World's smallest bathroom (well, it's at least in the running...)

Before the woman who briefly lived here before us, a couple owned this house since the 60s. Our realtor told us how, as they got older, they no longer wanted to have to go downstairs (especially in the middle of the night) to use the restroom. So, they had a toilet added into the closet that sits above the full bathroom. That was the extent of this "bathroom:" simply a toilet in the closet, and a bare light bulb on the ceiling. No sink, no toilet paper holder, nothing. There's not even really any room to turn around.

Here it is:

I think the last owner didn't really know what to do with the room, either. She never added anything to it and might not have even used it. When we went and looked at the house, we were even asked, "What did you think of that weird toilet in the closet?"

When Andrew and I talked seriously about putting in an offer on the house, I asked him what we should do about that closet. Should we pull out the toilet and have the sewer line capped? He thought that would be silly, especially since we have little kids who might need to go potty in the middle of the night. He made sense, so I started brainstorming ideas for the water closet. I decided I didn't want the room to be an apology. "Yeah, we have a toilet in the closet. Weird, right?"

So, I decided to own it! Plus, with tiny spaces, you can do things you'd never even consider doing in a standard-sized room. I decided to try wall paper for the first time. I decided to hang pictures. I decided to add a mirror (a basic one that I brought up from the main bathroom downstairs. That room is a whole other story for another time). We got a towel ring and a toilet paper holder. Here is the finished bathroom:

Because of where the sewer line was, there was a big gap left behind the toilet. By big, I mean 10-11 inches!

So, I filled it will a shelf! I looked everywhere and finally found a floating shelf on Target.com that fit the dimensions of the space almost perfectly.

See something different in that picture? Yes indeed, I found a toilet tank sink! It is actually the coolest thing I've ever seen. I got it online from SinkPositive, and it's an eco-friendly sink. Instead of going into the toilet tank when you flush, the clean water from the line first goes through the faucet. You wash your hands with that clean water, and the used "gray water" then fills the toilet tank. So, the water automatically flows as soon as you flush the toilet. I took a video of it because I think it's so neat. At the time of the video, the bathroom wasn't yet completed.

                       

Finally, we replaced the bare bulb with a simple pull-chain light with a cover. We also swapped the bulb to a CFL so no tall people would burn their head stepping into our bathroom closet. Powder room. Water closet. WC. I don't know what to call this room.

One final look:

The room is simple, obviously. But I just think it now looks like a bathroom instead of a weird toilet in a closet. And that makes me happy :) I now consider our house to officially be a 1.5 bath!