We now have 3.5 bathrooms which works well for us. If we move again to downsize more (not for many years, I hope), we’d prefer 2.5 bathrooms so that H and I each have our own and there’s a powder room for guests.
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We have a lot of baths - 5 full and 2 half. What has surprised me is how much I love having my own powder room behind the kitchen. I don’t think my husband has ever stepped foot in it and I’m happy to keep it that way. For some reason he really favors the formal powder room. That’s fine, but it means I have to keep an eye on it so it’s in good shape for guests.
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I grew up in a 3 bedroom /1 bath and we had 6 kids. A lot of pounding on the bathroom door. When I was in HS my Mom and stepdad added a master bathroom. Our first house had just one bath but it was just two,of us and a newborn. Next house had two bathrooms, one with a tub and the other just a shower. Our present house has 4 full bathrooms and a powder room.
One of my kids lives in a house with 1 bathroom and it’s fine for now but as her family grows she longs for another bathroom. Other two kids have 2 bathrooms.
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My oldest lives in a rental with her family of four. Main floor is two bedrooms/one full bath. Upper level is one large room with a toilet and a sink in one of the dormer alcoves. No wall separating it from the rest of the space. Why? We often wonder. And as they have looked at houses for sale in the small town this is in, they often have a second toilet somewhere — attic, basement, closed in porch, with no wall separating it from the rest of the space. We imagine someone going door to door years ago selling additional toilet installation. But not bathroom walls. So odd. Only my D’s husband uses the toilet upstairs because that’s where he works from home.
Edited to add: we have 1.5 bathrooms in our 3 bedroom house. There’s a half bath in the hall, and a half bath off the primary bedroom, and they both open into a room with the tub/shower. It’s a nice way to have it if you are only going to have 1.5, but I often look at the space trying to figure out how to make it two full bathrooms.
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We are in a 3 bd, 2 full ba. It’s perfect for our family of 4 but with S22 spending most of his time at Berkeley, we have even more freedom these days. But its another story when he comes back during weekends and holidays - when he goes to the bathroom, he is there for eons and the other 3 have to make do with the 1 other full bath in the house.
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We have two baths. In a perfect world I would have another 1/2 bath. There were times in the morning when that would have been convenient if not nearly necessary. Empty nesters now so it’s not as dire.
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On that weird upstairs setup, maybe it was once used as a suite for grandparent or renter?
We have the perfect number for the people in our household: 4 toilets for 4 people. It felt excessive when we moved in, but we have been grateful for it on numerous occasions.
3 full baths: 1 for parents (main floor), 1 for kids (upstairs), 1 for guest suite (basement). 1 powder room on main floor.
When we downsize (as soon as the youngest goes to college), we’d prefer 2 full, with or without an additional powder room.
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I grew up in a family of 6 with one bathroom. My dad sometimes used the outhouse that still stood on the farm.
Our house started with one tiny bathroom that had been thrown into a corner of a room downstairs (house built pre-indoor plumbing). All bedrooms were upstairs. We extended the porch to add a 1/2 bath, and expanded the size of the existing bathroom. Eventually we added on a main floor master suite.
So I like what we have now. Our own bathroom, a guest/kid bathroom, and a quick access from the outside 1/2 bath.
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I grew up in a house that had two floors, but had formerly been a duplex. So, there were two full bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, both off of hallways. There were nominally two bedrooms upstairs and two bedrooms downstairs, but we used the ones downstairs as a den and a study for my dad. We were a family of four, so this worked out okay, although my sister and I had to share a bedroom. Strangely, there was also a kitchen upstairs that we mostly used as a storage room although I did sometimes do chemistry experiments up there.
The first house my husband and I lived in was a single story with 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths. The main full bath was in the hallway between the two bedrooms and the 1/2 bath was off the hallway next to the kitchen where our washer and dryer were. It was very tiny, so much so that you had to turn sideways to fit past the sink to get to the toilet. It was also really hot in the summer and cold in the winter since we had neither central air nor heat back there. It was nice to have two toilets though, especially once we had kids. Our current house is also single story with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, one of which is a master bath connected to the master bedroom. Both have tubs and showers, but we’ll probably redo the master bathroom soon to have a walk in shower, now that my husband and I are getting older. The other bathroom needs remodeling also, but we’ll probably still have a tub in that one. I always think it’s good to have at least one bathtub in the house. I’ve also always thought it’s a good idea to have at least two toilets. My mom grew up in a house with seven people sharing one bathroom–I don’t know how they did it!
For very small bathrooms, a sink on top of the toilet tank can save space, and draining the hand washing water into the toilet tank reduces overall water consumption.
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H grew up in a 3bed, 1 bath ranch with a finished basement. Four in that family - they never considered adding a bathroom though many similar homes in that neighborhood added at least a powder room in the basement. It became stressful as we brought 3 kids to visit, for weeks at a time. So 7 folks toileting and showering in one small space; lots of dancing outside that door.
I grew up in a 2 story home with 3 bed, 1 full bath up and a powder room off the kitchen. Much easier when we visited there.
Our apartment had 2 bed, 2 full bath - 1 was an ensuite in our bedroom, the other in the hall.
Our home was a cape cod style - 2 bed up with full bath in hall, 2 bed on main level with full bath in hall and 1/2 bath in the finished basement. Fine for raising 3 kids, and lots of overnight guests.
Now I am alone in a 2 bed condo with a den - each bedroom has an ensuite but only one has a tub, and there is a powder room in the main space, too.
I am conscious of making sure I flush each toilet once every few days!
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We have 5 full and 2 half baths. More bathrooms = more leaky toilets, faucets, and other misshaps that no one can explain except plumbers.
If plumbers offered a loyalty program like airlines and hotels, we’d be platinum elite.
When we downsize, we’d probably want 2 full and 1 half.
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I’ve seen those and wondered if it will catch on in Colorado, for saving water.
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Grew up with: 4 bedrooms 2 baths (one was master ensuite), 5 kids
Adult life: Always have had an ensuite bath for every bedroom, + powder for guests. Our houses have all been new or relatively new construction, and that’s how many are built.
Last house before current one: master bedroom had separate baths for him and her. Mine was HUGE, with enormous closet/dressing room I couldn’t fill up because I’m not much of a clothes horse. I wasn’t looking for that, but once found, LOVED IT.
Current house 4 beds, 4 baths, 1 powder. But the master bath has separate his/hers water closets. That works out quite nicely.
Have never had problems with bath plumbing that I remember, and having a cleaning crew twice a month relieves me of that chore (growing up, it was my responsibility to clean the bathroom that serviced 5 kids, hated doing that).
We did this for our former and current house, and it’s great. I never enter H’s side as we each clean our own water closets and vanities. He usually cleans the shower and the floors. I felt spoiled at first, but he says he’s making up for the years when he didn’t have time to do many chores at home.
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Till the kids were 8 and 5, we lived in a small apartment with one tiny bathroom off the kitchen–stall shower only. Then we moved into the house they grew up in, 1.5, with a 1/2 bath downstairs, 1 full upstairs–so a lot of maneuvering over who was in the shower when.
Our second home, which will be retirement home, has two full baths–one downstairs that guests use, and a master bath upstairs. I actually wish the master bath was not off our room; when there are lots of guests, it limits who can use it–especially if we are sleeping!
I am glad the downstairs is a full bath; there are two bedrooms downstairs also, so if we need to, we can move downstairs permanently and change the upstairs to be guestrooms.
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Can’t remember the house I grew up in.
Our first house was 1500 sf, I believe. One full bathroom on the ground floor, which was partially below grade. We actually rented that out as a separate apartment before kids. On the main floor was a half bath (very small, IIRC). There was a third full bath connected to the master BR, which was the only room on the second floor.
Our next house had a half bath downstairs and a full bath upstairs (the family we bought it from had raised five daughters there). We renovated and added a master bedroom and dressing room, converted the old MBR into our bathroom. So 2.5 bathrooms.
Our current house is huge – we bought it for the remarkable site, not the house, which is way too big for us. It had 2 full baths and one half bath on the ground floor and three full baths on the second floor. [This family had six daughters]. When we renovated, we converted a large separate building (a 3.5 car garage) into a painting studio for ShawWife and added a half bath there and converted one of the full baths upstairs in the house into a half bath. So, four full baths and three half baths.
Unless one of our kids and his/her family moves in with us (neither has a family at the moment), we have way too many bathrooms and way too many rooms generally. But the site is spectacular and, post-renovation, so is the house.
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Ditto on most of this in terms of most recent home. We bought our house for the huge space that is my husband’s business headquarters. Most houses that have this big of an office space tend to come with a lot of square footage surrounding it. It’s okay though. The lot, while not a water or mountain view, is on one acre in the center of this city, with tons of beautiful mature trees and is a sanctuary for me, a true introvert who loves nothing more than puttering around my home.
We have 4 full and 1 half bath, plus a small guest house with full bath and kitchen. We’ll stay here until one of us goes!
Same with us @Nrdsb4. We are hoping to stay until the end. My office (like most of the rooms in the house) looks out on a river and we’re hoping they’ll just roll us in there when we pass. (Actually, not really. I’m going to forswear Jewish burial as I’d like my kids to spread my ashes in two or three places that I love that I know they will come back to for their own reasons. We discussed that last month with ShawD]). But, we hope this is the forever house.
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