Burning Question: Tub With A View?
This week we’re dying to get your pulse on windows in your shower or bath. Are they amazing thanks to all the soft light that they allow into your scrub space? Or are they awkward because even if they’re frosted or distorted you fear that your shape is still outlined for all to see as you get your clean on?
Do you have one and wish you didn’t? Or do you not have one and wish you did? We’re itching to hear what what you prefer. In fact, we whipped up this handy little poll to keep everything tabulated:
[poll id="8"]
And we always love to hear more about why you voted the way you did, so feel free to comment away with more deets.
Image courtesy of Sunset magazine (photo by Thomas J. Story)
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We had one in our last house – a charming old Sears bungalow with a window over the original cast iron tub…for back when people took baths. It had long since been converted to a tub-shower, with frost glass in the bottom pane. This window was two driveway widths from our neighbor’s kitchen window. I spent three years worrying that they were watching me shower.
Never, ever again.
My parents’ house in Atlanta had one of those ceiling-height, narrow windows. Those aren’t bad, since they do let in light and are overhead – nowhere near a showering body!
We have no windows in the shower, but the pretty glass blocks around our soaking tub. I love it, because our bedroom is nice and dark, but when you open the door to our bathroom, the morning light floods in and is so light and airy in our mostly white and blue bathroom.
I actually really, really love the window by our tub, and wish it was bigger! The more I can bring nature in the better. I walk around my house naked all the time anyway, so windows in the bathroom don’t really change anything, lol. Remember the words of Alanis Morissette ;-)
I must have daylight in my bath in order to put my make up, wake up in the morning, do my nails. And would not want bath without a window, I like fresh air in there. Living in a big city I have very big but frosted window above my bath tube.
I don’t mind if somebody sees my silhouette while showering, so what?
While searching for my new apartment I didn’t even bother to visit places without window in bath. Every morning I get tons and tons of sun while preparing myself for a work – priceless :-)
In the sauna I am also naked, it is kind of a normal in Europe.
I LOVE my big unfrosted window we just installed in our bathroom. The natural undiffused light can’t be beat. We installed it just about “nipple-level.” Tee hee hee. Then, it went as tall as possible within code. :) Yes. I live on a city lot with a neighbor 20 feet away and a direct view, but hey, they only get my wet head and shoulders.
My whirlpool tub is in a corner with two windows; one on the end & one on the side. On one window I have a 1/2 curtain to shield the “view” from our neighbors, the other is wide open to a beautiful view of the Olympic Mountains! I love it!
Our window is both frosted and distorted, which means it’s totally private, but it is such a pain to clean!!! Nasty green slime and pink mildew grow in the cracks and crevices and taint my pretty white shower. It’s not worth the extra daylight to have to clean the window with a toothbrush. :/
We had a stained glass window panel (Frank Lloyd Wright-type design) made for our whirlpool tub area in our old house. We hung it in the window so nobody could see in and then we were able to take the blinds down.
When I was younger my parents bought a summer house (aka shack) on a lake. It was great- but the tiny bath had no shower. Their solution? Attach a shower head to a short garden house, screw it to the wall outside a connect the hose to the kitchen sink. Modesty goes out the window quickly. To this day though, I LOVE showering outside.
As for windows in bathrooms, I love them surrounding tubs, but the architect in me can’t deal with moisture problems with windows in showers. Better to opt for a operable skylight above the shower- natural light and ventilation.
It’s my dream to have a window in our shower one day… there was one in the place we stayed on our honeymoon… and occassionaly there are some in beach houses we stay in. I just LOVE it. :) Love the smell of the fresh air and the breeze when I’m taking a shower.
My old house had windows in both bathrooms — one of them was actually in the shower/tub enclosure. The blinds that came with the house were metal on the bottom so the shower water would splash and hit them, resulting in rust. Fortunately, the tile kept water from getting into the window sill or the wall (which a friend of mine in a vintage 1920s rental has to deal with).
In my current house, there’s also a window in the bathroom — as you walk in you look straight at it and the tub is to the left and the sink and toilet are to the right. (It’s just like your bathroom only reversed.) That works out really well though when I first moved in, I was worried that the roller shade wasn’t flush enough to the window so I bought some $4 Ikea window frosting plastic (is there a better term??) and cut it to fit just the lower half of the window. Now there’s plenty of light but still lots of privacy.
My husband and I used to tour display houses for fun. I could NOT understand why picture windows in bathrooms are so popular! Right over the tub/shower? I don’t get it. The creepiest thing in the whole world is showering at night with a window right next to you. We curtain ours, even though the glass is frosted, because ew.
I’m on the line about windows in the shower. We live at the bottom of a small mountain in the Great Smokies. During the summer, everything is leaved out and we leave blinds and windows open on the back of the house all the time. In the winter, all the leaves are gone and…yeah. I can’t remember all the times I’ve run to the bathroom to do my business and realize the blinds are open, and our window isn’t even in the shower!
LOVE LOVE LOVE my window in the shower (made of frosted cubes, a bit out of style, with a marble sill for keeping soap and shampoos) But I could Not live without sunlight in the shower. That’s part the motivation for staying in there, I feel like I’m at the spa! The other bathroom has a big stained glass window above the claw foot tub, which lets in the most glorious light early in the morning. Without it I would feel closed in. I need to redecorate that bathroom but the stained glass window (or something like it) will still be the focal point.
you can see pictures of both baths here: (scroll down)
http://thegloriouspile.blogspot.com/p/hgtv-segment.html
I have a stained glass window in my bathroom that the tub is centered under. It’s a footed tub w/a shower kit, so of course the shower curtain helps me feel a little more confident that no one can see in.
I haven’t read all the comments, but haven’t seen much on the maintenance issue. I have wood windows in the house, some of them clad on the outside, but am reluctant to have a wood one at the tub/shower. I really love the idea of having a nice big window there though, in my current re-design.
Our big soaking tub is a corner model. We have windows on both sides which give a great view of the outdoors or me(!) getting in/out. I cut clear Contact Paper to size then cut a small design out for pretty.
We have made our bathroom on a second floor and there is a very wide window in a roof. You know just great view.
In our new apartment, we have a window on the wall next to our bathtub that leads INTO our bedroom – talk about worries about peeping toms! You can see everything happening inside the bathroom from the guest bedroom, and vice versa (awkward!). We call it the “sexy window” but are desperately looking for some sort of film to cover it up (because a curtain on an interior bedroom wall would probably look weird!).