5 Solutions for Shared Bathroom Spaces

Sharing a bathroom at times is challenging and at best is uncomplicated. Growing up, many of us experienced the necessity of sharing a bathroom with siblings or roommates during college. These experiences include the joys of a messy vanity, disheveled drawers, and regularly empty toilet paper rolls or worse a backward toilet paper roll—any of these have the potential to result in bad moods, frayed nerves, resentfulness, and bickering. Instead of a cycle of frustrations, you could take simple steps to make a shared bathroom more pleasant and livable without whittling away at your relationships.

1. Communicate

In any shared space the number one secret is communication! Clear communication between everyone using the bathroom is an absolute necessity. Each person will have their own preferences and pet peeves for this joint space, and they must be respected and accounted for before you change or add any additional rules. Begin with mutually agreed upon rules, responsibilities, and non-negotiables.

2. Set schedules

Have you and a sibling ever fought over who would get ready first in the bathroom? I think many of us could say we’ve been there in some form or another. Without a doubt, the most stressful is when two people need to use the space at the same time, especially when there is a time constraint. The easiest solution is time blocking who gets the bathroom when and working around and sticking to the schedule. For example, your spouse could have the bathroom from 6:00 to 6:30 on Monday mornings and from 6:30 to 7:00 on Tuesday mornings, alternating with you all week.

Likewise, equality and consideration are key for maintaining a pristine bathroom for everyone to enjoy. Start a monthly cleaning schedule, with reminders for whose turn it is to do which task each week, and adjust when necessary. Be sure everyone keeps it on their phones or that it’s printed out and posted somewhere prominent.

3. Look over and under for solutions

You’ve accounted for the people in your home; now it’s time to make changes to the bathroom itself. The bathroom isn’t always the most spacious room in the house, so it can help to think vertically. For example, an over-the-door towel rack can be hung from the top of the bathroom door as a space-saver. Similarly, ask yourself how you could use the space under the vanity. One way can be to divide the area under each side of the sink to store each person’s toiletries and linens.

4. Utilize practical space-saving systems

There are a ton of items you can buy to maximize your space, such as individual trays for drawers (think silverware divider). The same holds true for the shower. If you have a shower caddy where space is divided or two dedicated shelves, it makes it easy for people to have a sense of their own space for their toiletries. Adding clear bins to a linen closet for medicine or bandaids keeps items together and easy to find when necessary. 

5. Consider bathroom upgrades

If all else fails, you could change the structure of your bathroom to accommodate whoever uses it routinely. A common example of this, space permitting, is installing an extra-wide vanity. Even better and more preferred is a double vanity with separate sinks. Either way, you’re creating room so that each person has their own space.

Your home’s bathroom doesn’t need to be a battleground. With a little organization, communication, and dedication, this shared space can be the comfortable oasis it’s meant to be.