To really dislike downstairs loos?

[ThomasRichard]

Especially if they open onto the living room! I don't want anyone hearing me wee/ sort out pads/ pass wind etc. Asking to use the upstairs bathroom is basically announcing to everyone that you're going to do a poo. Argh!

I love having a downstairs loo; in my lovely new home the cloakroom's where it should be, off the hall.

When I was house hunting earlier this year I was looking for a new build, and checked out all the floor plans. I was wondering whether I'd like the layout of an L-shaped area downstairs completely open with the kitchen at the front, then the dining area, then the lounge on the short arm of the L. I looked closer at what I thought was a store cupboard opening into the dining area, and was gobsmacked to see it was a cloakroom. A loo opening anywhere into the living area is awful, but the dining area is particularly revolting. What were they thinking of?

The builder was Persimmon Homes. I didn't see that idea in any other builder's layouts, and it put me off looking at Persimmon altogether.

No door? How awkward!

I'm intrigued by the poster who has a No Poo in the Downstairs Loo rule. Is there a sign up in the toilet?

My pet hate is when we're expecting guests, and without fail dh does a poo downstairs just before they arrive. So the house smells of air freshener and shit when they walk in the door.

What I really hate is the en suite. It's like a litter tray in the corner of the bedroom. I do not want to smell the contents of DH's bowels, or hear them being evacuated

^ This with bells on ^

Its the same in a hotel room too isnt it. Mortifying when on a romantic break.

Toilet facilities need to be air-tight and sound proof with industrial extractors or at the very end of a cery long corridor.

Anyway, back on topic, I love my downstairs loo but it is off the kitchen/diner as its all open plan. I encourage visitors to go upstairs.

In my last house the downstairs loo was off the kitchen, in the main bathroom. I found that very handy but not overly hygienic. In the one before, it was just off the front door. That worked really well, it was far enough away from any rooms that sounds and smells weren't an issue, but close enough to still be convenient.

I don't have one in this house and really miss it! The only loo in the house is right next to the baby's room. Very annoying. If we ever had guests we'd no doubt be discussed on here as people who ask you not to flush the loo at night!

You need VI Poo

Noooo I love my downstairs loo! It means guests don't have to go upstairs, I can have upstairs a shit tip and fool them with an immaculate downstairs

Having an upstairs bathroom, with toilet, and a downstairs toilet, is a must for me. Would never buy a house without this. Ours is nowhere near the lounge or under the stairs. It's next to the front door, coat cupboard.

My pet hate is when we're expecting guests, and without fail dh does a poo downstairs just before they arrive. So the house smells of air freshener and shit when they walk in the door

My husband has form for this. It's now got to the stage if we are expecting guests and he stands up I say "if you're going for a poo go upstairs" . By about the fifth time he's all "ffs, I'm only going to the kitchen"

However the sad truth is, if I don't Continuously remind him he will go in there and have a shit just before folks arrive. Which generally results in me shouting "wtf is wrong with you" and him acting all bemused 😂

This house is 1940's era.. Loo is a little room off what would have been the coal store, in the outside "block", which we've enclosed to the house to make a large utility. Own window, 2 doors and a large air gap between it and the kitchen.

Quite glad of it, tbh..😂

Ours opens in to living room as living room is extension and toilet was previously "outdoors". Its fine. We have a strict no solids in the downstairs lavatory rule.

Downstairs toilets have kept members of my family in their homes for longer, when climbing stairs was difficult. Very grateful for them therefore.

My downstairs loo is straight off the kitchen, only one door.

When my folks had an extension built they had to have two doors. That was in the late 90s.

Bluntness glad I'm not alone in being married to someone that has a poo downstairs just before guests arrive habit. Maybe it nerves?

He obviously can't smell the stink bomb he's left lingering. I can and it's then a choice of that or copious amounts of room spray for our friends to inhale.

Not having to clean upstairs for visitors is a definite advantage

To the pp who mentioned changing pads silently: how?! Tearing open the plastic wrapper and ripping off the old pad are surely quite noisy, unless you're doing it slowly, like opening a packet of sweets in the cinema? (Another pet hate. Everyone can hear you. Just get on with it!)

Mine is a converted under-stairs pantry off the dining room in an extended 1930s house.

I hate other people using the upstairs toilet. The downstairs one is the one I always direct people too. Generally upstairs is messy and I have a thing about shoes upstairs. I can just about cope with shoes downstairs, but upstairs is our space and doesn't need visiting. If someone was staying over, that's fine and I wouldn't have a problem, but if they had just come round for a coffee, downstairs toilet please.
Our toilet downstairs is of the hallway though. I've never come across one in the lounge before.

We moved house last September. The first thing we did was convert the downstairs loo, that opened into the living room (the whole downstairs is open plan), into a small utility with shelving and the washing machine. I can't think of anything worse than, as DH puts it, "a living room with feature toilet" . We have two beds and two baths upstairs, so it wasn't even necessary to have a third loo anyway.

Reminds me of a visit to a big Regency House in Bath. There was triple screen in the corner of the magnificent dining room. With a china po. There could have been a flushable WC somewhere but I didn't see one. Jane Austen leaves A LOT of interesting stuff out of her novels ....

Our downstairs loo is off the hallway. If we didn't have it my disabled father would never be able to visit.

Our neighbours have s gorgeous 17th century house. The loo is off the drawing room. It's very odd.

Ours is off the kitchen and I really don't like it, especially as it's quite a big kitchen where people tend to congregate. It's a late 1920s house - the equivalent room in my late elderly neighbours' house was a giant coal scuttle - they still had it filled with coal when they died. One of these days we'll do some remodelling but I can't quite work out where else a loo could go downstairs, and we do need one.

I couldn't be without one now... it took so much hassle out of potty training and means I only have to tidy downstairs when guests come!! sounding extremely lazy here

Ours isn't straight into the living room but it's adjacent in the hallway so the toilet wall is the living room wall and you genuinely can't hear a thing in fact you can hear more when people use the upstairs loo.

Our bathroom is off the open plan kitchen/living area. Completely internal, bounded by the Dc's bedrooms and living room wall. We live in a flat so there is no where else it could be.

We have one, it's in the far corner of the house and nowhere near the lounge, kitchen or dining room. It hardly gets used though.

I had a tiny studio and had two friends over, one had been on the sauce the night before and went for a poo, which stunk out the entire flat for ages, so totally understand your dilemma.

I also saw a new flat in Cornwall that had the main bathroom off the kitchen/diner/living room which was tiny. The toilet was conveniently positioned so you could sit on the throne having a poo whilst also keeping an eye on your dinner. It also didn't have a single normal Window just a series of skylights, so there was more than one issue with that place. I totally understand the noise thing that gives me performance anxiety and a toilet off a bathroom or living room is wrong.

Our downstairs loo is in the hall, at the opposite end to the front door and directly opposite the lounge door. We keep the loo door closed when not in use so that you aren't confronted with the wc pan each time you come out of the lounge. Being opposite the lounge door has the advantage that when you are bursting for a jimmy, it isn't far to dash when the advert break starts.