Amusing timing (bathrooms)

[thistlechaser]

A week or two back, someone on my friends list posted about bathrooms. They wrote about how odd it was to find a bathroom with the toilet, shower, and sink in the same room. I, on the other hand, had never seen the toilet/shower in a different room than the sink.

My current apartment is set up that way. The toilet/sink are in their own TINY room, and the sink/mirror is outside of it.

At the time I saw the post, I hadn't thought that arrangement would work at all. I understood why people might like it, but I didn't think it would work as well as it all being in one room.

Sadly I was correct.

There are things you need when getting out of the shower, and it would be nice to have your clothing in where it's warm and steamy. Even now, in summer, I dislike having to go out to the cold apartment to get dressed -- it's going to be awful in winter! Just taking your clothing/other stuff into the toilet/shower part doesn't work. It's about the size of a public restroom stall (with the bathtub attached to that), so there's really no room to get dressed. The toilet takes up fully 50% of the free space. There's no room for a little table or anything, because the door moves through what non-toilet space there is.

The other really big issue is my Kindle. If you drop a book into the toilet, that would be bad, but it wouldn't be anything like dropping your Kindle in. Right now, when I'm not taking a shower, I keep it on the edge of the tub. When I take a shower, I move it to the back of the toilet. In a perfect, normal bathroom world, I'd not move it above/across the toilet so often.

I'm going to see if I can find a tiny tiny little table for next to the toilet. Putting a shelf over/above the toilet doesn't work because that's where the towel bar is.

The bathroom is just a minor challenge. All in all, I like this new apartment a lot.

Comments

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

We've got a set of wire shelves that free-stands straddling the toilet tank. It does the job and I think they're pretty easy to find. I think ours came from bed bath and beyond...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was wishing something like that would work, but the towel bar is right over the toilet, so the towels would cover the shelf all the time, and maybe knock things off into the toilet. It's the only bar in either part of the bathroom too, so hand towel and wash cloth go there as well.

It's just a really poor setup, having to duck from one side to the other and back. Use the toilet, step outside and wash your hands, step back inside to dry hands.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

Can the towel bar be relocated?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I suspect not. Best place would be the back of the door, but those are hallow and I bet it wouldn't support the weight well (and likely would hit the wall when the door opens). Plus, being in an apartment, I don't get to switch up those things (unfortunately!).

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I've seen towel racks that hook over the top of a door. It might be worth a Google search :-)
https://m.bedbathandbeyond.com/m/product/totally-bath-over-the-door-towel-bar/3269194?skuId=44124991&mcid=PS_googlepla_nonbrand_storage_&product_id=%7Bproduct_id%7D&adpos=1o2&creative=144120241164&device=m&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQjw1K2_BRC0s6jtgJzB-aMBEiQA-WzDMT-Bb7xB2zFC7Yzp4BidsGw6b5QO6xK0CtBnJcFb3xAaAp8h8P8HAQ

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Wow, that looks great, and it's cheap, too! Thanks!

[mayanas.livejournal.com]

That sounds really confusing and inconvenient!

I remember my brother's flat in Copenhagen had a tiny bathroom. Stall sized - you could lean your head on the sink while sitting on the toilet or easily reach the door in front of you. Tiny, I tell you!. And it was the shower too so everything had to be covered up for shower time (no bath). My flat in the same complex had the same size toilet/sink room but the shower was its own huge room with lots of room - and yet still no bath. It was an old building with renovations done here and there so things had turned out weird.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It is really strange! I understand the toilet is a dirty thing, and flushing sends little drops of water into the air... but toilets have a cover for a reason.

Wow, having the shower as the bathroom sounds really odd. Interesting, but not convenient at all.

[hamsterwoman]

Depending on the kind of thing you keep your Kindle in, a simple hook might work. I have a padded fabric case with a wrist strap, which is great for hanging the Kindle on hooks in bathrooms. (But that type of cases no longer seems to be in vogue. The Etsy shop I got it from no longer sells them, looks like.) Anyway, if you don't have room for a shelf/table, that might be another solution.

re: split bathroom in general -- the apartment I grew up with had one, then I lived in a house with a combined bathroom, my parents have it split (the shower is accessible from the master bedroom, but the toilet -- which doesn't even have a sink) is not, and our house right now has them combined. I don't see any reason why split would be preferable for a person living alone, but when there's two or more people, it can definitely be a good thing when someone taking a bath/shower/spending ages on makeup does not mean the other person can't go to the bathroom :P

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ah! You're right, I hadn't thought that it would be handy for a couple. And it seems every single apartment is being used by a family, so that makes even more sense. The apartment complex is right next door to an elementary school, so I suppose that's a selling point for people with kids.

Great idea on the hook! Kindles don't weigh much, so that might just work!

[tersa.livejournal.com]

My last two bathrooms are the 'hotel style' where the sink and vanity were outside where the commode and tub are. I've also been unable to put any kind of storage over the back of the toilet due to one thing or another (towel bar in the first, window in the second).

I got around it by buying a short, super skinny cabinet at Target with four shelves in it (with doors on the bottom) that's juuuuust small enough to squeeze in the space between my toilet and tub. I can't seem to find something even close to my exact model online right now, but something like this shelving unit from IKEA (16 1/2" wide) or this slightly more expensive model from Target (15" wide) might also work.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I measured it, and I'd need something 11 inches wide at the most, so it's going to take some looking to find something.

I like the look of that Ikea one though. I'll head over that way if I don't find something more likely closer at hand. Thanks!

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Kobo sells waterproof e-readers!

https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/all/products/kobo-aura-h2o

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

... Wow. That would be very useful!

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Can you put a hook or two on the back of the door? Anything would help!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's what I have now, but the door is really odd. (I keep saying that about things in this apartment, but it was built in the 70s, and so the style is different than we're used to.) The door is nearly as tall as the ceiling, so though I have a hook on the door, it's so high I can barely reach it!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

That is a really odd arrangement for an apartment! I mean, there isn't a lot of space to work with anyway. Wonder why they built it that way.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Know what else is really odd? There are THREE outlets right at the corner where the front door meets the wall (by the hinges). What in the world would that be for?

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

WHAAAAAAAA? I have no idea? Seems like that wouldn't be a good spot, doesn't it effect how the door opens??

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

If I plugged anything in, yeah. It's just very strange!

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

I only recently saw my first bathroom where the shower was in a different room than the toilet (both rooms had sinks) when I was in a hotel in Indianapolis, and my thought was also WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS BUSINESS?

I mean, I get that maybe sometimes you have to poop RIGHT before you shower and you don't want to shower smelling poop, but like, there are at least three scented candle companies that are in business for this very reason.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's even worse. At least my toilet and shower are in the same room! Though having a sink in there would be really nice.

Who knew there were so many ways to have bathrooms? At least it's not just a squat hole in the floor...

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

Our el-cheapo apartment in Hamilton had one bathroom with a combined bathtub/show, toilet and sink with mirror.

Our 3-storey townhouse condo in Mississauga has a main bathroom with the same setup, an en-suite toilet with sink and mirror for the master bedroom, and a guest toilet with sink near the TV room.

My parents' houses (as they've moved over the years) in South Africa, England and Northern Ireland have all had similar setups.

This must be some weird American thing. ;)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

My mother called the "toilet/shower in a different room than the sink/mirror" arrangement European Style, so you're probably right!

The person on LJ who had made that post I mentioned is from Australia (I think) which further confirms it's an American thing.