Bathroom Tub Decisions
Decisions. We have to make decisions. Our time of deliberation and fantasizing about all the options is officially over. For some reason it feels so much harder to make final choices for your own home than when helping someone else.
When preparing designs for a client, I select various options, narrow it down and share. All the while knowing which one is my favorite. For our home, my mind won’t rest. I keep thinking, ‘well what about this?! Oh yes, that would look great too!’ At some point you really have to stop to pick your direction. For me that’s why moodboards help. Taking cues from the existing building is key as well. You don’t want to go super modern in a house that is transitional because they are just too different. Unless of course you plan to implement that style across the whole house over time.
So for our bathroom, I want to listen to the history of the house and make a decision. Do keep in mind that you don’t have to completely replicate the old, it’s just good to respectfully nod your hat to it. The bathroom previously had a small pedestal sink (not original), toilet and cast iron drop in tub. While I’m not sure if the tub is original, I would typically keep it but it has some major chipping and at some point it had a sliding glass door track attached that did some damage.
The dilemma now is what should we replace it with. It may seem like an easy no brainer but as I said before, my brain won’t stop. The one thing that is certain is whatever we get will be cast iron. The material screams old house. Acrylic tubs are shiny and new with a plastic feel. The goal is to use this tub for bathing and the occasional shower. I’ve discovered that cast iron tubs hold the heat better then their acrylic counterparts. So, here are the options at hand.
Option 1: Clawfoot Tub
Pro- This would be the closest historic nod that we could make. New Orleans homes are full of them and I’ve personally had the honor to lived with a few. Also, just look at those feet…
Con- The problem is they aren’t ideal as showers. It can work but not great. You have to have a shower curtain that surrounds all four sides, which equals two curtains that don’t completely close. Then the bottom of the curtains are squiched inside the tub and you feel like you’re in a plastic bubble that you can’t really turn around in.
Option 2: Pedestal Tub
Pro- Secretly my favorite. These also add historic value, with a little twist because they’re not as common here. To me they feel slightly more masculine in nature, while the clawfoot has those beautifully fancy feet. The vanity cabinet that we selected has shuttered doors and clean lines. The simple curves of the pedestal don’t compete but I believe would complement each other.
Con- Can this even be a shower? I suppose it would be similar to the clawfoot but the base is wider, so maybe that would help with keeping the curtain from touching you while you wash.
Option 3: Alcove Soaking Tub
Pro- The fixtures and the drain wouldn’t have to be moved from their current location. The soaking tub depth(no jets) would be great for baths or showers. It’s cheaper than the other two options. However, we would have to buy and re-tile all three walls around the tub. If we got either the clawfoot or pedestal, we wouldn’t have to tile. So, that’s a pro & a con, really.
Con- Not as exciting. You’d have to have a shower curtain. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good shower curtain but we just install a beautifully restored starburst glass window and I’d hate to have it covered all the time. Also the curtain will act as a vertical barrier that makes the room feel more compact. With the clawfoot, the eye follows the tile under the tub. This helps the room feel larger and more expansive. It’s the same concept as furniture with legs versus sitting flat on the floor. Want to make your room feel larger, raise that furniture up! Show ‘em some leg.
Inspirational Posts
Honestly, writing this post helped me figure out what makes my heart sing a little louder. Wild right? Months of thinking and now one writing session and the picture is clear. So what’s your favorite? Leave a comment below. I’d love to know. Also be sure to check out the other Challengers. Click the One Room Challenge image below. Oh and follow me on Instagram for all the pretty things!
Bathroom Renovation Moodboard
Today is the DAY!!! Everyone participating will be announcing which room they plan to remake. As a Guest Participant, our reveal days will be on Thursdays. We’ll have a total of 8 weeks to finalize our rooms. You can expect a range of projects. Some will just be newly painted walls with furniture updates while others will be full remodel renovations. I’m excited, nervous and eager all wrapped up together.
Right, I should tell you what our project is. We’re renovating our Family Bathroom!!! It’s been a long time coming. We originally planned for another Contractor to remodel the bathroom when we had the Primary Bathroom done. Alas, a small glitch in the plan, Covid-19 hit and things changed. They did however replace the old vinyl window with a beautiful old wood window while they were repairing and painting the exterior of the house. In the process we asked them to remove the faux marble shower surround and paneled wainscoting. Little did we know, that seemly simple task would turned the bathroom completely unusable (somehow unusable bathrooms have become our thing at this house). They dismantled the shower, removed half of the pedestal sink and left the walls open to the studs. It was a blessing and a curse, really. Previously I thought there was Sheetrock under the panels but wrong I was. We planned to complete the project soon after but again a global pandemic has stayed longer than welcome. We didn’t really want to invite a bunch of Subs into the house at the time. As you all know, things aren’t back to normal but we decided, for our own sanity, to move forward with the project. And here we are. The deadline is set thanks to One Room Challenge.
Let’s talk design. My favorite part. I’ve been planning this remodel literally for years. When we purchased the house, we knew we wanted to take on projects to make the house our home. Slow and steady has been our unknowing motto. A few years back I fell in love with a vanity. It was in the medium range price point but as many of you know, renovating your own house means checking those dollar signs. I waited for a sale and then the next sale and finally decided to get it. It’s been sitting in our dining room for 2 ½ years, patiently waiting for it’s debut. Thankfully, I try not to go for the most trendy options. More of the focus is what feels right for the home. Don’t get me wrong, fads are real and I’m still drawn to the latest and greatest. When working in an old house like ours be sure to pull in some fun new items while mixing in classics. It doesn’t have to look old, just something that you can’t completely put a date on it. Like, oh that’s so 2010. That way your space will age gracefully. Your pocket book with thank you in the years to come when you don’t have to redo a dated room. Also, for the love of everything, please keep as much original character as possible in your home. If you don’t have character, go ahead and add some. Future generations will thank you too.
So here we are. Many decisions still left to be made. I hope you’re here for them because I have a few ‘this or that’ selections you can help with in the upcoming weeks. Today on the ‘gram I uploaded our bathroom moodboard. Final colors are subject to change. The overall feeling is here to stay.
Yours truly,
Heather Clementine Home
P.S. Follow along via Instagram
To see all participating guests, check out OneRoomChallenge
Check back on these dates for new post!
The Unoccupiable Bathroom
Unoccupiable is an understatement. Maybe unusable or enter at your own risk!?! How about, do not enter! All of the above really. You might think this is a bit dramatic but it really was a hazard. You see we live in a raised shotgun bungalow style house in New Orleans. Over the years the floor and the joist below the floor had all been eaten away by friendly little critters, called termites. Once the floor started to get weak, the wax ring around the toilet base no longer protected from water slowly escaping. The prefabricated shower stall began to de-laminate from the shower floor pan. Over a questionable amount of time, the wood floor became damp and that my friends is our unwanted resident’s favorite food. Alas, we knew some of this when purchasing the house. Me being the over-ambitious (that’s what Clementine husband calls me) Architect/Interior Designer thought wonderful! We can make it just how we’d like.
We’d been house hunting for several months only to uncover overpriced flips that were stocked with Big Box medium grade finishes or houses that were practically falling down. The moment we walked into our house, I could smell the potential projects just waiting to be uncovered. That or maybe the bathroom mold was making me delirious. All jokes aside, we have developed a fondness for our home (so much so that we named her Clementine). We wanted to give her a cheerful, welcoming name because we saw the potential of this lovely craftsman style home.
Alright, let's get back to this bathroom. To be honest and you’re welcome to not hold back your shock and awe, it took us a few years before we were able to renovate the bathroom. There were other things that made their way to the top of the endless to do list. Thankfully we have two bathrooms and the worst one was all the way in the back, hidden away. Most people didn't even know it existed. The door stayed closed and literally no one entered. Except for the Termite Man, it was quite a funny/ scary encounter when he heard the floor cracking underneath him as he walked in the room. He was a good sport about it, thankfully.
Right away I knew the layout needed to be revised. The first thing you saw when opening the door was the toilet, head on. If you wanted to use the sink, you had to shimmy yourself between the toilet and vanity. We already discussed the shower but I’ll elaborate so you get the full picture. It was one of those prefabricated stalls with 2 glass panels and an angled door in between. Perfect for just standing; terrible for bending down. Drop your soap? Just leave it. It’s gone forever. Well I can’t complain too much, I never actually used it. I speak from prior shower encounters. On top of all the things that have been shared already, the real kicker was when sewage started to come up from the shower drain one day. On it’s own might I add. That definitely made it to the top of the list to fix.
So let’s get to the good stuff. Design… What I LIVE for! After many discussions over margaritas at our local Creole-tinged Tex-Mex restaurant, I convinced Clementine Husband of my plan. We would swap locations of the toilet and sink! We had to tear up the floor anyway and replace all the plumbing, cause you know I wasn’t about to trust what was happening there. The only issue was, where does the mirror go? You see the window was over the toilet. Some may say just remove the window. But no! Natural daylight in a bathroom is superior for makeup application. Sunlight just makes people happier anyway. So, what’s the next best thing, a mirror on the window. It’s like the perfect self lit mirror that money didn’t buy. It’s smaller than the window by a lot so you still get the benefit of both. Done and done.
Next we discussed the vanity. Since the room is tiny, I didn't want to put a traditional piece with drawers or cabinets under the sink. We needed it to feel open and deceive the eye with the vast view of the floor. I’d been crushing on those stone floating vanities. It seemed like the natural solution. We centered the sink on the window and extended the Quartzite to the side wall to maximize counter space. The counter was designed with a waterfall edge to help hide the drop in sink. We also had the Contractor install hidden wall brackets that support the weight of the stone. They’re attached to the wood studs and then are covered by the sheet rock to conceal their existence. Realizing that we needed a storage solution for toiletries and towels, I designed a 3 door cabinet that would go overhead on the toilet wall. It extended wall to wall and up to the ceiling giving us optum space. It also created a niche feel for the toilet to tuck in to.
Lastly, our shower. Oh our shower. It’s so pretty. It’s like having our own (ultra) mini spa. For a few years, I’d been oggiling the Zellige Moroccan clay tiles. Perfectly imperfect. Each tile is handmade. The glazing is irregular but it gives it a beautiful dimension and texture. Be still my heart. So what’s a girl to do? We budgeted. We selected items carefully and purchased over time and during sales. Eye on the prize. Those tiles were going to be mine! And now they are. We ended up using a natural slate tile for the floors. I created a simple pattern to again create some dimension to the room. Slate tile is surprisingly affordable.
The cabinets were a custom design. Simple but perfectly effective as a storage solution. We shopped several stone yards. Note that many of them carry remnants that they will sell to you at a cheaper price. I searched high and low for deals, always with my pretty tiles in the back of my mind. Now today, I get to stare at them anytime. We’re so incredibly grateful that our little hazardous bathroom has become such a beautiful haven. There are so many more details to the room design that I’ll have to share with you another day.
