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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Everyone has a room of their own except me and it’s bothering me.

285 replies

ThePond · 09/01/2025 13:29

I can’t change it but it’s getting me down. 3 bedroom house. Two kids. Husband now permanently working from home since they shut the local office so he’s fashioned a sort of den in the loft
out of plaster board to work in which he’s actually made quite comfy after a few years. I hate ladders and will only go up there if it’s essential so I rarely see it but it’s not at all bad with a desk and a nice chair in front of the little window up there.
Kids have their own rooms.
Our bedroom is like Piccadilly Circus. The en-suite has the only shower (bathroom has bath) so everyone wants to use it, which is fine and doesn’t bother me that much but it’s frustrating occasionally to not be able to change clothes when I want because a teenager is having an everything shower that could last into next week.

My major problem is that I can never just be on my own. I can’t ban my husband from his own bedroom and if I shut the door he will just barge in whenever the need takes him and then leave again leaving it open. He likes to watch telly stretched out in bed (I do too sometimes) but if I decide I want lights out I have to ask him to stop doing something rather than just call it a night and leave him downstairs to his own devices.

its always been this way and was only a mild irritant but I’m now perimenopausal and I often find myself desperately wanting to just be alone. I find it irrationally irritating now that he will just walk in through a shut door without thought, despite the fact it’s his bedroom and he has every right to. If he shut the door on me and told me to keep out I’d be unhappy about that so I’ve never said anything. If I said “I need a bit of space for an hour” he’d kiss me and say see you later . That’s not the point. I want to excuse myself without fanfare, shut a door and come out when I want, the way the kids can. The way he can in the loft. Everyone in this house has somewhere to go but me.

AIBU to tell him a shut marital bedroom door effectively means he can’t come in? Is that a horrid thing to say to a spouse?

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Bagpussnotbothered · 09/01/2025 13:37

Another one who votes for replacing the bath with a shower (if you can).

Since you have teenagers, can you get time away with decent headphones and and an audio book whilst walking?

Another option (again depends on space/budget) may be a she-shed in the garden. Not great over winter, but more so in the summer.

Honeypickle · 09/01/2025 13:35

Not sure if helpful, but could you fix a shower head above the bath, with a glass screen alongside (instead of a shower curtain). My parents have this in the family bathroom and it does work well.
otherwise any garden space available? Could you look for a garden cabin?

GasPanic · 09/01/2025 13:35

I mean you imply your husband has his own space in the loft, but it doesn't exactly sound like a top chill out space to me. Just a desk and a chair.

Maybe the solution is to reconfig the bathroom to get an over the bath shower and ban the kids from the en suite and just explain to your husband you want some me time.

QuickCHangeMyName · 09/01/2025 13:35

Choccyscofffy · 09/01/2025 13:33

YANBU.

Do you have the budget to have a shower installed in the bathroom with the tub?

Or you could just put in one of those shower extension hoses connected to the tap?

Bedrooms are for sleeping. What does he do on his devices, watch videos with volume? The person who wants to sleep has the right to sleep without noise and overly bright devices glaring light.

Edited

Yes I'd do this if you cant get a proper shower. You can get really long ones now, I had one years ago and it did the trick,

MiddleAgedDread · 09/01/2025 13:35

Cheapest solution: install over the bath
Dearer solution: make yourself a "woman cave" in the back garden

MatildaTheCat · 09/01/2025 13:35

No it’s not unreasonable so long as you aren’t banning him from sleeping in bed or access to stuff he needs.

Get a Do Not Disturb notice for the door. Put time boundaries on showers ( can you get one put over the bath?). Ask DH to watch TV downstairs when you want to sleep.

Everyone else has privacy in the home so you deserve it too.

CornishPorsche · 09/01/2025 13:34

Time to put a shower over the bath.

AgentJohnson · 09/01/2025 13:34

You need to get out more. Install a shower over the bath, job done.

Choccyscofffy · 09/01/2025 13:33

YANBU.

Do you have the budget to have a shower installed in the bathroom with the tub?

Or you could just put in one of those shower extension hoses connected to the tap?

Bedrooms are for sleeping. What does he do on his devices, watch videos with volume? The person who wants to sleep has the right to sleep without noise and overly bright devices glaring light.

Hazeby · 09/01/2025 13:31

If he’s a reasonable man, just explain it to him the same way you have here.