A Shower…Is In The House
On the ever-shorter TO DO LIST of things required to get me living at the Cross House, a shower has been installed!
I had planned to install the shower in the SW corner of the servant’s room (in the SE corner of the second floor). The shower pan though is huge: 5-feet x 5-feet.
Slowly, ever nervously, I realized that this would feel creepy when walking into the room, creating a hallway, and making a tight fit for the long vanity (along the north wall).
So, I kept coming into the room and…staring. I imagined the shower in the SW corner and of its impact upon the space.
And realized that I just could not proceed. Could I find a 5-foot x 4-foot shower pan? I looked, but did not find one. Curious.
In once again staring at the room I had an idea. A crazy idea. Well, that happens a lot to me.
What if I moved the pan over the the NE corner (left)? It would fit there without feeling like the room was ruined, spatially. But, there was a radiator in the way. And moving it would be crazy, right?
Right. But why would I decline a crazy opportunity? To the far right is the huge south-facing window.
The new shower wall. South window to right. It is not possible to get an accurate image of how the room feels now. This image conveys something quite different than one experiences in person, which is much nicer.
Pan installed! And the walls were draped with plastic so Cody could use the shower when he was in town.
Tiled! The tiles are eight-feet-high! I even found a clear liner that is eight-feet-high! The shower is not just big but, by running the tiles up to eight-feet, it also feels really tall. I love it! My thought all along was simple: The Cross House is HUGE. Why not have a shower of comparable scale?
I purchased a bamboo stool for the shower! I will be able to sit!
In the hall is an arch, one of five in the house. The bathroom door is in the distance.
The new wall enclosing the shower runs north/south. It floats in the room, and is eight-feet high. The ceiling is about 10-feet-high. In staring at the wall I realized it would look better if it continued up to the ceiling, and then over to the south window as an arch. This would visually offer two rooms: A rectangular space for the long vanity (on the west wall) and, through the arch, a square space containing the toilet and bidet, and then the adjacent shower.
Like this, sorta. The ceiling is low in this drawing!
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You removed a radiator!?
Yes, Blair! I will reinstall it along the south wall, to the right of the south window.
So awesome! Your great brain at work again! 🙂
I love it. Perfect solution. Love the marble and great idea to bring it all the way up. Plus with that wall there, there is an opportunity for some sort of focal point on that wall that can be seen from the hall when the bathroom door is opened. The new location for the radiator is wonderful. Have you considered putting in one of those towel warmers on the wall or can the radiator be used for that?
Why does the door open out into the hall instead of into the room? Isn’t that odd?
That door originally opened to the ‘blanket closet’.
Awesome!
I didn’t know about all the arches before. There was one episode of “Restoring Galveston” where the Cordrays fixed up a (late 30s/early 40s?) house w/ arches, and it was the best thing about that house. Great idea, Ross, to incorporate your shower wall into a new-but-looks-old one!
Installing an arch in the bathroom is a great idea, it ties in with the arches in the rest of the house. I also like the marble walls of the shower. A little closer to move in time!
That is going to be the classiest bath in all of Emporia.
Hey Ross!
I have that same bamboo stool in my shower and it is a champion. I can highly recommend it. Are you planning to put shower glass on the front of the shower stall, or is it big enough to function as a walk-in shower?
Hi, Helen!
When I can afford it, I hope to install a glass shower door.
Where did you get the stool?
I LOVE the arch idea. I also love the tiles!
Such a lovely way to transition that room! The arch will pull it all together with the sight line so incredibly well! Bravo for another beautiful solution!!
The wall also nicely hides the toilet. In trying to get my bearings, would the radiator then be to the right of the toilet, between the toilet and the window? So Ross, you are saying that the vanity would be on the opposite wall facing the arch in the last drawn picture?
I’m wholly on board with this idea EXCEPT for how the arch dies into the south exterior wall, as you’ve drawn it.
This room will benefit immensely from some architectural drama, but it would make more sense to have the arch die flush into the south exterior wall right at the end of its’ tangent, like the arch in the upper hall, rather than to bring the new arch wall a foot out from the exterior wall all the way down to the floor – wouldn’t it?
I came here to write exactly this!!