Bathtubs Suck & Other Home Renovation Advice
In the spring of 2017, we finally got to the bathroom renovation. Our 1932 Glover Park House still had the original deco style bathroom which was pretty cool looking, but not functional for our lives. And, it seemed that it could never be clean enough. (For me anyway – the child of a woman who has a bottle of clorox in every room.)
The only shelf is that tile on the radiator?!?
Being that I personally find bathtubs disgusting, dirty, ugly, and a back-breaker to clean, and that reglazing it actually didn’t work, we planned to rip the old tub out. The fact that that 85 years of asses had sat in that tub was enough to put me over the edge. No way would the girls ever be able to bathe in there without a Haz-Mat suit.
85 Years of Asses, cleaned their cracks right here ^^^^^
The problem was what to replace it with since it was somewhat of a non-standard length. Every tub option was just as ugly as the next.
Then, unrelated to our renovation, I would tour houses with clients and get misty eyed at the gorgeous showers. I wondered, “Why the hell do we need a tub?” So I did what any confident, smart woman does – I posed the question on Facebook.
The bath-lovers were rabid. They came out en masse. So rabid they were in defending their love of lounging in a pool of filthy bathwater (albeit, their own f that the few friends who supported a no-tub house were scared to comment. They resorted to texts. (Jeez people, the political fighting is bad enough but BATHTUBS?)
Anyway, I’m not sure why I asked for opinions but after hearing, “I’d never buy a house without a bathtub” and “Families with little kids will never buy your house” several dozen times, I said, “Miguel? Rip that shit out. We’re getting a shower.”
Then I got to pick out tile and fixtures for this amazing bathroom that I love. It’s so fresh and so clean clean. I rationalized it with: We have Stoddert Elementary – people are dying to get in this neighborhood, lack of a tub won’t stop them. Yup. I made that decision with emotion and backed it up with logic. Just like someone shopping for a home would.
Now the bathroom looks like this.
That’s the Speakman Anystream Showerhead. I FLOVE it. We stayed at a Hilton in Connecticut with these showerheads. I’m a fan.
A closer look a the tile – one wall in charcoal glass and the other in ceramic with a criss cross design.
Added shelves to the right which made a HUGE difference for us.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, yesterday morning I woke up to the news that Houzz put out their 2018 bathroom trends. And part of the trend they cite from this year? A full 34% of people have ripped out their tubs in favor of a shower. I’m a trending statistic!
Well well well. There’s nothing I love more than vindication. Well, vindication and watching the dirty shower water go down the drain instead of surrounding me.
The story ends here that the girls love taking showers. They love drawing faces in the condensation on the glass, and I love the fact that they don’t get bladder infections from sitting in the water like they were prone to. This was a win all around.
Agreed. Family homes today need a bathtub like a home needs a hitching post. The bathtub is a twentieth century carry over from the days before running water; when wallowing in swill and soap scum didn’t seem highly objectionable. Furthermore, bathtubs pose a slipping hazard to children and the elderly on account of their sloped backs, curved interiors and protruding spout.
It really is such a controversial opinion! I was eviscerated on Reddit for even trying to open a dialogue about having a non-bath home. I cited the same reasons you gave.
Not to mention.. if you have a particularly high traffic shower and then you decide to take a bath, you’re basically bathing in a bowl shaped shower floor.
And for the record.. I had this opinion before having kids and I STILL stand by it now even with a toddler. I actually bathe him in a little mini tub inside our big gross bathtub. I don’t scrub our bath often enough to put my kid in it.