My GC will kill me if I don't decide soon-Pls help!

15 years ago

Hi everyone,

Need your help on a decision.

We have a bathroom off the foyer (adjacent to the formal Living room / Dining room) on the first floor of our house that will serve double duty as a powder room bath and pool/cabana bath. The question is do we put in a shower (for quick rinse offs out of the pool for guests, kids, etc.) OR do we dispense with the shower altogether so the room is a slightly more formal powder room? (There is another shower off a guest room on the first floor but it would require walking all the way through the house with wet feet, etc.)

We were planning on very clean, classic lines. Glass shower to keep things open. But I am torn when I look at some of the beautiful powder rooms in here. (I've also drooled over pharao's BLING bathroom but don't think we could do something quite like that...our house is an 1860's New England Carriage House / Barn).

And last but not least: is it possible (or even desirable) to camouflage a shower stall (about 4' x 3') as a closet? In other words, to put a wood door (lined I suppose on the inside) that would open to a small shower so you wouldn't see it unless you were looking for it. Any pics or advice on this kind of option would be great.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

pirula
15 years ago
Put function over form. In your case, given that it's also a bathroom for use after swimming, I'd absolutley include the shower. This is alot coming from me, because I am very picky about not having a shower in a powder room, and went to great lengths in my own remodel to ensure that our powder room didn't have one.

But, we don't have a pool. We don't have people traipsing through the house to get to a shower. No, you really need the shower in that powder room, in my opinion. And you can totally make it as beautiful as any powder room you've seen here, I'm certain of it.

As to the camouflage, I'm sure it's doable, with a good carpenter, for a cost. On the other hand, if you do a really beautiful shower, and you can get over having a shower in your powder room, then why hide it.
MongoCT
15 years ago
Have you contemplated an outdoor shower?

The reason I ask is I've had both. People tended to take 10-15 minutes for a "quick rinse" in the indoor shower. With the outdoor, they're in and out in a couple of minutes.
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hudsonleigh
15 years ago
I like the idea of an outdoor shower, but I don't think there's anything wrong with having a shower in the powder room, especially with the pool issue. Not so sure about the door, though -- don't know how I'd feel about showering in a "closet". Is there space in your layout for a partition wall instead, or could you use a mirrored or architectural glass in the door? That might make it seem more like art or an achitectural feature than like a closet. Also, some of those new shower towers & body sprays are lovely & sculptural and almost don't look like plumbing fixtures at all; something like that, with beautiful tile surround and clear glass frameless enclosure could work.
jjaazzy
15 years ago
Would they even use it? Kids tend to just get dressed as the pool has cleaned them as good as it gets and they don't care about the chlorine. We had a outside shower and it really never got used. Guests in the past I think just went and got dressed. I wouldn't spend the money to put in a shower you would get better use of a storage closet and if someone pushes the issue of a shower then you have others you said.
User
15 years ago
I bet some of the folks with those beautiful powder rooms wished they were big enough to have a shower so their guests and kids didn't track water from the pool to the back of the house! I totally agree that you should put function as the first priority. Just because a bathroom has a shower doesn't mean it can't be a beautiful space, you'll have the best of both worlds.