Ifans of old movies and Victorian-era novels are no strangers to it: A small wooden door in a bedroom corner where one would least expect it. That’s the commode closet. Not glamorous, but clever.
There was one in the guestroom at my grandparents’ farmhouse. Small, wood door that’s near the side of the bed. As a child, I accidentally kicked over the chamber pot tucked under the bed. Traumatizing. But that corner closet? Total genius.
A Cozy Corner with a Purpose
Using an outhouse, in the middle of winter, is not ideal. The commode closet took care of that. A small, beadboard-lined room had a little latch or door and concealed a chamber pot.
In my current home in coastal Maine, there’s a small arched alcove in the bedroom. I thought it was decorative. It was, it turns out, built to house a pot for late-night emergencies. Remote, with no running water, no bother — only a simple fix to fight off the freezing nights.
