Bathroom Remodel Plans

We have one piece bathtub/shower inserts which is original to the house from the early 1970's. We had ours repainted and the floor reinforced shortly after we purchased the house in 1999, just to get it to last until replacement. The children's bath tub was not in bad shape so we left it. Now both tubs are showing signs of wear. We are going to need to replace the tubs.

Despite lots of caulking and plumbing calls, we've had many problems with water leaking through insert around the faucets and overflow. The previous owner had the same problems, so we are going to try free stranding tubs to avoid leak problems like this. Free standing tubs are also much less expensive to install. We don't have to bother with tiling the walls, or boxing in a tub - no carpentry.

Another convenience is that we can actually get these tubs up our stairs and through our narrow doorway because the legs come off.

We won't be ready for this remodel for another two years, but it's fun to pick things out and plan. So far I've narrowed it down to three tubs and one style of bath wall mounted faucet - clean and simple lines. We have mostly white themed bathrooms so I can pull off modern with the vintage. We'll hang those circular shower curtain rods from the ceiling, and replace the shower nozzle.

All that's needed after this is a little floor tile, some drywall, and paint. The rest of the bathroom has been updated little by little in recent years.

I'm not sure which tub I'd like. One is a deep Swedish clawfoot, one is a slipper tub, and the other a regular clawfoot. I'll be choosing white feet on both the tubs that we install. These tubs will be on the short side. I only have about 58 inches to play with along the wall in our tiny bathrooms. The Swedish tub is about 55 inches long and the others are 57 inches. I leaning toward the Swedish for our bathroom and the regular clawfoot for the children's. Two of the ones shown in the pictures have the faucets mounted on the tub; we'll have ours coming from the bathroom wall.

These tubs are cast iron and will be so much easier to clean than our inserts! No more scrubbing walls to get off soap scum. All I'll need to clean is the tub itself, and mop underneath.

We'll probably be using Vintagetub.com to order our tubs. They have some good deals and shipping is free.