This is just a very old flush toilet. The bowl is just concealed in a bench. The lever is to the right, under the plant.

Since this is your post @jilly, tell me ….. trying to ask nicely.

Do men use this convenience? Are most accurate enough to use this convenience?

Ahh, thanks, Pal. I’ve never seen one, was wondering how it worked.

Wondering how they keep the wood sanitized without ruining it.

Maddie 😁

Men, what say you?

The lower seat lifts up too. See the routed bit in the center of the bench.

All toilet seats were wood until relatively recently. Actually I would prefer wood ones to plastic. Of course those were all painted and this is varnished, but if it's spar varnish, you could clean it.

These flushed down from the rim just like more recent toilets. These took Lots of water. Some of them took something like 12 gallons. And they were very loud, so they were known as thunderboxes.

These have a pull flush rather than a lever:

I have heard the term thunder boxes (and thunder buckets). :D

I don't know exactly where the outlet drain is, sometimes it's kind of out the front. And I don't think they hold water in the bowl as part of the seal for sewer gas. You might be able to introduce a bit of water into the bowl. I am not exactly sure.

what's wrong with the books? you know how you used to use your old Sears & Roebuck catalog? now that you have a Kindle, you use novels.

Fori! Where have you been?! I was about to put out an APB.

Oh, yuck. I remember when wood toilet seats were popular (1980s?). My mother decided to put one on the toilet at our beach house. Two teenage brothers. Lots of visitors. It disgusted me!

I had wood toilet seats in my first house. I did that whole country theme with blue and dusty rose.

I will not be talking about beribboned geese. And if asked, I will deny everything.

But...white toilet seats were wood. We all grew up with wood toilet seats. They were just painted. They started making plastic seats in the 1970s or maybe earlier of course, but quality toilet seats were wood. Bemis toilet seats still are wood.

Painted, wood toilet seats were warmer then today’s plastic ones. <- according to my memory.

Yes, true, good point, Pal. I actually have Bemis seats now.

For some reason, the old wood ones (not painted) would split on one side.

That photo just made me want to run to my regular toilet and throw up! The idea and look of it just makes my stomach turn over.

Reminds me of this toilet in Cardiff Castle. It's barely in view in this picture, and I don't remember what the thing is in the wood next to the bowl. Probably a cup holder. (Or not.)

Cup holder 😂🤢

Reminds me of the actual outhouse we had to use when visiting my grandparents until my grandfather finally put in indoor plumbing. And there were spiders. And it was cold in the winter.

@Jilly Men, what say you?

I suspect not a popular reply, but honestly it wouldn't bother me at all. Actually I would likely be more interested in the skill of the cabinet maker who built it (joinery and such) and wouldn't otherwise really care.

Love the "to scale" spider!! lol!!

Oberon, love your answer!

thanks! I like building things and really enjoy seeing quality craftsmanship, no matter the ultimate purpose.

I saw something like that used as a storage. not used for plumbing. The bowl and seat were missing. A friend who used to work outside used to say any loo will do. There are some freezing cold metal seats in some of the national parks!

We kept our old outhouse and it still works fine. And it doesn't smell. I keep a cinnamon broom in there so it actually smells nice.

We have a painted plywood base around our outhouse seat at our cabin. i was just thinking about why it stays very clean. But of course its because all the boy pee in the bush! Styrafoam toilet seats are warmer than plastic ones.

Kitty, I’d love a (toiletless) bench/storage in my bathroom! I’ve seen people turn their unused separate tubs into that, which is a great idea.

Ok, Annie, that is so cute … I could maybe get over my phobia if they were all like that.

Colduphere, I’ve never heard of Styrafoam seats, off to look them up! (Edit - did, those are a great idea!)

Not kidding — I’m learning some interesting things on this thread. :D

https://saunastyle.ca/products/extruded-polystyrene-outhouse-seat?variant=33515014193285&currency=CAD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic

A must read: 🤣

Jilly...I also loved your to scale. lol I'm from Texas.....I can relate.

Pal...Thanks for explaining. Makes sense now.

Nicole 😄

Nothing about this creeps me out. But I'm not sure, if I had this room as is, that I'd use it for its original intended purpose. It's such a cute room and I love the orange trim, even the wallpaper and painted radiator. I'd want it to be a little reading room.

As for nasty restrooms, I'm an any-port-in-a-storm person.

Bunny, isn’t that orange trim wonderful? I’m going to see if I can hunt down what it is ….

Actually I know two people who got a rat in their bathroom through a regular flush toilet and one who got bit on the @ss by a pet snake which had hidden in the toilet, so I think your feelings of security about your bathroom at home may be misplaced .

PAL

PAL!!

Omg. I’m going back to chamber pots.

The room itself is drop dead gorgeous. But the potty? Unsanitary is all I have to say. Just put a regular seat and lay a wooden lid over it.

I have to tell you what happened to a friend and I when we went to a daytime outdoor concert. Lots of people there. We both had to go really bad and someone told us where the "bathrooms" are. One for each sex.

There was a long rectangle curtain which hid the makeshift bathrooms. We go inside and there's a long row of potties with no privacy, but it was just us. Right before we began the procedure we realized at the same time there wasn't a curtain behind them and anyone could walk around since it was out in the country.

All of a sudden we didn't have to go anymore. 👀👀👀

For fun — the designer of that bathroom and more beautiful rooms she’s designed. I love her use of colors:

https://suzannahlockwood.com/gallery/

I can’t find the paint color - the wallpaper is from Lewis & Wood.

A snake in the toilet is my worse nightmare!

Ida, living in the same region as you, outhouses scared me to death. I knew a rattlesnake would be right under me & ready to strike.

Do you remember when canned veggies from the garden would be stored in the cellar? DH's grandmother had a bunch of canned veggies in hers and there was no way I'd ever go down there in a tornado because I knew a rattler or fiddleback would be there.

When we had our cellar built we had a lot of canned veggies also. I caught DH getting ready to take them to the cellar and I stopped him in his tracks. He built two picnic benches for seating, so it was nice and airy.

The cellar people had him build benches for them in his spare time which was pretty cool.

The first time we had to use tghe cellar was only a month or two after it was built. DS2 was here and I gave him a flashlight to inspect the cellar for spiders and stuff, and I insisted he look under the benches also before we went down. He raised his voice and said "There's a (insert expletive) Black Widow under a bench! Raid Wasp and Hornet spray did the trick. Now we spray the cellar right before spring and we've never had another spider.

We later learned it was likely there because it was in freshly dug dirt where they like to hang out, and found it's way inside.

Oakley, last summer I was on the patio, in a wicker chair, and a Black Widow was under the arm rest. I felt her leg on my finger (their legs are very stiff-like) before I realized. Luckily, she didn’t munch on my finger! :D

There are also websites that will teach how women can pee standing up...highly recommended knowledge to have, esp for me as a frequent hiker.

This is TMI, but we don't have running water in our lake house November to April. I have done so much research into alternative toilets, that this set up seems positively upscale.

AD, DD and DSIL are going on a camping/rafting tour of the Grand Canyon in a couple of months. For Christmas, as a joke, I gave her a SheeWee. She was thrilled!

Ida, this is such a coincidence. This afternoon I was reading about Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, & Katherine Grey. I actually looked him up again while reading and according to Wikipedia He's the one responsible for the costly restoration of Cardiff Castle.

Family porta-potty rules. Don't breathe, don't touch, don't dally, and if at all possible, don't even go in.

Is anyone needing bathroom art?

https://lordandtaylor.com/collections/oliver-gal/products/oliver-gal-french-fashion-toilet-de-luxe-gold-roll-fashion-framed-canvas-print-wall-art

I have a different version of the shee-wee, but I strongly suggest practice to use it. It is a very different experience...

For just going while standing up, the shower is the perfect place to perfect the art.

We have black widows outside around our home in southern coastal Delaware. I'm not happy about that, but "outside" is a darned big place and it turns out my feelings about their presence have zero impact on them. Ha.

I regret to admit that when I found a dead one in the cellar, I went to Defcon 5. I'm sorry, but I have dogs who love to snuffle through crevices, cracks, and all dark spaces and I won't share my actual home with venomous critters. I went from, "I won't use pesticides inside my home" to "nuke them, nuke it all!"

I hired pest control, they spray my cellar on a routine basis. I hate them spraying pesticides, but I hate black widows even more. After the 1st and 2nd applications more dead ones turned up in the cellar - but we've been blissfully black widow free inside for over a year now.

I'll probably die from the effects of the pesticides.

Ally 😁

I visited Jack Larsen's penthouse on 10th Avenue in the West Village in 1992 (for dinner), and the guest bathroom (powder room) had a similar bench toilet, but it was marble instead of wood and had two seats, as I remember.

I did not have a problem with it, and I thought the marble was beautiful. I was in New York for an awards banquet with my boss, and Jack Larsen's partner had previously worked with my boss, which is how I met him and got invited to dinner. I was meeting with some of our suppliers in NY while I was there.

Lars, I’d love to see how his apt looked in ’92! What a neat experience. :)