Downstairs Bathroom Part 3, A Bathtub!

What an exciting day. While I was doing the Antique Show on the Green in Sutton, MA Cy drove down to Stonington, CT to attend a farm sale where we had seen teeny tiny pics of an old bathtub. While I am selling, chatting, buying and packing up at the show, Cy is waiting while they sell all the Victorian furniture. While I am locking myself out of my new minivan, and getting the charming Sutton policeman to unlock me, Cy is still waiting down in Stonington while they sell every last Victorian piece of china before they move onto the barn. Geesh! Don't they know I need a bathtub?

Anyhow, since I was otherwise detained with the van in MA, Cy decided to try and bring it home in the convertible with the top down. As you can see it was a success.

We had been considering building a Japanese soaking tub or buying a new spa type tub. Both required a lot more money and time. This tub is like the best of all worlds. Unlike most Victorian tubs it is straight up and down, and quite deep. No more cold shoulders. I'm not sure it was actually a bathtub. Maybe some farm thing. Anyhow, its a bathtub now. It is made of single cedar boards and is lined in old copper with just the best patina. All square nailed to boot.

Even the bottom of the tub is a single cedar board.

Now the fun begins.

Thankfully this new tub is narrower than a modern one, and shorter too. All of which is a good thing for our newly smaller bathroom.

Do I look happy?

Dear readers here is where I would like your opinion. Here is a pic of the tub across the back of the bathroom. You are standing in the keeping room looking into the bathroom. The copper bowl and plastic container are where the vessel sink/drysink would go.

Here is the other option. You are again looking into the bathroom from the keeping room. The bathtub is on your right next to the toilet which is thankfully behind the door. The copper bowl is where the vessel sink/drysink would go in the back corner. I like this option as it gives you more room to move around in. What I like about the first option is you see the old tub straight on, which is more dramatic. Anyhow, send me an email, or leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Downstairs Bathroom Part 2

You remember this picture from the last blog, right? This is/was the back wall of the bathroom.

Well, here is that wall now. A little elbow grease and voila! You can now see straight into the back bedroom.That pile of wood on the back wall is the sheathing off the reverse, or bedroom side of the wall.
One of the things we want to do with this remodel is to restore the size of the back bedroom In the '60s they took 2' out of the bedroom and added it to the bathroom and furnace closet. Which resulted in a bedroom too narrow for a double bed. And its such a potentially lovely room with a tiny fireplace and a view over the woods out back. Reputedly it was the office of the sea captain who once lived here. Anyhow, we're taking the 2' feet back out of the bathroom, and putting it back into the bedroom.

Here is a view of the removed wall area from the bedroom side. (Remember I said it was a potentially pretty room, obviously not right now.) You can see the 2' of original plaster and lath in the ceiling and back wall.

Another construction anomaly. Here is a piece of tree trunk holding up our lovely chestnut beams under the bathroom floor. I guess it was a good idea at the time. As you can see another area of the house with a crawl space(if you're a small child, or maybe a dog) under the floor.

I wish I could somehow leave this view open, its the back of the bake oven and fireplace. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a shower somehow cascading down the rocks? Oh, well dream on. As Cy pointed out it would also cascade across the floor.
That's all for now, time out for the Sutton show in 2 days. You remember, pack pack pack, load load load. See you soon.