Non separate toilet in master suite

[RetiredHappy]

Which state or country is this funky unit located? I would not for the life of me want to stay in this kind of place for any extended period of time.

 

[pb4uski]

.... Question is: Is that enough privacy for you?

No. IMO that is a suboptimal design.

 

[Major Tom]

Wow no that is not a trend or a new thing. That is an odd thing that no one wants.

Absolutely. The only thing I saw once that was worse, was a studio apartment viewing that I attended. The tiny apartment was in a guest house in the back yard of a house. The entire apartment was one room. The toilet was a few feet from the bed, with not even a privacy screen around it. Even if I lived there on my own and never had guests over, it wouldn't have worked for me. Imagine having company over though. No thank you!

For a single person travelling it's fine, but anyone else no thank you.

Agreed. This whole thread would have been much more brief, if OP had been able to upload a photo in the beginning. However, conversation is often welcome, and the confusion led to a lively exchange

 

[Katsmeow]

OK. I will attempt to upload. No comments on the mess on floor, etc.

On the left of the wall is entrance to sink/toilet. Picture on the right shows tub and shower and second sink. To take the pictures, I am standing on either side of the bed. People lying on bed can watch TV. In the right picture, you can see an opening to a closet. Closet has a door. Door on the left side of the left picture exits to hallway.

Question is: Is that enough privacy for you?

Good heavens, no. That is awful. I've never seen anything like that.

What seems common where I am is that there is a separate bathroom for the master bedroom (opens to it only from the bedroom). In the master bathroom, there is a separate little room for the toilet. There is a door that goes from the toilet room (often called a water closet around here) that opens into the master bathroom (not into the bedroom). Virtually 100% of houses built within the last 25 years or so are set up that way. Maybe at the extreme low end it is different.

Out current house was built in the 1980s. I was shocked when we looked at it that there was no separate toilet room. There was a small wall between the toilet and the vanity but there no separate door. We lived with it for a year, hating it every second.

Then, we gutted the bathroom and part of the work was creating a separate toilet room. Since the bathroom is not huge we made the door a pocket door which works great.

 

[Aerides]

Ok apparently it's a thing, Open Concept Bathroom lol....(not in a good way, in a way to carve rentals out of normal spaces). This is from 2019 and looks similar, if better, but same issues:

https://www.insider.com/open-concept-bathroom-no-walls-photos-viral-2019-11

 

[CaptTom]

This is why I'm skeptical of designers. Doing something new and daring, pushing the envelope, is generally not a good thing for the people who actually have to live in the place.

Are there no building codes which prohibit this sort of thing? I know that a certain level of ventilation is a code required for a bathroom.

The only places doorless bathrooms are acceptable to me would be public venues like airports or highway rest stops. And those have maze-like walls to eliminate sight lines from any angle.

 

[Scuba]

Ok apparently it's a thing, Open Concept Bathroom lol....(not in a good way, in a way to carve rentals out of normal spaces). This is from 2019 and looks similar, if better, but same issues:

https://www.insider.com/open-concept-bathroom-no-walls-photos-viral-2019-11

I actually like this design. Very different from the OP’s pictures IMO. Maybe DH and I are outliers, but the door between our master BR and master bath only gets closed in the wintertime during showers. Our shower wall is all glass and the open room contains a large shower, two sinks and a toilet with no walls separating any of it except the glass partial wall around part of the shower. We don’t entertain others in our master suite and the two of us don’t feel we need privacy from each other. We have two other bathrooms in the house if we need simultaneous use of a toilet, but it would not bother me to use the toilet when DH is in our bathroom, or vice-versa. Obviously this is not the case for many others.

In our beach condo, the master bath had a separate WC, but the only time we actually closed the door to it is when we had others staying with us. The guest bath was pretty small and everything was in one room.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Remember the "love toilet" from SNL?

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I'm not sure it's the shower people object to being unseparated from the sleeping area.

The whole concept is about saving construction costs, IMO. Partial height walls are cheaper, and putting the WC in a separate room would require an additional light and exhaust fan as well.

 

[RetiredHappy]

In our current and previous homes, there is no door between the master bedroom to the bathroom. They are connected by a hallway where the large walk-in closets are off on each side. We like the design. Because the rooms are large, even when one of us goes off to use the toilet in the middle of the night, it does not wake the other person up.

 

[ponyboy]

Just to let OP know...its no longer appropriate to say "master" anything in regards to a home. That term isnt used anymore in real estate.

 

[Boose]

DH and I stayed overnight in a Yotel capsule hotel at Schiphol Airport. Couch converted into a double bed, and the bathroom was behind a wall of glass - with a frosted strip at waist level. Luckily, we're not that shy.
OTOH, there was the college mission trip to Appalachia, where we painted an elderly widow's house. The toilet was in a plywood partition in the bedroom corner. If one of us had to 'go,' we just told the others not to enter the room.

 

[Music Lover]

Just to let OP know...its no longer appropriate to say "master" anything in regards to a home. That term isnt used anymore in real estate.

I still use it, I'm beyond tired of politically correct/offended by everything people deciding what words are no longer allowed to be used and then expecting everyone to immediately comply as if they were the final authority.

 

[jollystomper]

In our current and previous homes, there is no door between the master bedroom to the bathroom. They are connected by a hallway where the large walk-in closets are off on each side. We like the design. Because the rooms are large, even when one of us goes off to use the toilet in the middle of the night, it does not wake the other person up.

Ours is a similar design. We have a L-shaped hallway off of the master bedroom. Before the bend there are 2 closets. After the bend is a large walk in closet. At the end is the sink area, no door. To the right of the sink area, through a door, is the toilet and bathtub/shower. Thick curtains separate the toilet area from the bathtub/shower area.


If I was forced at gunpoint to live with that "Open" design , I would see if tension rods across the open areas, with thick curtains, could provide some level of privacy and separation.

 

[JRon]

No matter how big the rooms are I want a separate master bathroom, with a door, from the master bedroom, which also needs a door.

SNL “Love toilet” - funny stuff!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Just to let OP know...its no longer appropriate to say "master" anything in regards to a home. That term isnt used anymore in real estate.

It is still used depending on where you are. My DW is involved in real estate over several states and the rules (as in for listing properties in MLS) vary greatly. Generally, the term "primary" is becoming the norm and I think this is a good compromise. I just asked and she said of 13 MLS systems she uses, only 6 restrict the term "master" (but they also won't let you use "blinds" and instead must use "window covering").

 

[freedomatlast]

Just to let OP know...its no longer appropriate to say "master" anything in regards to a home. That term isnt used anymore in real estate.

Around here in the Northeast, the term is still widely used and accepted in RE listings. Really tired of the PC nonsense.

 

[Scratchy]

Just to let OP know...its no longer appropriate to say "master" anything in regards to a home. That term isnt used anymore in real estate.

This is not true where I am, in California. A quick glance at the major sites-Coldwellbanker, Century21, Sotheby's show all of them using the term in every listing I saw.

 

[db79]

Looks like a poor remodel where they expanded into a neighboring room to increase the master and add a bathroom.

 

[MichaelB]

This isn’t the time or place to rant about PC terminology in real estate. How about we all get back on topic, which is a most unusual toilet location - in the master suite.

 

[anothercog]

I'm a big fan of water closets. If my house were bigger I would have them but it's definitely on a list of preferred wants if/when we move. Ideally with a Toto washlet.

 

[badatmath]

Personal opinion: I hate bathrooms where the toilet is next to the tub. Who on earth wants to take a bath with their head next to the toilet (as many have done their whole life). . .

Who takes a bath man? Showers all the way.

 

[JohnRM]

Word Police

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...let-in-master-suite-110194-4.html#post2640662
Just to let OP know...its no longer appropriate to say "master" anything in regards to a home. That term isnt used anymore in real estate.


Musicman replied:

I still use it, I'm beyond tired of politically correct/offended by everything people deciding what words are no longer allowed to be used and then expecting everyone to immediately comply as if they were the final authority.


I agree 100%... My sister told me I had to say "Physical distancing" instead of "social distancing" because it implies that you are anti-social. Shy has known me all my life, HELLO, I AM antisocial! The social distancing is my favorite part of this whole Covid mess! And we keep the terlit in the bathroom where it belongs!

 

[2177V]

Maybe a travel issue?

Sometimes we stay in upscale rented houses. In those houses they sometimes have a master suite with a toilet in the master suite. Most of the time, that toilet is in a separate room with a door. Sometimes, it is just separated by a six foot wall. Open on one side.

If you have seen this, you know what I am talking about. If you have not seen it, I am making no sense. If you have seen this, is this a new thing? Is this an upscale thing that only sophisticated people are used to?

I was a former building inspector and civil engineer and the best master suite that I have ever seen had two separate toilet rooms in the suite so the wife can keep the seat down and the husband can keep the seat up. Separate toilet rooms has a door for odor control so having a toilet without a door makes no sense to me.

Also... some Guys do not clean up after themselves if they miss the bowl so having two separate toilet rooms keeps the marriage happy. For some reason, the husband toilet room also has a small flat screen TV installed while the wife toilet room did not.

I mentioned this feature to high net worth people when I reviewed their plans for new construction of their upscale custom home. They immediately revised their plans for their bedroom suite to incorporate this feature although most high net worth people are already aware of this.

 

[Perryinva]

We have a hallway along the walk-in closets and a door at the bath room in the master suite. Many people need/want total darkness for sleep, so a door in the master bath is important. In my upbringing (NE USA) you always locked the door if you were using the john. Period. No one uses other facilities in the same bath while another is taking a dump. In the original design of our master, the toilet was in it’s own water closet with its own door, window & fan, popular around here, but claustrophobic IMHO. We eliminated the door and made the walls around it 1/2 height. You can’t see the toilet from the sinks, garden tub of large frameless glass shower. Treat the shower glass with Rainex when new & clean, and hard water spots that form come off rather easily with vinegar. Then retreat.