I’ve been looking at houseplans this evening. We’ve designed the house we intend to build on our property in Maryland, but it may be too deep for the lot (there’s a small stream in the back, and we don’t know how far from the street we have to be) so I decided to look at other plans for ideas.
Anyway, the vast majority of the plans with big master bathrooms include a shower stall and a whirlpool tub. Some just have a regular tub and a separate shower, and others have the standard shower-in-the-tub arrangement. Our last house had the whirlpool tub/separate shower stall arrangement. I don’t think we used the tub a dozen times in the 3 years we lived there. Our present house, plus the two we owned before that last house didn’t have tubs in the master bathroom - just showers. The second bathroom always had a tub.
Personally, that’s the way I prefer it. In this house, our shower is something like 5’X6’ - it’s a tiled heaven!! If we can build the house we’ve designed, it will have a similarly large shower and no tub. Regular bathtubs are too small for a good soak, and the big, fancy whirlpool tubs are too big and difficult to clean, and I’m not likely to use one anyway. We’re going to have a hot tub on the screened porch.
What say the rest of you - does your ideal bathroom have a shower stall, a regular tub, a super-deluxe tub, or something else?
My dream house has a full-sized soaking/whirlpool tub big enough for two big-boned people and a separate shower also big enough for two big-boned people.
Many years ago I rented a place with a bath but no shower and that didn’t matter. The next place I rented had a shower and no bath. I craved a bath at that time. The place I’m renting now, after many years, has 2 bathrooms one with tub one without. I haven’t used the tub in 18 months - nothing but showers.
The only reason I would be wary of buiding a tubless home is resale. You don’t want a bath lover looking at the bathroom and seeing instant expense. Real estate agents similarly counsel against spa baths - some people just hate them.
The reedeeming factor of the falling down shack that I live in is that it has a big cast iron claw-foot tub. It’s like heaven. I usually end up taking a couple baths a day, especially in winter. A shower just don’t get me warm and don’t relax me like a good bath does. Plus, you can’t read in the shower.
I lived in a house with only a shower in it for a year and I hated every minute of it. When I visited home I’d take bath after bath after bath.
Oh, the house won’t be tubless. The second bath will have the good ol’ tub/shower combo.
Funny thing, when we were having this house built and decided against the fancy tub for the master bath, the agent kept talking “resale value.” But for me, such a feature has negative value, and I can’t imagine that I’m the only person in the whole world who thinks that way. But a nice, big shower stall - ah, to have space for two and room to spare.
Another bonus to our stall - it’s a great place to wash dogs. They can’t open the door, and if they shake, all they spray is tile!
[Kramer] It’s disgusting. I’m sitting there in a tepid pool of my own filth. All kinds of microscopic parasites and organisms having sex all around me [/Kramer]
For the past eight years, I’ve had a shower/bath combo thing, and I’ve never used the bathtub to take a bath. I’d love to have a 5x6 foot shower with no tub.
I like your plan. Big shower, hot tub outside, and a regular bathtub in second bath. You’re covered!
The house on which I’ve made an offer has only a shower in the master bedroom’s bathroom. That’s fine by me, as I almost never use a tub. The other bathroom has a whirlpool tub and a seperate shower. If I end up getting this house, I doubt I will use the tub very often – even with the jets; but it’s a neat thing to have just in case.
Re: sleeping’s comment. When I do take a bath, I shower afterward.
I’ve got a nice deep '20s pedestal tub that I take about 3 baths a week in. I had a shower added when I bought the house, for hairwashing and the like. No tub would be a dealbreaker for me.
My current bf has a hot tub, which is also pretty damn nice, but that’s an amenity, not a day-to-day necessity.
I am with KneadToKnow. We are not big-boned, but I want them big enough to accommodate us as if we were. We both love baths, but our tubs are not comfortable for two. We also want one of those showers with a head at each end. That way, no one would be hogging all of the water. Ah, dreams…
Well, personally, if I were looking at two houses and one had a tub in the master bath and the other had just a shower stall, I’d go for the one with the tub. This is, of course, assuming all other things are equal. I certainly wouldn’t have to haul my ass upstairs for my long, lazy soak, as that would take all the laziness out of it.
The size of the shower stall would be immaterial. Living in the dorms I managed just fine in a tiny little cubicle, so having a vast expanse of shower stall would be pointless. If I’m showering solo, I just need a small cubicle, and the whole point of showering with someone is to be all up close and personal, making 30 square feet massive overkill.
When my mom remodeled she had a shower only bathroom done. I hated it, she hated it. Me because I likes me a sit-down bath every so often, but we both hated it because we didn’t realize until it was too late how much other stuff we did with the tub. Giving plants a soak, cleaning area rugs, washing the dog, etc.
If there’d been another bathroom with a tub, or a big utility sink, then it wouldn’t have been so bad. For some reason I expect the master bath to be the one with the soaky tub in it, though.
In the end, I say please yourself! If re-sale becomes a problem I suppose you could put one in then (ack!) but you’ll be happy in the mean time.
I like bathing so much that I thought about writing a book about it. I wouldn’t consider buying a house without one in the master bedroom. But most of the time I take showers. I like having the option.
I have an idea. Make your guest room as large as the master bedroom and put a tub there – or maybe an especially nice tub and shower combo. Then any buyer could just switch what is considered the master bedroom.
If I ever get the opportunity to design my own house/bathroom, I’ll be having a huge Japanese-style bath, that comes up to my chin when sitting. Forget the puny, knees and breasts above the water baths I’ve had in the past. A huge deep bath is what I want.
If I ever had the good fortune to design my own house, I would care less about the resale value and more about what I wanted. Say you stay there for 10 years and suffer a $10 000 hit on having an unconventional bathroom… I would gladly pay a grand a year for the luxury and bliss that is a deep roomy bath
