But seriously... I live in a rented flat and don't want to admit to my landlords that I might have to change the whole toilet just because of the stupid lid, fearing they will go mental and rip me off, plus I havent got around to arranging it myself as it will probably be expensive.

So for now I dont allow guests to use that toilet and I have to be inventive in making a wire handle which reaches inside the tank to flush the toilet...

oh well....

UGLY (but well-laid, well-grouted, neat) floor to ceiling (including floor and ceiling) tile the i cannot afford to replace currently, as well as ugly fixtures (towel holders, soap holders) that are cut into the tile.

any suggestions for covering tile that won't make replacing it later a bigger pain in the butt?

The toilet seat is CONSTANTLY coming loose. It's vexing because it doesn't do that in the other bathroom. All the parts seem to be there and working fine. It's such a pain to constantly retighten it. Otherwise, the hall bathroom is pretty decent. We could use more storage in the master bath (which, while in the master bedroom, is actually much smaller than our hall bath) and will be looking for some over-the-toilet shelving and valet options this year.

I have two. I moved into a new apartment and love every part of it BUT the bathroom. It's extremely small and the toilet seems like an after thought. The toilet only allows one of the drawers on the vanity/counter to open half way and also makes it impossible to use the cupboards underneath that drawer. Storage space = cut in half. Another bad thing is that to close the bathroom door, you have to walk in and almost wedge yourself between the toilet and counter.

@SweeetTea - I just don't charge mine every day. It's good for almost a week between charges, and then I'll just charge it overnight or while I'm at work. The rest of the time, it's hidden in a drawer.

We have an undercounter plug, but it grosses me out to get my toothbrush from under the sink so I never use it.

@Canadian - if you want dark paint without the streaks, try using a flat paint. I had the same problem before!

@CaseyinTO - In response to caulking your tub, JUST DO IT! It's not too bad to rip out the old stuff and put in fresh caulk. You'll feel 100x better afterwards.

@SweeetTea Putting an outlet in a vanity is super easy for an electrician. Put a list of any/all electrical things you might need done around the house and call an electrician.

Before we had one installed in our mirrored vanity, I kept my charger hidden in the bedroom. I only needed to charge it once a week.

I don't know what it is, but the ring around the water line in the toilets in our hose seem to appear maybe 4 days after cleaning them. So weird! Cleaning toilets was never a weekly job for me but it is now. Since I hate bleach and those blue tablets, I'm going to see about baking soda tablets that are used for swimming pools.

@KhinNJ look into vellum roller blinds for the bathroom. I have them in my office and it lets almost all of the great daylight in but is still private. I could be hula dancing in my office and none of the neighbors would know...

Forget towel bars. Go for hooks instead. More versatile, space-saving, and every towel will fit on one.

i live in the tropics so ... water bugs

My biggest problem is storage in a foolishly tiny bathroom with a super small medicine cabinet (12"x14"), no sink counter or cabinet under the sink. I've resorted to a tiny cabinet in the hall outside the bathroom, but the hall is quite narrow, so the cabinet creates an unhelpful obstacle. Help!

So many of the above. One thing that has always bugged me....men must be designing placement of toilets (since most are not doing the cleaning)...CLEANING BEHIND THEM!!!
I have lived in many homes, apts and what a pain (literally) it is to clean, stooping and getting on knees...can never seem to stand with a mop or broom and just clean!
And the lighting....just great for the aging process!

I clean everything with a steamer - it blasts the dirt out of shower door tracks, cleans tile and grout, and does a great job on the toilets. No chemicals needed. Gets the shower and tub clean, gets the gunk out of the shower head and the scum off tile and shower doors. Makes faucets shiny, countertops gleam, mirrors sparkle. Gets the dust out of the ceiling fan vent. It also cleans my oven without anything more than a sponge. I recommend one with a tank, needs less refilling and has attachments to use on the floors, etc. I can do the whole house with stack of barmops and plain water. I have hardwood floors and they sparkle. I do love lavender cleaning stuff by Method or Mrs. Meyer so I use a little of that just for the scent in the bathroom.

For our one tub-shower combo, I use the polyester shower liner curtains at Bed Bath & Beyond which are 96 inches tall instead of the standard 72. This adds a finished look to the bathroom (we have high ceilings, but it would work in a standard 8 1/2 or 9 foot room). They are washable. I've had two in 15 years.

For towel racks, in one house we used a standard wooden curtain rod cut to about five feet, against the longest wall, and far enough from the wall. As the brackets are large, I think it wouldn't work to do a series of these, too busy. But if you can do one wall, it's a great solution. We stained ours dark - it was the 70's after all.... now I'd paint them white and use some of the upgraded brackets made for these rods.

The hinges of the toilet lid and sides where the pipe snakes -- both capture dust abd gook and aren't easy to clean well.

I'm going to look into a steam cleaner; maybe that's the way to go.

1) In my tiny bathroom there's a large litterbox (for a large breed kitty) requiring that kitty's litter mat extend to the area of the door. I can't find a litter mat that is thin enough to fit under the door, so if the bathroom door needs to close, the mat has to be lifted or repositioned. It's tough anytime we have a guest.

2) Tub mats that get disgusting and/or disintegrate after a couple of months, despite regular cleaning. When I was a kid my parents had one mat that lasted years; all I can find now are bad ones that need to be replaced frequently. There are some more "upscale" ones that might be better, but they are too wide for my tub.

3) Rust and god knows what under the tub spout in my tub, original to the building built in 1925. I scrub, but no amount of "elbow grease" helps. (Yes, that's a poke at the Kitchn post at the "ingredient" of the year) A neighbor had them "spray" a coating on her tub, but said it "wore off" after less than a year; god knows what chemicals were involved and I can't bear the thought of exposing myself to that sort of stuff.

4) Cleaning the toilet bowl under the water line, especially the curvy parts. Again, my plumbing is all from 1925, and its, uh... seen a lot. It's not noticeable to the ummm... casual user, but since I am the one cleaning it, I know it could be cleaner. Even if I could just give it a killer cleaning once a year I'd feel better,

I moved into a new apartment in April that had been newly painted antique white by the landlord. My bathroom walls now have yellow-ish drip marks tracking down all the walls from steam of running the shower. I wipe the walls down from ceiling to floor with a swiffer from time to time, but it keeps on happening. It's kind of gross and I have no idea what's causing it, and if whatever it is, is on me and in my hair when I get out of the shower... I mean, eww.

Use NurseWhite or SaniWhite shoe polish and a Q-tip on the grout/caulk. Scrub first (and use Clorox, too); apply polish with Q-tip. Let dry completely - at least an hour. Buff with dry cloth to remove white spots from tile. A second coat makes it last longer, but in any case, it will usually hold at least til the next mopping.

For the hair bands, get some of the plastic shower curtain rings and use them as a loop to store the scrunchies, elastics, and hairbands- I store them in a planter on the back of the toilet that matches my bathroom.

Water pik and electric toothbrush are getting a new home. They were both on the counter. I just ordered a narrow chrome "laundry rolling organizer" with adjustable shelves. It will fit between the wall and our vanity with the electrical plug above that area. As there are adjustable shelves, I plan to put my bathroom trash can on the floor with the first adjustable shelf above with clearance. Then, I'll put the toothbrush and water pik on the top shelf.
This will move them off the counter, next to my vanity, and still accessible & visible .... but OFF THE COUNTER! yippee - hope it works. The little shelving unit is being shipped to me.

Biggest complaint about any bathroom: I can't wash my makeup off without leaving water everywhere. Sinks just aren't big enough.

The landlord recently changed our over the mirror lights (globe-style bulbs) to orange florescent. Awful! I bought daylight-type florescent. Ugh! too bright; I looked un-dead.

I alternated globes: orange-daylight-orange-daylight. It looks like a circus marquee but the mix of light is very good now, much more natural and actually pretty close to "real" daylight. The blue daylights come on right away but it takes the oranges about one minute to brighten up. So its a bit like having the sun come out from behind clouds every time I go in there. In a weird way, its kind of uplifting.

I simply dislike everything about my bathroom. I live in an apartment and just moved into a bigger one. The former residents, well there is no polite way to say how discusting they were. I am a clean freak and even the management had issues with heavy commercial cleaners!! However, I am surviving and it has been a major improvement with the current and coming up renovations. I still dislike my 4x6 bathroom, but I use battery operated tooth brushes. No charger, no bulk on the counter, batteries stored in the utility room. I also will either store it under the vanity in the cubboard on a paper towel or I have a spot in the drawer just for my toothbrush. I also have the issue of having to lean over the sink, so I now just put on my makeup in my bedroom using the natural light from the windows.

Pour boiling water in the track, use a baby toothbrush and a small shop vac to suck it all up.

So true. Men measure a mop head then add half an inch. This is the measurement to use to make sure there is enough space on all four sides of the toilet.

For good quality tub mats that last I recommend only the Rubbermaid brand everything else is crap.

Toilets set too close to the walls so brooms and mops don't fit behind them. The gross track and shower doors. Shower doors that are shorter than shower nozzle. Cheap medicine cabinet that is rotting. No light near the medicine cabinet makes makeup application difficult. Particle board cabinets that are falling apart due to some water damage. Corian type all in one sink and backsplash is very easy to clean and keep clean but backsplash should be at least 15 inches tall and meet under medicine cabinet not be four inches high so it collects water. Baseboard water heating with ugly rusting metal heater covers it would be much better if the wall was tiled with white subway tile and a wall type heater from Runtal radiators which could be used as both a towel rack and bathroom heater. How about a half wall near the toilet where I could store the toilet brush/holder, the plunger and the garbage can so it is off the floor so I could quickly vacuum,swiffer and mop the floor without having to move that stuff out of the bathroom or pile it on the toilet.

Wooden baseboards in a bathroom should be ceramic baseboards. Drop ceilings

I've robe hooks instead of rods in a number of properties. They look great and you can place about three towels where only two used to go. The towels dry faster since they're not folded against each other. I've also placed them so that one is above the other; about a towel length above the other; looks great.

There are vanities that have outlets in them. Just have an electrician wire the wall behind. I have the same problem with my electric toothbrush. I've seen drawers that have outlets too for hair dryers, etc.

I've robe hooks instead of rods in a number of properties. They look great and you can place about three towels where only two used to go. The towels dry faster since they're not folded against each other. I've also placed them so that one is above the other; about a towel length above the other; looks great.

There are vanities that have outlets in them. Just have an electrician wire the wall behind. I have the same problem with my electric toothbrush. I've seen drawers that have outlets too for hair dryers, etc.

I found a BRILLIANT solution for how to have sufficient towel drying space. I put a second shower rod up, an inch or so away from the wall, inside the shower. It gives me five linear feet of towel drying space, hidden from sight. One could hang up another at a lower level. After everyone has taken his/her bath or shower, the towels get get hung up, and they're dry by the next day.

TWO SOLUTIONS:

Towel rod woes: An alternative to towel rods is using a decorative hook. New or salvaged. http://doordiy.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/hooked-on-character/

The towels' draping looks best if a tag or seam binding is stitched into the middle of the towel. Truly. http://pinterest.com/pin/289497082266659930/

Ventilation: A quiet, effective fan was recommended on this site: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/bathroom-vent-f-78803#comments

I have no storage except for 1 drawer which is too big. Who designed those vanities? The majority of my products are all small so impossible to find anything when I need it because it is piled in with 100 other things. My medicine cabinet is not recessed, so if you are brushing your teeth your choices are bump your head on the medicine cabinet to spit or spit on your shirt. I can't give up the vanity even though it is not only ugly, but installed incorrectly and falling apart because I have no storage and need every bit of space I can get. When one of my 2 small girls insists on coming into the bathroom (no knocking - EVER) and I'm standing up getting ready the door smacks me in the side. NO storage! I have to store toilet paper in the other bathroom (not too handy when you run out). Someone once put some kind of skid proof finish on the tub and now it not only doesn't work, but I can't get the stains off. The toilet is relatively new, but for some reason only flushes properly every other time. The fan sounds like it has a cold or maybe a cat stuck inside of it. Oh and did I mention that there is no storage? I'm angry just thinking about how much I hate my bathroom!!!

I kind of felt the only person who had this problem! I always get compliments on our claw foot tub but I HATE the shower curtains and how they crumple at the bottom and get moldy cause they never dry. I cut mine before so they are about 3 inches below the top of the tub. I also have a caddy at the end that makes the space even smaller and always falls. Share it with my husband too! If you ever find a good caddy let me know where you got it!

Now I'm on a role. I realized the only thing I do like about the bathroom is the wall paint- a robins egg pale blue green.
I hate:
The pedestal sink- no storage or counter tops
The tiny shelf above the sink that always fall3
The 4x6 size allows no extra storage
Clawfoot tub w/ shower curtains that drive me nuts. If I was pregnant my belly would be touching the curtains while I shower and I think I would fall.
No medicine cabinet
I have to do my hair and makeup in the guest room, which also doubles as my closet because our closets are so small. I sit on the floor in front of a full length mirror. It's a really big pain when we have company.

We are renovating the bathroom and can't find many vanities that just out 18" from the wall. Most are 20 or 22", which will not allow the door to open.

If anybody can recommend any retailers who stock small vanities, we would love to look at their stuff. I loved the Gramercy Single Glass Washstand Base by Restoration Hardware, but its specs are - 31"W x 21"D x 33"H and it's both too wide and too deep.

Before we gutted it, our bathroom had vanity lights directly at eye level, a pink 1960's bath, green plastic tile, linoleum floors, a rotting vanity and beige plastic wrap around the shower. And no outlets. I guess anything is an improvement, but I would love to know where to buy small vanities.

wall to wall CARPET in the bathroom!!! I am afraid to know what is under it!

Any ideas of economically priced alternatives to carpet would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Dirty glass - try Sprayway glass cleaner - an excellent product and squeegee in the future and every time.

Shower rod falls down - buy a better quality one - I promise they make ones that don't fall down - just have to spend more (surprise!).

Curved, non-level top of toilet - find a tray or basket and glue buttons or little bumper things, etc. to level.

Carpet - nasty! Replace with vinyl but that will mean having to put in new sub-floor. If it were my rental - I'd cover it with another area rug - at least you can wash that. I think this is what shower shoes are really made for!

On the towels - seriously consider cutting down on body-drying towels - get a nice absorbent robe and put it on after you shower. You can have a smaller towel to dry hair/legs, etc if you need it. Very green too!

I've been considering replacing the standard bathroom door with a sliding barn door to make my tiny bathroom seem bigger...no door swinging to the inside, more usable space. Has anyone done this?

With regard to the falling shower rod, I bought two Savern tension rods at IKEA, hung one up to hold the curtain and one about 3 inches lower and toward the inside to hang handwashing and wet towels on (so the tub catches any drips). They hold nice and tight and have not fallen down since I put them up two years ago.

I am moving into a new place with my boyfriend, there's only one bathroom (we previously lived in a place with 1.5 bathrooms). Along with my worries about sharing a bathrrom, I'm mainly worried about storage, there's no cabinet under the sink. We have an over-the-toilet shelving unit and my boyfriend plans to install multiple towel racks (there's only one), but the space is still small. I'm looking for ideas on how to store stuff under the sink or elsewhere efficiently and aesthetically pleasing.

My floor & medicine cabinet which are the originals from when the apt was built in 1964.