Huge Bathrooms-Am I The Only One Who Doesn''t Get Them?

[joflier]

I like large bathrooms. I just like having space and room to spread things out! But I also spend alot of time there. I''m a primper, so it takes me awhile to take my shower, do my hair, and makeup. I have a radio in there, and just enjoy taking my time. When I remodeled, I created the room to have a really awesome ambience that makes spending time in there enjoyable. That being said, it''s not a huge room by any standards. Just moderate. I would''ve made it larger if I had been able. The price would''ve been close to the same to do so.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 6/18/2010 8:08:06 AM
Author: kama_s
Shut yer filthy mouth, Thing2!

Circe and I are going to be bathroom buddies for life. Seriously, I love a big,relaxing bathroom. I think it''s probably because when I was younger and wanted to get away from my family, I''d take a book and go into the bathroom. Lock the door, sit on the floor and read for hours. Conveniently, it was our only bathroom so my parents would be banging on the door trying to get me to come out! Hah.

Ha, I knew this thread would be controversial!

I think I''m just used to smaller bathrooms from living in Victorian-era apartments and houses for the last decade. Plus I am totally not a primper, so even if I had a HUGE bathroom I wouldn''t use it. I''m going to have to measure ours when I get home-pretty sure it''s in the 6'' range, if not smaller!

It doesn''t even feel cramped to me, though.

I agree with everyone about the bigger dressing room-that I can use! I actually have a pretty big dressing room of sorts-the previous owner of my house turned the trunk room into a big closet and it''s all mine. I love having so much room for my clothes and shoes!

 

[HollyS]

I wonder about a lot of stuff on - say - House Hunters, like when the customer is looking for ONLY granite, or ONLY stainless appliances, or a MASSIVE master suite, or a two-story entry (which is a b*tch to clean and a waste of heat/cool).

Since when did a media room outfitted like a movie theater become THE must-have?

It''s the McMansion syndrome.

The real problem comes when you try to sell your existing home, and everyone wants the McMansion-esque features like the football field bathroom and the gourmet kitchen with the 6-burner gas range - - and you ain''t got what they want. Lord help the hapless homeowner then.

 

[lyra]

I would always sacrifice ensuite bathroom space for closet space if given the choice. I hate soaker tubs. I want a jacuzzi tub which actually performs a duty. A separate shower is a must. Double sinks would be great, and you don''t need a huge counter to do that either. I don''t want a huge room that requires a ton of cleaning! I dislike a closet that is entered through the bathroom. I had the perfect bathroom vs closet in one house but then we had to move for a job. Since then it''s been too big or too small. The worst one was the too big ensuite with no door--just an open space at the end of the master bedroom. We actually built a wall and put a door in ourselves. Sheesh.

 

[swingirl]

We built a lovely family bathroom. I say "family" because at the time everyone encouraged us to create a master suite and I said poop to that. So our upstairs bathroom is not attached to a bedroom but instead is there for everyone to use. It has double sinks with nice counter space and deep bowls, deep enough to wash your hair or rinse out delicates. We have a jacuzzi tub which the kids used to use with their snorkel masks. A separate shower with a skylight. And my favorite part of our bathroom is a separate 4x5 "room" with a a pocket door that houses the toilet, bidet and linen closet. I love having the linen closet close. There are 2 fans, one in the toilet room and one in the main room. There are times when we have 3 people using the bathroom. During prom season our bathroom became the beauty parlor and there could be 5 girls primping in there.

Our bathroom is actually not huge like a bedroom. It''s just well laid out. I designed it and took advantage of the slopping roof line. The linen closet, shower stall and tub area have slopped ceilings. I came up with a much more creative use of the space than our architect did. It is a very functional bathroom and I don''t know what I''ll do when we sell this house.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Nah...I spend as little time in there as I possibly can. And I hate cleaning the bathroom, so the smaller the better!

 

[merilenda]

FI and I live in an apartment with 1 (fairly small) bathroom, so I admit that I highly covet my best friend''s large master bath with a soaker tub and separate shower.

However, there is totally a limit to the large bathroom coveting. A friend of ours recently bought a house (it''s one of those super suburban neighborhoods that kind of freak me out because every single house looks exactly the same, and it''s constant deja vu as you drive down the street) and their master bath is HUGE and ridiculous. It''s this massive amount of wasted space to me, plus, this honker of a bathroom separates their bedroom from their room-sized walk-in closet. Which is the stupidest design ever, if you ask me.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Date: 6/18/2010 12:42:48 PM
Author: HollyS
I wonder about a lot of stuff on - say - House Hunters, like when the customer is looking for ONLY granite, or ONLY stainless appliances, or a MASSIVE master suite, or a two-story entry (which is a b*tch to clean and a waste of heat/cool).

Since when did a media room outfitted like a movie theater become THE must-have?

It''s the McMansion syndrome.

The real problem comes when you try to sell your existing home, and everyone wants the McMansion-esque features like the football field bathroom and the gourmet kitchen with the 6-burner gas range - - and you ain''t got what they want. Lord help the hapless homeowner then.

I completely agree about McMansion syndrome.

When we were house hunting we narrowed down our options to antiques--charm and character was the top priority for us. We obviously love the house we are buying, but guess what is in the kitchen? Yep, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and stark white brand-new cabinets...in a house that is 250 years old. Obviously the owners were trying to cater to buyers with McMansion syndrome in a house where it made no sense. I don''t hate the kitchen, but I really don''t like it.

While bigger can sometimes be better, I think McMansion syndrome has taken us to another level. While watching House Hunters recently, I saw a classic example of this. The couple was in the kitchen and the wife commented on how much she "LOOOOVED" the island. She stretched her hand out to feel the granite and she couldn''t even reach the center of the island. What good is an island if you can''t even reach part of it??

 

[JSM]

Date: 6/18/2010 2:45:44 PM
Author: merilenda
FI and I live in an apartment with 1 (fairly small) bathroom, so I admit that I highly covet my best friend''s large master bath with a soaker tub and separate shower.

This is me! DH wants a bigger bathroom because we have ONE sink and one TINY counter surrounding it - which of course is covered with my stuff - hair product, makeup, moisturizer, etc. (no, there is no where else to put it, we don''t have room for shelves or even a linen closet!). A bathroom with two sinks would be heavenly.

 

[merilenda]

Date: 6/18/2010 3:34:43 PM
Author: jsm

Date: 6/18/2010 2:45:44 PM

Author: merilenda

FI and I live in an apartment with 1 (fairly small) bathroom, so I admit that I highly covet my best friend''s large master bath with a soaker tub and separate shower.

This is me! DH wants a bigger bathroom because we have ONE sink and one TINY counter surrounding it - which of course is covered with my stuff - hair product, makeup, moisturizer, etc. (no, there is no where else to put it, we don''t have room for shelves or even a linen closet!). A bathroom with two sinks would be heavenly.

That''s totally us, too! I''m a makeup addict and there is no feasible way I could fit all my makeup in the bathroom, so I have a station set up on the dresser in the bedroom. One thing that has really helped us is having one of those wire shelving units that fits over the toilet. We store towels, bathroom appliances, products, and even some makeup bins on there.

 

[JSM]

Date: 6/18/2010 3:43:39 PM
Author: merilenda

Date: 6/18/2010 3:34:43 PM

Author: jsm

Date: 6/18/2010 2:45:44 PM


Author: merilenda


FI and I live in an apartment with 1 (fairly small) bathroom, so I admit that I highly covet my best friend''s large master bath with a soaker tub and separate shower.

This is me! DH wants a bigger bathroom because we have ONE sink and one TINY counter surrounding it - which of course is covered with my stuff - hair product, makeup, moisturizer, etc. (no, there is no where else to put it, we don''t have room for shelves or even a linen closet!). A bathroom with two sinks would be heavenly.

That''s totally us, too! I''m a makeup addict and there is no feasible way I could fit all my makeup in the bathroom, so I have a station set up on the dresser in the bedroom. One thing that has really helped us is having one of those wire shelving units that fits over the toilet. We store towels, bathroom appliances, products, and even some makeup bins on there.

We do have one of those shelving units, unfortunately it only holds our bathtowels (there is NO WHERE else to put them, we have one closet in our apartment and it holds our clothes!).

Glad to know I''m not alone!

 

[Steel]

Why have a pokey bog?

I love my large master bathroom

. Our electrician jokes we could have a whole netball team in our shower. We have his and hers shower units in the large shower space, roll top bath, double sinks and a closed off wc and basin.

Would you really throw that out of bed for eating crakers?

Reeeaaaally.

 

[TooPatient]

Date: 6/18/2010 3:51:59 PM
Author: Steal
Why have a pokey bog?

I love my large master bathroom

. Our electrician jokes we could have a whole netball team in our shower. We have his and hers shower units in the large shower space, roll top bath, double sinks and a closed off wc and basin.

Would you really throw that out of bed for eating crakers?

Reeeaaaally.

Have you posted pictures?!??!

That sounds AMAZING.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 6/18/2010 3:51:59 PM
Author: Steal
Why have a pokey bog?

I love my large master bathroom

. Our electrician jokes we could have a whole netball team in our shower. We have his and hers shower units in the large shower space, roll top bath, double sinks and a closed off wc and basin.

Would you really throw that out of bed for eating crakers?

Reeeaaaally.

What is a pokey bog?

And I'm not hating on big bathrooms-I just don't get the point. I'd just rather have the space elsewhere, like for my clothes!

My parents recently built a house and their bathroom is very nice-separate vanities, stand up steam shower with a bunch of shower heads, soaking tub (I think it has jets), separate toilet room, but even with all that it's not huge.

 

[Hera]

I think any room can get too large and McMansions are a good example of that as someone already mentioned. The idea is that when they are too large and poorly designed, then they can feel cavernous and lose the coziness factor, therefore feeling uncomfortable.
I have seen some very pretty large ones but certainly they needed a lot of work and money to get them there. If I was to do a large bathroom I would do dark cabinetry, lots of low lighting, I would configure drapery if needed, perhaps a fireplace.

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

But do the people with big bathrooms have tiny closets? A lot of people are saying "I''d rather use the space for a closet." Methinks if they have big master suites, they have big closets as well.

We have a nice size master bath. Jacuzzi tub, separate shower, double sinks with plenty of counter space and drawers for make-up, hair stuff and I.LOVE.IT. But we also have a respectable closet attached.

I don''t know if I completely agree with the "McMansion" theory. Sometimes I just think that granite and stainless are the trend. Our house is a late 1970''s contemporary style. We have granite, stainless, "stark white cabinets," but I can''t imagine having anything else. It "goes" with our house. I don''t see the issue with upgrading?

So we could look at a person with a penchant for a large, luxurious, bigger than necessary bathroom and think "what''s the point? I don''t get it." And they could look at our ideal cut diamonds in one-of-a-kind settings that scored super high on the HCA with great idealscope images and think the exact same thing. To each their own.

 

[BoulderGal]

I could do with a smaller, better laid out bathroom. We could get rid of the soaker tub too--all I ever do is air dry stuff in it like bras and bathing suits. The last person to actually use it was my daughter more than six months ago.

 

[gardengloves]

I like a big master bath. In our house it was a real selling point when we walked through- we loved the footprint- it had two walk in closets on opposite ends , private toilet room, two vanities on opposite walls, soaking tub and shower. We''d seen many houses, but after we went through this house - said let''s take it when we came out of the master bath. Went straight to realtors office and made offer. It literally sold us on the house- ( mainly the two walk in closets, which was a total luxury)

We since redid everything, but kept footprint because it was laid out nicely for two people to be together but not to bump into each other - took out the gigantic and totally unusable tub, because it never filled with enough hot water to actually take a bath, and replaced with a small free standing tub that is great for a super hot steaming bath.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

I don''t think I''d mind a huge master bathroom as long as the space wasn''t really taking away from anything else (i.e. as long as I have a GIANT house

). I''d love to have a big sunken tub and a double vanity

 

[Lulie]

In my world, the bathroom is the Only room in the house you spend Me time..so I'm guilty. Love my own private toilet/sink/counter and sitting area. After a few kids and little 'me' time, I think rather than 'more to pay' it's more room to to 'play'.
Our first home had only one bathroom 6x10, trying to take a shower while little ones wanted to use the toilet was no fun, I had zero privacy for years.

 

[Amethyste]

Date: 6/17/2010 10:33:16 PM
Author:thing2of2
I love to watch HGTV and see all the houses, but I never get why people always want a huge master bathroom. It just seems like a waste of space! All I do in the bathroom is shower and use the toilet-why does it need to be the size of a bedroom?

What about you-do you love a big bathroom? If so, why?

AMEN TO THAT !!!!!
I don''t get it either - i spend soooooooooooooo little time in the bathroom and when my hubby is in it (

)while i am getting ready, I spend EVEN less time there! I don''t want to waste valuable space for that.
I also do not need to have my bathroom connected to the master bedroom either.

 

[packrat]

I''d rather have a gigantic kitchen than bathroom. Lots of counter space and cupboards.

 

[Karl_K]

I want a separate potty room and bathroom.
huge tub and a huge walk in shower... but put the toilet in the other pottyroom!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Our master bathroom is 12''x10'' and our toilet is in a separate water closet. I prefer to have 2 doors between me and the bedroom, and 3 between me and the rest of the house.

In houses we have rented in the past, the master bathroom was normally of a semi-decent size, but for some reason, all of the builders in DFW in the ''80s thought that saloon doors were super chic. So I paid a LOT of attention to bathrooms when we were house hunting.

I think I''d probably be more dedicated to more room in the closet, but I think my wardrobe adapts to whatever size closet we have. Our current one is 8''x10'' and now IT''S overflowing.

 

[tigian]

Definitely don''t want or need a huge bathroom, but I would like to have quality fixtures, tiles, and floors.

 

[ksinger]

Date: 6/18/2010 12:42:48 PM
Author: HollyS
I wonder about a lot of stuff on - say - House Hunters, like when the customer is looking for ONLY granite, or ONLY stainless appliances, or a MASSIVE master suite, or a two-story entry (which is a b*tch to clean and a waste of heat/cool).

Since when did a media room outfitted like a movie theater become THE must-have?

It''s the McMansion syndrome.

The real problem comes when you try to sell your existing home, and everyone wants the McMansion-esque features like the football field bathroom and the gourmet kitchen with the 6-burner gas range - - and you ain''t got what they want. Lord help the hapless homeowner then.

And the biggest irony on the kitchen part, is the vast majority of the people who want that gourmet kitchen don''t actually cook, they just want it because they think it''s cool or a status symbol. If they DID cook, they''d know a smaller, excellently designed kitchen is usually easier to actually cook in. Although, if they do cook, well, a 6-burner IS pretty plush. if we''d had space for a 6-burner, I''d have been right there. But hey, you make do.

Our kitchen is infinitely better than pre-remodel, and I''ve cooked quite successfully in waaay worse layouts and with far less counter space.

 

[Haven]

Date: 6/19/2010 4:56:59 PM
Author: ksinger

Date: 6/18/2010 12:42:48 PM
Author: HollyS
I wonder about a lot of stuff on - say - House Hunters, like when the customer is looking for ONLY granite, or ONLY stainless appliances, or a MASSIVE master suite, or a two-story entry (which is a b*tch to clean and a waste of heat/cool).

Since when did a media room outfitted like a movie theater become THE must-have?

It''s the McMansion syndrome.

The real problem comes when you try to sell your existing home, and everyone wants the McMansion-esque features like the football field bathroom and the gourmet kitchen with the 6-burner gas range - - and you ain''t got what they want. Lord help the hapless homeowner then.

And the biggest irony on the kitchen part, is the vast majority of the people who want that gourmet kitchen don''t actually cook, they just want it because they think it''s cool or a status symbol. If they DID cook, they''d know a smaller, excellently designed kitchen is usually easier to actually cook in. Although, if they do cook, well, a 6-burner IS pretty plush. if we''d had space for a 6-burner, I''d have been right there. But hey, you make do.

Our kitchen is infinitely better than pre-remodel, and I''ve cooked quite successfully in waaay worse layouts and with far less counter space.

This KILLS me!

We have friends who recently bought a brand new, very expensive top-of-the-line everything condo in the city. Their kitchen is AMAZING. (Not my style with the granite and very trendy-right-now finishes) but the appliances are all incredible. And . . . neither of them cook. Ever. When we first saw their place my husband told them "Haven is going to drool when she sees this kitchen" and I did! They told me all about how they had the option to upgrade all of their appliances and so they did, and when I said "Does this mean you''re going to start cooking now?" they laughed and basically said "Hell no!"

Oh, that poor kitchen is just dying to turn out a great dinner for a lot of people. The layout is fabulous, too--none of that huge empty space in between things. I could tell that the designer really took work spaces into mind when creating the layout.

That''s okay. I''ve turned out some fabulous parties from my little box kitchen with its original 1958 cabinetry and plain old four burner. I do doodle sketches of my dream kitchen for a future addition, not that that is definitely going to happen or anything.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Yeah, all this giant bathroom and kitchen business is just part of the super-sizing of our expectations.

I will say, I wish I had a master bathroom. We have a house that''s almost 100 years old and which was originally built with only one small bathroom. The previous owner did all sorts of great things . . . bumped out the bathroom so that it has double-sinks and a linen closet, added a half-bath downstairs, and added a 3/4 bath in the basement. We came from a 700 sq. ft. condo with a tiny bathroom (pedestal sink, toilet with no bowl to save space, and the tub about 4 inches from the toilet), so I SHOULD be satisfied with my 3 bathrooms, but still I dream . . . I dream of a bathroom incapsulated within my bedroom for privacy''s sake. Now that we have a daughter, and whenever we have guests, I wish I had a bathroom in my bedroom!

 

[Amethyste]

I want a normal size bathroom - but I guess I really want is a claw-foot bath tub!
they make me quiver-happy!

 

[MonkeyPie]

I love garden tubs and dual sinks, so if to have both means I need a big bathroom, then so be it

I haven''t had a tub in years and years...I miss baths.