Ok. Y’all are opinionated, which I love because you come with a set of experiences that I don’t have, and the more experience = more informed choices. In our last post, about the stained glass doors, there was a firestorm in the comments about many of you not wanting to use the toilet near a urinal without visual or physical protection. While it’s not our intent to be used at the same time, it seemed like it just felt gross that your face would be in the same line as the urinal (with possible residual “elements” lingering). If we are being honest, it seems that this urinal is not a popular idea amongst women, but Brian, Charlie, and all their friends are so excited about it that I’m still team urinal. Listen making people have fun in my home is pretty much my #1 driver in life, and these two urinal-loving men (and my brother) are SO excited. So now I need to get the ladies back on board. Message received – we need some separation between the two.
So with the help of our new extremely intuitive design program, Spoak, we were able to lay out the options for you both visually and totally accurately (with measurements), as both elevations and floorplans. And we even plugged in actual product selects when we had them. THIS IS TRULY A DREAM. If you are like me and don’t know any rendering programs but love to design and decorate, please check it out. We are still learning all the endless bells and whistles (and they are innovating every day), but the basics are incredibly intuitive, and we’ll be talking a lot about them this year. Check out Spoak.
Option #1: Single Outhouse – WITH PARTITION
This was our original plan, but we added a partition between the toilet and the urinal. A great option is a pony wall that comes out from the back wall. This could be built out of wood and paneled or tiled. It could also be metal (think literal bathroom partition) or even glass (like a window, possibly stained glass?).
Pros: We get to keep the best layout, but add that tiny bit of separation. Could also add a tiled backsplash with a clear starting/stopping point that would be pretty (without having to do the whole wall).
Cons: Might need to remove the partition in the future to be ADA compliant. Again (and I want to be super clear), we don’t plan on renting out the property for small events until well after kids graduate (if at all), so if we wanted it to be accessible, we might need to modify things down the line. To me, this is a pretty easy change, and hell, we could add a shower curtain in between them with a waterproof fabric on the men’s side (LOLOLOLOL… ok now even I’m grossed out ). I also want to note that I think it would work for any friends/visitors or future parents who need accessibility, it just might not be technically in compliance.
Pros: The layout of the bathroom is still the best. The flow from door to door is easy, and there are clear visual focal points and nice sightlines. Lots of breathing room and no obstructions, but admittedly, the sink is small here.
Cons: We might need to make it a tiny bit wider to accommodate the partition without it being really crammed in there. Also, the design of the partition would have be real good as it’s the main sightline when you look in here.
*****UPDATE: As I’m writing this post, I’m considering moving that window higher (we’ve decided to replace it anyway as it’s so damaged), and if so, we could put the sink/vanity in front of that window. Right now, the window is crazy low (like 18″ off the floor), so I could raise it to be 30″ and use that space instead. And then do something so pretty with a single sink and vanity area, should we ever have, say, bridal parties get ready in there. Here’s how that floorplan would look:
Option #2: Double Outhouse – ARGUABLY THE CUTEST
How cute is this!!?? And your face wouldn’t be within inches of a urinal, pleasing most of you (I hope). This is the most direct layout pulled from the inspiration (the two tiled rooms inside – shower and toilet room). It’s pretty dang cute and gives “his” and “hers” in the best of ways.
Pros: Separate spaces for each. General adorableness of having two twin mini buildings. Also, we could do a colorful toilet, which I want to do, but there are no colorful urinals to match. But with each having their own rooms, I could do a blue or green toilet in one and a black urinal in the other. BTW, I might also do this anyway in the same outhouse and just figure out how to balance it visually.
Cons: Would have to remove at least the toilet room outhouse structure if we ever wanted to be accessible or ADA compliant. One stained glass door on its own is only 24″ wide, which is pretty narrow (but doable, our toilet room in our primary and our guest room bathroom doors are only 24″ wide). But also, the sink is pretty crammed and narrow. See here:
Besides the crammed sink, it’s tricky; the flow and sightlines aren’t the best. There is enough clearance around the tub to walk, but the doorway-to-doorway flow is clunky – you have to walk out and around this 52″ deep structure. Doable, but less of a good flow for sure. I, of course, could reconfigure the whole thing, but it’s starting to feel like this is just a cute option, but not the best.
Option #3: Single-Wide Outhouse – ACCESSIBILITY FOCUSED
Ok, here is a single outhouse, but with the sink inside, between the toilet and the urinal. I think this would be enough separation from the urinal for all my lady friends, right?
Pros: The larger shed is likely ADA-compliant. The door opening is 48″ with enough space inside to maneuver. I also love that the sink would be centered and the prettiest sightline when the doors are open. The toilet and urinal are separated by a sink.
Cons: The doors feel too small, less special, and there is something more “shed-like” than “outhouse” which is hilarious to compare (I hope you all know that we are internally laughing at the word “outhouse” every time, knowing that this is not the dream of most homeowners but I have such a clear vision for it I promise!). I worry that this structure is just too big to be cute and quirky. We could flank the doors with smaller windows, of course, and work with it, but she’s big.
The flow is a bit clunky here, too, in this floorplan. Making the outhouse ADA-compliant might just make the building too big. But to be honest, we are unsure how much space we actually need to have. Gretch found this graphic, which says we need 30-48″ of clear floor space, but not in both directions.
It seems to me that we need it to be 59″ deep + framing materials (so 65″) in total to be compliant, which is admittedly very deep. But I wonder if there is a world where, if the doors are left open and the bathroom is treated technically like one large bathroom (not having the WC be the compliance measurement), that we might be ok? Like could the doorway opening space be part of our turnaround area that we would need?
I feel like I’m really getting in the weeds here, BTW. Brian doesn’t even want to rent out our property like I do in 15 years, so maybe we don’t need to make it “technically” or “legally” accessible (although I would love to make it work for as many abilities as possible just in general). OR maybe we just design it how we want to for now, and then if we turn this into a business in 10-15 years, we invest in modifications. But it’s interesting to learn, and I love a challenge. And regardless of compliance, we do have a lot of people over, and I’d love to be that house that people of abilities can come knowing they are taken care of.
Option #4: South Outhouse – SHINING STAINED GLASS
We wanted to address those of you who thought that stained glass would be pointless without a window or light source inside the outhouse to make the colors shine. We’ll call you “team outdated Pizza Hut” because you likened it to a Pizza Hut. While I don’t agree, we had this exact same conversation and temporarily relocated the outhouse a few weeks ago. There is a pretty bad window with a terrible view (of a chain link fence) that we had planned on getting rid of. But the idea crossed our mind to put the stained glass doors in front of it and see how that would look.
The stained glass absolutely lit up, in both good and really BRIGHT ways. Obviously its WAY more powerful, bright, saturated, and dominant. But I’m not on team “outdated Pizza Hut”. I think that stained glass done right can have light flowing through it, of course, but can also just be a textural and colorful material (especially the more opaque colors, not the transparent). Think dark speakeasy bars, saloons, libraries, etc. And yes, there will be a light inside the outhouse, two huge skylights, and a huge window across from it, if it’s on the other wall, so I promise we’ll get some light in there! (Also pretty sure Gen Z loves nostalgic Pizza Huts and TGIF’s – they are coming back!).
The main con of this layout is the terrible flow coming out of the door (from the speakeasy). Now, of course, we can move the door and/or move the tub to be in front of the window. But when you are in the space, this flow felt bad (and we don’t want to move the door because we want the wall in the adjacent room not be interrupted with a doorway – I’ve got plans for that wall).
So the options are:
- Single outhouse with a partition, big and easy to access, but maybe not technically ADA compliant.
- Double outhouse – so cute, but definitely smaller rooms.
- Large ADA-compliant outhouse/shed.
- South wall outhouse (AKA the southhouse) with some re-configuration.
Time To VOTE!!!
We just developed this new tech for this house project – in-blog voting (this is so fun). So please, please comment too, but for those of you who want it to be easier – click your button 🙂
What Am I Leaning Towards?
Option 1 – OG outhouse, BUT I want to try to lay it out with a larger vanity in front of the window. But check this out – we could also leave the small sink where it is and then add a vanity for getting ready/hair/makeup, but with no sink, so it doesn’t need plumbing, in which case it can be put in later?
Also, I’d really love to hear from those of you with experience with ADA compliance – either needing it yourself in a wheelchair, with an aging parent, or if you have designed any more residential-inspired ADA-compliant spaces. Curious if #1 is enough room to navigate if the stained glass doors remained open (with the main door locked and shades closed). Again, this is our home, and currently we don’t need to be beholden to city compliance, and there is a chance we’ll never make a real business out of it, or maybe just rent to photo shoots and occasional team off-sites, retreats, or family reunions (but not an actual event venue). So if I don’t heed your advice, it’s likely because we just don’t want to make big decisions right now on this huge “maybe”. But gathering information from all of you to make the best decision is such an incredible perk of the job. Thank you 🙂
Also, does adding the partition in #1 satisfy all the “no urinals near my face” folks out there? Please say yes!!!!!
Opening Image Credits: Photo by Kailtin Green
