Bathroom Time is Family Time!

In a small house, the notion of privacy is kind of a joke. Growing up, my family lived in an older house which also only had one bathroom. We had a kind of code: if one of the girls was going #1, any of the other girls could come in. Usually, #2 meant you get privacy, except for my poor little sister,  I remember brushing my teeth while she sat on the toilet reading a book. The other code was, if someone is in the shower, it's fair game to go in the bathroom, until they are ready to get out. Every morning before I school I would go downstairs and wait on the bottom step outside the bathroom until I heard my dad turn on the water and close the shower door. Yeah, no real privacy. I think it prepared me for motherhood. 

You can't have a magazine-based idea of what a bathroom is for in a small house. It's not your spa. It's a place with very specific functions. You get in, you get out. Hair and make-up is generally not done in the bathroom if you have lots of people who want to use it. 

Bathroom storage tips: go upward and behind the door. Over-the-toilet cabinets, shelves, etc. There's also this cool thing, which I don't think would fit in our house because of its age and wonky measurements, but it looks like an awesome idea! 

Cabidor Storage Rack

All of this said, if I could change one thing about living in a small house, it would be having two bathrooms. I don't mind the familial closeness one bathroom creates, but I have a tiny weak bladder, and I have been known to pee outside in the grass behind the garage because I just couldn't hold it any longer. Now with three people using the potty, accidents are always waiting to happen! I dream sometimes of a master bathroom, and on one of *those* days, I could close not one, but two doors between me and the kids. Sigh.