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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think designing a flat with the shower in the living room is taking the piss?

84 replies

StudioFlat · 02/05/2018 14:55

Disclaimer: This doesn't affect me personally, just looking for a discussion.

Some friends are trying to make some extra money by converting part of their garage (not even the whole thing) into a studio flat. It's absolutely tiny, you could touch the bed and the hob at the same time. They've included a teeny little second room for a toilet, but the shower is in the living room / bedroom / kitchen. The whole space is about 16 square metres, which I think 9 times out of 10 is going to be a pretty depressing living space but the design is also rubbish.

Sadly the rental situation where we live is such that some poor sap will almost certainly be willing to pay an obscene amount to live there but I think it looks like an absolute shithole. It's clean and new so that's not the issue, but sooo cramped and yeah, shower in the living room.

AIBU to think they are taking unfair advantage of desperate people in a terrible rental market? Or are there people who wouldn't mind having their shower in their living room? Are they simply resourceful entrepreneurs and everything's OK as long as someone is willing to pay to live there (as long as you comply with relevant regulations of course)?

OP posts:
Furano · 02/05/2018 16:46

It sounds shit but they have added an accommodation to the market, not removed one. More choice is a good thing.

justforthisthread101 · 02/05/2018 16:50

Can we just all take a moment for @MegEmski 's diagram?

Weird choice OP. And damp.

Graphista · 02/05/2018 16:58

They are scumlord arses definitely.

That said first time I was a student I had a studio:

Front door led to on right "kitchen" (one side of very small room consisted of sink, drainer, 2 hobs, 1/2 fridge in a cupboard and microwave. Very little counter/cupboard space), on right "shower room" you could literally turn around on the spot from chopping veggies, take half a step and be in shower room. Didn't even have a proper door as not enough space to open in either direction so had a concertina screen thingy that had magnets to hold it closed. Ditto shower screen.

Continue straight through to "living room" MAYBE 2m X 2m, loft ladder to "bedroom" with sunken bed (attic room) very low shelf on which I put my small portable tv. Pointless having it in "living room" as there wasn't even room in there for an office chair let alone an armchair!

Weird thing is I loved it 😂😂😂

It had a feel of being on a ship and the decor was quite nice and the bed was really comfy.

Could NOT cope with that now! My parents were ConfusedBlushShock

"it looks like they designed it using The Sims 2."😂😂

"This reminds me of the Friends episode where Ross views a flat that has a “kitchen/bathroom" " I thought that too Grin

StaplesCorner · 02/05/2018 17:04

years ago in the UK some (old like me) posters might remember seaside B&B places would have a shower IN the bedroom, not ensuite, and that was considered luxurious - you could charge more for it!

Walkingdeadfangirl · 02/05/2018 17:26

I have always fancied watching TV whilst in the shower.

Slightlyperturbedowlagain · 02/05/2018 17:28

I have always fancied watching TV whilst in the shower.
It would look like Scandi noir every night Grin

Girlundercover · 02/05/2018 17:32

I viewed a flat like that in Dublin about 20 years ago. To be honest at the time, it was better than sharing a bathroom on the landing with a bunch of other flats. At the time shared bathrooms was quite a thing for entry level accommodation.

ALongHardWinter · 02/05/2018 17:52

Bitchywaitress OMG the only toilet available was in the LOFT accessible by a LADDER! There would be a few little,ahem,accidents,if I had to rely on that set up! Blush

PaintedHorizons · 02/05/2018 17:57

I worked away for several years and hated, hated, hated sharing. Would come home from work and want to eat, shower, work some more and sleep. But I had my home elsewhere. That setup would have worked for me as well as a small hotel room - a bit better if I could leave stuff there.

I have lived in all sorts of places and don't care. I have been grateful for cheap places when I have been travelling - it's a good thing.

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 02/05/2018 18:13

Imagine if you had the sickness bug or something and you have to climb a ladder when you were 5 seconds from shitting yourself.

Urubu · 02/05/2018 18:49

I am not sure they deserve to be insulted... They are offering a lower than average standard of living for a lower than average price. Same as the cheapest meat you can find is surly full of disgusting things.

Jux · 02/05/2018 19:04

I knew someone in the 80s who was converting two-bed flat in Fulham into a studio and a one-bed. For the studio he was doing pretty much what your friends are doing, except rather than a separate loo, he was making a wet room with loo in it in the middle of the sitting room.

I remember going round there with friends once he'd got the wet room walls up. It was like a fat pillar in the middle; absolutely awful. The kitchen was in one corner of this quite big room and slap band in the middle was the pillar. He'd put armchairs around facing each side of the pillar except where the kitchen bit was, and said gleefully that it would be so friendly and cosy.

None of us could bear to use the loo and we were all bursting by the time we left!

He was a bit of a sod, so we'd all had to sit and nod about how great it was. I think one of my friends reported him as he hadn't got planning permission to do it in the first place. I hope they stopped him.

TheBlackLodge · 02/05/2018 19:16

Sounds exactly like the place DH was renting in NW London when I met him, except that was a converted living room. It was a shithole, but marginally better than some of the rooms upstairs which had to share a kitchen on the landing (fire hazard ahoy!). The same size room directly above his was occupied by a couple with a toddler. Depressing.

Original poster
StudioFlat · 02/05/2018 20:52

Well I don't know what they're planning to charge in rent. If they really price it as a bargain I'll revise my opinion.

OP posts:
Original poster
StudioFlat · 02/05/2018 21:00

Though watching TV in the shower is an advantage I hadn't considered! Grin

OP posts:
BathshebaKnickerStickers · 02/05/2018 21:02

When I was at uni I had a shower in my bedroom - I rented 2 rooms and a loo in a loft conversion in my land lady’s house. I had a bedroom with a shower in it, a living room and a loo.

When I lived in London I had a bath in my bedroom (behind one of those folding free standing screens) and a loo in a build in wardrobe (wardrobe in the space on 1 side of the room, loo on the other side - louvred doors).

At least in both places I lived alone.

KindergartenKop · 02/05/2018 21:02

I went to a hotel room once with a shower in the room and the loo in a cupboard.

specialsubject · 02/05/2018 21:10

it isnt in the uk and the op doesnt want to say where, so quoting regs is pointless.

i also remembe r a bath tub below a worktop, in a flat in the mid 80s. and a b and b much more recently with a shower in the corner of the room.

DairyisClosed · 02/05/2018 21:12

But it isn't a studio flat if it didn't have a toilet surely?

purplegreen99 · 03/05/2018 21:30

I think Ibis Budget hotels have showers in the corner of the room.

RedB0at0nshore · 03/05/2018 22:54

I stayed in Amsterdam the small 'bathroom' had a wash basin, toilet and shower hose and there was a hole in the floor for the water to drain away. The room was tiled, but no window. It was on for a quick shower

Amanduh · 03/05/2018 22:58

It reminds me of Friends when Joey and Chandler try to get Ross to move out. Kitchen slash bathroom misses point of thread

mastershelp · 03/05/2018 23:00

I stayed in an Ibis where the shower cubicle was in the bedroom rather than bathroom.
OK I think your title is misleading, it is a studio therefore there is no living room as such. I was kind of hoping that someone was building a house and installing a Star Trek style shower in the middle of the living.

Jamiefraserskilt · 03/05/2018 23:08

There was a studio flat on fb recently. It was a midi bed over a bathtub in a fully tiled bathroom just a little wider than the bed. Rental was over £500 per month. If you are stuck for room, surely you would create a wetroom? Or try a caravan bathroom layout with half sized sink, corner loo and a standard shower. Pity the poor sap that rents that!

OwlinaTree · 03/05/2018 23:38

I rented a room in a shared house with a shower and sink in it. Loo was under the stairs and shared. I liked it as I didn't have to queue for a shower in the morning like in other shared houses.

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