Tell me about Jack and Jill baths

[Anonymous]

We have one hall bath and one JNJ and I hate the JNJ setup. Here's why:
1. It takes out additional space from the kids' rooms -- the kids' rooms have 3 doors plus windows (entry door, bathroom door, closet door) -- it's really hard to arrange the furniture around that.
2. It's a pain in the neck for the adult to get in -- if I want to help the kids with their teeth, cleaning up, get their towels, etc, I have to maneuver through the poorly setup bedrooms.
3. The kids fight about the various locks and whether one has locked the other out, then forgotten to unlock the door before going to sleep in their own room.
4. The kids use it to sneak into their siblings' room to borrow/break the siblings toys. Or to run around in circles in a "you can't catch me" game.
5. I felt like I should only make the two same-gendered children share the JNJ, so they got stuck with the two smaller rooms that are attached to the JNJ. Otherwise I would have given the oldest child the biggest room as she has the most stuff.

And, I like double sinks in hall bath, if you can swing the space.

[Anonymous]

I have lived in a home with JnJ bath and would never buy one again.

They suck.

My main complaints:

Whoever is in the bathroom disturbs the person sleeping in the other bedroom. One of my kids was an early riser and every damn morning woke his sister up clunking around in there.
Lack of real privacy as whoever is in one of the adjoining bedrooms can hear everything.
Agree with PP that it's an extra door and makes furniture arranging more challenging.
Outside of kids, who wants this arrangement? It's so awkward. You can hear the other person and you never know when it's safe to go in the bathroom or not.

[Anonymous]

I have boys and a Jack and Jill bathroom for us just makes me think of a lot more sneaking of water fights and bathroom "science experiments."

[Anonymous]

I also have had a JnJ bath, and for the reasons PPs mentioned, I would not add one unless it was not possible to have a hall bath instead. Go with 2 hall baths if you can.

[Anonymous]

Do another en suite (for a guest room or office) and then a hall bath that the kids can share. No to the J&J. And the hall bath doesn't really need double sinks. I guess it's cute if your kids are in there together a lot. Our kids go to bed at different times and we have all the other bathrooms they can use...

[Anonymous]

Good place to play "Doctor" and "Naughty Nurse".

[Anonymous]

I would do 2 hall baths for optimum flexibility. Plus then the rooms are more equal. I hate J&J baths because you have to worry about making sure two doors are locked instead of just one.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate I'm an anomaly, but I love our Jack and Jill bathroom and so do our kids. It's charming, old school, and an excellent use of space in a tiny home. Not the ideal configuration if you have more space and other options, but there are positives too. It's not terribly private but neither are we. We never lock doors indoors anyway.

[Anonymous]

My mother put JnJ's in her custom-build when my sister and I were 16 and 11 respectively. I hated her guts and 10 years later I still think it was a horrible decision now that the four bedrooms sharing are mostly guest rooms. My sister was a slob and I paid the price.

[Anonymous]

Guests will want their own bathroom. And you will want them to have their own bathroom (cue FIL without pants, MIL with a green face mask on).
The best thing we did was have a bathroom attached to the guest room at the opposite end of the ball from Master bath.
That way guests don't even have to come into the hallway and it's a private suite type set up.
People really appreciated that.
It doubled as an office and made it very private and quiet to just stay in there while working, have water for a coffee machine, etc.
The other was a jack and Jill between the kids room and I think that was fine for 2 boys. *No one* wanted or needed to see what it looked it and was truly "hidden" between their two rooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do another en suite (for a guest room or office) and then a hall bath that the kids can share. No to the J&J. And the hall bath doesn't really need double sinks. I guess it's cute if your kids are in there together a lot. Our kids go to bed at different times and we have all the other bathrooms they can use...

^^It can be an office or guest room or when your daughter is older it can be her room.

[Anonymous]

Two hall baths
More flexibilty

[Anonymous]

I hate J&J bathrooms. So many doors to lock and unlock, and heaven forbid, somebody forgets to unlock the door when they're done. Just put in two hall bathrooms. The double sink is fine if there is room for counter space in between. I find that it's extremely rare for two people to be using the bathroom sinks at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate J&J bathrooms. So many doors to lock and unlock, and heaven forbid, somebody forgets to unlock the door when they're done. Just put in two hall bathrooms. The double sink is fine if there is room for counter space in between. I find that it's extremely rare for two people to be using the bathroom sinks at the same time.

I don't know from Jack or Jill, but this makes me think of the SNL "Love Toilet" skit: