This seems to be a big cliche in TV and movies. Person X is taking a shower, and person Y looks in through their shower window and sees them. Windows in bathrooms make perfect since, but I have never, in my life, seen one that actually looks right into the shower/tub area.
Has anyone lived (or lives) in a place where this is the case?
Yes. House was built in 1931, and I have no idea what they were thinking (it’s definitely original to the house, and this bathroom has always been the bathroom).
When I first moved in, we had venetian blinds over it, but my husband has since replaced it with a glass block window.
I have lived in four houses that all had windows in the bathrooms.
Usually in the wall where the shower is, but not always.
I don’t think it’s that unusual, definitely more common in older houses
My SO’s parents have one, but it’s of that frosted glass so you couldn’t see inside anyway.
Yes, the house I grew up in had one. And the house my parents currently own has one in the downstairs and upstairs showers.
My Aunt’s house has a window in the shower. It’s a good 10 feet off the ground though, so there’s no chance of looking in. IIRC she has venetian blinds over it.
And we have a window over the large whirlpool tub in our bathroom. It used to be 15 feet in the air, but since I rebuilt the deck a few years ago it’s now easily accessible. Obviously we keep the shade down.
My MIL’s house in Colorado has a very large picture window above her tub. It looks out over the mesa the house is on and you can’t see the window from the front of the house. The neighbor’s don’t/can’t see in, unless they are wandering the back of the house.
I have had fox, weasels and snowshoe hares peek in my whilst I was bathing…
My current apartment does not, but the last 2 places I’ve lived did in fact have a window in the shower. I liked it. In the early morning when it was cool and I was in a hot steamy shower, the contrast in temperature felt good. I enjoyed having the fresh air and just enjoying the scenery as well. The window was at shoulder level, so no chances of accidentally showing off my boobs. We didn’t have neighbors anyway.
Yep, in both older houses and in a newer house (although, granted, it was frosted glass, only about 7 inches high and so high up it was above my head). The last time I had this was in an old mansion built in the 1890’s? that was broken up into apartments. My full-sized, non-frosted glass window was right next to the back door and the fire escape that my neighbors used all the time to come into the building!
ETA - my sister’s fairly new suburban house has a higher frosted glass window with a deep ledge, as well.
The last two apartmens I lived in had windows in the same wall as the shower, both had frosted glass. My uncle’s abthroom has a window too, also with forsted glass.
However, if you open the window too let steam out or to just look outside (my uncle’s bathroom has a cool view), it would be possible to see inside. For both of my apartments, it would take very deliberate effort to look inside though. At my uncle’s you could probably see in if you’re walking past on the sidewalk, but the window is high enough that for the average adult you’d see only a sudsy head and shoulders. A tall enough woman might be at risk of having her boobies on display, but it’s unlikely.
My sister is pretty tall and she said she window ledge comes up high enough that if someone was on the front lawn they might see her upper chest, but not much more than a dress with a generously plunging neckline.
ETA: My last appartment BTW, the glass was replaced in a retrofit a few years ago. I don’t know if the original glass was forsted when the place was built in the early 1900s.
My childhood home did (built in the late 60s). It had blinds over it and you would have needed to balance on the edge of the second floor deck and lean over to see in but there was a window there.
I believe we used the interior windowsill for storing shampoo, conditioner and other shower-related bottles.
My friend Phil’s house had a shower window. It was frosted glass, so you couldn’t see in, though. What I didn’t understand is that he kept it open, thus defeating the purpose of the frosted glass.
Yes, I do- we’re on the third floor and its frosted. The window ledge is handy.
Yup, it’s the only ventilation in the room if the door is shut (no fan). It’s orange textured glass. I believe all the apartments in the building have one. I generally keep mine closed, even though it’d take some doing to see me through it. (I’m on the second floor but there’s a walkway on the hill that could possibly see me, except for the trees in the way.)
I used to rent a house that had a window in the shower. It went from maybe chest height up to about 6 inches from the ceiling. The bathroom was on the back wall of the house and outside, the yard sloped down away from the house so unless you were on a ladder, you couldn’t see in. Neighbor’s house was far enough away that it didn’t matter.
We have a summer house with one bathroom with a skylight over the big soaking tub. There’s also a regular double-hung window on the wall across from the glass-enclosed shower. If you’re in the shower and someone is standing at the far corner of the balcony on the house across the street, and the lighting is just right, they might be able to catch a glimpse of nudity. Big whoop-dee-doo.
The house I grew up in has a frosted glass window in the master bath that’s on the long side of the tub. The other bathroom was fully inside the house, so no windows at all.
My current house has windows directly over the toilets in the two bathrooms. Having windows in the bathtub area would require them to be rather high up - above the fiberglass tub enclosure.
I did in a rental I lived for a few years. It was at the back of the house, so unless someone was prowling in the backyard, they couldn’t see you. We hung a big old fern in the window, which blocked any view someone might have gotten.
Mine is the same way.
I have a new house (built last year), and there are windows in both showers, up too high too look out. They are frosted glass and slide sideways to open. There is a huge window over the master bathtub that has frosted glass, but doesn’t open.
Our second bathroom used to be a closed in porch and still has an oversized clear glass window that takes up almost the whole wall behind the shower. We usually leave it open and uncovered because it faces the woods behind the house. I love it. Besides, if someone is creeping around in our woods then I have a more serious problem than just being seen in the shower.