Well, I drink wine and read books in my claw foot tub. I put the wineglass on the floor. I donāt do the candle thing. To me, the absolutely ideal tub is next to a window that I can open in the summer, so that sunlight and a gentle breeze plays over the deep, deliciously hot water. Believe it or not, the best tubs I have encountered were in the dorms at Wellesley. They combined depth with window access in my first dorm, and were inside an enclosure so that one could luxuriate at length in privacy. Especially in the afternoon. A glass of chilled white wine and a hot tub in the sun with a gentle breezeā¦heaven.
@VeryHappy, have I ever encountered a really good shower over tub? Frankly, no. Although it should be possible. Itās just that in a lot of houses people put ostentatious plumbing in the excessively large master suite and the rest of the bedrooms and bathrooms are uninspiring boxes. I donāt get it. Who lives in their bedroom? Not me, anyway.
It depends. I use our master bathtub 4 to 5 evenings per week. I can soak in a tub for an hour or longer with a book and a glass of wine. So if the other tub is on the same floor as the master and that other bathroom is aesthetically pleasing and upgraded, I could forgo a tub in the master bath. I also appreciate a well done walk in shower especially those that have those side jets. So I guess that would be an incentive to give up the tub in the master.
I was concerned about space for shampoos and potions when we considered āsculpturalā free standing tubs, as well as the ability to clean easily. Love the built-in tub with a toiletry niche in the wall next to it. Everything is right where you need it. I didnāt want to work around those cross tub trays to hold necessities or add furniture near the tub. Doesnāt mean I didnāt find the freestanding ones compelling and beautiful. Just didnāt want to take one on.
I tried to make the re-model as low maintenance and streamlined as possible. Only the large amount of clear shower glass requires a bit of attention to avoid spotting between cleanings; it could have helped to have a little less glass or be a little less fastidious. I am really adept with a squeegee now.
Families care about tubs for little kids but otherwise no tub means you may gain a potential buyer for every potential buyer you lose. Lots of people donāt want to step in and out of a tub every day. And most people never use the tubs as tubs and find them harder to clean. So you lose this buyer and gain that one.
When we built 17 years ago everyone had those huge corner garden tubs. As in, bigger than my hot water tank. D swam in it a couple of times. Weekly dustings = 884. I hated climbing into that thing and dusting the perimeter ledge.
Tore it out last year and donāt regret it at all. We do have an upstairs tub, another one no one has used in 17 years. Itās a cast iron antique though, so itās not going anywhere.
If you really care about resale value (as opposed to what you want for your own lifestyle), you need to research who is buying homes in your neighborhood. If you live in a neighborhood where empty nesters or retirees are moving in, then they want a walk in shower as they age. No bathtub in entire house would be fine for them.
If you have āmove upā buyers, then you still donāt need a bathtub in the master, although you might lose a small percentage of buyers who want a bathtub.
If your neighborhood is attracting first time homebuyers and very young families then you need a bathtub in the hall bath. But these younger buyers (in general, there are always exceptions) want a fancy walk in shower or a claw foot tub (they donāt think about cleaning nightmares). They donāt want or need a bathtub in the master.
Before we bought our current house , we looked at a new construction home nearby. It was my second choice , but the lack of a tub in the master bath did turn me off. I actually donāt shower in our MB ever. It really is kind of small.
I shower outside when itās warm enough. We have an apartment in our garage with a big shower. That one gets used a lot more than the others in the house. The water pressure is better and more space to store shampoos , etc.
We have another full bath inside the house , but it has a bath tub / shower. The water pressure isnāt good in that room , so that is where I keep my cat box
Tub is useless for me. I swim for over an hour every single day, my shower takes about 5 min,. I cannot even use soap, skin is so dry and way too clean after all that chlorine. I never even take a shower at home. No need for tub at all here! We do have 3 tubs in our house, one of them - in master bedroom was NEVER used by us. we have lived in this house for 23 years! We bought condo in addition to our house, it has no tubs, but huge showers, very nice, we love that!
We currently have 3 old, cast iron, claw foot tubs and no separate showers. They each have piping that goes above so they can be used as showers but I worry about older guests, or anyone really, slipping as they get in and out because the sides are so high.
H surprised us all and loves the bath. He bathes every day and would miss it terribly if it were gone. Our old house had no bath in the MBR and only a shoddy bath/shower combo in one other bathroom that was just unsatisfying to use. Our new reality is much better! But, we are planning to expand our MBR to include a walk-in shower, and also, hopefully, bring the laundry upstairs.
I think the OP will be fine with a fabulous MBR that has no tub. Those jetted corner tubs are going the way of granite countertops - the frenzy is gone and people are thinking for themselves of what they really want, not just what looks shiny and desirable to others.
When we were house hunting, we saw one crazy MBR that had a bathtub inside the shower! The āshowerā was probably 10 feet across by 8 feet deep with jets and shower heads everywhere. People were oohing and aahhhhing about it but all I could think about was how cold it would get in there, with your body in this huge space that needs to be filled with steam to feel good, and how awful it would be to get in and out of the tub and have to cross 4 feet of slippery tile before you got to the bath mat.
There is nothing like soaking in a tub for stress relief. Thatās my familyās signal to leave me alone and let me read my magazines and clear my head! I could live without a tub in the master bath as long as there were another bathroom that had a tub. Even now - I have one of those big soaking corner tubs, but Iāve been known to go use my kidsā tub, which is smaller and standard-sized, because I like the cocoon feeling of it and my tub is more out in the open in my open-plan bathroom.
But where would i set up my clothes drying rack without the tub in our master? Iāve used our tub about 10 times in 20 years. Mostly it holds either paper products or my clothes rack.
I donāt do the candle thing. To me, the absolutely ideal tub is next to a window that I can open in the summer, so that sunlight and a gentle breeze plays over the deep, deliciously hot water. Believe it or not, the best tubs I have encountered were in the dorms at Wellesley. They combined depth with window access in my first dorm, and were inside an enclosure so that one could luxuriate at length in privacy. Especially in the afternoon.