700 Sq Ft, Family of 5: "Hurry Up I Have To Pee" One Bathroom House

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If there’s one single thing I’m most looking forward to when we’re able to move someday, it’s this: Having a second toilet in the house! For real, when we first moved into this place – without kids – I had no idea of the struggle of living in a small home with small children (especially in the year+ that the full course of potty training seems to take) and everyone needing to use the bathroom at once. And really, why is it that somehow everyone has to go #2 at exactly the same time?? Or while someone else is showering or taking a bath?? And then trying to get teeth brushed while someone just stunk up the bathroom?

Hah, for real. I know even larger families live in a one bathroom house too, but man, we’ve only got four potty users right now and already it’s tough. Those of you who do one bathroom with more people TOTALLY have my respect.

As you’ll see, the bathroom hasn’t changed much from my original post, but I originally didn’t detail much in the bathroom either, so this post is a bit more in-depth.

BATHROOM AREA SIZE:
Width: 5′
Length: 7.5′
Total Sq. Footage: 37.5 sq. ft.

Toilet Area
Not sure if you can tell, but the door aaalmost scrapes the toilet when it opens/closes, so you have to watch your knees (or lock the door) so kids don’t bang your knees when they try to barge in on you. I suppose it it fun to be able to playfully step on their little fingers under the door though, lol.

Instead of a kid’s stool (since there wasn’t really a lot of room), we opted for this “Squatty Potty” type of stool. It tucks under the toilet better than a regular stool, and well, yes, it can also be used for it’s intended purpose as well. 😉

We also bought and installed one of the “kid” toilet seats that have a smaller rim that folds down. I’ve noticed that a lot of other families are getting these now too. I won’t lie, they are pretty convenient!

Items Pictured:

EasyGopro Toilet Stool

VESKEN Shelf Unit (Ikea)

Not Pictured:

Built-In Child Potty Seat

Sink & Wall Area
In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have any “stuff” in the bathroom like toiletries, or toothpaste, or shampoo bottles, or extra toilet paper rolls, or hair dryers. But this is not a perfect world, and we do have stuff that takes up space in the bathroom. So we needed a place to put it!

Both the blue crochet hanging organizer and the white plastic shelves came from Ikea.

On the wall behind the sink we hung a shelf (after the original one fell on my head last summer & I still have some scalp numbness from) and two rows of wall hooks. One for the adults, one for the little kids to reach their own towels.

And of course, behind the door, we have an old crib rail that we turned on its side and into a magazine rack.

Items Pictured:

NORDRANA Hanging Storage (Ikea)

Shower/Bath Area
First, don’t laugh at our shower, ok? We’re renting, ok? We didn’t get to choose the building materials. Anyway, I’m not exactly sure WHAT the shower walls are made from. Some kind of stucco-ish material? Whatever, it’s weird, I know, but for the past 8 years, it’s worked.

We originally had shower doors in the bathroom, but sometime after our first was born, we took them off. Instead, we tied some rope at the top in order to hang a shower curtain. We also took a pool noodle, cut a slit down it, and placed it over the shower door frame. It might be a little ugly, but it sure makes me feel better with kids climbing in and out of the tub and is way more comfortable leaning over when bathing kids.

Oh, here’s a fun fact we didn’t realize until after we’d moved in: Our bathtub does not have a bath spout! Who knows why. So we made the best out of it and bought a shower head cord to use instead. And when we fill up the bathtub for the kids’ baths, we turn on the shower and let it fill up that way.

Also, our drain plug hasn’t worked properly for years. We pull up the little knob and it doesn’t fully stop the water from leaking. So we bought an OXO drain stopper that we use to plug the drain. Ah well, it works. And you do what you gotta do.

To bathe the baby (before he’s old enough to take a bath with older brother), I put the smaller baby bathtub in thelarge bath tub and then use the shower head to fill up the bath. Since there’s no room in the bathroom for storage, we typically store the baby tub on top of the dresser in the kids room. Also, I don’t bathe my baby everyday, lol. That makes life a little easier too.

Items Pictured:

OXO Tub Drain Stopper