Well, phooey. I taped it out in the bathroom with blue tape last night and it looked like it would fit, but with too many nos, I'm back to the drawing board. Interesting thought, Vix. Right now we don't actually have a toilet room, so much as a separate toilet "area" (there's no door, and the closet takes up too much room to add a door), but it's on my agenda to create one. In our house, it's very necessary. I generally use that bathroom to try to FIND privacy, only to have 3 people (and sometimes the dog) follow me into the bathroom. I'm looking forward to having a door that locks and a fan so that I don't have two little people handing me the TP and asking whether I'm doing number 1 or 2 (oh, and the 1 year old likes to flush while I'm ON the pot; so I've got my own special cold water washlet), while DH decides that he absolutely has to shave and brush his teeth at that exact moment. Now if I take a hike to the guest bath on the other side of the house, all three just follow me AGAIN. Sometimes when I have insisted on locking the door in the guest bath (no way to do that with our LOUVERED -- why??? -- pocket door in the master), my one year old plopped down prostrate outside the door and cried until I open the door. For my W/C, I want to put in a LOUD fan; no whisper quiet for me. Maybe I'll even add a radio. :) The way I'm seeing it, I can either get rid of the long vanity altogether and live with a fairly small vanity, plus a tub and shower, I can skip the tub and live with the kids' bathroom on the third level as the only room with a tub, or we can bump out that weird corner jog, which would give us an additional 49'' X 27'' space -- enough to fit a 5X3 tub, 5X3 shower and keep the two vanities. But that sounds very expensive and will require carefully removing and replacing the siding to match the existing. DH's response to all this was "why do we need a tub?"

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? :)

The overwhelming majority of demographics for your complex would prefer a great shower versus a mediocre tub/shower. Aging people who want to age in place need a shower - and as large as possible because stepping over a tub becomes increasingly problematic. Design with both function (bench and as many grab bars as possible to be reachable anywhere in the shower). While many older people are nimble up to a certain point, there are also periods when they might not be able to bathe and among my senior friends many have given up baths even if they previously enjoyed them because of difficulty of getting up from the tub. While you might lose a buyer who absolutely demands a tub in the master, the greater number will appreciate a great shower. And, if someone really wants a tub experience as critical, chances are they would prefer a larger soaking experience versus a tub/shower combo which doesn't provide the best experience for bathing or showering.

Your plumbing may be different, but this should give you an idea. The shower head is threaded on to the shower arm. The shower arm simply threads into a fitting in the wall. You can unthread the shower arm from the fitting and thread a shower head and arm of your choosing back into the fitting inside the wall. Use teflon tape to make up the connection. The tub spout may be the same. In the drawing below, the "nipple" is what is shown between the tub spout and the fitting in the wall. Nipples are simply short pieces of pipe threaded on both ends. Some tub spouts are threaded on to the nipple. Some slide on and are held secure with a set screw that may be visible from underneath. Again, use teflon tape to make up any connections. The valve is the wild card. The valve body (the big hunk of brass in the wall) typically needs to be set a certain distance back from the face of the shower surface (typically tile, or in your case the plastic surround) to ensure that the valve cover plate will sit flat on the wall. There's a bit of leeway here. You will likely be replacing that tub surround with tile backer board (say 1/2" thick) plus thinset and tile (say 3/16th" thick). You might not need to make adjustments...or you might have to. If required, to move the existing valve in or out a bit, often time fasteners that secure the vertical runs of copper tubing to the wall studs can be removed. The valve (and the associated plumbing) can be pushed back a little, or pulled forward a little, and the fasteners can be reset to hold the valve in its new position. It's always a very smart idea to replace the shower valve when redoing a shower. A nice basic shower valve like Symmons Temptrol is inexpensive with replacement parts being easy to find.