Large family bathroom solutions?

[annettemarie]

We're a family of six and we have one bathroom. We are pretty sure we're going to put a toilet in the basement when the plumbers come to do some work after we get our tax return back, but that's not really a fully-functioning bath (or even powder room). I'd love to hear your ideas for lots of people sharing a bathroom.

It's fairly large, has an old fashioned wash basin with no storage underneath. There's a tall cabinet the previous owners built and left, but it's not very deep. I've actually been thinking about moving it and instead putting a ledge shelf along the wall with hooks for each kid to hang their robe and towel. They keep their toiletries in a little basket already (now kept in the cabinet) and could just place them on the shelf. We have one of those shelf things that holds towels, and a three-bin plastic cart for diapers and covers.

There's also hideous linoleum on the walls. I'm afraid to remove it, but I've heard they now make something so you can paint on plastic, and I'm seriously thinking of trying it out. It can't make it worse! I need to paint anyway because the paint is peeling from the ceiling and tops of the walls. There's no fan or anything, which really doesn't help.

I'll try to get some pictures of the world's ugliest bathroom later.

[Rosehip]

I don't know what the bedroom situation is like, but how about keeping towels/robes in bedrooms. I think 8 robes in 1 bathroom would overwhelm me! Something like this:

http://thestoragestore.com/robandtowval.html

I don't have a large family, but at times have had the "no bathroom storage" issue or one bathroom with a very full house. I've always tried to streamline products - everyone uses the same soap/shampoo conditioner, and storing whatever possible in bedrooms. I kept all cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink or in the linen closet, and just kept it very simple, not a ton of specialized products.

[34me]

We are a family of 5 but it sounds like my guys are older (no dipes for us), hence bulkier so the sameish . We do robes and towels on the back of doors on hooks. The towels are color coded and have the kids names on them. Each child likes/needs their own toiletries (some are very curly, others have ubers sensitive skin) so they are hung from hooks in the bathroom. We live in a college town so I was able to find some cool canvas bags with grommets in them for drainage.

Not only do we only have 1.5 baths but the one with the shower you can sit on the toilet, wash a child in the tub, brush your teeth in the sink and get your knees whacked when the dog wants in, all at the same time.

[luv-my-boys]

We had a very small bathroom in our last house. It was maybe less than 5x5 without counting the small tub-shower enclosure. But we did have higher ceilings so we ended up putting up cabinets up hight for things I needed storage for like all the extra TP and towels and products we stored in the bathroom but didnt need daily like the humidifier/meds/products. This cleared up space in he small under sink cabinet for towels and rugs toys and stuff we did use daily.

[Pinoikoi]

In our old house we had 1 full size bathroom and we had 5 kids at home (7 people total). Dp actually was considering at one point encouraging the boys to whiz on the trees in the backyard.

I remember at one point, i was cleaning the bathroom and the spigot on the shower fell off and hit me in the head. We had baths only for a couple of days until I could get a new spigot (showerhead?) as it had rusted through (hence why it fell off).

It was really stressful for me. We had a fairly deep linen closet just outside the bathroom door, and no storage in the bathroom itself. I am fairly certain the floor was warped due to previous flood damage in there as well.

[sunshineafterrain]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

We're a family of six and we have one bathroom. We are pretty sure we're going to put a toilet in the basement when the plumbers come to do some work after we get our tax return back, but that's not really a fully-functioning bath (or even powder room). I'd love to hear your ideas for lots of people sharing a bathroom.

It's fairly large, has an old fashioned wash basin with no storage underneath. There's a tall cabinet the previous owners built and left, but it's not very deep. I've actually been thinking about moving it and instead putting a ledge shelf along the wall with hooks for each kid to hang their robe and towel. They keep their toiletries in a little basket already (now kept in the cabinet) and could just place them on the shelf. We have one of those shelf things that holds towels, and a three-bin plastic cart for diapers and covers.

There's also hideous linoleum on the walls. I'm afraid to remove it, but I've heard they now make something so you can paint on plastic, and I'm seriously thinking of trying it out. It can't make it worse! I need to paint anyway because the paint is peeling from the ceiling and tops of the walls. There's no fan or anything, which really doesn't help.

I'll try to get some pictures of the world's ugliest bathroom later.

Hi, I am going to try the shelf too. I have a shaker style shelf with 4 pegs that I got at a thrift store and I am priming it then painting it white (I have 4 people in my house so we'll each get a peg) Then toothbrushes and baskets to hold toiletries on top.

I would try painting your walls, the people in the paint dept will be able to recommend the best products for you, so I'd ask They are always coming out with new kinds

I also have a moisture problem in my bath, we had a vent fan installed but it died and worse it was vented improperly and vented into the attic rather than the outside, it was also loud and I believe too small for the room (ours is 7x14 feet) sooooo I am wanting to get a small ceiling fan to run after someone showers and dry it out that way. They sell outdoor fans but we've had a regular ceiling fan on our 3 season porch and it has held up for probably 10 years, though it could use new blades I guess still the bathroom would be less humid than the porch.

If you have any thrift stores, I'd be on the lookout for furniture or shelves that you could add in too

Good luck with your project!

[2lilsweetfoxes]

Do the shelf with a peg underneath for each person (towel drying). Have them keep their bathrobes in their room on a hook unless presently showering/bathing, when it will be on a hook in the bathroom. On the shelf, since everyone requires different bath stuff, give each person a caddy/basket that contains all their bath/hair/post-bath stuff. They can get it down when they are bathing.