No HVAC means year-round temperate climate.
- That means coastal, and this isn't Asian or African, so most likely Western Europe, maybe Carribean.
- There's no pretty way to post-install HVAC stuff in a century home without being super rich, and the vibe of this bathroom doesn't put you in that income bracket.
No electrical outlets means your country had castles, but wasn't "aggressively remodeled" during the world war era.
The Spanish LOVED their high windows everywhere. Even in the silly places like 2 sides of a bathroom wall. They also liked little arches over straight lintels. Odds are good OP's country speaks Spanish.
Portuguese unlikely because there's not enough rust on obviously old metal fixtures from direct exposure to sea air. This also makes the Caribbean unlikely for similar reasons.
Therefore Spain.
But let's go further. There's also a bidet separate from the toilet, sink, and bathtub. Put all that on a very pretty mosaic tile system, and I'm going to guess southern Spain. Particularly one of the parts that was speaking Islamic before it spoke Spanish?
Not just American, but any country that gets uncomfortably hot for weeks at a time with an electrical grid to support it.
Not everyone has Atlantic currents to suck the heat away.
Most of the other really hot countries aren't wealthy enough for universal air conditioning.
When comparing the US to Europe, keep in mind that if you sailed straight west from Portugal ("Southern" Europe), you'd end up in Maine. Rome is the same latitude as Chicago.
Air conditioning takes a ton of energy to run. But only when it's hot. So that means the electrical grid sees a massive increase in grid demand over the course of a given day.
But the hotter it gets, the harder it is for the electrical components to make and transfer electricity. Most make their own heat the more they're used.
That means you need lots of modern power generation and a very well developed grid.
That's a massive capital expense. Especially if you're building a grid from scratch and not just re-using the trenches and piping and property laid out for you by society 100 years ago.
And there's no cheap way to do it. The scale is what makes it economical, but the scale is also what makes it affordable.
The silly amount of high windows mean you don't need HVAC systems as much. Spanish construction strategically places upstairs and downstairs windows so rising hot air sucks cold air in from downstairs naturally! When it's cold out, just close the windows and you retain all the heat.
So long as you don't have the extremes we see in the US, that's you really need. Especially in a pre-global warming era.
Also, guessing those walls are plaster on either wood lathe or stone? Either way, it's not going to absorb moisture as much as US Drywall + Timber construction.
US buildings don't have the window ventilation gimmick and usually use relatively absorbent materials to suck up water and poopy smells if you don't ventilate the room properly.
Drywall tends to mold if there is humidity without good ventilation.
Even bathrooms that are not otherwise heated or cooled will have a fan that vents to the outdoors in the ceiling in the USA. It prevents mold.
My craftsman house in California was built in 1923. Did a previous owner 35 years ago have central AC ducts snake into every room above the ceiling? Of course. Would I have bought the place if they hadn’t? Nope.
I'm in the US Midwest. Nearly every bathroom (commercial and residential) I've seen has a ceiling exhaust vent and vent that blows treated air into the room. I think it's code-mandated? Not sure on that.
The ducting is what makes it so expensive or ugly to post-install HVAC into century homes. It's usually pretty obviously stuck under the ceiling.
With big money, they basically disassemble the walls or get up into the roof and painstakingly snake things through gaps that might not even exist, so even the big money work usually leaves you with weirdly low ceilings.
I am American and have a floor heat vent and a ceiling exhaust fan in a very middle class home. My parents American Victorian has radiators in it in the Midwest. Very common here.
I’m an American on the Great Lakes here. I have a steam vent fan in the ceiling of my bathroom but it’s not attached to the heating system. My bathroom is very small and also has a window though. At some point Americans started building huge bathrooms and bathrooms without windows.
Well done!! It may be because I'm watching a mystery in the background while surfing reddit but something about the way this was presented feels like something out of a mystery. I'm expecting an "Ah-ha! And so x is the k!ller"
Although, I think you mean Arabic? As far as I'm aware, Islamic isnt a spoken language.
Residential Electricity wasn't really a thing for the plebs until ~1920 when the lower classes finally got a decent paycheck for their contribution to "the war effort".
If it's a 100++ year old home, it's probably made of stone and/or masonry. Wooden structures just don't last that well. Especially if you've got window detailing like that along with old dirty paint that has no cracks due to expansion or settlement that comes with wood.
Also, 100++ year old wood framed structures can't have old dirty tile in the bathroom. The wood sags over time, meaning the floor will never be truly flat unless you pay someone a shitload of money to MAKE it flat. Meaning your tile job will crack to shit and will need constant re-grouting, and will probably have been flipped to a more modern material. Again, this bathroom doesn't meet the vibe of that income bracket.
Stretching extra here, but it also looks like a 2nd floor bathroom. That means stone or concrete floor. Given that the room is super narrow, the floor really might be stone, as you can't span that far.
Looking at the window again, odds are REAL good that the exterior walls are load-bearing and made of stone or brick. Looking through the window, I don't see red brick, so odds are good that's stone.
Further confirming all that is the lack of electricity. It's a real motherfucker running electrical conduit through solid stone walls and floors. If it were a studwall someone would have busted out the drywall and run conduit and installed proper outlets in the last 100 years. But the best they could muster the one wire ON the wall and not IN the wall.
So, 2-story stone walls + stone floors = Not America. Add the rest of the stuff and you've got castles.
Because masonry is forever.
(Unless you live in France or Germany during WWII in which case Masonry is a Target.)
Very interesting!
Actually, while the walls are stone, the beams are wooden for the floors. As you well guessed, the floors are sagged on some places, and we already had to replace a couple of beams with concrete ones. We need to investigate, because we think that one of these wooden beams has displaced the drain of the toilet and broke the pipes, so we can’t use this one for now.
This bathroom is actually part of a larger room, which was cut off in two for it. It’s similar to this room in size (bathroom is to the left). It’s also why the tile pattern cuts off.
There are a couple of outlets but because the wall with the sink is the one that was put up to separate, it’s not an old wall. The old walls are window and right wall. The window is the one that you can see in a different picture that I shared in this thread with a metallic door under it.
https://preview.redd.it/0ty6wid80p6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6339eae574163113080c48d1ec5717ac015a23b
Bidet, windows and clawfoot tub said Europe, probably western. High ceiling and thick exterior wall said it’s a hot climate. Tilework said more Iberian peninsula rather than Italian or Balkans.
It came down to Spain or Portugal but it didn’t feel Portuguese to me, so I guessed Spain.
Sorry you’re right of course I just have always called it a “second toilet” since I was a kid. I’m half Spanish but grew up in America. Some habits die hard!
So crazy. I lived in Seville for a year and I knew immediately that this was Sevilla based off that one photo! It's the floors and I had that same toilet in my apartment lol
This reminds me SO MUCH of the family home in San German, Puerto Rico (same plaza as Iglesia San German de Auxerre, next plaza over is Porta Coeli). I need to find the pix and do a dump here. I'm sure it's falling down. The asotea has been torn down for sure, which means the kitchen, laundry, dining room and "phone area" are all gone.
But the windows aren't what you'd ever find on the island, so without scrolling I'm guessing Spain or Italy. An area where you will find this kind of architecture but also windows that close fully instead of ventanas.
LMAO! I just realized why it reminds me so much. It has a proper bidet!
I was thinking: this looks like Portugal...but it isn't.
So when you guys said Spain... I was like..oh! of course. Close enough but not quite enough! 😅
Still, I can't figure out what made me realise it's not Portugal... No half wall tiles? The tiles' colour? The amount of windows? The position of the bidet and toilet? I can't figure it out.
I was imagining something in the Algarve... But it was still something out of place... I guess it's the windows...
I was gonna guess UK, because of the separate Hot/Cold faucets. But OP you are in Spain. Or are you a Brit living in Spain and must insist on keeping the faucets separate?
Well, it looks like From in the countries I lived in possibly somewhere in Europe, considering the water tank. Germany could be one of them England and I don’t know I lived in Turkey at one point they might have had that the tile looks like those countries.
Beautiful! My first thought was Spain as well, glad I was validated.
Is that like a sage green for the windows and trim? Looks awesome. Got any details on the color? Pantone etc?
Yes! It’s RAL7032. The house itself is pretty green overall so thought it would go well.
https://preview.redd.it/emdd0agc2r6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4903cb0daf31086ddd8893490ae9842960ff2f81
Not Germany. They’ve resisted the bidet despite proximity to the bidet countries. That said, I prefer the Asian method which is becoming popular in the US of just integrating a bidet into the toilet seat.
Spain?
That was fast! What made you guess?
mainly the flooring and the arch.
Lol yea I have basically the same tiles
That and the water heater above the bath. Very European.
It's clearly not Northern Europe, not Greece, so Spain, Italy, Portugal, but none of it looks Italian.
I was going to guess Sicily as the architecture style there is super diverse
My guess was Portugal.
No HVAC means year-round temperate climate. - That means coastal, and this isn't Asian or African, so most likely Western Europe, maybe Carribean. - There's no pretty way to post-install HVAC stuff in a century home without being super rich, and the vibe of this bathroom doesn't put you in that income bracket. No electrical outlets means your country had castles, but wasn't "aggressively remodeled" during the world war era. The Spanish LOVED their high windows everywhere. Even in the silly places like 2 sides of a bathroom wall. They also liked little arches over straight lintels. Odds are good OP's country speaks Spanish. Portuguese unlikely because there's not enough rust on obviously old metal fixtures from direct exposure to sea air. This also makes the Caribbean unlikely for similar reasons. Therefore Spain. But let's go further. There's also a bidet separate from the toilet, sink, and bathtub. Put all that on a very pretty mosaic tile system, and I'm going to guess southern Spain. Particularly one of the parts that was speaking Islamic before it spoke Spanish?
Comment is great except for initial part I’d say, do you have HVAC in your bathroom?
As an American in a new build, yes, there's a vent for HVAC in the bathroom ceiling.
You underestimate the American devotion to AC.
Not just American, but any country that gets uncomfortably hot for weeks at a time with an electrical grid to support it. Not everyone has Atlantic currents to suck the heat away.
I’m American and my impression is that we’re a lot more invested in AC than other hot countries.
Most of the other really hot countries aren't wealthy enough for universal air conditioning. When comparing the US to Europe, keep in mind that if you sailed straight west from Portugal ("Southern" Europe), you'd end up in Maine. Rome is the same latitude as Chicago.
Air conditioning takes a ton of energy to run. But only when it's hot. So that means the electrical grid sees a massive increase in grid demand over the course of a given day. But the hotter it gets, the harder it is for the electrical components to make and transfer electricity. Most make their own heat the more they're used. That means you need lots of modern power generation and a very well developed grid. That's a massive capital expense. Especially if you're building a grid from scratch and not just re-using the trenches and piping and property laid out for you by society 100 years ago. And there's no cheap way to do it. The scale is what makes it economical, but the scale is also what makes it affordable.
I mean, I’m in the south of Spain, not in the sea, we need AC. But not in the bathroom, I was just surprised by that!
The silly amount of high windows mean you don't need HVAC systems as much. Spanish construction strategically places upstairs and downstairs windows so rising hot air sucks cold air in from downstairs naturally! When it's cold out, just close the windows and you retain all the heat. So long as you don't have the extremes we see in the US, that's you really need. Especially in a pre-global warming era. Also, guessing those walls are plaster on either wood lathe or stone? Either way, it's not going to absorb moisture as much as US Drywall + Timber construction. US buildings don't have the window ventilation gimmick and usually use relatively absorbent materials to suck up water and poopy smells if you don't ventilate the room properly.
Smart!
Drywall tends to mold if there is humidity without good ventilation. Even bathrooms that are not otherwise heated or cooled will have a fan that vents to the outdoors in the ceiling in the USA. It prevents mold.
Another US resident here. My HVAC vent in the bathroom is less than half the size of all the other vents in my house. It’s for heat and ac
My craftsman house in California was built in 1923. Did a previous owner 35 years ago have central AC ducts snake into every room above the ceiling? Of course. Would I have bought the place if they hadn’t? Nope.
I'm in the US Midwest. Nearly every bathroom (commercial and residential) I've seen has a ceiling exhaust vent and vent that blows treated air into the room. I think it's code-mandated? Not sure on that. The ducting is what makes it so expensive or ugly to post-install HVAC into century homes. It's usually pretty obviously stuck under the ceiling. With big money, they basically disassemble the walls or get up into the roof and painstakingly snake things through gaps that might not even exist, so even the big money work usually leaves you with weirdly low ceilings.
I don’t have a heating vent in my bathroom (1915 build, west MI) but it’s small and doesn’t really cold.
I am American and have a floor heat vent and a ceiling exhaust fan in a very middle class home. My parents American Victorian has radiators in it in the Midwest. Very common here.
Northeast american - I have a radiator in the bathroom. It would be miserably cold in the winter without it.
Norwegian - bathrooms have underfloor heating. And usually done form of exhaust fan, or an openable window as a last resort.
For buildings built with forced air heat/AC, why wouldn't they put it in every room?
I’m an American on the Great Lakes here. I have a steam vent fan in the ceiling of my bathroom but it’s not attached to the heating system. My bathroom is very small and also has a window though. At some point Americans started building huge bathrooms and bathrooms without windows.
Along with everything you said, I also look for window screens.
I loved reading your deduction process!
Well done!! It may be because I'm watching a mystery in the background while surfing reddit but something about the way this was presented feels like something out of a mystery. I'm expecting an "Ah-ha! And so x is the k!ller" Although, I think you mean Arabic? As far as I'm aware, Islamic isnt a spoken language.
Can you explain the “no electrical outlets means castles” thing? That sounds pretty intriguing
Residential Electricity wasn't really a thing for the plebs until ~1920 when the lower classes finally got a decent paycheck for their contribution to "the war effort". If it's a 100++ year old home, it's probably made of stone and/or masonry. Wooden structures just don't last that well. Especially if you've got window detailing like that along with old dirty paint that has no cracks due to expansion or settlement that comes with wood. Also, 100++ year old wood framed structures can't have old dirty tile in the bathroom. The wood sags over time, meaning the floor will never be truly flat unless you pay someone a shitload of money to MAKE it flat. Meaning your tile job will crack to shit and will need constant re-grouting, and will probably have been flipped to a more modern material. Again, this bathroom doesn't meet the vibe of that income bracket. Stretching extra here, but it also looks like a 2nd floor bathroom. That means stone or concrete floor. Given that the room is super narrow, the floor really might be stone, as you can't span that far. Looking at the window again, odds are REAL good that the exterior walls are load-bearing and made of stone or brick. Looking through the window, I don't see red brick, so odds are good that's stone. Further confirming all that is the lack of electricity. It's a real motherfucker running electrical conduit through solid stone walls and floors. If it were a studwall someone would have busted out the drywall and run conduit and installed proper outlets in the last 100 years. But the best they could muster the one wire ON the wall and not IN the wall. So, 2-story stone walls + stone floors = Not America. Add the rest of the stuff and you've got castles. Because masonry is forever. (Unless you live in France or Germany during WWII in which case Masonry is a Target.)
Very interesting! Actually, while the walls are stone, the beams are wooden for the floors. As you well guessed, the floors are sagged on some places, and we already had to replace a couple of beams with concrete ones. We need to investigate, because we think that one of these wooden beams has displaced the drain of the toilet and broke the pipes, so we can’t use this one for now. This bathroom is actually part of a larger room, which was cut off in two for it. It’s similar to this room in size (bathroom is to the left). It’s also why the tile pattern cuts off. There are a couple of outlets but because the wall with the sink is the one that was put up to separate, it’s not an old wall. The old walls are window and right wall. The window is the one that you can see in a different picture that I shared in this thread with a metallic door under it. https://preview.redd.it/0ty6wid80p6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6339eae574163113080c48d1ec5717ac015a23b
If you were a Wikipedia article, I would've read 3 hours of you and everything you referenced already.
This was lovely to read
Excellent breakdown of the decorative trends! 👏🏼
Bidet, windows and clawfoot tub said Europe, probably western. High ceiling and thick exterior wall said it’s a hot climate. Tilework said more Iberian peninsula rather than Italian or Balkans. It came down to Spain or Portugal but it didn’t feel Portuguese to me, so I guessed Spain.
Combination of the bidet, arch, and tiles. Without the bidet it could easily be USA.
I think the windows are pretty definivitely europe too. And all the appliances lack the large american size lol
The elevated toilet tank doesn't look American (not even old American)
It's the windows and shutters combined with the flooring for me.
I was thinking Italy (sorry?) but then I looked at your username.
Interesting, does my username give anything away?
Omg! I’ve only been to Spain (Barcelona and a few smaller areas) once and immediately pinned it.
Very cool. I was suspecting France or Italy. Somewhere along the Mediterranean. Don't change a thing!
For me it was the toilet lol
So beautiful 💕
My guess was Morocco. Been to Italy and it didn't look quite the same
The bidet and the floor
Also the two toilets, never seen that anywhere else tbh
The other thing is a bidet not a toilet!
Sorry you’re right of course I just have always called it a “second toilet” since I was a kid. I’m half Spanish but grew up in America. Some habits die hard!
That was going to be my guess as well based off nothing but vibes 😂 I also remember there being a lot of double doors when I was there a lifetime ago
Spain was the first country that came to mind it had nothing to do with the photo lol
Exactly what I was going to say
I went for portugal, which technically is Spain's Taiwan.
woulda been my guess. cool tiles literally and figuratively.
https://preview.redd.it/qliuaec19k6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d14c8c7d9c204241473ff1918209f6e560cd61a5 Some more pictures
Wow, so gorgeous.
I love courtyards, I wish the US had more of them. I also have an obsession with the Alhambra.
Courtyards are such a great way of feeling like you’ve entered your own sanctuary. We desperately need them.
Agreed. I love it when they have a water feature, so tranquil. Lots of plants and comfy places to sit or even snooze.
Imagine reading a book and having a cup of coffee in the morning for your own little retreat?
Exactly. I'm also imagining some wind chimes and birds chirping overhead.
Add certain flowers and monarchs will be a great visitor
This is one of the most gorgeous depictions of Jesus I’ve ever seen.
Greece
WOW
https://preview.redd.it/geuqgoi79k6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac04128cfddc113d3bde3cccb1745b76c5ba4c16
https://preview.redd.it/8llyzzqi9k6d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cbd0c861d0b9318ee1234b1d48290db4a7d0b84 Facade in 1920’s
Que bello, como se ve ahora desde afuera? Que lindo vivir en una casa antigua
Spain or Portugal. See I'm right!
Beautiful home! What part of Spain are you in? Andalusia?
For people coming for answers in the comments, yes, more concretely Seville :)
I had a feeling! Really beautiful home. I'm hoping to visit Seville next year.
So crazy. I lived in Seville for a year and I knew immediately that this was Sevilla based off that one photo! It's the floors and I had that same toilet in my apartment lol
This reminds me SO MUCH of the family home in San German, Puerto Rico (same plaza as Iglesia San German de Auxerre, next plaza over is Porta Coeli). I need to find the pix and do a dump here. I'm sure it's falling down. The asotea has been torn down for sure, which means the kitchen, laundry, dining room and "phone area" are all gone. But the windows aren't what you'd ever find on the island, so without scrolling I'm guessing Spain or Italy. An area where you will find this kind of architecture but also windows that close fully instead of ventanas. LMAO! I just realized why it reminds me so much. It has a proper bidet!
Your home is beautiful! I love the simplicity
I always wanted a home with a courtyard. This is so beautiful.
Came here to say Spain as well !
Those floor are beautiful.
I’d say Spain or Portugal
I also guesses Spain. What a lovely home.
I guessed Spain because of the deep inset of the window which I recently read about in an architectural book.
Spain or France ?
Spain! It’s the tile! Our friends have similar tile in their bathroom. They live in Barcelona.
Spain?
The faucet made me think UK!
I was thinking: this looks like Portugal...but it isn't. So when you guys said Spain... I was like..oh! of course. Close enough but not quite enough! 😅 Still, I can't figure out what made me realise it's not Portugal... No half wall tiles? The tiles' colour? The amount of windows? The position of the bidet and toilet? I can't figure it out. I was imagining something in the Algarve... But it was still something out of place... I guess it's the windows...
So it’s Spain? Tbf the tiles looked more southern France to me, I’d expect terrazzo.
Uk
No, but I am IN LOVE.
The bidet narrows it down :)
The bidet easily narrows down the list
Italy
I was gonna guess UK, because of the separate Hot/Cold faucets. But OP you are in Spain. Or are you a Brit living in Spain and must insist on keeping the faucets separate?
South of Spain, this used to be the home my grandmother grew up in.
I didn’t know they had separate taps in Spain too. Neat.
I discovered separate taps in Ireland. It's really impractical.
Italy?
Portugal
Wow! Dreamy! I too love the simplicity. Can you post more interior photo images? Now I want to visit Spain. I’ve never been for reasons unknown!
Well I was culturally if not geographically close—I was getting major South American vibes.
The bidet and oddly-shaped toilet says not US.
i would say Italy
Madagascar
Italy
France.
There’s a bidet, so def not America 😂
Well, it looks like From in the countries I lived in possibly somewhere in Europe, considering the water tank. Germany could be one of them England and I don’t know I lived in Turkey at one point they might have had that the tile looks like those countries.
I see a bidet that’s more European , and I see the toilet tank.
I only got to "maybe Adriatic?" but this is a fun game!! thank you.
Italy or Spain?
Looks like Portuguese houses without the over abundance of tiles so Spain
UK. It's the only country in the world where water mixing taps dis not reached.
[удалено]
Ment to commonwealth. Easily mistaken to UK.
Germany
Afghanistan
France
Not America but feels oddly catholic so I’m gonna guess Spain or something?
Italy
South Spain
Was going to say France but then went with Spain. The tile and arch on the window did it for me
Maybe Poland, I have a bathroom with the same tile in Warsaw, Poland.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^executive1258: *Maybe Poland, I* *Have a bathroom with the same* *Tile in Warsaw, Poland.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Spain or Portugal?
Morocco
Yay, I knew it was Spain. Love that country.
france
Italy
Portugal ?
France?
Spain or Italy.
Barcelona?
Portugal
Spain because of the wc floor
Spain, the bidet and the hanging cistern... Nice place, the floor is amazing!
Uk. Shitty tap situation
France
Spain or Portugal based on the tiles but the vibe I am getting is Spain not Portugal.
Italy
Morocco would have been my guess
Beautiful! My first thought was Spain as well, glad I was validated. Is that like a sage green for the windows and trim? Looks awesome. Got any details on the color? Pantone etc?
Yes! It’s RAL7032. The house itself is pretty green overall so thought it would go well. https://preview.redd.it/emdd0agc2r6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4903cb0daf31086ddd8893490ae9842960ff2f81
Awesome! Thank you so much!
France
Italy 🇮🇹
U.S
France
There’s a bidet ! France or Germany … or Canada ! Ha I’m terrible at this
Not Germany. They’ve resisted the bidet despite proximity to the bidet countries. That said, I prefer the Asian method which is becoming popular in the US of just integrating a bidet into the toilet seat.
Was gonna guess italy 🙈