I realize I’ve probably told you differently, but Starnes is actually much more of a DIY – I just didn’t want to intimidate my audience with my tool belt studliness.  Here are two unflattering pics as proof that this really is a one woman job:

            Notice, project manager Billy Ray humoring me in the background.

                 Me, observing my screw that is so not flush into the drywall.

Ok, the bracelets, leggings and boots are probably a giveaway.  I’m just joking.  This was also, incidentally, my first day as a brunette.  That’s a totally irrelevant point though.

Alright, back to the pet peeves….

My survey has unearthed the seething underbelly of the public restroom experience.  (Really though, it’s all a seething underbelly when you get down to it.)  These pet peeves probably fall most appropriately under the heading of functional design and public restroom designers really should pay attention because your public ISN’T HAPPY!!!

                                         Urinal Design Fail

 (Incidentally, beware googling images for bad public bathroom design.  Everything from pictures of people doing the nasty – and I don’t mean the conventional bathroom nasty – to George Michael came up.  There’s really no rhyme or reason and it could sear your eyeballs.)

 If you’ve ever been in a public restroom and found yourself  trying to execute the elusive, “person perched over toilet while trying to hold door with broken latch shut and simultaneously grab toilet paper” yoga pose, you can sympathize with the following folks:

“toilet paper that’s too far away” Jessi Herr

“Toilet paper holders in commercial/public bathrooms that are too big for the stall…And oh yeah…those stall doors that just won’t close!”  Margo Peck

Oddly enough, there is an honest-to-goodness, sincere video to be found of someone doing, I kid you not, toilet yoga.  And according to this diapered fellow, toilet role placement is critical:

Back to the public toilets…I might add, bathroom stalls in airports that are not big enough to allow you to roll your suitcase in while entering, making it impossible to avoid something, whether it’s you or the luggage, touching the toilet.  Requires complex choreography.  Oh, and those automatic flushers that are triggered by the slightest movement and leave you pressed up against the stall door to avoid the spray.

Here are a couple more  bathroom design no-no’s.  Some of these apply more to residential design, so pay attention!

“one of my pet peeves is poor lighting over the bathroom mirror (or dressing room - wherever women make themselves beautiful!)” - Lynda Robinson

A good remedy for this is to  opt for sconces on either side of the vanity mirror as opposed to having just one light above the mirror. Having one light shining down, creates shadows and emphasizes unattractive nooks and crannies.

And one more:

“bathroom mirrors that aren’t vanities (I think she means medicine cabinets)… bathrooms with no place to hang towels” – Jessi Herr

So there you have it….your bathroom pet peeves!