Beautiful house, insane door
9My mother has a friend who is selling his late mother’s house. It’s a gorgeous, custom-built, well-maintained mid-century ranch in a tony suburb, built for/by the architect of a local shopping mall. There aren’t any pictures of it on the internet because the last time it was sold was in the '70’s. We are both madly in love with it, even though we know it’s way too much house for us, and WAY too high-maintenance for us. So we’re not going to buy it, but we are going to dream about it, because it’s so close to perfect, except, it has this door… an outside door that… leads directly into a bathroom… and it’s glass. I don’t understand.
I can see the logic up to a point. If the original owner had kids, maybe he was thinking that if they were playing outside and got dirty, you put a bathroom in a convenient place and they won’t track dirt through the house. Or if you need to wash your dog, or bring something that needs to be cleaned into the house. And at that point, why not make it a full bath with a shower? BUT: why a door with large glass panels? What possible purpose could that serve? And how cold does that bathroom get in the winter?
My mom described it to me as, “You will love this house, but there is a door that will drive you insane.” And I was like, “Oh, a glass door that leads outside. In the bedroom? In the bathroom?” And she said, “Yes.” And I said, “Noooooooooooo.” Seriously, though: WHY?
- 9 comments, 20 replies
- Comment
Is there a pool outside, maybe a way to use the restroom w/o tracking water/dirt inside? As far as the glass panels, my only thoughts should not be shared lol
@tinamarie1974 No pool, but the room the bathroom opens into also opens into a small greenhouse. Which might also have an outside door, come to think of it. Man, this house has, like, six outside doors. It’s a three-bedroom ranch.
@mossygreen uummm maybe they were paranoid looking for multiple escape routes?
I’ve seen houses with bathrooms which had multiple doors, one that opened to a kitchen or utility room, the other directly to the backyard; but neither door was glass.
Hmmm.
/8ball Can doors be easily replaced?
Yes
@narfcake or, an even easier alternative, window film.
@narfcake @RiotDemon But it will STILL open into the bathroom…
@narfcake @RiotDemon There IS window film on the door, but it has gaps. Window film wasn’t available (?) in the '60’s, so I think there must have been curtains or something.
When I was looking to buy a house for the first time in the early '90s, there was this house in Rockledge that had a toilet IN THE DINING ROOM. And I mean a fully plumbed toilet. I wish I could remember the details of some of the other ones, but the house I wound up buying was actually a pair of adjacent "trinity"s that had been made one by removing the wall between their first and second floors. That had not been done on the third floor, so those rooms were reached by separate quarter-turn stairways. There were also two 1/4-turn stairways to the 2nd floor, but one had simply been boxed into a closet.
@aetris for when the dinner is so horrible it makes people vomit?
@aetris believe it or not, I actually opened this tab a week ago.
@aetris and this one.
@RiotDemon - Wow. It’s a thing. I had noooo idea.
@aetris brings a whole new meaning to “don’t shit where you eat.”
@aetris @RiotDemon
A dog water bowl?
@aetris
@RiotDemon -
@RiotDemon These modern open floor plans have gotten out of hand.
Makes me wonder how they can even sell these houses for any reasonable price. I wonder if perhaps they had turned them into rooming houses at one point with their “own private bathroom”. But good grief what were these people thinking when they put that stuff where they put it???
Maybe that’s where the plumbers ran the drain and vent pipes and once it was set in the foundation pour, it was gonna stay where they put it.
That’s why you get placement in writing on your contracts, don’t piss off your construction tradesmen, and choosing union labor makes sense.
Could also be the architect was a shitty one, and more concerned with the external aesthetic than the functionality of the interior required elements of a residence.
@mike808 It would take an architect who had no common sense to design some of these. Or had a mean streak.
You haven’t really made clear which bathroom it is, or whether it’s in the front yard or the back yard.
If there’s a greenhouse, it’s probably not a big leap to suggest that the original owners were really into gardening. Having easy bathroom access would be very nice if they’re spending a lot of time in their garden. And, if the back yard is reasonably private I don’t see a big problem with the glass door.
And maybe that bathroom is cold in the winter. Unless it’s the only one in the house, it may not really matter.
@Limewater It’s on the side yard, which is open, but potentially more private than the back (the immediate backyard is fenced and landscaped into shady, curved gravel paths, very designed for entertaining). We were told all the bathrooms are cold in the winter, the ones upstairs are HUGE and have big windows (they still have all the original tiling, perfectly maintained, which is pretty impressive when you think about ceramic and thermal shock–they also have built-in heaters).
My house in college had a bathroom that had a door to the backyard. Y’know that liberating feeling of leaving the bathroom door open for the first time after you get your own place? It’s like that but times 100, no matter if the birds are singing or it’s dumping (lol) down rain.
That mall architect knew what’s up. Break into the house at night and give it a go. See what you’ve been missing out on.
@Moose freeing like skinny dipping?
@Moose I mean, I know the owner, so I wouldn’t have to break in, but… are you saying I should? Is that part of the experience?
@mossygreen Nooo, I never broke into my own house, but you do want to make sure you have privacy.