Our house has a single bathroom with a shower and after years bringing my muddy post-gardening body through the house to clean up, we decided to add an outdoor shower. It will be located behind the garage and will allow me to take a shower while peeking over the top of the wall and see the woodland garden.
The far wall is six and half feet tall and creates privacy from the neighbor. I was actually more interested in giving them privacy from me. The other three walls are five and half feet tall; high enough for me, the six-foot-three gardener, to enjoy views of the garden.
The floor of the shower repeats the bluestone in the two terraces in the Lower Garden.
The woodland garden below will be planted so the shower feels immersed in the garden.
I've come to appreciate outdoor showers after using them in various rental houses on Cape Cod. I use the outdoor shower exclusively when we're there, even on cooler days (we go in September) so I don't have to clean the indoor one, have less sand in the house, and for the lovely view of a tidal river in the most recent house. Yours looks well designed and constructed! (Did you build it?) I've often thought I'd like to have one at home as well. I'd get cleaned off a lot quicker if there was one.
ReplyDeleteSarah, my first outdoor showers were at the beach as well. My grandparents had a house in Avalon, NJ. Taking an outdoor shower there was one of my favorite rituals as a child going to the beach. I designed the shower, but I can't take credit for building it. I think I will enjoy using it after a long day, dirty day in the garden as much as I did washing off sand from the beach.
DeleteI've thought of adding one here as well, but being on a corner lot in the middle of the city, placement will have to be very careful. A friend owns a beach house in NC and whenever I am there I use her outdoor shower exclusively. Hers is filled with all sorts of treasured flotsam, and the walls are covered with old weathered framed mirrors that have taken such a beating from the environment that you can barely see a reflection.
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