Um, no. Open plan bathrooms

[ttt]

Why would this ever appeal to anyone?? I can think of a million reasons why this is terrible - the temperature without walls to keep the heat in, getting water all over the place, the obvious lack of privacy.

I'm also curious to know where the toilets are in all of this.

www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2013/09/25/bathrooms_without_borders_the_end_of_privacy_at_home.html

The Fall of the Bathroom Wall
By Kristin Hohenadel



The joys of washing up in the same room where one sleeps used to be found only in urban garrets and budget hotel rooms, a solution born of limited real estate or means.

But in the last decade the open-plan bedroom/bathroom suite has become a signature feature in luxury hotels around the world. Knocking down bathroom walls completely, erecting glass-walled bathrooms (with or without modesty curtains or blinds) and installing peekaboo showers allows natural light to penetrate through the space, air to flow and guests to let it all hang out, suggesting design-forward spa-like sex appeal (and logistical awkwardness when sharing a room with people who were never meant to see you naked).


The Standard Hotel High Line in New York City



New York City’s Standard Hotels are known for their exhibitionist-friendly all-glass exterior walls, but the in-room tubs and glass showers add another dimension to the show. The Standard's High Line and East Village locations offer the kind of sexy special occasion suites you might rent for a casual romp a la Michael Fassbender in the 2011 film Shame.


 An open-plan bedroom/bathroom at the Standard Hotel's High Line location in New York City.


Located in a former World War II prison, the Lloyd Hotel and Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam offers one- to five-star rooms. Its two-star rooms include an open-plan bathroom (seen at the top of this post) designed to maximize space and light. Another room type features a cleverly designed fold-out bathroom that acts as a room divider and stows away to increase floor space when not in use.


A room at Amsterdam's Lloyd Hotel has a fold-out bathroom that acts as a room divider then stows away when not in use.



A three-star room at the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam has a pivoting bathroom divider.



The Hotel Particulier Montmartre in Paris is a romantic hideaway for a weekend affair or a honeymoon. Smack in the middle of its top-floor suite you'll find a floating painted claw-footed bathtub that looks like part of the furniture.


The bathtub is part of the furniture in a deluxe room at Paris' Hotel Particulier Montmartre.


Like many hotel trends, the open-plan bathroom layout has spread to the home. These new master bedroom/bathroom/lounge suites challenge the conventional notions that his and hers lavatories are the key to marital happiness and that preserving mystery helps keep a couple together.

Isn’t the bathroom a last refuge in a shared living space? A place to collect yourself before ending up in a fight? A communal space that requires tactful negotiations when doubly occupied and guarantees implicit privacy with the lock of a door? And what about those night owl/early bird couples who don’t want to wake partners still sleeping?

“I think of bathrooms as living rooms,” Morgane Rousseau, who designed the Hotel Particulier Montmartre, told me in an email. “The bathroom is a private place sometimes but it’s also for sharing.”

Rousseau is currently designing an open-plan bathroom for a private apartment in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, where “the bathrooms are open and thought out like salons,” with fireplaces, armchairs, tables to


 A glass-walled bathroom acts as a room divider between sleeping and lounging spaces at the Hotel Particulier Montmartre in Paris.


“When I made a proposal to the client to outfit a real room for the bathroom she was enchanted. She’s a very elegant and beautiful woman and I thought the idea of it matched her.”

Is having open-plan bathrooms just the natural extension of our open kitchens and a general global modern-day tendency to open up our living spaces and live in lofts or loftlike spaces? Is it an extension of the idea that bathrooms aren’t just functional necessities but spa-like focal points of our sanctuary-like homes? Or has the erosion of privacy in our public lives just made us all more comfortable being overexposed, even at home?

Rousseau thinks it’s a generational question. “I think with age we look for ways to seduce by modest gestures and by covering ourselves up,” she says. “I don’t see myself proposing an open bathroom to older people; they need much more privacy."

[mominatrix]

I read this yesterday.

The shower out in everything... no.

But I do love the big tubs in the big windows with amazing views. At night? Yes, please!

[Velar Fricative]

Fuck no. If I wanted to have an open bathroom I'd commit a crime so I can go to prison.

Bathrooms are private. Get off my lawn.

[msmerymac]

The tub isn't too bad. I've seen plenty of hotels with tubs that are in the room or on the other side of a non-opaque glass wall. If you're taking a bath, it's usually a relaxing and sometimes sexy time. But If I'm washing my hair or shaving my legs, or using the toilet... no. Sorry. Those things are not sexy and are private. My husband and I still close the door when we pee, probably because we don't have kids yet.

[meshaliuknits]

There was a hotel we stayed at in Seattle that had the bathtub behind a clear glass wall. It was cool because I could watch tv from my bubble bath. The tub also filled from the celing. It still had a curtain to close it off, though, if desired. Thats about as close to an open bathroom as I'm willing to get.

[munkii]

When I was house hunting in Indianapolis, I found a few master suites (I don't know that I would call them that) like this.

Also, one of the families in the show Prisoners of War had an open bathroom.

I don't get it.

[ttt]

I'm looking at those showers and how the hell do you prevent water from getting everywhere??? And even the tub - how do you keep water from getting all over the carpet?? That seems like a recipe for mold.

[ttt]

One of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed at had a wall between the bathroom and the main room that you could rotate around so you could watch TV in the bathtub. It was so awesome. But, it still had walls.

[cattledogkisses]

No.

Like I said in the pooping thread yesterday, I don't think a little privacy in a marriage is weird or unhealthy. I prefer to use the bathroom, shave my legs, etc. without an audience.

[ttt]

Sept 26, 2013 10:30:17 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Much like open concept everything else, this is just another way to charge the same money to give you less product.

But it's got electrolytes!

[ringstrue]

Our honeymoon suite had the jacuzzi next to the bed, and the sink was "out" too. The master suite at the condo in ILs timeshare has an "open" shower (no door, clear glass wall) which was actually much more practical for families with small kids than you'd think, but bad for small kids with a the sprayer in their hands...

Both had toilets with a door, which is crucial, imo.

honeymoon suite:



ETA - if I remember correctly there was a shower in with the toilet in the honeymoon suite too. 

[moreace01]

The concept seems like a good idea...but in practice, not so much. I like it when the bathroom gets steamed up from the shower - harder to do when the bathroom is now 3x as large. Plus...then everything else just gets humid and damp.

And then...sometimes you don't want to be out in the open. Its maybe a nice, romantic idea in concept, but in reality when you've had a long day and just want to be in the shower for 10 minutes without being bothered, being on display is nothing but annoying. And you need to make sure every single blind is buttoned down and closed.

H and I had a hotel room like those shown once. And it was cool for about 5 minutes. Then it was just annoying. One of us had to leave the room when the other had to use the bathroom.

Unless you are an exhibitionist and don't care about these things. Then have at it.

[ttt]

Sept 26, 2013 10:36:38 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

No.

Like I said in the pooping thread yesterday, I don't think a little privacy in a marriage is weird or unhealthy. I prefer to use the bathroom, shave my legs, etc. without an audience.

I'm with you. My husband sees enough of my ugly side - there's no need for him to see me on the toilet too.

[Michelle]

See yesterday's discussion regarding pooping in private. The end.

[IIOY]

My husband and children do not need to see me applying cream to my itchy poonan.

[mominatrix]

Sept 26, 2013 10:31:37 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

There was a hotel we stayed at in Seattle that had the bathtub behind a clear glass wall. It was cool because I could watch tv from my bubble bath. The tub also filled from the celing. It still had a curtain to close it off, though, if desired. Thats about as close to an open bathroom as I'm willing to get.

can you tell me where?

I'm wanting to plan a weekend away, and that sounds heavenly.

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 26, 2013 10:46:02 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Sept 26, 2013 10:31:37 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

There was a hotel we stayed at in Seattle that had the bathtub behind a clear glass wall. It was cool because I could watch tv from my bubble bath. The tub also filled from the celing. It still had a curtain to close it off, though, if desired. Thats about as close to an open bathroom as I'm willing to get.

can you tell me where?

I'm wanting to plan a weekend away, and that sounds heavenly.

W hotel, I think? I wanna say it was a letter. Might have been M but I think that one is in Vegas.

[penguingrrl]

No. Just no.

Everything in the entire suite would then get steamy and wet and mold up. Plus I love to steam up the bathroom (only way I've found to get a really smooth shave!), which would be really difficult.

Besides, some things just need to be private, even from your SO. Even my children know not to even talk to me through the door when I'm using the bathroom unless someone is bleeding.

[EloiseWeenie]

No thanks. I stayed in this sketchy hotel in Athens (I think? Definitely somewhere in Greece), and the shower was in the corner of the room, with a pane of glass to keep the water from going into the rest of the room. It wasn't any form of upscale, it was dingy, disgusting, and wear shower shoes type of corner. It made things extra weird, because I was traveling with 3 friends- 1 girl and 2 boys. Awkward.

[pt716]

I like open kitchens, but this is ridiculous. I want privacy in the bathroom.

[mominatrix]

Sept 26, 2013 10:48:55 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Sept 26, 2013 10:46:02 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

can you tell me where?

I'm wanting to plan a weekend away, and that sounds heavenly.

W hotel, I think? I wanna say it was a letter. Might have been M but I think that one is in Vegas.

I know it!
I once spotted John Goodman in the bar there, back before I was an old married with kids, who doesn't get out to hotel bars.
::sigh::

[redheadbaker]

Sept 26, 2013 10:31:06 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

The tub isn't too bad. I've seen plenty of hotels with tubs that are in the room or on the other side of a non-opaque glass wall. If you're taking a bath, it's usually a relaxing and sometimes sexy time. But If I'm washing my hair or shaving my legs, or using the toilet... no. Sorry. Those things are not sexy and are private. My husband and I still close the door when we pee, probably because we don't have kids yet.

FI and I still close the door, and we do have a kid.

I'm mobile and miss my physical keyboard!

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 26, 2013 10:51:45 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Sept 26, 2013 10:48:55 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

W hotel, I think? I wanna say it was a letter. Might have been M but I think that one is in Vegas.

I know it!
I once spotted John Goodman in the bar there, back before I was an old married with kids, who doesn't get out to hotel bars.
::sigh::

LOL

it was a really nice hotel. H booked it b/c they had a French press in the room.

[mominatrix]

Sept 26, 2013 10:54:32 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Sept 26, 2013 10:51:45 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

I know it!
I once spotted John Goodman in the bar there, back before I was an old married with kids, who doesn't get out to hotel bars.
::sigh::

LOL

it was a really nice hotel. H booked it b/c they had a French press in the room.

they also have condoms in the rooms.

[msmerymac]

This was the hotel bathroom we stayed in when we were in Seattle. See that colored wall in the shower? It's glass. You can see silhouettes, but still do what you have to do. There was another one on the back side of the shower, to the left:



This is the Japanese soaking tub (amazing!) at the Cosmopolitan, which I think had clear glass separating it from the bedroom:



And then this is the room we had once with the tub in the room, but the rest of the bathroom walled off (Rumor Las Vegas):

[karinothing]

I like it with the tub, but agree the shower is weird. I dated a boy with an open shower and it was always cold in there! not fun.

[doctordonna]

Sept 26, 2013 10:46:02 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Sept 26, 2013 10:31:37 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

There was a hotel we stayed at in Seattle that had the bathtub behind a clear glass wall. It was cool because I could watch tv from my bubble bath. The tub also filled from the celing. It still had a curtain to close it off, though, if desired. Thats about as close to an open bathroom as I'm willing to get.

can you tell me where?

I'm wanting to plan a weekend away, and that sounds heavenly.

Not mesh (obvs.) but I really like The Inn at Langley up on Whidbey Island.  

This is one of their rooms.  That window just to the right of the bed?  That's where the bathroom is.  You can sit in the bathtub and look out the picture window looking out over the water or watch the TV.  Also, it has this fantastic shower that is in the middle of the bathroom.  

The toilet area has a door, though. 



www.innatlangley.com/about/

[froggy76]

I went to an open house once where the master bathroom (toilet and all) was open to the master bedroom. The house was FSBO and the owners were there, so I asked them if they knew how difficult it would be to close off the master bedroom. They looked at me like I was some kind of prude.

[ttt]

I mean, think about how much it sucks to shave your legs while you're cold and have goosebumps.

[ringstrue]

Sept 26, 2013 11:38:56 GMT -5 @beagle said:

Sept 26, 2013 10:38:00 GMT -5 ringstrue said:

Our honeymoon suite had the jacuzzi next to the bed, and the sink was "out" too. The master suite at the condo in ILs timeshare has an "open" shower (no door, clear glass wall) which was actually much more practical for families with small kids than you'd think, but bad for small kids with a the sprayer in their hands...

Both had toilets with a door, which is crucial, imo.

honeymoon suite:



ETA - if I remember correctly there was a shower in with the toilet in the honeymoon suite too. 

Did you go to Excellence?  That's exactly what our room looked like.  There are 2 doors, one for the shower and one for the toilet.

I loved soaking in the tub and watching TV, but I wouldn't want this for my own house.  I'd rather mount a TV in the bathroom.  

Yes it is! 

I think I got in the tub just once. I think it's smarter to have the floor be tile instead of carpet. But also it's on the coast in the Carribean so carpet would probably be stupid no matter what. 

If I recall the TV was crap and didn't even have cable - or maybe just basic cable?