Whis is a first-floor powder room a must-have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was mostly about having a bathroom for guests to use where no one is keeping a toothbrush, etc. We have a first floor bath but during parties I often send people to the basement because the powder room is through the office and sometimes I shut that off for mess. The basement is fine as a powder room.

Glad all your guests can navigate stairs. Mine, including my 101 year old grandmother, cannot.

Well, we have exterior stairs so if we need to have elderly family visit we’d have to get a stairlift.
Honestly don’t you go TO a 101 year old??

[Anonymous]

But yes, sure, a ground floor bathroom helps a lot for aging in place. I think that’s certainly true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But yes, sure, a ground floor bathroom helps a lot for aging in place. I think that’s certainly true.

But that requires a full bathroom and bedroom.

[Anonymous]

I would never buy a home at this point without a main level powder room. When you have guests over do you really want them going up to the second floor, or down to the basement?

Reminds of my my college rental homes when that happens. I feel weird trouncing around a home looking for a bathroom.

[Anonymous]

We live in such a small house that I’m not sure a main-floor powder room is a great idea. When I’m a guest, I don’t want to be peeing (or worse) right off the main entertaining space!

Then again, maybe I’m trying to make myself feel better about our lack of a powder room.

[Anonymous]

We entertain lot and I have young kids. My elderly parents don’t like to up or down when they visit. I don’t want party guests or neighborhood kids traipsing through my whole house to use the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

We have a ranch house and no powder room. It is definitely a little informal asking guests to use my kids’ bathroom, but it seems impractical to have an entire room just for the sake of people not having to see toothbrushes. And I’m glad to have one on the main level for my parents and in-laws who aren’t great with stairs.

[Anonymous]

I don't want other people in my personal bathroom. Thus, a powder room is necessary IMO.

[Anonymous]

My friend had a pretty big house and she had 2 first floor powder rooms. No husbands or kids allowed 😊

[Anonymous]

Older houses have room a small toilet. My 1923 has a small unheated closet in kitchen for food storage when built.

We insulated and put a toilet and tiny sink in. We only had one bath upstairs

[Anonymous]

Now that we have a home with a powder room on the first floor, it’s a deal breaker if we ever moved.

[Anonymous]

I lived for many years in a house without a powder room. The house we bought next had to have one. In our previous house, guests had to go upstairs to use the kids’ hall bathroom which was always in a state of disarray. One time, I cleaned it up for guests we were having after they attended my kid’s performance. The messy kid was out of the house all day at rehearsal so I cleaned up the bathroom and made it all pretty. After the performance, all the guests drive straight to my house while I went to pick up the food delivery order. The messy kid got a ride home with her aunt. When I arrived home with the food, all the guests were there and settled. Only at the end of the night, after everyone had left, did I find that my messy daughter had changed her clothes in the bathroom and left her bra and panties on the floor. All night, guests were using that bathroom and no one said anything. I was so embarrassed.

[Anonymous]

We use our powder room constantly for washing hands when we come inside. There is always someone using kitchen sink and no family wants to wait in line to wash hands. Powder room is a must for this reason and all the others that have been stated!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some houses are just too small for it. I lived in a tiny colonial without a first floor bathroom, and it wasn't a problem for us day to day. It would have been nice for elderly guests if there were also a bigger foot print. But when a guest asks to use the restroom, they kind of prefer to wander off and have a moment of privacy, right? My neighbors' house had the same layout as ours but an added powder room. The back wall of the living room was partitioned to do it. I just can't imagine sitting and having a conversation, and then someone has to use the bathroom five feet away. Yeah there are worse problems, but If it were me I'd just make an excuse to run home, and yes take the flight of stairs.

We have a colonial without any first floor powder room. We did a renovation and considered adding one, but there wasn’t any place for it to go which didn’t seem RIGHT in the living space. We had a townhouse with bathrooms on every floor, but the main floor powder room was basically in the kitchen/nook, maybe 5 ft from the fridge? I HATED that so it was just for washing hands. A prep sink can fill that second sink need.

We have two bathrooms upstairs, a hall bath for kids and an e suite in our bedroom. Obviously we just send people to the hall bath and keep bedroom doors closed. It works okay. I would love a modern house that afforded space that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have one in our 1927 rowhouse in WoTP DC. It's annoying but not a deal breaker. And I guarantee we'd have 6 offers for our house if we put it up for sale.

You'd have 12 offers if you had one.

lol