@MaryBarbara58 That is beautiful.
Someone else mentioned that the open shower was drafty and I think that is a deal breaker for me! I am always cold and I even hate opening the door of my current shower to grab my towel in the winter.
We have terrible hard water here and any surface gets etched and mineral residue instantly, so I have to resign myself that it will never look good, despite using a squeegee daily and so forth.
I want a walk-in shower that doesnāt require glass or a door or curtain. A room by itself. Like #6 in ChoatieMomās link: https://www.thespruce.com/showers-without-doors-ideas-4137742
I have a large tub that I never use and a separate small shower. I want to explore ways to remove the tub and do the walk-in shower. Then I would remove the little shower and expand the closet thatās next to it. Might have to have professional design help to make this work, but someday I hope to do it, especially if I decide to live here til I die.
Itās not private, so thatās a downside for people like me, who has been used to so much privacy the past 7 years. But people like the look and expect it in our market (it also shows off the beautiful tile used in the shower), so we are doing it because we may end up selling our house rather than living in it.
A few thingsā¦
So funny @thumper1 - I so miss my jetted tub!
I really, really wanted to put in one of those wet room concepts (picture 5 in musicmomās post #141) with one of the free standing jetted tubs when we did our master bath. Unfortunately we would have had to give up a sink and the linen closet to make it work in the space and for practicalityās sake, I caved. Just took up too much room at the end of the day. That said, we have a huge walk in, jetted shower that we enjoy daily and there is a deeper soaker in the hall bath.
I agree with you. I look at things from the perspective of how easily are they to clean. I wonāt have vaulted ceilings or ceilings with windows that require a ladder to reach from the inside. Stainless steel may be stainless but it streaks and scratches very easily. Iām for white appliances too. One place I like stainless is in my sinks. Itās pretty bullet proof and I just live with the scratches. I am not a fan of brass or nickel fixtures. Part of it could be that when they were last popular they tarnished so easily. Any chemical strong enough to remove soap or mineral build up would tarnish the finish. I also like the look of polished chrome fixtures. Iām also not a fan of granite countertops. They are cold, hard and more easily etched and stained than others. I actually prefer laminate to granite. Solid surface is fine but it also stains easily. Tile is great in showers, Iām not fond of marble or stone for the reasons I mentioned above. The shower is a place that gets a lot of soap and mineral build up. I chose cork for my kitchen floor. Itās softer, quieter, and doesnāt show dirt and doesnāt get cold. I actually used vinyl in my bathroom because I wasnāt able to do an underfloor radiant heat and I donāt like cold tile. Itās softer and easy to clean.
I donāt mind white appliances except that āappliance whiteā has blue undertone and my cabinets and trim have a yellow undertone. My washer and dryer are white and they really clash with the white trim. Also, the plastic parts on the appliances have yellowed with age so even the corner trim pieces clash with the meta part of the appliance. The aged plastic looks better with my paint, though!
Our house came with a double Jacuzzi tub in the master bath. Itās great, but it takes almost the entire water heater to fill it. So I seldom use it (we also have a hot tub at our pool). Next to the Jacuzzi is a walk in glass door shower with no built in storage or shelf to put foot on while shaving legs.
If we ever remodel, I would get rid of the Jacuzzi tub, enlarge the shower to a doorless walk in with all the bells and whistles, and move the washer/dryer from the laundry room next to the kitchen into that bathroom. Then knock down the wall between the laundry room and kitchen, and totally redo the kitchen.
Our guest bath has a regular tub. Our only change when we bought the house was to take off the glass doors and put in a curved shower curtain rod.
But this is our final home, so we donāt need to do anything more if we donāt want to.
For people thinking about soaking tubs, if you get one make sure itās actually big enough to soak in. Iāve heard of people loving the look of them but then finding they arenāt comfortable or big enough for soaking (meaning having much of your body covered when using).
That is exactly what we did when we remodeled the master bath. I actually did use the jacuzzi, but I am fine with the soaking tub. As a bonus, the soaking tub takes up less space than the jacuzzi, so we were able to have a linen closet built in. I believe there is never too much storage!
As for the clear shower glass, I worried about keeping it clean, but I squeegee after every shower and then wipe it with a towel. It takes about a minute and the glass always looks clean. I always run the fan in there for awhile too, dry it out.
@lvvcsf I hadnāt thought of cork for our kitchen floor, but Iām definitely thinking about it now. The things you like are similar to what I like (easy to clean, slow to get dirty, functional).
@Creekland We had a cork floor in parts of the office. It did not wear well at all. Iād be concerned about them in a kitchen due to all the traffic. Anyone else with experience in a kitchen?
@kjofkw Thanks for relaying your experience. Iāll probably stick with linoleum or bamboo then.
Anyone with experience with bamboo? My āgreenā lad really likes that option.
I find this comment very interesting. I have had granite in my past two kitchens (over a period of 23 years) and it has never ever etched or stained. Your statement above seems much more applicable to marble and things like dolomite or calcite.
In our new kitchen we are going with quartzite. Hopefully it holds us as well as our granite did. I donāt want to have to baby it.
I like cork but have no idea of how it lasts. Real linoleum is also nice and not as hard or cold as tile.
I like stainless.
Nrdsb4, I spent the extra $ for quartzite, cuz I wanted something lighter than granite, and lacking speckles. In hindsight, would have used a quartz with veins .
Iāve already ordered and paid for quartzite-they are being fabricated as we speak. Iām using quartz pretty much everywhere else.
D&H have cork floors in their kitchen. They hate it. Theyāre hard to keep clean. They have bamboo floors in the living room and dining room. Theyāre nice looking and easy to maintain. Theyāre thinking of pulling up the cork floor and running the bamboo floor into the kitchen.
@Nrdsb4 - We have quartzite in our kitchen now. My last two houses had granite. IMO, the quartzite is wearing just as well, if not better than the granite. One of our old houses had a light color granite that seemed way more porous and stained very easily. My husband it terrible about dripping things everywhere - coffee, red wine, olive oil, etcā¦ Things wipe right up even if they sat overnight.
We have quartz in our master bath because I was worried about getting make up and hair color stains. While the stains come right out with soft scrub, my husbandās sink has already chipped!
Oh, we have quartzite counters in the master bath as well. I forgot when I posted.
As to granite staining, Iāve just never experienced that. It must be the case that it depends on the sealer or the quality or something. We abuse our counters daily-weāve spilled anything and everything on them and they never showed any damage whatsoever. I would never buy the beautiful carrera marbles and such because the last place I want to have to worry about spilling stuff is in the kitchen. But they do look beautiful in the magazines and on tv.