Ask a Designer! - Do I Need a Bathtub in My Home or Not?

Another great question for our designers this week! A common dilemma for home owners is deciding to tub or not to tub. We’ll walk you through the considerations before you decide to make changes to your home design.

We’ve worked with many clients and have designed based on personal preferences for tub and shower areas. Space allowing, accommodating for both is ideally the best scenario.

Real Estate and Impacting Resale Value

We’ll lead with the common conversation topic when a friend or family member starts a renovation project and the dialogue around keeping the tub or not, usually sparks the great debate! It’s generally considered in real estate, that for resale value, keeping your tub is a financially sound idea for your return on homeownership investment. We asked Shawn Wray of Affinity Group Fenelon Falls, for his opinion. Shawn comments: “people tour a home and expect there to be a tub in at least one bathroom, so while it does not normally affect the sale value of a property, it could preclude someone from buying a home if they can’t get past that and they require a tub for their lifestyle.” 

As designers, when clients ask us “to tub or not to tub,” we often follow with “how long will this be your home?” If the answer is more than five years then settle in, and do what works for you. A long-term stay means build or design for you, not for the next person.

Enabling A Functional Lifestyle

Having the dual use of a shower and tub combination can be useful for many aspects of daily life when it comes to children and pets. Even if you can find a workaround, having a tub for bathing and pet maintenance is going to be a more convenient and practical asset. Considering your lifestyle, daily personal habits and life stages are important variables in deciding if a bathtub can deliver on the functionality you need.  Of course, space allowing, having at least one bathroom with a tub is ideal. Accessibility may be another factor, which means a walk-in shower for easy access would be the route to take.  Either way, understanding what stage you are in for how your home needs to function is important.

Typically the lower level bathrooms that we have worked with clients to design, feature just a shower and the tub is located in another bathroom.

This freestanding tub helped provide a coastal feel for our client’s design. The large tub depth lent a feeling of spa like luxury and created a vacation feeling each time they  entered the bathroom!

Personal Preference

For many, a good tub soak is a therapeutic ritual and not having a bathtub is a deal breaker. The personal satisfaction one gets from taking a bath, may justify a bathtub feature where one can see true value along with comfort. With so many luxurious products on the market, creating a home spa experience around your tub soaks, is a personal choice that many embrace.

Feature Functionality

As designers, of course we can appreciate an aesthetically gorgeous freestanding tub! If space allows, the easy decision may be in dressing up your current bathtub or creating a fresh new design with a deep soaker tub or using tile to create an exceptional alcove tub design. With a tub shower combination, finding opportunity with shower curtain design is a way to add personality and can make the tub the focal point of your bathroom. There is nothing wrong with deciding you want a tub for design purposes and aesthetic appeal! The design of your home can often dictate tub style and having the best of both tub and shower worlds is the ultimate design outcome.

For this project we directed our clients to a freestanding soaker tub that provided a traditional feel for a bright and open space.

While our bathrooms are practical places to get our day started, the tub and shower debate causes us to consider the broader roles that bathroom spaces fill in our busy and eventful lives. And ultimately it is truly your personal preference. Your home should feel like you, tub or no tub!

If you have a design question you would like to submit for the next Town Crier issue, you can send it to the Home by Tim + Chris design team at: info@homebytc.ca

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Tim + Chris