I chose my house for its bathtub. I also liked the fact that it had four bedrooms, a fenced backyard and a great school district. But I
fell in love with its tub.
The master suite was huge and I had visions of creating a spa-like atmosphere, redecorating the whole space in foam green and chocolate brown, and burning incense while I relaxed each evening in an aromatherapy bath wearing a moisturizing mask and listening to whale song on CD. Ok, maybe not the whale song, because it turns out that that's really kind of irritating, but I had my heart set on the rest of it.
I had suffered too long, I felt, with what I can only describe as a "motel tub." It was so short, narrow and shallow that it was impossible to wet your entire body at the same time. The bathroom itself was so small that two people couldn't comfortably brush their teeth at the sink.
I realize this sounds incredibly petty. There are people who are losing their homes and I'm complaining about the size of my tub. But some people get excited about crown molding and granite countertops. I get excited about tubs.
The jacuzzi part isn't that big a deal to me. In theory, I think a jacuzzi tub sounds great ... but in practice, I find it kinda hurts and I'd rather just sit in a hot, serene bubble bath surrounded by vanilla-scented candles.
Anyway, our totally awesome real estate agent (a plug here for the excellence of Mattox Realty and the skills of my friends Laura and Steve!) found us the perfect house. I mean perfect. For us, it couldn't get any better: huge fenced back yard, very quiet street, four bedrooms, great school district ... and GIANT tub in the master suite. In fact, the master suite is as big as my first studio apartment in LA.
I stocked the master bath with incense, candles and a variety of bath salts. That first night we stayed there, I filled the tub until it was brimming, lit the aforementioned candles and submerged myself -- completely submerged myself! -- in the lap of luxury.
For about five minutes. That was when the shouts of "Mama's tub! Mama's tub!" started. And in Billy bounded with his basket of pirate bath toys, stripping off his pajamas as he ran.
I quickly doused the candle -- not child-friendly -- and added some cool water to the tub to make it closer to "Billy temperature." He loved the deep tub, and we played pirates until the bubbles had long since evaporated. After that, of course, it only made sense to add Willow to the tub too, since I was already there.
The kids have their own bathroom, with its own tub, but the next night I didn't bother with the candle -- just to be on the safe side. And sure enough, Billy came running in, screaming, "Mama's tub!" and armed with his foam alphabet and several tubes of Sesame Street "bath paints." If you aren't familiar with bath paint, it comes in a variety of colors and theoretically washes off your tile easily, a theory we've tested and found wanting.
It's been five months now since we moved into our dream house, and we still love it. Every time I walk through the door, I can't believe it's really mine.
And I still love my master bath. It is, however, a slightly different picture than the home spa I originally imagined. There are no candles, no incense to be found anywhere. We forgo bath salts in favor of Elmo's colored bath bubbles and our collection of pirates could take over a small island nation. "Billy" has been painted on the tiles for about six weeks and shows no sign of coming off. Piles of dirty play clothes fill the basket where I intended to keep fluffy white towels and somehow, a football ended up in my double sink.
I never knew a bath could be so much fun.
The luxury of the bath
Saturday October 09 2010 02:23:11 am
Jen Currier
Amanda- this made me laugh out loud. Love it!! I love that you love your tub...what is not to love- it sounds heavenly. Bath paints, pirates and all! Our bathtub is nothing to write home about, but we did get a backyard makeover from HGTV in December (FINALLY living in LA paid off a little) and they installed an antique claw foot tub outside! It is pure bliss to pour my wine, light the candles and climb in....only after kid and baby are asleep. It's the little things, right?
My bathtub...
Friday October 08 2010 09:12:58 pm
Ginny Marie
...is pink and short and yucky. I take showers instead! But I'm dreaming of a day when I will have a bathtub like yours....
What a fun post! Thanks for posting the link!
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