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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To dislike ensuite bathrooms?

281 replies

UnnecessaryFennel · 01/09/2018 22:35

Currently house-hunting and getting fed up with en-suite bathrooms being carved out of bedroom space and then being sold as some sort of plus point.

Plus, there is nothing cools my ardour like the sound of dp doing his ablutions first thing (and I'm sure he feels the same about me).

Am I alone in preferring my bedroom to be entirely separate from my bathroom? Why have they become such A Thing?

OP posts:
grasspigeons · 02/09/2018 07:40

I like having two bathrooms but I agree I'd hate one of them directly annexed off my bedroom and it was minus point when we were searching. The smells from a certain man first thing each day are quite strong and I didn't want them a few feet from my head.

They probably work in massive houses, where the ensuite is a long way, has a really solid door and its own opening window and a quiet extractor fan.

SoupDragon · 02/09/2018 07:45

PMSL at the people who think a non-ensuite is somehow quieter and sealed against germs than an ensuite.

Unless your house is huge and the bathroom tucked away, you’re shittingn ar someone. And they can hear and smell you.

Honeyroar · 02/09/2018 08:02

Iborgia I agree about bathrooms that are actually in the bedroom (often just the bath) or seperated by a glass wall it half wall - HIDEOUS! I see it a lot in hotels. Awful!

And why would you sit on the bed to dry yourself? Surely your bed linen gets damp. Yuk!

Stupid comment of the thread award goes to the person who said "surely you have an ensuite and a walk in". Either the person trying to be funny, inflammatory or is very stupid.

Whatsnewwithyou · 02/09/2018 08:09

In my dad's old house in America there was an amazing en-suite, accessed through a large walk-in wardrobe. It was very spacious with double sink, shower enclosure, and big Jacuzzi tub and lots of mirrors. It was great, and the fact that it was on the other side of the walk-in wardrobe meant all light and sound was muffled through to the bedroom.

In my small English house this would just not fit, and an ensuite carved into the corner of a bedroom would definitely not be the same

Pinkprincess1978 · 02/09/2018 08:14

I love ours - I agree about pp shower comment. We only had a shower but in en suit as the builders price to put a shower in main bathroom was extortionate so we planned to do it ourself. We haven't yet so dc's June at use our shower and make a mess 😡

I do love being so close as I often get up for a wee once or twice a night.

WizardOfToss · 02/09/2018 08:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DaphneDiligaf · 02/09/2018 08:51

**Aintnothingbutaheartache

If you can afford a house with at least one en suite you wouldn’t be complaining.
It’s total luxury to have your own bathroom.

Nice comment!

Mamagin · 02/09/2018 08:52

We are half-heartedly house hunting at the moment, (only searching Rightmove) and came across this gem. Who on earth thought this was a good idea? Have heard of a look with a view...but having the loo 'as' the view! (Picture 8)
I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/74877698

picklepost · 02/09/2018 09:08

@barbaraofserville

Au contraire

Only on Mumsnet can be found such a dizzying number of posters with alarmingly small world view. Not all of us live in cramped housing. Ensuites and walk ins are not at all uncommon.

WizardOfToss · 02/09/2018 09:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoyDora · 02/09/2018 09:12

Love mine. We have a huge bedroom though and the ensuite doesn’t encroach on the space at all. I get up for a wee at least twice a night (way more now I’m pregnant). It’s well ventilated and doesn’t make my bedroom smell at all.
If it was a tiny damp one that took space away from my bedroom I probably wouldn’t be so keen.

SoyDora · 02/09/2018 09:13

Yikes Mamagin that is awful!

PolkerrisBeach · 02/09/2018 09:21

If they're planned properly then they are great. Taking space out of an existing room to make an ensuite never really works, it either has to be done at the construction stage or you have to be prepared to knock walls around.

We have a great ensuite in our loft conversion - at the top of the stairs there's a mini landing which is aobut 4 feet across - turn left to the ensuite and right to the bedroom.

OneStepSideways · 02/09/2018 09:37

I think they're great, provided the bedroom is a good size and the ensure has a window to stop the damp.

BarbarianMum · 02/09/2018 09:39

Mamagin that is - quite something.

ImogenTubbs · 02/09/2018 09:42

I remember thinking something similar about open plan kitchen/lounges 15 years ago when looking for a flat. So many of them basically just had a worktop shoved in the living room which was cramped and unpleasant. As with so many things, when done thoughtfully and practically they are great, when crammed in for the sake of meeting an estate agent checklist, they are soulless and horrible.

grasspigeons · 02/09/2018 09:43

SoupDragon - its the two doors between me and the smell (and opening window thing though)

When ive stayed with ensuites like the one OP is talking about there is one door between me and the smell, and often no opening window.

if its family bathroom in a small house, there is more often a window and my bedroom door, a teeny bit of corridor and then the bathroom door.

Its probably hang up from the good old days when you had to have 2 doors between food prep and a bathroom and I feel the same about toilets and my head.

ImogenTubbs · 02/09/2018 09:48

I stayed in a hotel once in Namibia (happens to have been the hotel that Angelina Jolie hired out for three months to have her baby, but that's another story) and the room we stayed in had the ensuite as part of the bedroom - no wall or door! There was a tiled half-height wall partly concealing the loo, but I had to send DH outside on several occasions. There are some things I don't want to share with anyone!

LoniceraJaponica · 02/09/2018 09:55

"I feel the same about toilets and my head"

You could suggest that anyone who wants to use the bathroom during the night, or while their other half is still in bed, for anything other than a wee uses the house bathroom instead. That is what OH and I would do.

Sarahandduck18 · 02/09/2018 09:55

Mrs Pants from Blackaddar is Mrs Patmore from Downton

Idontmeanto · 02/09/2018 09:56

Love them in principle, but only if there really is space for one, with it’s own window so it’s properly ventilated.

silkpyjamasallday · 02/09/2018 09:58

A friend of mine has her bedroom, then a corridor of built in wardrobes (like Carrie in SATC) leading to a small room with just a bath. That is the only sort of ensuite I would consider, I am not a fan of random toilets and shitty small showers being shoehorned into a bedroom.

Ofchris · 02/09/2018 10:07

Wow I’m really shocked by such negative views! We are sort of house hunting and my main criteria is an ensuite. I can only imagine the luxury of getting up and dressed in peace without negotiating with the kids.

TheDowagerCuntess · 02/09/2018 10:13

Mrs Pants from Blackaddar is Mrs Patmore from Downton

Shock I never twigged!

I love our en suite. You walk through the wardrobe to get to it, so there are two doors between it and our room. Plus DH is a silent wee-er so I'm never disturbed. Has a window and extractor fan.

Wouldn't be keen if it infringed on a small bedroom.

Skyejuly · 02/09/2018 10:13

Same as Ofchris. It was a important factor for us too. Especially with 2 teenagers.

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