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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

pondering bathrooms

So I was just watching the final episode of this mini-series of "Bathroom Renovations" on the DIY Network, and they had a bathroom-under-the-eaves situation kind of like ours. Their solution was to put the tub under the eave, just as we plan to, but then instead of a separate shower, they just tiled the whole eave area and a shower's-worth further out from it, and enclosed the tub within the shower, with a frameless glass door to separate it from the rest of the bathroom. I am utterly enchanted by this idea. I'm trying to figure out if we could do it in either or both of the bathrooms upstairs; I think the only struggle might be to find room for the toilet in the master bath. But I suspect it's doable. The only problem? Don will probably hate it.

Any thoughts? Should I try to convince him it's worthwhile? Do you agree with his hypothetical hatred? Any better ideas?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what I want to do in the new masterbath renovation - the tub in the back and a walk through shower in front. Even though I technically have a large space, it is more economical in terms of tiling and especially in terms of plumbing. Tell Don how economical it will be.

Anonymous said...

Do you have a photo you can show? If you have a photo you could email or share I'd be glad to give some input on it. Those type of arrangements are a challenge to say the least.

Jamaila said...

Hi Todd -- the photo in the DIY Network page I linked in the post is the only photo I could find of what I saw on the show; it's pretty complete except you can't see the frameless glass door which is basically where the photographer is standing. As for our space, if you check out my series of current status posts (in particular the most recent one), the master bathroom will occupy the space in the left of the picture, under the eave and over the stairs.

Anonymous said...

@ Jamaila - Without seeing an actual floor plan of your proposed bathroom and knowing the height of the sloping ceiling in there it's a bit challenging to figure out if this will work.

Couple of things to remember. First of all that ceiling will be fairly cool so condensation in the shower will be an issue. Secondly, I'd recommend you tape out on the floor where the tub would be and stand in that position on something that's up 3 or 4 inches to simulate the tub. Reach up as if you're washing your hair to see if it's comfortable.

Would it be possible to put the toilet under the sloping ceiling and the shower where the window is along the gable wall? In that case you can tile even the window jambs to create a rather water resistant shower enclosure.

I see those shower layouts like you point to in magazines but they never end up being very functional and comfortable.

Jamaila said...

Once there actually is a floor there we'll certainly be taping things out to figure out our final solution. We do know that the tub will fit under the eave and that the toilet is an uncomfortable fit (the old toilet was under the eave and it was tres awkward. The issue is really fitting both the shower and the tub in there as separate units, which has proven to be a space-hogging issue. This layout may work to solve some of the problems we were having trying to get everything in. We shall see! Thanks for your input!

Anonymous said...

Showers with windows in them, even if you tile the sills, are not the best idea. I have 2 of them, and the constant water on the sill, even though sealed, needs a lot of maintenance. The arrangement in the DIY series gives you a separate shower and tub in a minimal space.