I agree with you I would have the feet glazed like the inside of the tub.

The goober that owned my house before glazed the inside white and painted the outside black, feet included. I prefer white tubs.

....Jane

I was going to paint mine the same white as the outside of the tub, but wound up liking the bare black metal so much after I stripped them that I just gave them a coat of clear enamel. They match the black floor register and other items found in my bathroom:

My tub looks just like yours. Mine is 5' and it makes me feel good to see how cute they look shiny. And yes, how nice that they match you kitty. Love those subways too. What is your plumbing brand? That is the next thing I have to buy and I want chrome. I'll be so happy to get those raw plumbing stumps out of the floor.

Two votes for shiny!

The clawfoot for our spare bath will be white glazed/white matte outside/with chrome feet. I got my inspiration from our delivery lady. : )

With clawfoots, I don't think you can pick a bad combo.

I love Circus Peanut's dark feet though. Gold, what are you planning for the rest of your bath?

I got my plumbing in polished nickel from Mac the Antique Plumber - it's Strom Plumbing brand and very heavy and lovely. Can recommend the style with the raised spigot-type faucet; it's extremely handy for everything from pet baths to rinsing out wetsuits.

If you're going for white feet, definitely make them shiny, it's a great look. If your tub guy can enamel them for you, all the better (says I). :) Historically, folks might have gilded them with metallic paint? I know I've also seen Victorian feet with lots of colors.

{{!gwi}}

i like silver feet.

Hehe. kates, you like silver feet, do you? :+) Well,*please* take a look at my big fat mess of my soon to be DIY bathroom project, then tell me what color I should paint them.

The claw foot will be centered in front of the new windows. Excuse the mess!

Here is a link that might be useful: My bathroom

Here's mine. I'm particularly happy with the feet. The outside of the tub was supposed to be a deeper shade than the wall, but Lowe's messed up the formulation of the paint. I was not about to repaint at that point.

{{!gwi}}

I just checked out my photos and the tool shed is now gone. It's floor has been sanded and it's painted. Right now a closet organizer has my plans and is seeing if it actually can be a closet (I am starting to think it may end up being a waiting room for the bathroom.) I have curtains on the french doors and awaiting my window curtains. Still haven't picked tile for the shower room. It is 7'4 x 4'. A sun tunnel will be installed inside the shower soon.

alisa, very fancy feet! newdawn, your bathroom is stunning. I drug DH in to see it. Love the wall color! Very nice energy. You must live in an old house where you retrofitted plumbing, huh? I lived with that situation for years. We dealt with that in our current situation by plumbing the shower outside our house. We are going to paint the pipe to match. (It's on the side of the house no one sees.)

Alisa, I noticed your plumbing for your tub comes out of the wall instead of out of the floor. Claw foot tubs are usually plumbed through the floor so now I am curious what you are going to do, or maybe what you did. Can you share photos when you are done? I would have loved that set up, I think. Maybe it's an outside plumbing job too. :+)

circus, I am now in suspense. You mentioned Mac the Antique Plumber , so I googled him. Found his store in Sacramento. Wow! I could easily drive there. It made me curious because I do lots of searches and never heard of the business. Then I went to your page and saw that you live in zone 6. Me too! I live in Grass Valley and am wondering where you are, now. Spill the beans. Of course, he does mail things but his website doesn't always come up. He's more a word of mouth, local advertising type of guy. Am I right or are you just one amazing researcher?

Ah, Golddust, you do not want to do what I did (or didn't do). This is an 1850 house, and the plumbing pictured is the only option. In order to pull it off, the tub needs to be raised up. Before the remodel/repainting, it sat on four ugly wood blocks (courtesy of a former owner). My contractor decided to build a more attractive platform. Nice idea, but then unrelated events were set into motion and he ended up quitting my remodel and going into another business. This was a blow because he did a great job on other areas of the house, and the very rural area in which I live isn't exactly overrun with reliable workers.

Since then I've approached two other contractors about finishing the job. One sounds like he might actually do it.....one of these days. In addition to the plumbing/platform, the room needs new wiring over the sink, and cabinet hardware installed.

Meanwhile, after a lot of time spent looking forward to taking a bath (yes, we have a stall shower, thank heavens), my hip arthritis has progressed to the point where I'm no longer able to sit on the floor, and I have serious doubts about my ability to get in and out of that tub.

So the way it looks now, it's possible the tub will never be usable in my lifetime--or, if it is, I won't use it.

That's the long answer. :-)

alisa,

Our house is a 1906 or 1912, we have conflicting dates but we feel your pain. Working around old houses can test your limits. We've done the new electrical and plumbing throughout our house. I wish you were close because we've found a couple real artists, who work very cheap. Perfectionist problem solvers, those two, and it is just what you need.

Did you check out our ceiling photos? That was a doozy of a situation. I live with a deadman, supporting my upstairs, two inches from my keyboard in my living room for two and a half months.

Your bathtub is still beautiful, even if it is just a statue. :+)

Your bathtub is still beautiful, even if it is just a statue. :+)

LOL That's how I shall think of it from now on.

Ha, Golddust, I'm so sorry but my zone is a weird GardenWeb glitch -- alas, I'm really in zone 5, in southern coastal Maine -- for some reason GW always allocates my zip code to zone 6. So I'm nowhere near Sacramento. :-( But I lived in the Bay Area for many years, so I've got a basic understanding of your terrain.

Mac & his acolytes were very helpful and patient on the phone when I called to consult about my order. It was mailed promptly. The quality is excellent and he had the best prices I could find online, including shipping.

One neat thing is that they do all their custom plumbing work in-house, so you could, for example, have them put an antique nickel finish on any of their new faucetry if that's what you need to match your older stuff. You can also send in your old faucet and they'll try to match the finish. And it's not very expensive (as these things go). Excellent service!

Look at his Gallery to see a bunch of fabulous vintage bathroom pix.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mac the Antique Plumber Bath Gallery

Ahh, Maine. I've been to a lot of places but not Maine. It is on my bucket list for some fall in my future. My brain runs away with itself sometimes. :+)

I did go to his web site and checked it out. I'm so thrilled to have *something* like this so close to me. I am so happy I asked you about your fixtures. (Doesn't take much around here to make my day!) My DH is a metal man so once they start talking about finishes... better take a lunch.

We did polished nickel downstairs but are going with chrome upstairs ($$).

Just to check in with appreciation for everyone's help and photos. I'm buying my fixtures from Mac. Woo! The tub will be sporting glazed white feet with eggshell paint.

The man picked it up. He'll sandblast it, prime and then paint the outside, diamond glaze the inside, wrap it up and bring it back, ready for the install! All for $650. I don't think that is a bad price and he has had many large jobs locally. He restored every single claw foot tub in our famous Hotel downtown.

The only other company local wanted $575 for just the inside, no shiny feet, and we had to do the outside ourselves, PLUS he charges a $50. pick up and $50. delivery fee. We checked into an independent sandblaster co and he wanted $150. to sandblast it. We deliver and pick up. So I'm a happy camper. Saved tons of labor and $175. in one fell swoop. Plus we don't have a truck.

I just posted a link to this thread on the bathroom forum. I think your statue has a possible cousin over there. Maybe you should go meet it. Misery loves company sometimes.

Here is a link that might be useful: New tub, no plumbing access, need advice