Bathrooms without doors. How did this become a thing?

I don’t need to go into a detailed discussion of what goes on in a toilet. This most natural necessity should not be relegated to the file of shame, but does it really need to be shared in great detail with your great love?

JUNE 2003 : See-through ensuite bathroom with only clear glass separating the bathroom from the bedroom, in the Paddington Central apartment development, 06/03. NSW / Housing / Real Estate / Interior

Are you sh*tting me? Not the most polite way to respond to an architectural trend, I admit, but before you take offence, take a moment to ponder the ramifications of this latest design fad.

May I present... the bathroom with no doors?

A room with a view. A view of every single thing happening in the bathroom, that is.

Yes, the sharpest minds in architecture have convinced those with the most dosh in luxe and contemporary abodes to do away with bathroom doors in the master bedroom with its accompanying ensuite.

Now while a yurt, igloo, or even some of those overpriced studio apartments where you can’t swing a cat, might lack a bathroom door for spatial reasons, there’s no justification for any place else to go without.

Sure, open space can look impressive. Just imagine: the over-sized mirror reflecting back onto the handmade upholstered headboard and bespoke side tables. The glass shower, polished to perfection allows natural light to filter throughout. Seriously people, how doesn’t this fad appeal?

But while the arbiters of style have occasionally gotten it wrong (socks and sandals, anyone?), the grand designers of bathrooms should also front the court of WTF. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but what says the nose?

Doors? Who needs doors?

I don’t need to go into a detailed discussion of what goes on in a toilet. This most natural necessity should not be relegated to the file of shame, but does it really need to be shared with your great love?

Thinking back to a time at the start of a relationship when you would rather die than expel foul air in their presence, when did it become “a thing” to openly use the bathroom in each other’s company?

A colleague who recently stayed in a hotel which proudly boasted a bathroom entirely cased in glass walls was mortified to realise many are increasingly happy to surrender privacy in the name of interior design.

“I have been married for 10 years and I’m sorry, but even after having had two kids together I would be perfectly content to ring in our 50th anniversary without my husband ever seeing me use the bathroom. Some things are best kept mysterious,” she says.

“It’s hard enough to maintain romance in a long-term relationship without peeing in front of one another. I’m all for intimacy, but this is ridiculous.”

It’s hard enough to maintain romance in a long-term relationship without peeing in front of one another.

In the wi-fi era where social networking can strip us of boundaries allowing people to share photos and opinions in the most uncensored fashion, shouldn’t we allow ourselves just an ounce of decorum?

The bathroom, with an actual functioning door, is the last bastion of privacy.

Besides, where else you can you hide pretending to be busy when it’s your turn to do the washing up?