aknall, thank you so much for your input! When you said to push out the shower a bit I though "No way, no room!" I had to get my tape measure back out (even though I just did this last night) and confirm that yes, indeed, there is room for that. I played around with Lowes' planner last night, and my ideal, no-holds-barred plan would be to take out that linen closet entirely, put in a 60" vanity with two sinks (I guess) and purchase a cool cabinet to put on the lau rm wall and serve to store linens. 36" cab will still allow for a 24" towel bar. Really, demo is the least expensive part, since we/I can do most of that ourselves. FWIW, we had a big old vanity in our former home that had one sink in the middle. I really didn't mind, and it gave us each our own space for our own "stuff." But I could see the resale value of a double sink. NOT that we plan on moving again, fifteen times in 25 years really is enough, don'tcha think, but you never know.

We are getting ready to install an acrylic clawfoot tub in the bathroom upstairs in our 1900 house that previously had an alcove tub/shower combo probably installed around 1960. This bathroom just never looked right in this old house. I have been debating and trying to decide what type of wallboard to surround the tub area with. I don't want to tile and have to worry about keeping grout clean. Since I prefer baths over showers, and this will basically be "my" bathroom, other than when we have guests over, we're not installing a shower riser, just a telephone faucet with a hand held for rinsing off in the tub. There is a bathroom with a shower downstairs. I'm with "skinj", at least some decisions in regard to home improvement and decor should be personally pleasing, even though they may not be a selling feature later on. Besides, 9 times out of 10, the future home buyer probably won't like whatever it is you did anyway and they'll want to do their own thing! (Anyway taking out the clawfoot and putting an alcove tub/shower combo back in at some point would not be a whole lot of work, if that's what one wanted to do!) Funny, I don't find stepping in and out of the clawfoot tub, any more difficult than our old steel tub that was up there. Maybe because it's a slipper tub and lower at one end.(?) Anyway, I'm very excited about how this is going to look so much more appropriate in our old house and I can't wait for a good hot soak! Lanadelarosa, thanks, for the info on the wallboard options, I think it'll be cement-board on the lower half of the walls that are surrounding the tub area. then good quality primer, and a couple of coats of semi-gloss paint. We're putting down vinyl water-proof planks that look like wood that we got from the home depot for our flooring. I really only worry about when the grandkids are here. I know because of the handheld on the telephone faucet, there could be a concern with them, but then, that's nothing new, even with the old shower, I still had to be on them to keep the liner curtain inside the shower and close it all the way! Kids will be kids, but just like future buyers, they don't live here all the time.....I do. LOL

I love an old tub!!! And by the looks of yours, it is not a new model! If I'm a buyer looking at your house, I'm thinking "great! That tub is original and probably comfortable!" Our tubs in this house (built in '94) are steel and they are definitely not comfortable to recline in. They also don't hold the heat like an older (quality) cast iron tub will. You have a little treasure that just needs some TLC! I'd suggest checking out tub/tile re-finishers in your area. I know what you are talking about with an older tub---the kind momma scoured with Comet every week until the glaze was gone! They can also cover up those sailboats too. Do you plan on keeping the slate floor? It looks nice to me. The only other suggestion (aside from swapping the door and vanity) would be to put up some bead board on the lower section of the wall. Why? Well, the way the tub tile butts into the window looks awkward. If you have white bead board next to the tile (under the window and beyond) then there won't be any contrast in color and the lack of space between the tile and window won't show up at all. Above the bead board, I'd nix the yellow and go with a light sandy, golden tan. I could see this bath looking very Pottery Barn/beachy. She does not like the sink? Those crazy sailboats? The grody tub? Well, you've obviously done something right, LOL!!! The kid has good taste--what more can you ask for? :)

I didn't recommend a 1.5 cu ft softener anywhere in this thread. I said "just to get the 12 gpm SFR for your tub you'd need 1.5 cu ft of resin and that wouldn't accommodate your other appliances". To clarify, a 1.5 cu ft softener would only support the SFR needed by the tub and that would be ignoring any other water use in the home. During the holidays with 20 people it would be difficult to find any moment when there wouldn't be someone using water somewhere in the house like sink, toilet, bath tub, washing machine, shower, water heater, etc... understand? "Soft [not salt] water brining -- my mistake"... now more to learn... There is soft water brining with hard water regeneration and there is soft water brining with soft water regeneration. The 1.5 cu ft softener you seem to have fallen in love with only offers soft water brining with HARD water regeneration which is a good feature but not as desirable as soft water brining WITH soft water regeneration which the Kinetico offers. The 1.5 cu ft softener you seem to have fallen in love with will regenerate at 2:00 AM (in some control valves you can change the time but it MUST be during a period where there is NO water use) generating the noise you don't want to hear and do it for a longer time interval and waste unused hardness removal capacity set aside as a reserve while the Kinetico will regenerate immediately whenever the gallon count zeros with no set aside reserve capacity being wasted. The Kinetico will use less water and salt to treat an equal # of gallons of hard water than the 1.5 cu ft softener you seem to have fallen in love with which SAVES you money every time it regenerates... and the resin will last longer because it is being regenerated with SOFT water. "Previously posted information: 1.5 cu. ft. tank handles 30,000 - to 45,000 grains of hardness, using a minimum of 6 # to a max of 15 pounds of salt for regeneration. Am I missing something?" Yes you are and for the umpteenth time... the max hardness removal capacity of 1.5 cu ft of resin at the max salt dose of 15 lbs/cu ft or 22.5 lbs for 1.5 cu ft of resin is 40,000 not 45,000 The occasional use you now define is a considerable percentage of your annual water use. The additional occupancy at your home during the holidays will be a huge increase in water use for that period. If you're smart you'll buy the Kinetico 2060S OD and get what you need. The Kinetico will have a longer warranty and cost less to operate then your 1.5 cube favorite and in the long run it will cost you less than buying what you don't need.