My bathroom is going to be long and skinny. It is 6 1/2 feet wide and 15 feet long. We have joked that I need to use subway tile since it is shaped more like a subway tunnel than a bathroom.

Seriously, it is going to be a nice bathroom. There is even going to be a (tiny) door leading to a (tiny) deck. Together the deck and the bathroom width are a whopping 10 1/2 feet 1/2 of which is the wall between outside and in.

Seriously, it is going to be a great bathroom!

Designing a bathroom of this romantic proportion has required me to shop diligently for fixtures. Toilets are pretty easy these days. They typically are physically smaller but the seats are the same or larger than toilets in the past. The vanity can be adjusted so that we can give or take inches there with the only negative outcome is knocking my toothbrush off the counter 10 times a day since the vanity is too short to be useful.

Doors are pretty easy. Getting a door to fit has not been. Without getting too fancy, hinged (regular) doors come in 2 inch increments from 1 ft 8 inches up to 3 ft 2 inches. Because we needed to line up the vanity, toilet, bath, shower, etc. we were running out of wall space fast. Not much can go across the room since it is 6 and 1/2 feet wide. After you take out a 3 ft walkway, you have 3 1/2 feet in width to work with and the workings of the fixture usually take up about 2-6 inches. We are now at 3 feet.

Bathtubs. The big deal. There were many alternative possibilities for the tub/shower or the tub and shower or the tub or the shower. The simplest was to take the typical route of a tub/shower combination. Problem with that one is my balance is not so hot and people worried about me going end over teakettle getting into or out of the bathtub. X that idea out. So, we go to a tub only or a shower only. Two big problems there. First, I like to take showers and I like to take baths. Sophie is a wash-at-home sort of girl so I need to be able to toss her in after she has too much fun on a hike. OK, gotta have a tub. Well, what about the shower, you use that more often. OK. Small tub and small shower.

Small tub and small shower sounded OK. We went off in this huge green shag house to “try on” different sorts of tub and shower arrangements. The shower in one of bathrooms does not work correctly so we have not used it. In fact, we had not even gotten into it to look before. It is a tile shower with a small swinging door its only light. When you sneeze in that bathroom the shower echos like you are sneezing in the catacombs in Rome. But I digress. Into the shower we go with the tape measure and of course,our clothes and shoes. It is not the tiniest of showers I have ever been privileged to use but it is snug,and dark. We experimented by standing like you would under the shower head and reaching up as if you were going to wash your hair. SMACK one elbow owie, SMACK make that two elbow owies. Alternative approach: turn so that your face is to the long side of the shower rather than the short side.Works fine.Room for elbows. Whoops, You cannot get under the shower head. Here is the strategy. First you get in facing the short side of the rectangle. You stand under the shower head until you are all wet then you rotate 90 degrees and move 4 steps to the right and you will have room for your elbows. Uh oh, you are not under the shower head. After you got wet–and now are cold–you lather your hair,turn 90 degrees back and rinse your hair without lifting your arms. OK, this is not going to work. Need bigger shower.

Bigger shower = smaller bath tub. We’re good. This temporary house has all sorts of things in. After the shower experiment we trooped into another bathroom that has a tiny corner bathtub that is pink. I promise, it is pink. As we stood there looking down on this tiny tub we suddenly remembered when one of our family visited and used the tub. We all decided to take a rest-time break one afternoon. As we reconvened, relaxed, in the kitchen to start dinner, our visiting family member yawned and stretched. She said she had had a marvelous afternoon, she took a bath and did a little yoga and read. All of a sudden it occurred to me that she did not have time to have done all of that. Being a little dull-witted, I finally caught up with the joke.The bathtub was so small bending yourself into it was the yoga part. We decided we would rely on family advice and tick that model off the list.

Next idea anyone?

Not to be defeated, armed with my computer I set off to find a tub on the internet. I thought it would be easy. NOT. There are thousands and probably more thousands of tub models, styles, types, colors and price ranges. You can buy a tub for $200 or $20,000. Most of the ones I saw were in the $1500 to $3500 range which sure seems like a lot of money to me. The worst part of trying to find a smaller tub is that you cannot always shop by dimensions so you have to look at thousands of tubs rulling then out as you scan along verifying their sizes.

I should say that I finally got sorted. I am down to three choices now that are slightly shocking, somewhat shocking and totally shocking in the price department. If course my totally shocked cost is entry for most tub options. But I am easily shocked these days. So the shower and the tub go side by side at the end of the room so it looks a lot less short than it could since the tub and shower are 4 feet wide. It makes the room look less like a tunnel. We can wash hair without breaking elbows and we can get in and out of the bathtub which is a huge deal when compared to so many tubs. With a tub, a shower, a potty and a vanity it is going to be a nice bathroom. With a glass door out to a Juliet balcony it is going to be a GREAT bathroom.

It is going to be hard to get me out of there. It will be fun to spend time in the room but since it is still only 6 1/2 feet wide, getting me out of there might be more related to the maize made of bathroom fixtures than to my primping.

The now standard for short (less than 60 inch) bathtubs.

This one is probably going to come live in my bathroom. The online reviews are quite good, almost all commented that they liked the tub, and if you read it right, it may be saying that this is the one one does surprisingly well when you consider the space it its into,

The ever  important hand hammered copper stairs to go with your copper tub.

This one is my personal favorite. I not sure why. It is either than  I think the design is gorgeous, It fits in our spaces. Other than the cost of more than $3000, I was suddenly struck with how hard it would be to keep that thingclean.  

A model like the pink aerobic tub in this house.