I give you “the square toilet”.
intercst
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I confess I have never understood half of these “upgrades” when I’ve seen them in home tours. Vessel sinks are a major turn off to me, as is anything that requires extra cleaning or kills lighting. I don’t have a maid.
IP,
the same way with white or black cars, given our cars typically get “washed” only when we drive through the rain
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@inparadise I live in a Pacific Northwest town where the average age is over 60 and light is often dim due to cloudiness. I drive a white car to be as visible as possible to other drivers in dim light.
As for bathrooms (and kitchens), I judge every so-called improvement on the basis of ease of use, ease of cleaning, storage capacity and sturdiness. If an arrangement requires extra steps I reject it. If a design is more difficult to clean I reject it.
Wendy
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Interesting. In clouds and fog, I find white difficult to see. I am sure our silver is not any better, but it at least looks cleaner. Our red car showed up too much when it came to the police. Nothing is perfect! We simply always have lights on, even during the sunny day, with one of our vehicles having day time running lights. As for interior home colors, give me white with off white in every room. Hate choosing colors and that combo means furniture and other home goods stand out.
IP
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None of the “upgrades” mentioned appealed to me. When we remodeled our old home and then built our “retirement” home, the main upgrade we did was have a his and her vanity and water closet. Made things so much easier when we were both trying to get ready in the mornings. Outside of that, heated floors but wouldn’t consider that an upgrade with cold winters.
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To counter the silly stuff in bathrooms, here’s a thing or two I’d include.
Roll in shower. None of us are getting younger, and stepping over curbs at the shower gets riskier as each year passes. But even if you’re still young, they’re just plain easy to use and clean. They also make a bathroom look bigger. My suggestion is to use a line drain (a long, skinny drain) at the exit of the shower and make sure there’s a small slope on the outside of the shower area towards the drain. Dress it up with a fancy folding shower seat.
The other idea is hand rails. Again, the age thing. But I found myself using the hand rail I installed for my wife even though I never thought I needed it. At a minimum, make sure there is sufficient blocking inside the walls to install hand rails anywhere you might need them in the future. That’s mainly the tub or shower area and around the toilet.
—Peter
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Our current approach on home improvements has been mainly focused on safety.
We have a shower/tub combo that makes me nervous due to tub curvature. Handrails would take up too much space plus I use both hands to wash my hair (or what’s left of it). Our solution is to use a rubber mat with suction cups. It works well, but it needs to be removed and dried after each use.
I would love to replace it with a walk-in shower but we’ve been told that homes without a bathtub have a lower sales value.
My take is to make the home safe for us. Period. If the next owner wants a tub, then put one in. Ms. Wolf is hesitant. Heck, by the time we move, the nursing home will get all the money from the home sale anyway. Screw ‘em.
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Do you want to live in your own home for longer, or do you want to go to the nursing home early because you fell getting out of a tub you don’t use as a tub?
And I am quite serious here. My wife much preferred a bath to a shower, so we put a tub INTO our bathroom not long after we purchased the home. She fell in the bathroom, breaking a bone which lead directly (within a week) to her passing.
–Peter
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