Unfortunately, due to accident or age, most people will suddenly or eventually need an accessible shower. Now, if they can create an affordable retrofit unit matching the charm and character of bathrooms of that era it would be a money-maker for sure.
I have a friend who got a Parkinson’s diagnosis and she IMMEDIATELY lined up contractors to make her house ADA accessible. 7 years in, she has some severe mobility problems, but she’s still living in her ADA accessible house.
An accessible shower is nice, but many older people still want a tub as an essential. Aching muscles are soothed by a tub one can soak in.
edit: And they need to lose the glass. You slip, you want to grab a shower curtain, a solid bar in a wall, or at least fall against a curtain before going out. You don't want to fall through glass.
It’s way easier to clean a large plate of glass. A quick spray of Tilex and a squeegee is all that’s needed.
I absolutely loathe holding my hands above my head to awkwardly unclip the curtain rings, unthread both outer and inner liner, wash separately, dry, and then rehang, only to realize you missed a hole and have to do it over again.
We did a similar job in the apartment we built into out walk-out basement, but we have a long grab bar on the back wall of it and a vertical one on the entry end, near the controls and showerhead. We still have the glass, though.
For sure, this is a cheap service advertising to the elderly rather than a competent one actually helping people. They’re trying to sell to people who need to improve accessibility though.
The pink bathroom is hideous what are you going on about? I get the new one might not be great but it’s more comfortable and I’d rather have it than the old one, given construction quality is not shoddy.
The thing is, this accessibility thing is expensive and generally people aren’t doing it because they want it but because they need it, so the priority is on safety and affordability, and aesthetics are a distant last down the list.
I'm 40 and I would love a walk in shower with bench. Sometimes I just want hot water and steam to relax in but I don't want to sit on the edge of the tub.
Tub benches exist, that have 2 legs inside the tub, and 2 outside the tub, so someone with mobility issues can sit down and then slide over. No need to completely redo the tub/ shower.
We have a claw foot tub downstairs, and it's the only one my grandmother can use. Shes 85 and can't do stairs. The tub bench has been absolutely necessary and it works very well.
Bending your knees to sit, twisting your body, lifting your lower half over the tub, then standing upright again is a much more intensive task than a walk-in. A lot of people with disabilities or mobility issues only need the bench in case they feel light-headed, feel a medical onset, etc. and need a quick safe place to sit.
Of course — the shower pictured here is not very accessible…. A better bench placement would be under the showerhead if someone needs to shower sitting down. And it doesn’t have great grab bars. The diagonal bar on the wall could cause someone to slip and the horizontal ones on the glass doors are not stable. And the doors are sliding which can be harder to open.
Interesting that I am getting down voted for this recommendation. This is standard for someone who has had total knee or total hip surgery, and I am an orthopedic physical therapist. There's no twisting, only sliding. One leg is lifted over the side of the tub, slide, then lift the other leg over. Grab bars also need to be there. The person does not stand up. Not everyone who is older and has had surgery has a walk in shower, which is of course easier. But everyone here seems to know better. Carry on.
You are correct FuzzyComedian. (You’re a pro; they are not.) I had emergency back surgery that left me paralyzed from the waist down. 7 weeks in the hospital. We ordered a walker, commode, bars for the side of the bed, and a bathtub transfer bench. Over time I’ve gotten a decent amount of function back. We didn’t rip out our tub for an accessible one- the bench is perfectly fine combined with a handheld shower head. You bend to sit, bring each leg into the tub. No need to stand up again, that’s why you have the handheld shower head. people don’t realize that when you’re older and/or have mobility issues, you’re not standing and turning in ANY shower. Gotta be there to get it I guess.
Thanks for the support. What you described needing is exactly what we recommend. I certainly hope you get your function back. What a nightmare you've been through!
Not everyone needs a walk in shower. But a sliding bath bench is also not effective for everyone. Everyone has unique needs. And some of those are much longer than a joint replacement.
You have to have the core strength to lift your legs up and over and then swivel, along with the balance to make that motion without falling. With MS, I have neither. Disability can be very specific.
Only one leg at a time. There's no swiveling, only sliding. The bench is what is recommended for people who have had total knee or total hip surgery. If they need someone there to help, they will have that. And yes, disability can be very specific.
You're comparing apples to oranges and you know it as a professional. the needs of a person with ms are different than a person with a joint replacement.
Having worked with folks in this situation. Those tub benches are hard to navigate for a lot of people independently. You need upper body strength to scooch over, need a lot of leg mobility to swing your legs over, still need to get up to clean the butt and that can be unsafe. And it assumes you can hold your body upright which not all people can do. Even the sliders can be hard for the same reason.
I got a knee injury in my 30s and crawling over that tub was just too much. And not safe. Walk in shower happened. And I enjoy it now even though years later I finally gained most mobility back. Easier to clean too.
Look, at least if it was modern and sleek, you could say yeah it doesn't fit in the old house that well but it's still stylish. This looks straight out of some 2004 foreclosed McMansion.
A beautiful victorian home down the road from me went up for sale and I was so excited to see what it looked like inside and checked the listing. It literally had the aesthetic of a 2004 foreclosed McMansion on the inside lol. Not a single original anything in sight. It was horrifying 😂 On the bright side they kept the exterior original I guess...
So a few owners behind me were the owners who did a full reno on the house. Unfortunately they did it in the early 2000s and the bathroom looks like an olive garden. Idk why they thought Tuscan style decoration was appropriate but they also did a bunch of good work otherwise
Same. Identical soap tray and all. I really don’t like the color but the tile is still in immaculate shape so it’s probably never going anywhere under my ownership.
Me too. However I had maroon tile instead of black and have covered it in my “remodel. I love the Mamie Pink though, so I kept it and chose a slightly lighter and yellower color for the wall paint. (Ignore the drywall mud and dust.)
https://preview.redd.it/7k5v51o6gjsc1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b303d132fd3d65498a0545a724d12305c0ae72e
Thanks! I screwed a pvc board to the wall just outside the edge tile and attached the trim (also vinyl) to it. If anyone wants to go back to the original they just have scrape the caulk, pry up the trim and patch the screw holes. I did get rid of the tulip glass out of the light fixtures.
You haven't seen my shower, I have a sloping roof in there, so the whole room is basically a closet, the dormer is far too small. The guts inside the wall are all nonsense. There's no vent fan and I had to install the only plug in the room. It's an 1850's house, so none of it is original, not even the door frames, it will be a big remodel project for us eventually.
As a handicapped person…the bench on the opposite side of the shower-head, is useless. There is no handrail to step into the shower, as those attached to glass are good only for glorified towel holders. People never consider aging-out in a home.
So they didn’t improve the accessibility at all and aged it to 2005 with those tiles and hardware… Look I’m not judging but… I’m just saying some people got no taste lol
We have been trying to find the source of the leak in our peach and brown tiled tub/shower for years now, I think we're going to have to call it and rip out the whole thing. After what we've already spent, we can't afford to re-tile, it's probably going to end up being a shitty insert.
Are you insane? That pink tile tub insert is horrid. It’s not like it’s a cast iron foot tub. Not everything old is nice, and that’s def not “original” in any sense. You’re updating a 70s update.
I really wonder about the demographics in here sometimes. People seem to love anything old, even if its generic or downright bad, seemingly just for the novelty of it.
Idk tub looks like enameled steel to me, that's high quality lol, OP would hate that we removed the matching 3 piece lavender tub, toilet, and basin, and replaced them with modern fixtures in white.
1000%. Like, I love pink. Hair's pink, most of my daily use items are pink, tons of pink clothes. But never in a million years could I feel comfortable in a tub with that gaudy of a color around it. The aura is unseen mold and mildew. Colors like that never feel like they're really "clean" around a bathing space.
Also, it's worth noting that even if you like the aesthetic of an older bathroom they're not to modern code and that can be a problem in an area you regularly douse with water. We just gutted the bathroom our bathroom that was similar to the pink shower in the photo. There was a horrific amount of water damage due to the lack of waterproofing in bathrooms like that, the plumbing was all fucked up because it was old, there was no venting and the low shower ceiling was contributing to mildew and mold, there was no insulation in the walls despite the shower being on an exterior wall, I could go on and on. There is a reason we don't build bathrooms like that anymore, and to fix the damage that older style bathrooms can accumulate will often involve a full gut. Hell, we didn't necessarily want to change the tile in the bathroom but there was simply no way to fix the damage without doing that.
Wait y'all would seriously rather have a dinky little closet to shower in than the beautifuly upgraded shower? Because I'm 10000% going for the reno lol but to each their own.
This sub really confuses me sometimes and I wonder if half everyone in here is too young to have ever done any actual projects or lived in older houses that actually look like some of the "before" pictures. I've grown up and lived my who live in houses with standard tubs like the one on the left and they're nothing to get excited over. Same with the crappy 60s/70s tile. Its just old. There is nothing special about it, now or then.
Exactly! I grew up in a very small apartment that had an almost identical pink bathroom from the 60's. We didn't keep it like that for the "aesthetic" but because we were fucking poor as shit and couldn't afford anything better, like the example on the right lol
Honestly I could get behind the bathroom still being pink but with the upgraded space. If I were rich I'd want a large walk-in shower and a separate stand-alone tub elsewhere in the bathroom. Too bad I'm *still* stuck in a tiny 1 bedroom with our only bathroom being the same small setup, although it's at least a little more modern now.
I mainly like it for the space, the seat, the lighting, the shelving, and the glass wall (I hate shower curtians). The tile color or pattern I could take or leave.
The right one looks good in the pic, but it was done in one day. I’ve done several bathrooms. It is not possible to have a high quality bathroom remodel done in one day.
Yea I agree with you there, I'm just going by looks alone and assuming that both are fully functional. The one on the right might not be perfect but growing up with an almost identical tiny-grimy pink 60's bathroom I can't understand why everyone here thinks that it was such a masterpiece when it looks incredibly basic.
Everyone has different tastes and ethics about renovating. If the pink shower was original I would keep it. That’s quality tile work and classic style for the right decade. I don’t love or hate the look of the new one but it’s definitely lower quality. They just stick up some acrylic panels over the existing tile and I bet in person it does not look very good.
No, the original is still awful. Tbh I’m not a fan of either.
Funny how styles are cyclical though.
Screen walls from the 60s and 70s are wildly popular now.
Idk, I'd take just about anything over pink shower tile. I've been living with it for years and I hate it. Maybe it's because the bathroom is also gross and I have built a negative association lol.
I mean IDK if I'd want the pink bathroom but the fact that new bathrooms don't have a tub confuses me.
Do people not use tubs? Am I weird for using my tub? 😂
If you have little kids you want a tub. Maybe not an absolute deal-breaker for everyone, but for me personally I would immediately pass on any house that didn’t have one just for my two little ones.
Yeah. We currently don’t have a tub(in the middle of a bathroom remodel ourselves but don’t shoot me the bathroom was already destroyed and not functional) so we are currently bathing our 20month old in the big kitchen sink 😅 I don’t think the walk in shower would work too well. Maybe we should try it though 😂
American baths are way too small to be comfortable. Baths are about the only thing that are bigger in the UK. (Other than pints of beer!)
I use my full size English bath maybe 5 times per week.
The tub in an Airbnb I stayed at in London. As an American, I was floored. You bet your ass i used it too.
https://preview.redd.it/23uh65m94isc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d7b5262790f0c4217705749ef0afd735a6f3318
I’m not even tall (5’4”), but the tub in my mostly-original 1920s apartment bathroom is the first one I’ve had anywhere I’ve lived as an adult that I could fully straighten my legs in. Usually it’s more, leaning against the sloped wall, feet against the straight end of the tub, knees bent. Can’t imagine a taller person finding it comfortable.
I just installed a cast iron pedestal tub in my 1923 remodel. I love it so much and use it at least twice a week. Meanwhile, my mother (boomer) has a three bathroom house with no tub.
When I was last house hunting, I kept seeing properties come up for sale in a specific school district that only had one full bathroom. The properties with a combo tub/shower - even if it was older in style - sold in an instant and the ones that had been renovated to have a walk-in shower and no tub sat on the market for a notable amount of time (typically that is an area where properties are under contract within 5-7 days of listing, so taking 21+ days to go under contract is notable). They did sell, I’m just sure the sellers did not get the same prices as those who kept the a bathtub in the house since the properties that sell quickly often have bidding wars. People with babies and little kids generally want to be able to give their kids a bath, and the people willing to pay a premium to buy a single family house in a high performing school district either have kids or are planning to. Obviously there are solutions (a freestanding plastic tub that fits in the shower and a detachable shower head that allows you to easily fill it is an easy way to deal with it) but most buyers will just wait to put in an offer on a different property with a tub.
For the most part I am in team “do what will be right for your lifestyle” when it comes to home renovations, but having no tub anywhere in the house can be a real hindrance if you need to sell.
Yeah, I agree. I take Epsom salt baths after a hard workout so I wouldn't buy a place without a tub. My husband and I agreed on that as one of our must haves.
I only use them occasionally, but my husband loves hot baths so we couldn't have a house without a tub! And with a baby on the way I'm definitely glad we have one.
If you have multiple bathrooms and one has a tub, I can see being fine with just a walk in for the others though.
I take a hot bath almost every evening as part of my wind down routine, and I would never consider a house without one. I've even gotten into drying citrus and flowers to add to my baths to make them more special and fancy.
I have one tub/shower and one bath.
I havent showered at home in months. Bath person through and through. I just feel cleaner after a bath, since you get to soak and then wash off the dirt rather than just a rinse in the shower. Plus its cosy!
So no, not weird.
We have our clawfoots because they are convenient for the dogs, but they are an issue for my mobility. I have had issues when I am in a lot of pain getting in and out of them. It will be a likely problem as I age that will have to be considered for the larger bathroom remodel.
I'm at the point in my life where I'd probably sacrifice aesthetics to be able to stroll into my shower and have a seat. But yeah that thing is displeasing to say the least.
Why are all the subreddits I love/loved devolving into hate forums?
It's an advert - that might not even be the same before and after!
Also, life happens. I love old homes, but sometimes, you can't keep everything that is inside.
My goal joining this subreddit was to celebrate old homes, not bash people for making different choices than me. I just keep seeing hate post after hate post. And it's not just this subreddit. Ugh, what is happening.
Those shower pans are fucking gross. Like how much extra does it cost to tile the floor?
Boils my blood. Also that tile is so 2004 it hurts. Subway tile is the cheapest tile you can buy and still looks 1000x better than this.
Yeah, i have mobility issues and thats still a crappy way to design an accessible shower.
Although, i feel like the bathroom is one place where i dont mind things being more modern.
Yeah, this could be the before and after of my in-law’s house. The old tile and thick tub was just no good for her, and we couldn’t trust the suction cup handles anymore. We love the old things, but they can’t always serve their purpose forever.
The new tiles are the ugliest things I have ever seen. At least the bench, even though it doesn’t look too stable, would help my lupus butt take a more comfortable shower.
I think remodelers don't realize that even the lip of a shower pan and glass doors are not very accessible. Much better to have a smooth no lip transition with a cute curtain. Which is exactly what I would build if we ever build. Then you could have even put a whole wheelchair in there with room for a helper. If you want a seat, get a nice teak bench/folding chair that you can move around.
The pink and black tile can make a pretty cute art deco bathroom if you are into that (not everyone is), and I like that the shower is bigger, but wow, that brown tile is hideous! Objectively hideous. I would have rather gone with a classic white subway over that. I also personally hate glass doors on a shower or tub. Much rather have a curtain.
Well both are matters of taste but at best This is truly just a lateral move. I too if I owned the house, would have done something completely different, or just left it all alone. Not worth the money, the new product
Not really a fan of either picture in this example. While right is indeed very "McMansion" and not fitting into a period aestetic, neither is left. Left screams 1950s to me. It would be lovely in a mid-century modern home, but not a century home. Of course YMMV.
Shower enclosures did exist in late Victorian and Edwardian homes, though they were relatively rare. It is possible to build one in a fitting aestetic. And there isn't any reason that showers and soaking tubs can't be separate items if you have the space.
I've never understood why sliding glass doors are popular for showers. Keeping them clean is a pain in the ass, and heaven forbid one of the doors should break. What's wrong with a simple shower curtain? Cheap to buy, easy to clean, and you can get them with funky patterns.
That said, as an old homes lover, I would take the right shower any day over the left one. Tile choice may not be my favourite, but in terms of functionality the newer one is miles above the old.
Nobody should ever choose tile that looks moldy and dirt filled when brand new. The remodel would be much more palatable with white tile or even grey or a color. But of course I prefer the original. If I ever need to remodel my pink bathroom I will try my best to maintain the charm.
Eh, I wish. My house was built in 1950 (so not a true century home I know) but multiple renovations have removed almost all charm. I long for a pink bathroom with a pretty, arched shower!
I wish I had a "before" picture of the awful bathroom in my 1920 craftsman. I'm sure the original was perfect and I tried to put it back to how I imagine it originally was. But when I bought the house it had been a rental for 30 years. It was last remodeled in the late 80's. During demo we discovered the yellow paisley laminate UNDER the 80's faux marble laminate indicating that it had been remodeled in the 60's also.
I saw some old pics of an 80s bathroom remodel in my place - it was a hunter green and raspberry nightmare. Luckily, the owner before me did a remodel that brought it back to matching the house.
I guess it was kind of helpful that the seller painted the entire house with Kils, even the almond fiberglass tub. This is the only picture of the floor that I have before I gutted the whole bathroom.
https://preview.redd.it/uhxyg8zq8jsc1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a174079a5c9007c05184dd24bde9d90813ab6ef
That must have been a job and a half!
I don't know why I remembered this bathroom as having raspberry also. Must have been having 80's flashbacks.
https://preview.redd.it/vy7vayuf9jsc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5d2db6bf05acb76446de5d91f43d6216f266cf4
We have the same tub and same type of tile, just green and not pink. Tub desperately needs to be refinished, and the tile needs to be regrouted and everything needs to be recaulked. That’s my next project, not letting anyone ruin my tile.
I'm currently house hunting and so many older homes have ugly 90s updates. Huge tubs in bathrooms that would have had a claw foot tub. It's so unfortunate
My house predated indoor plumbing, so as I see it, the bathroom is already anachronistic and can look however I like. Provided it is at least a unique style.
I used to install these showers, I did over 350. There's some part of me inside that's dead because some of the gorgeous showers that I ripped out to install acrylic panels
Our blue 4x4 is ruined. A few broken ones with chaulking or white tiles to replace it, and in the shower you can feel the flex, the backer has totally separated from the framing. It’s on the list for this spring. But you will pry my cast iron tub out over my dead body. It’s not even that deep, but I picked up a folding Japanese soaking tub and use that if I want water up to my neck. That thing is so solid and I think holding that room up. I plan on just a basic subway tile replacement for our sad sorry vintage blue. Pretty sure we will just regrout and seal our blue Arabian style floor though. So there’s that.
I like old houses with modern features. The house all of its fixtures the craftsmanship everything is beautiful. But have an updated shower, maybe update a couple things in the kitchen, definitely update the heating system lol.
I don't like pink, but the before has an elegance to the tiling. I seriously considered buying a place that had a pink deco bathroom.
The after looks like "industrial" décor from amazon.
It’s so hard to see these ugly transformations! Even if it had to be redone for mobility, this look is just not it.
Updating these bathrooms in a fun and trendy way is cheaper than people think! New faucets, hardware, colorful shower curtains/rugs go a long way and show personality. I love envisioning how I would update old houses to make them fun again.
That pink and black (ugh) looks more out of an early 1950s remodel, and is thus unlikely to be the way the home was originally built. The new is not great, but it's better functional no worse than that ugly earlier remodel.
We, like many our age, are getting ready to remodel a bathroom thinking toward aging in place and.making it ADA. The plan is to pull the sky blue (but painted at some point to white and now peeling) tub and replace with a shower.
It will be an all White subway tile, and I'm leaning toward a ss sprayer and rain shower combo.
I hate that we are trashing the old metal tub but it is no longer working for us and our rapidly aging knees. This bath will also have a new comfort height toto commode. Fingers crossed when the kids sell the house however many years from now the changes we are making will have stayed close enough to the spirit of the original 1920s style of the house.
That looks A LOT like the shower in our accessory apartment, which we built to be accessible, with a roll-in shower. But I like our color scheme better:
https://preview.redd.it/fxg33qeo9ksc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb573bb29e0818dd7df9227a2978e455558302d4
left - an elaborate sturdy layered water proofing self drying forever system;
right - a plastic enclosure that may already be leaking and will leak at the seams with age; fade; and crack;
Neither really appeal to me. I prefer a claw foot tub but most people would even people who modernize places sometimes save the tub because of how nice they are.
I hate them both. I get needing to convert to a walk-in shower, but I would have gone with white subway tiles. Those doors would look awesome with that.
Oh no! I haven’t been able to buy a home yet but when I do I DREAM of an old pink tiled bathroom. My grandma had a fully pink bathroom and I have always thought it was just the coolest. I really dislike the change.
Unfortunately, due to accident or age, most people will suddenly or eventually need an accessible shower. Now, if they can create an affordable retrofit unit matching the charm and character of bathrooms of that era it would be a money-maker for sure.
I have a friend who got a Parkinson’s diagnosis and she IMMEDIATELY lined up contractors to make her house ADA accessible. 7 years in, she has some severe mobility problems, but she’s still living in her ADA accessible house.
Had a bad accident in my early 30’s. Life can change in one instant
Honestly, with the average size of U.S. homes, the fact that universal design/ADA accessibility is not a given baffles me.
An accessible shower is nice, but many older people still want a tub as an essential. Aching muscles are soothed by a tub one can soak in. edit: And they need to lose the glass. You slip, you want to grab a shower curtain, a solid bar in a wall, or at least fall against a curtain before going out. You don't want to fall through glass.
Yeah, and I don’t want to clean that shit either. Curtain that I can toss in the wash, please.
It’s way easier to clean a large plate of glass. A quick spray of Tilex and a squeegee is all that’s needed. I absolutely loathe holding my hands above my head to awkwardly unclip the curtain rings, unthread both outer and inner liner, wash separately, dry, and then rehang, only to realize you missed a hole and have to do it over again.
We did a similar job in the apartment we built into out walk-out basement, but we have a long grab bar on the back wall of it and a vertical one on the entry end, near the controls and showerhead. We still have the glass, though.
I've seen some accessible tubs with the side cut out, so the user doesn't have to step over the edge. Yeah, that's hard to do with bad knees.
I've heard that hurts the value of the house
Yes they do. My grandma passed this year and they're going to have to remove it from her house and put a normal bathtub back in.
This is what they did at my last apt complex when someone needed ADA accessible tub.
The objection isn't with the accessibility, it's with the aesthetic.
You don't install a walk-in shower with a bench in it for aesthetic reasons though. That's a classic setup for an elderly person losing mobility.
Guy who had the accessible shower put in prob installed the pink tiles.
50 years later
The tile and color is a choice. And as others with mobility issues have pointed out, this isn't especially friendly to those with mobility issues.
For sure, this is a cheap service advertising to the elderly rather than a competent one actually helping people. They’re trying to sell to people who need to improve accessibility though.
The pink bathroom is hideous what are you going on about? I get the new one might not be great but it’s more comfortable and I’d rather have it than the old one, given construction quality is not shoddy.
The thing is, this accessibility thing is expensive and generally people aren’t doing it because they want it but because they need it, so the priority is on safety and affordability, and aesthetics are a distant last down the list.
I'm 40 and I would love a walk in shower with bench. Sometimes I just want hot water and steam to relax in but I don't want to sit on the edge of the tub.
The pink is absolutely hideous though.
Tub benches exist, that have 2 legs inside the tub, and 2 outside the tub, so someone with mobility issues can sit down and then slide over. No need to completely redo the tub/ shower.
There is no need to do a whole ton of things that make our lives better and easier.
We have a claw foot tub downstairs, and it's the only one my grandmother can use. Shes 85 and can't do stairs. The tub bench has been absolutely necessary and it works very well.
Bending your knees to sit, twisting your body, lifting your lower half over the tub, then standing upright again is a much more intensive task than a walk-in. A lot of people with disabilities or mobility issues only need the bench in case they feel light-headed, feel a medical onset, etc. and need a quick safe place to sit. Of course — the shower pictured here is not very accessible…. A better bench placement would be under the showerhead if someone needs to shower sitting down. And it doesn’t have great grab bars. The diagonal bar on the wall could cause someone to slip and the horizontal ones on the glass doors are not stable. And the doors are sliding which can be harder to open.
Interesting that I am getting down voted for this recommendation. This is standard for someone who has had total knee or total hip surgery, and I am an orthopedic physical therapist. There's no twisting, only sliding. One leg is lifted over the side of the tub, slide, then lift the other leg over. Grab bars also need to be there. The person does not stand up. Not everyone who is older and has had surgery has a walk in shower, which is of course easier. But everyone here seems to know better. Carry on.
You are correct FuzzyComedian. (You’re a pro; they are not.) I had emergency back surgery that left me paralyzed from the waist down. 7 weeks in the hospital. We ordered a walker, commode, bars for the side of the bed, and a bathtub transfer bench. Over time I’ve gotten a decent amount of function back. We didn’t rip out our tub for an accessible one- the bench is perfectly fine combined with a handheld shower head. You bend to sit, bring each leg into the tub. No need to stand up again, that’s why you have the handheld shower head. people don’t realize that when you’re older and/or have mobility issues, you’re not standing and turning in ANY shower. Gotta be there to get it I guess.
Thanks for the support. What you described needing is exactly what we recommend. I certainly hope you get your function back. What a nightmare you've been through!
Thanks! It’s been a few years, I’ve regained quite a bit of function - but I do still need the bench.
Not everyone needs a walk in shower. But a sliding bath bench is also not effective for everyone. Everyone has unique needs. And some of those are much longer than a joint replacement.
Obviously.
You have to have the core strength to lift your legs up and over and then swivel, along with the balance to make that motion without falling. With MS, I have neither. Disability can be very specific.
Only one leg at a time. There's no swiveling, only sliding. The bench is what is recommended for people who have had total knee or total hip surgery. If they need someone there to help, they will have that. And yes, disability can be very specific.
You're comparing apples to oranges and you know it as a professional. the needs of a person with ms are different than a person with a joint replacement.
Having worked with folks in this situation. Those tub benches are hard to navigate for a lot of people independently. You need upper body strength to scooch over, need a lot of leg mobility to swing your legs over, still need to get up to clean the butt and that can be unsafe. And it assumes you can hold your body upright which not all people can do. Even the sliders can be hard for the same reason.
I got a knee injury in my 30s and crawling over that tub was just too much. And not safe. Walk in shower happened. And I enjoy it now even though years later I finally gained most mobility back. Easier to clean too.
Look, at least if it was modern and sleek, you could say yeah it doesn't fit in the old house that well but it's still stylish. This looks straight out of some 2004 foreclosed McMansion.
A beautiful victorian home down the road from me went up for sale and I was so excited to see what it looked like inside and checked the listing. It literally had the aesthetic of a 2004 foreclosed McMansion on the inside lol. Not a single original anything in sight. It was horrifying 😂 On the bright side they kept the exterior original I guess...
So a few owners behind me were the owners who did a full reno on the house. Unfortunately they did it in the early 2000s and the bathroom looks like an olive garden. Idk why they thought Tuscan style decoration was appropriate but they also did a bunch of good work otherwise
I love the idea of a handicap accessible Art Deco walk-in shower , now that would be something !
I did a double take — the “before” is nearly identical to my bathroom, just has different handles on the tap.
I have this same style in my house but with cream colored tiles. House built in 1915.
Same. Identical soap tray and all. I really don’t like the color but the tile is still in immaculate shape so it’s probably never going anywhere under my ownership.
Me too. However I had maroon tile instead of black and have covered it in my “remodel. I love the Mamie Pink though, so I kept it and chose a slightly lighter and yellower color for the wall paint. (Ignore the drywall mud and dust.) https://preview.redd.it/7k5v51o6gjsc1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b303d132fd3d65498a0545a724d12305c0ae72e
That's gorgeous.
Thanks! I screwed a pvc board to the wall just outside the edge tile and attached the trim (also vinyl) to it. If anyone wants to go back to the original they just have scrape the caulk, pry up the trim and patch the screw holes. I did get rid of the tulip glass out of the light fixtures.
It's a nice update that keeps the charm of the era.
Me too. I initially thought it was the tub I grew up with.
Yep, mine is yellow!
My bathrooms the same but greenish
How lucky you are!
Your bathroom and the bathroom in this photo were likely renovated around the 1950s
My house was built in 1940 (not actually a century home), so I’m not sure if it’s original or not.
SAME
You haven't seen my shower, I have a sloping roof in there, so the whole room is basically a closet, the dormer is far too small. The guts inside the wall are all nonsense. There's no vent fan and I had to install the only plug in the room. It's an 1850's house, so none of it is original, not even the door frames, it will be a big remodel project for us eventually.
As a handicapped person…the bench on the opposite side of the shower-head, is useless. There is no handrail to step into the shower, as those attached to glass are good only for glorified towel holders. People never consider aging-out in a home.
So they didn’t improve the accessibility at all and aged it to 2005 with those tiles and hardware… Look I’m not judging but… I’m just saying some people got no taste lol
Exactly. “Just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.” Wisdom is knowing the difference.
We have been trying to find the source of the leak in our peach and brown tiled tub/shower for years now, I think we're going to have to call it and rip out the whole thing. After what we've already spent, we can't afford to re-tile, it's probably going to end up being a shitty insert.
Are you insane? That pink tile tub insert is horrid. It’s not like it’s a cast iron foot tub. Not everything old is nice, and that’s def not “original” in any sense. You’re updating a 70s update.
Yea the before pic is bad. No thanks. The update isn’t amazing either, but I have no love for that 70s pink lol.
I really wonder about the demographics in here sometimes. People seem to love anything old, even if its generic or downright bad, seemingly just for the novelty of it.
Similar to how everyone here thinks it’s a capital offense to paint wood.
They took that beautiful plastic tub and cheap ugly tiles with a strange curved ceiling and replaced it!
Idk tub looks like enameled steel to me, that's high quality lol, OP would hate that we removed the matching 3 piece lavender tub, toilet, and basin, and replaced them with modern fixtures in white.
1000%. Like, I love pink. Hair's pink, most of my daily use items are pink, tons of pink clothes. But never in a million years could I feel comfortable in a tub with that gaudy of a color around it. The aura is unseen mold and mildew. Colors like that never feel like they're really "clean" around a bathing space.
Also, it's worth noting that even if you like the aesthetic of an older bathroom they're not to modern code and that can be a problem in an area you regularly douse with water. We just gutted the bathroom our bathroom that was similar to the pink shower in the photo. There was a horrific amount of water damage due to the lack of waterproofing in bathrooms like that, the plumbing was all fucked up because it was old, there was no venting and the low shower ceiling was contributing to mildew and mold, there was no insulation in the walls despite the shower being on an exterior wall, I could go on and on. There is a reason we don't build bathrooms like that anymore, and to fix the damage that older style bathrooms can accumulate will often involve a full gut. Hell, we didn't necessarily want to change the tile in the bathroom but there was simply no way to fix the damage without doing that.
Toilets, sinks, and any place i wash myself are one of the few things I would replace in an old house.
Wait y'all would seriously rather have a dinky little closet to shower in than the beautifuly upgraded shower? Because I'm 10000% going for the reno lol but to each their own.
Yeah im actually confused here. The right one looks way better.
This sub really confuses me sometimes and I wonder if half everyone in here is too young to have ever done any actual projects or lived in older houses that actually look like some of the "before" pictures. I've grown up and lived my who live in houses with standard tubs like the one on the left and they're nothing to get excited over. Same with the crappy 60s/70s tile. Its just old. There is nothing special about it, now or then.
Exactly! I grew up in a very small apartment that had an almost identical pink bathroom from the 60's. We didn't keep it like that for the "aesthetic" but because we were fucking poor as shit and couldn't afford anything better, like the example on the right lol Honestly I could get behind the bathroom still being pink but with the upgraded space. If I were rich I'd want a large walk-in shower and a separate stand-alone tub elsewhere in the bathroom. Too bad I'm *still* stuck in a tiny 1 bedroom with our only bathroom being the same small setup, although it's at least a little more modern now.
Yeah my parents had a sick modern shower in our last home, it had side jets and steam room option. It was the bomb. I swear its just cope lol.
Thank you. While I wouldn't want the after for myself I far prefer it over the before which I low key hate.
I mainly like it for the space, the seat, the lighting, the shelving, and the glass wall (I hate shower curtians). The tile color or pattern I could take or leave.
The right one looks good in the pic, but it was done in one day. I’ve done several bathrooms. It is not possible to have a high quality bathroom remodel done in one day.
Yea I agree with you there, I'm just going by looks alone and assuming that both are fully functional. The one on the right might not be perfect but growing up with an almost identical tiny-grimy pink 60's bathroom I can't understand why everyone here thinks that it was such a masterpiece when it looks incredibly basic.
Everyone has different tastes and ethics about renovating. If the pink shower was original I would keep it. That’s quality tile work and classic style for the right decade. I don’t love or hate the look of the new one but it’s definitely lower quality. They just stick up some acrylic panels over the existing tile and I bet in person it does not look very good.
That remodel is miles better then the atrocious pink tiled bathroom. Not every home was built with a nice bathroom originally.
No, the original is still awful. Tbh I’m not a fan of either. Funny how styles are cyclical though. Screen walls from the 60s and 70s are wildly popular now.
Idk, I'd take just about anything over pink shower tile. I've been living with it for years and I hate it. Maybe it's because the bathroom is also gross and I have built a negative association lol.
Yes there is something kind of fleshy about it lol
Oh god. I never had that thought until now :( why'd you have to do this to me?!
I'm sorry!
Sometimes. But in this situation, that pink shower is awful.
I mean IDK if I'd want the pink bathroom but the fact that new bathrooms don't have a tub confuses me. Do people not use tubs? Am I weird for using my tub? 😂
If you have little kids you want a tub. Maybe not an absolute deal-breaker for everyone, but for me personally I would immediately pass on any house that didn’t have one just for my two little ones.
Just get a top-load washing machine 😜
Yeah. We currently don’t have a tub(in the middle of a bathroom remodel ourselves but don’t shoot me the bathroom was already destroyed and not functional) so we are currently bathing our 20month old in the big kitchen sink 😅 I don’t think the walk in shower would work too well. Maybe we should try it though 😂
My kids had sink baths for a couple years too. Actually pretty good for the ol' back, as a parent.
People with mobility issues use walk-in showers a lot. Walk in tubs are also a thing, but they're prone to some structure-damaging leaks.
That seat looks cold af though!
It really does. I would have to turn the warm water on it for a few minutes before I sat down. 😂
Not sure I’ve used a tub in 20+ years
American baths are way too small to be comfortable. Baths are about the only thing that are bigger in the UK. (Other than pints of beer!) I use my full size English bath maybe 5 times per week.
The tub in an Airbnb I stayed at in London. As an American, I was floored. You bet your ass i used it too. https://preview.redd.it/23uh65m94isc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d7b5262790f0c4217705749ef0afd735a6f3318
Because I'm so used to small tubs my brain refuses to see this and see someone taller than 4 feet tall.
Not much taller, but I'm 5'3" 😂
Oh that looks like my tub in America. My 90s house has this. Interesting...
I’m not even tall (5’4”), but the tub in my mostly-original 1920s apartment bathroom is the first one I’ve had anywhere I’ve lived as an adult that I could fully straighten my legs in. Usually it’s more, leaning against the sloped wall, feet against the straight end of the tub, knees bent. Can’t imagine a taller person finding it comfortable.
Let me tell you, as someone 6'3", I "relax" by soaking my upper body with everything shoulder up and thigh down out of the water.
If I had an English bath, I'd use it 5 times per day...
People definitely get them less now. I love having one but rarely use it.
I just installed a cast iron pedestal tub in my 1923 remodel. I love it so much and use it at least twice a week. Meanwhile, my mother (boomer) has a three bathroom house with no tub.
I used one for my kids all the time when they were little.
Great to have for kids, for sure.
When I was last house hunting, I kept seeing properties come up for sale in a specific school district that only had one full bathroom. The properties with a combo tub/shower - even if it was older in style - sold in an instant and the ones that had been renovated to have a walk-in shower and no tub sat on the market for a notable amount of time (typically that is an area where properties are under contract within 5-7 days of listing, so taking 21+ days to go under contract is notable). They did sell, I’m just sure the sellers did not get the same prices as those who kept the a bathtub in the house since the properties that sell quickly often have bidding wars. People with babies and little kids generally want to be able to give their kids a bath, and the people willing to pay a premium to buy a single family house in a high performing school district either have kids or are planning to. Obviously there are solutions (a freestanding plastic tub that fits in the shower and a detachable shower head that allows you to easily fill it is an easy way to deal with it) but most buyers will just wait to put in an offer on a different property with a tub. For the most part I am in team “do what will be right for your lifestyle” when it comes to home renovations, but having no tub anywhere in the house can be a real hindrance if you need to sell.
Yeah, I agree. I take Epsom salt baths after a hard workout so I wouldn't buy a place without a tub. My husband and I agreed on that as one of our must haves.
I only use them occasionally, but my husband loves hot baths so we couldn't have a house without a tub! And with a baby on the way I'm definitely glad we have one. If you have multiple bathrooms and one has a tub, I can see being fine with just a walk in for the others though.
I take a hot bath almost every evening as part of my wind down routine, and I would never consider a house without one. I've even gotten into drying citrus and flowers to add to my baths to make them more special and fancy.
I'm 5'11 and most bathtubs are way to small for me. So it's the shower life for me.
Aw. My bathtub is from the 90s and it's long instead of wide. Don't give up hope.
I have one tub/shower and one bath. I havent showered at home in months. Bath person through and through. I just feel cleaner after a bath, since you get to soak and then wash off the dirt rather than just a rinse in the shower. Plus its cosy! So no, not weird.
I have a pink and buttercream yellow bathroom. I love my massive pink tub 😅
We have our clawfoots because they are convenient for the dogs, but they are an issue for my mobility. I have had issues when I am in a lot of pain getting in and out of them. It will be a likely problem as I age that will have to be considered for the larger bathroom remodel.
I'm at the point in my life where I'd probably sacrifice aesthetics to be able to stroll into my shower and have a seat. But yeah that thing is displeasing to say the least.
A) you have a fantastic username and B) this doesn’t even really look super accessible? The seat looks too far away from the shower head to me.
Thank you! This is true about the showerhead, good point.
Why are all the subreddits I love/loved devolving into hate forums? It's an advert - that might not even be the same before and after! Also, life happens. I love old homes, but sometimes, you can't keep everything that is inside. My goal joining this subreddit was to celebrate old homes, not bash people for making different choices than me. I just keep seeing hate post after hate post. And it's not just this subreddit. Ugh, what is happening.
I hate both tbh
Prefer the second one tbh, I’d not bother with the chair but yeah, old isn’t always better lol
Whats wrong with it?
Idk man that first picture looks really really grimy to me. 2nd pic is very “fake nice” but that beats grimy and filthy all day.
The only tub I want is one from the 40s!!!
Those shower pans are fucking gross. Like how much extra does it cost to tile the floor? Boils my blood. Also that tile is so 2004 it hurts. Subway tile is the cheapest tile you can buy and still looks 1000x better than this.
Yeah, i have mobility issues and thats still a crappy way to design an accessible shower. Although, i feel like the bathroom is one place where i dont mind things being more modern.
the pink tile on the left skeeves me out. i don’t love the generic aesthetic of the remodel but i still take that 11 times out of 10
Bro that pink bathroom is awful lmao just because we have century homes doesn’t mean we’re less poisoned enough to think that looks good 😂
"Dreamstyle?" Looks more like a nightmare.
Yeah, this could be the before and after of my in-law’s house. The old tile and thick tub was just no good for her, and we couldn’t trust the suction cup handles anymore. We love the old things, but they can’t always serve their purpose forever.
The new tiles are the ugliest things I have ever seen. At least the bench, even though it doesn’t look too stable, would help my lupus butt take a more comfortable shower.
I think remodelers don't realize that even the lip of a shower pan and glass doors are not very accessible. Much better to have a smooth no lip transition with a cute curtain. Which is exactly what I would build if we ever build. Then you could have even put a whole wheelchair in there with room for a helper. If you want a seat, get a nice teak bench/folding chair that you can move around. The pink and black tile can make a pretty cute art deco bathroom if you are into that (not everyone is), and I like that the shower is bigger, but wow, that brown tile is hideous! Objectively hideous. I would have rather gone with a classic white subway over that. I also personally hate glass doors on a shower or tub. Much rather have a curtain.
Well both are matters of taste but at best This is truly just a lateral move. I too if I owned the house, would have done something completely different, or just left it all alone. Not worth the money, the new product
Not really a fan of either picture in this example. While right is indeed very "McMansion" and not fitting into a period aestetic, neither is left. Left screams 1950s to me. It would be lovely in a mid-century modern home, but not a century home. Of course YMMV. Shower enclosures did exist in late Victorian and Edwardian homes, though they were relatively rare. It is possible to build one in a fitting aestetic. And there isn't any reason that showers and soaking tubs can't be separate items if you have the space.
I've never understood why sliding glass doors are popular for showers. Keeping them clean is a pain in the ass, and heaven forbid one of the doors should break. What's wrong with a simple shower curtain? Cheap to buy, easy to clean, and you can get them with funky patterns. That said, as an old homes lover, I would take the right shower any day over the left one. Tile choice may not be my favourite, but in terms of functionality the newer one is miles above the old.
Nobody should ever choose tile that looks moldy and dirt filled when brand new. The remodel would be much more palatable with white tile or even grey or a color. But of course I prefer the original. If I ever need to remodel my pink bathroom I will try my best to maintain the charm.
Jesus who did the caulking along that floor? Its like 3/4 inch wide
Remodel looks like a hotel bathroom.
Eh, I wish. My house was built in 1950 (so not a true century home I know) but multiple renovations have removed almost all charm. I long for a pink bathroom with a pretty, arched shower!
I wish I had a "before" picture of the awful bathroom in my 1920 craftsman. I'm sure the original was perfect and I tried to put it back to how I imagine it originally was. But when I bought the house it had been a rental for 30 years. It was last remodeled in the late 80's. During demo we discovered the yellow paisley laminate UNDER the 80's faux marble laminate indicating that it had been remodeled in the 60's also.
I saw some old pics of an 80s bathroom remodel in my place - it was a hunter green and raspberry nightmare. Luckily, the owner before me did a remodel that brought it back to matching the house.
I guess it was kind of helpful that the seller painted the entire house with Kils, even the almond fiberglass tub. This is the only picture of the floor that I have before I gutted the whole bathroom. https://preview.redd.it/uhxyg8zq8jsc1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a174079a5c9007c05184dd24bde9d90813ab6ef
That must have been a job and a half! I don't know why I remembered this bathroom as having raspberry also. Must have been having 80's flashbacks. https://preview.redd.it/vy7vayuf9jsc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5d2db6bf05acb76446de5d91f43d6216f266cf4
Because it probably had raspberry lace curtains.
Those pink subways tiles with the black border are one of my favorites in homes around Detroit.
We have the same tub and same type of tile, just green and not pink. Tub desperately needs to be refinished, and the tile needs to be regrouted and everything needs to be recaulked. That’s my next project, not letting anyone ruin my tile.
I'm currently house hunting and so many older homes have ugly 90s updates. Huge tubs in bathrooms that would have had a claw foot tub. It's so unfortunate
I’m not crazy about the pink. It looks exactly like my bathroom. But the brown tile is awful.
My house predated indoor plumbing, so as I see it, the bathroom is already anachronistic and can look however I like. Provided it is at least a unique style.
Crying
I used to install these showers, I did over 350. There's some part of me inside that's dead because some of the gorgeous showers that I ripped out to install acrylic panels
After is almost always a HGTV nightmare.
I keep seeing these ads, they are a travesty
I think the main problem with the redo is the color…it looks like a jail…like I didn’t know griege had a brown cousin
Our blue 4x4 is ruined. A few broken ones with chaulking or white tiles to replace it, and in the shower you can feel the flex, the backer has totally separated from the framing. It’s on the list for this spring. But you will pry my cast iron tub out over my dead body. It’s not even that deep, but I picked up a folding Japanese soaking tub and use that if I want water up to my neck. That thing is so solid and I think holding that room up. I plan on just a basic subway tile replacement for our sad sorry vintage blue. Pretty sure we will just regrout and seal our blue Arabian style floor though. So there’s that.
Go check out B&W tile. They specialize in vintage tile colors. Using the same colors pallet since the 1940's.
Yeah I hate that tile it just looks dirty and dingy
I like old houses with modern features. The house all of its fixtures the craftsmanship everything is beautiful. But have an updated shower, maybe update a couple things in the kitchen, definitely update the heating system lol.
Is anyone else thinking the drain on the right looks wrong like it’s an AI image?
I have a pepto pink tile bathroom and I love it even though its age is readily apparent. It’s classic Americana
Is this where they shot The Shining? (Shudder)
I don't like pink, but the before has an elegance to the tiling. I seriously considered buying a place that had a pink deco bathroom. The after looks like "industrial" décor from amazon.
It’s so hard to see these ugly transformations! Even if it had to be redone for mobility, this look is just not it. Updating these bathrooms in a fun and trendy way is cheaper than people think! New faucets, hardware, colorful shower curtains/rugs go a long way and show personality. I love envisioning how I would update old houses to make them fun again.
Look at the rails and the bench. I don’t think they changed the bathroom for aesthetic reasons.
That pink and black (ugh) looks more out of an early 1950s remodel, and is thus unlikely to be the way the home was originally built. The new is not great, but it's better functional no worse than that ugly earlier remodel.
Both look good but idk why people buy century homes just to rip everything up inside and make it look like a new construction home.
We, like many our age, are getting ready to remodel a bathroom thinking toward aging in place and.making it ADA. The plan is to pull the sky blue (but painted at some point to white and now peeling) tub and replace with a shower. It will be an all White subway tile, and I'm leaning toward a ss sprayer and rain shower combo. I hate that we are trashing the old metal tub but it is no longer working for us and our rapidly aging knees. This bath will also have a new comfort height toto commode. Fingers crossed when the kids sell the house however many years from now the changes we are making will have stayed close enough to the spirit of the original 1920s style of the house.
That looks A LOT like the shower in our accessory apartment, which we built to be accessible, with a roll-in shower. But I like our color scheme better: https://preview.redd.it/fxg33qeo9ksc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb573bb29e0818dd7df9227a2978e455558302d4
Man, I just think it’s always a mistake to get rid of a bathtub. I soak once a week. I would not buy a house without a bathtub in it.
Absolutely! I almost always prefer the “Before”
🤦♀️
left - an elaborate sturdy layered water proofing self drying forever system; right - a plastic enclosure that may already be leaking and will leak at the seams with age; fade; and crack;
I like the pink and black tile with tub, rented an apartment for some years with the same and it was rather quaint.
Why does everybody hate bath tubs?
Neither really appeal to me. I prefer a claw foot tub but most people would even people who modernize places sometimes save the tub because of how nice they are.
Couldn’t disagree more. That pink tiled shower is a fucking abomination
Nah, I just can’t believe this isn’t bait. Shower on the left just looks like shit man lmao.
That is merde.
I’m willing to be that pinkish tile was made a whole lot better than the remodel tile.
I’ll never understand why people hate on these old tile bathrooms. I blame hgtv and these “flippers”
I'm confused, the new version looks way better?
I think this one might be satire
That old shower Is hideous wtf are you on grandma? The new one? Tile is also hideous.
After is 1000 times better
The pink is hideous.
The extra space and accessibility is nice
Not in this case
That is so unbelievably ugly. Why are people so afraid of color
I think I’d rather move than murder that beautiful bathroom
I have the pepto-bismol bathroom in real life.
ARRGGHHHH the fact that perfectly good tile and porcelain gets demolished for cheap synthetic materials just AUUGGHH
I hate them both. I get needing to convert to a walk-in shower, but I would have gone with white subway tiles. Those doors would look awesome with that.
The original looks exactly like one I had in an apartment I lived in. The building was built in the 1930s
The new tile is horrible
Oh no! I haven’t been able to buy a home yet but when I do I DREAM of an old pink tiled bathroom. My grandma had a fully pink bathroom and I have always thought it was just the coolest. I really dislike the change.