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My wife and I recently moved into a 2 bed 2 bath apartment, mainly because we wanted the extra bedroom for an office as she works remotely. I was surprised to d

My wife and I recently moved into a 2 bed 2 bath apartment, mainly because we wanted the extra bedroom for an office as she works remotely. I was surprised to discover that it is so nice not having to share a bathroom—no stress about getting in each other’s way in the morning, less bathroom clutter—it’s really nice. I can see how people would get used to it. And then of course having an extra half bathroom for guests is the obvious next step.

ummonk 7y ago
Right! When shopping recently I was looking for 1 bed 1.5 bath places for precisely that reason. I got extra lucky and snagged a 1 bed 2 bath place...
kijin 7y ago
I think the morning congestion is one of the biggest reasons for the doubling of bathrooms over the last 50 years. In the past, only one person was in a hurry to be washed and groomed each morning. Now there are at least two, and even kids are much busier than they were before. Another reason might be the accessibility of traveling. More people are used to staying in a hotel compared to 50 years ago, so when you have a guest you would want to offer them a comparable experience. That includes a private bathroom as you said. Both of these trends are common to most parts of the developed world, but people in other countries don't have as much space to actually go ahead and build more bathrooms.
yibg 7y ago
Me and my partner just did the same and it was so much better than we thought. Not longer having to time things in the morning, no longer needing to rush the other person because you are going to be late, no need to fight over shelf space. Downside though is I end up spending more time in the bathroom since no one else is waiting to use it and it’s a bit of a quiet space.
ct0 7y ago
We too have an extra bathroom now that we bought a house. Another thing to consider is a bathroom remodel will not retire an outhouse if you have an extra bathroom. Redundancy is really beneficial.
wastedhours 7y ago
It's now a deal-breaker on a property for us - also does wonders for spending time together in the morning as we can get ready in parallel and spend time together on the sofa rather than bottlenecking and avoiding each other to use the free bathroom. And as you say, when we have guests staying we do share and let them have free reign of one bathroom. Makes things much easier to handle. We'd easily sacrifice bedroom space for an en-suite.

ummonk 7y ago

Right! When shopping recently I was looking for 1 bed 1.5 bath places for precisely that reason. I got extra lucky and snagged a 1 bed 2 bath place...

kijin 7y ago

I think the morning congestion is one of the biggest reasons for the doubling of bathrooms over the last 50 years. In the past, only one person was in a hurry to be washed and groomed each morning. Now there are at least two, and even kids are much busier than they were before. Another reason might be the accessibility of traveling. More people are used to staying in a hotel compared to 50 years ago, so when you have a guest you would want to offer them a comparable experience. That includes a private bathroom as you said. Both of these trends are common to most parts of the developed world, but people in other countries don't have as much space to actually go ahead and build more bathrooms.

yibg 7y ago

Me and my partner just did the same and it was so much better than we thought. Not longer having to time things in the morning, no longer needing to rush the other person because you are going to be late, no need to fight over shelf space. Downside though is I end up spending more time in the bathroom since no one else is waiting to use it and it’s a bit of a quiet space.

ct0 7y ago

We too have an extra bathroom now that we bought a house. Another thing to consider is a bathroom remodel will not retire an outhouse if you have an extra bathroom. Redundancy is really beneficial.

wastedhours 7y ago

It's now a deal-breaker on a property for us - also does wonders for spending time together in the morning as we can get ready in parallel and spend time together on the sofa rather than bottlenecking and avoiding each other to use the free bathroom. And as you say, when we have guests staying we do share and let them have free reign of one bathroom. Makes things much easier to handle. We'd easily sacrifice bedroom space for an en-suite.