Why???

[Sandi Egan]

Recently I’ve visited many new building sites, and there are two floor plan features that drive me nuts:

1. There is no door between master bedroom and master bathroom
2. The walk-in closet is located behind master bathroom, so you have to pass through the bathroom to get there.

If the first problem is easily addressed, there is no way around the second one. Pretty much every single model I have visited had these flaws. Is it just fashionable, or is there some deep meaning in this that escapes me? Am I the only one annoyed by this?

[temeculaguy]

I’m with you on the Master bathroom door and it is not easily remedied because many larger homes have huge arched entrys to the master bath where a door would be huge and look stupid. But many couples don’t arise and ready at the same time, causing someone to be awakened by the light and running water. I’m going with this as my reason for no more wives and sleepovers are limited to 3 a.m., I’m having a sign made and prefacing the warning with, “Due to architectuaral flaws.”

Here’s pet peeve, medium sized (2,000 sq ft.) 3 and 4 bedroom newer homes with single sinks and almost zero drawers or cupboards in secondary baths and pedestal sinks in half baths. Where the heck does the toilet paper backups go. And how come no architect has ever had a teenage daughter and the sheer volume of bathroom crap that they consider essential, they need more than a single undersink cupboard and 7 sq inches of sink counter space, not to metion sharing that space with other secondary bedroom users. It’s now to the point that the first thing I ask about is the secondary bathroom. That’s where the sit down vanity is needed. Otherwise the girls are alwas in my bathroom and since there is no door I can’t sleep in.

Message to the architects-3/4 of the time in my home it is just a place I sleep, why is there no consideration to facilitating that, do they have stock in Redbull?

The closet placement does have a reason, the menfolk can see the womenfolk walk naked to the closet naked while brushing their teeth, that’s also why the mirrors are there because if you’ve seen us dress ourselves we never look at ourselves in them, that one is here to stay.

[cyphire]

I like the closet being in the bathroom – our last bathroom was large and had two separate walk in closets. As long as there is a separate toilet room, I consider this a nice feature. It’s nice not to have extra doors in the bedroom, by putting it in the bathroom, you save 2 doors (for the bathroom).

[patientlywaiting]

Humidity causes mold and is bad for your clothes, drapery, mattresss, etc… Ideally the bathroom would have a strong exhaust fan.

All bathrooms should be on the side of the house with a window to evacuate the smell. A bathroom should never be smack in the middle of the house.

I agree that the secondary baths should have vanity areas for the girls. These days, a new house should have a bathroom for each bedroom.

Some mc mansions now have snoring room so the snoring spouse can decamp to that smaller bedroom in the middle of the night.

[stockstradr]

Recently I’ve visited many new building sites, and there are two floor plan features that drive me nuts

we are renting, and your post perfectly described our flawed master bedroom. Yes it is a problem, and no we didn’t think about it before moving in.

[Coronita]

Humidity causes mold and is bad for your clothes, drapery, mattresss, etc… Ideally the bathroom would have a strong exhaust fan.

All bathrooms should be on the side of the house with a window to evacuate the smell. A bathroom should never be smack in the middle of the house.

I agree that the secondary baths should have vanity areas for the girls. These days, a new house should have a bathroom for each bedroom.

Some mc mansions now have snoring room so the snoring spouse can decamp to that smaller bedroom in the middle of the night.

 

Come on, humidity is a problem in San Diego? Most masterbaths have at least a window or two + exhaust fan. I have to agree with cyphire. Having the walk in closet inthe bathroom is very convenient.

What irks me is having a laundry room upstairs. Every time i go on a long trip, I'm always leary of a washer hose breaking and flooding the house. That's why I end up always turning off the washing machine waer supply lines before vacation.  Never understood this. Are people that lazy to go downstairs to do laundry? 

[golfproz]

Are people that lazy to go downstairs to do laundry?

Eh…YES! That’s one of the first things my wife looks for in a 2-story. Is the laundry room upstairs. With 3 kids, hauling laundry up and down the stairs all weekend long gets old real quick. Never thought about the leak issue, but then agaiin the same problem can happen in a bathroom.

The thing that frosts my arse on most of the new homes is the waste of space and then they give you 10 x 10 bedrooms in a 3000 sq/ft home. WTF, 3000 sq/ft and with the exception of the master the other bedrooms are the size of the master walk-in closet. It’s like they are building these monster 5 bedroom homes for a family with no kids.

[Sandi Egan]

Don’t people worry that the kids can walk in while parents are in the bathroom? Is it considered OK nowadays, or do they lock the entire master suite while in the shower? And if they do install the door, is it convenient, that one person occupies both the bathroom and the closet simultaneously? How long are you going to wait for your turn, if your wife is in there?

To me the ideal design is when the closet is right by the bathroom, but outside, as in Plan 2 in Ridge at Saratoga:
http://www.pardeehomes.com/neighborhood.php?arch=0&r=2&c=1&n=181

[Coronita]

Eh…YES! That's one of the first things my wife looks for in a 2-story. Is the laundry room upstairs. With 3 kids, hauling laundry up and down the stairs all weekend long gets old real quick. Never thought about the leak issue, but then agaiin the same problem can happen in a bathroom.

More likely in the laundry room than a bathroom. The hose connecting your washer to the faucets typically are hoses slightly better than your garden hose. Ok, that's an exageration. But those hoses (typically rubber), crack over time and burst. It's much more likely for this to happen. 

[cyphire]

Why would I care if my kids see me naked???? I think that it’s pretty normal.

We have never made a big deal of wearing clothes around the house. I think the Japanese say “Nakedness is often seen, but never noticed…”

Naked Cyphire….

[Alex_angel]

A laundry room downstairs is ideal. When the kids are sleeping you can still do the laundry and not worry about waking them up.

You complain about no privacy with the lack of bedroom/bathroom door and that the wife will be woken up but then where do you want the closet? If it is in the bedroom then you have to get dressed while your spouse is trying to sleep.

[ibjames]

The closet I wouldn’t be too concerned with, no door to the bathroom I would be. My wife drops bombs

[stockstradr]

Are people that lazy to go downstairs to do laundry?

By chance we are now in 2-story SFH with laundry room on 2nd floor, five steps from our master bedroom.

Yes, my wife and I agree this is great!

In the evening, we can relax and watch TV in the MB, and fold/iron clothes at the same time. Very convenient.

The “leak” risk is easily solved by setting the washing inside a metal waterproof “tray” that has sides about 3″ tall.

Tip: always remember to put a smoke detector in your laundry room, something I did last week. Dryers are of course most frequent starting point of fires.

[gracie]

I love having the laundry room upstairs….With three kids and all their activites…I can easily grab the clothes, wash and put them in their rooms.
I do wonder about the hose/flood issue. Many of us have those trays under our washers….but, if a real leak was to occur those little trays are not going to hold that much water.

[ibjames]

ummm…. if you are really worried, replace the hose every year, they are cheap

[Author]

Posts