apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

That hydronic heating system in the floor-cavity isn't going to do her one bit of good: those tubes should have been mounted against the bottom of the subfloor with heat-reflector panels - but there's no way to do that without going through the ceiling below...
...installed loosely like this, she's just going to be warming the dead airspace between the floorjoists.

BTW - Why does the "after" plan show the door swinging into the corridor? That's gonna be a great way to smack someone in the face coming down the hall as another person exits the bathroom. If she needed clearance within the bathroom for the vanity, she should have had a pocket-door installed to slide into a wallcavity behind the new shower.

I'm confused. What's the problem with the door? It looks pretty standard to me.

"I'm confused. What's the problem with the door? It looks pretty standard to me."

It now swings out rather than into the bathroom.

@StudioStarter

The area with the least traffic should have the door swing into it -- a hallway has more traffic than a bathroom, so with the door now swinging out to the hallway, you are more likely to cause accidents and bump others.

I'm glad I'm not the only slow renovator out there. My husband and I have been working on our master for almost two years! Looks good!

@bepsf: The bathroom is on the ground floor and underneath the floor is a crawl space. The PEX pipe was attached to the floor with heat reflector panels as you suggested.

The bathroom is off the bedroom, not a hallway. We are planning to rehang the door to open into an unused corner of the bedroom, rather than into the bathroom. We don't have a lot of space to work with, and that made the most sense. We haven't rehung the door yet, so we might decided against it once the shower is done. The idea of a pocket door is interesting, and very Victorian. Hmmmm.

"The PEX pipe was attached to the floor with heat reflector panels as you suggested."

That's a relief - I had assumed this was on the 2nd floor...

...as regards the door - if you decide not to do a pocket door, you might still consider a sliding door over the adjacent bedroom wall. I was in a hotel recently where they did this with a traditional raised-panel door: They boxed in the upper part of the door to cover the hardware and trimmed it out in crown moulding resulting in a very finished appearance - and the track outside the opening was a few inches shorter than the door was wide so that the fixed knob didn't ram into the door casing when opening.

Great job! Love the windows, floors, and tub. Believe me, I know what you went through to get it to this point. http://baltimorerowhouse.blogspot.com/2008/11/master-bath-reveal.html

Here's hoping that this isn't your only full bath in the house - we lived with out a shower for 3 weeks. I was only slightly embarrassed going to the gym and not working out, just to use their showers.

I agree with bepsf...I find it strange to have a door swing OUT of the bathroom. This is partly because I have this condition in my own house...we wanted to reverse it when we did our reno, but because of the slanted (102-year-old) floor leading into the now-level floor in the bathroom, it couldn't be rehung the proper way.

If your plan is drawn to scale, you've got room to swing the door inwards without hitting the vanity. Generally, swinging the door inwards to bathrooms is standard.

Beautiful. I especially love the floor detail. I'm sure it will be worth the time and effort . . . especially at only $6K!

That tub looks amazing - what a restful space. A really nice improvement. I'll be following along and looking forward to the finished space. Oh, to be an owner and not a renter...

WOW! Keep at it, the floor and tub look beautiful.
THIS is why I'm looking for a 2 bath house so I can take the time to nickle and dime the renovation in this way. Also, multiple bedrooms so i can sleep in whichever one has walls...
Good luck!

This is exactly what our tub was like! Black with brass feet. We too did an extended bathroom renovation just like this! We bought our tub and fixtures before we closed on the house -- they came from a couple who specialized in brass salvage and refinishing. We used a brass footrail from a defunct bar (kind of like a handrail) as a really long towel rack/ handrail -- it was quite gorgeous.

Good luck on your many renovations!

i am in love with all those windows!

speaking of windows, are you planning on covering them up or keeping them open?

Thanks everyone for your comments! It's so nice to hear encouragement on the project that never ends.

Once the shower is done, we'll rethink the door. We wanted it to swing out so it doesn't collide with the shower door. Also, I wanted to put some shelving and towel bars on the wall opposite the shower. But we'll see.

Luckily, we have another 3/4 bathroom that we've been using. When we did the kitchen I went away to Italy for 6 weeks so I didn't have to deal. ;)

The windows are great, but the room looks out onto a very busy street. So, yeah, to answer ecw0389's question we do need to cover them. I was thinking of a valance/cafe curtain idea. Does anyone know if there's some sort of window film I could use that wouldn't darken the windows, but make it so people can't look in? When I'm at that stage, I was planning to post a question to AT.

Anyway... thanks everyone!

That clawfoot tub is amazing!

Fellow At'ers, if you are a homeowner and have 10 minutes, will you take a quick survey about home improvement:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/115813/tv-commercial-feedback

Thanks!

wow, wow, wow... great tub, great windows, great view, and you gotta love that travertine - such a warm color and texture... keep us posted