I’m saying good-bye to bathtubs. And hello to a no-bathtub house. Here’s why:
Good-bye Tub No. 1. There’s only one bathroom on the top floor of my house, and that’s where all the bedrooms are. That solitary bathroom has had a tub-shower since the day Jon and I moved in back in 1978.
Right now that old tub-shower is being transformed into an elegant walk-in shower. Stepping into a shower with plenty of grab bars will be a lot safer for me than clambering in and out of a glassed-in bathtub with no grab bars.
Good-by Tub No. 2. I had dreams — big dreams — of a spacious new tub for the guest room on the lowest level of our house. I planned to replace the existing stall shower with an ample, 34-inch-wide tub. It would be of cast iron, the better to hold the heat for a nice long bath.
And, unlike the old tub-shower upstairs, there would be no claustrophobia-inducing sliding glass doors to close me in.
But then I got real — I’m 83 years old, I noticed. Would my creaky knees let me get into a bathtub? Could they get me out?
Stepping Into a Tub-Shower Without Grab Bars
Two years ago, my plan was to turn the precarious tub-shower in the upstairs family bathroom into a shower, which would be much safe.
But I worried: There was no tub in the downstairs guest bathroom, just a shower, so if I took out the tub in the upstairs family bathroom, the house would be left tubless. Where would the grandchildren bathe? Where would I go for a nice soak?
I decided to put a bathtub in the guest bath.
Shopping for a Bathtub
A shopping expedition was in order. I drove down to the Tubz showroom in Fremont where I took off my shoes and tried out some tubs.
I sampled one of those elegant, shapely soaking tubs with the high sides first. I managed to get myself into the tub OK. And I managed to squat down. But once squatted, I could not get my legs out from under me to sit. If I did manage to sit, I wondered, how would I get up again?
In another part of the showroom, I found a traditional alcove tub with handles on either edge that made it easy to get in and out. Problem solved.
Or so I thought.
How Safe Is a Tub Full of Hot Water?
Months passed before I found a contractor to do the two bathrooms. By then the tub with handles had been discontinued and it was becoming clearer and clearer to me that at age 83 I had no business getting in and out of tub full of hot water. Handles or no handles.
Meanwhile, the grandchildren had been busy growing up. Soon they wouldn’t be needing a bathtub to float their duckies. They can take showers.
It was time to say good-bye to my dream of a leisurely bathtub soak accompanied by a good book and Mozart wafting from the next room.
And so, this week I emailed the contractor to cancel our plan to install a bathtub in the downstairs guest bathroom. The contractor replied that it was a good decision.
My No-Bathtub House
By cancelling that bathtub, I am saving myself money. Even better, I am saving myself time — the months it would take to redesign and redo that bathroom. At 83, I don’t have time to squander. I have books to write and friends to telephone.
For a sneak peek at the upstairs bathroom redo-in-progress, go to, “Beauty Makes Me Happy. Why?” More bathroom thoughts at, “Widowed: A Bathroom for One.”
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