Bathroom progresses- coping with chaos!

[Hobden]

I'd use a short hose to fill the bath, and then wheel it to the fire.

If you filled that with water you'd probably need a team of oxen to move it to the fire! Although as the advert declares it not watertight maybe the problem would fix itself :lol: Has it stayed on sale for over a year? There may be a clue there as to its ultimate utility ... nice to look at though!

 

[Hobden]

the post is one of two cast iron supports for the beam holding up the cross wing

Very interesting!

I guess cast iron was the wonder material of the Victorian age and thus this would have been cutting-edge chic in its day!

 

[Hobden]

Ivor, I have to agree.......baths are civilised, showers not so much :lol:

But sitting in one's own ordure ...

 

[mims&pip]

Mims you've had an absolutely fascinating history with house projects and have been lucky to put a magic touch on some real gems by the sounds of it! Great to hear about your semi Print Room projects! Lovely to have that interest and passion, and to have had a lot of chances to put your skills to work! I sometimes feel sad Beacon Cottage had me as a virgin bride and I'll never leave! What will I do once it's done?? You have another project to look forwards to as well 8)

Apologies Joce, I missed this earlier :roll:

Mmmm, I guess we have been lucky although both of us regret selling what was meant to be our 'forever' home (the south coast one with the red bathroom and huge butterfly collection!) in 2007. Still, had we not sold then we'd have missed out on all that backbreaking work on the next three houses, lol :lol: We do feel a sense of achievement - same as all of us gluttons for punishment that frequent PPUK :wink: - in rescuing some fairly neglected buildings and bringing them back to life, so it's not all been a waste of time/effort! Plus we do have some interesting stories to relate at dinner parties - how many people can say they lived in a house that was once dismantled, moved from one side of the county to the other and rebuilt? Or have sold their house to a notorious possible child killer? Yep, we can tick both boxes, lol :lol:

I simply love the idea of you as the virgin bride of Beacon Cottage......how romantic! What will you do when it's done? Why, tend your flock (do you have one???) whilst wafting round in period costume (with a cleverly concealed chatelaine comprising useful tools attached.....just in case!) and writing Jane Austin style novels in your beautifully appointed drawing room.......

Our next project? Hopefully somewhere small, period and with lots of land where I can do something similar

Mims x

 

[Hobden]

I have seen Victorian campaign showers up for sale and Vicky showers over bath arrangements but very rare and upper class!

I assume a campaign shower is a portable shower one could take with one on a military campaign? Not getting much luck with Google, mostly it comes up with that which could be used to show campaign literature! And lots of porn sites for some reason :shock:

Vicky showers also produced a fair selection of images of women, presumably called Vicky, showering :wink:

My house is Regency -1810 ish - no real idea of the bathroom then. Dorothy Wordsworth had a washstand with a basin of water and that water was made to last 3 days. William bathed in the lake.

The house we're currently conisdering does have a lake, well overgrown pond, but I ain't washing in that! And Mrs H couldn't make a bowl of water last three minutes, never mind three days. Perhaps they were a lot smellier in those days ... so one can have friends and no realism or realism and no friends ...

 

[angrybird]

Joce I saw this over bath shower, could be the best of both worlds?

 

[angrybird]

...and a couple more x

 

[JoceAndChris]

You're all so much fun!

Angry bird - beautiful looking yes. We thought about that arrangement. The antique ones can be bought but they're expensive and though I definitely would have been up for it Chris not so much. I've seen a modern repro one, got a feeling it's Catchpole and Rye and 10k :shock: very nice though.

The substantial curved shower rails you attach to the ceiling we also strongly considered but two tricky points, one, the ceiling is reed, somewhat fragile and those rails are heavy, and two, brushing up against wet mouldy shower curtains is something I've had 20 years of. No, 30

I think if you're going to have shower curtains you need to look after them! Shake them out and dry them off and launder them regularly! I just don't, I let them go mouldy and then I bin them and then I go and buy more cheap shower curtains from BM bargains.

I honestly never want to get up close and personal to a shower curtain again.

Hobden - the leaking antique bath was a minor fly in the ointment I agree. It was a point Chris kept raising, annoyingly. I was sure something could be done to save that leaky beauty! It would have been worth the trouble! As for the team of oxen, hmm. I planned to only fill the tub a little way and then have the maid bring hot pails for a top-up :wink:

Yes you would have needed a Campaign shower if you we're off battling in Egypt or wherever. They seemed to take quite a staggering amount of stuff! Here's a nice one
but sold
http://www.campaignfurniture.com/detailspage.asp?stockNo=80482

 

[JoceAndChris]

Have you used one? Do they permit a satisfying soak?

Ivor

They do for me Ivor but I'm 5ft 0 and have to buy children'S hats and gloves and shoes. When I was young I was a size 6, I'm a bit, um, curvier now but still completely 19th century sized. Totally misplaced in this age.

 

[JoceAndChris]

We nearly bought a (new) copper bath a few houses back. Pip's best friend who is in the industry (he's now MD of Arte Form so that ship has sailed) was going to get us one, then we had second thoughts as we knew we'd be selling the house at some point in the not too distant future and opted to put in a Sottini roll top*. In a 'forever' house such as Joce's it would have been a different story!

*It pains me to admit it but I settled for a hot tub instead!

Sounds like you made a wise choice and I'd love a hot tub!! I think they're brilliant!!
I really wonder what decision you'd have made here, on our type of budget - having spent so much this year on a new roof and failed IVF
With an extra 60 k the decision is really easy, you'd convey the the dead space next to our bedroom and extend a little and roof it properly, put in sash windows in a bay to mimic the other side of the building and create a to die for ensuite. But we just can't right now It seems crazy that in this rather rambling and generously sized cottage with its three dining rooms we are having to fit in a teensy bathroom with shower above the fitted bath! But we just can't see any other way. This house has many things but bathrooms it does not have. Still, I do think someone with your capabilities could probably have sorted it better!

Yes at the minute I have 50 animals to take care of so I can't see me getting bored really! It would be nice to have time to pen my memoirs but apart from wittering on here it hasn't happened! Nice to think we may both have time for that in the future!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ivor, I have to agree.......baths are civilised, showers not so much :lol:

But sitting in one's own ordure ...

Call me arrogant, but I don't see my own body as caked in ordure that instantly dissolves in water to form a slurry I then immerse myself in! Maybe if I'd been living in a doorway on whisky for a few weeks and weeing myself to keep warm I might think twice about a bath but a normal, regular bath, followed by a quick hose with the attachment thingy to get the suds off is more than clean!

 

[Feltwell]

It seems crazy that in this rather rambling and generously sized cottage with its three dining rooms we are having to fit in a teensy bathroom with shower above the fitted bath!

Not unfamiliar Joce. Our last house had a narrow, small bathroom. When we started looking for a new place I had to have a bigger bathroom. So of course I bought a nice 5 bed, 3 storey Victorian house with (mostly) good size rooms, lovely high ceilings and all the rest - and an even smaller, narrower bathroom than the last house!

In fairness we have also got an ensuite to our bedroom, built in what would originally have been a box room (but which luckily had a window), with a nice big proper shower cubicle. The family bathroom though is just ridiculously narrow - if I have a bath I have to lie twisted to one side as my shoulders are too wide to fit in it properly! I have a lot of showers and reserve the bath for when Radox is required to stop my muscles seizing up after particularly strenuous work!

We've a shower above the bath that I hate using - shower curtains that stick to you, ugh. I've worked out that if I make our en-suite a bit smaller - which will make it a bit small but still workable - I can turn the bathroom into an L-shaped room and put the bath across the end, with one of those p-shaped shower baths with a proper shower screen on. A lot of work and disruption though, if I ever do get around to it.

 

[Hobden]

Call me arrogant, but I don't see my own body as caked in ordure that instantly dissolves in water to form a slurry I then immerse myself in! Maybe if I'd been living in a doorway on whisky for a few weeks and weeing myself to keep warm I might think twice about a bath but a normal, regular bath, followed by a quick hose with the attachment thingy to get the suds off is more than clean!

I hasten to add, I was thinking of myself after a sweaty day in the garden :lol:

 

[Hobden]

Yes you would have needed a Campaign shower if you we're off battling in Egypt or wherever. They seemed to take quite a staggering amount of stuff! Here's a nice one but sold
http://www.campaignfurniture.com/detailspage.asp?stockNo=80482

A whole new category of "furniture", at least for me. That would make a good garden shower, but I can't see Mrs H allowing it inside.

 

[mims&pip]

{{{Hugs}}} Joce - assuming that sort of thing is not frowned upon here?

I honestly don't think we could have improved upon what you have achieved with Beacon Cottage......it has to be one of the most magazine-worthy and beautiful restorations I've come across

The hot tub? I miss it very much, but Pip refused to bring it with us when we moved from Wilts to here - we'd already done that on a previous move :lol: Oddly, even though it had masses of jets I actually preferred lying in calm and very hot (38 degrees) water, just relaxing with a book looking out over the view we had of watercress beds........heaven

I've made him promise we'll get another when we move again, but think we'll get a more rustic one next time!

 

[steveb]

...and a couple more x

Does anyone else see a hint of "Dracula" in this one?

 

[JoceAndChris]

They are a bit gothic and coffin-y, no doubt about it. The Victorians had a high tolerance of funereal ornamentation! What about the dead robin Christmas cards? People wearing their dead sister's hair as a bracelet for evermore? Queen Victoria keeping Albert's body? I do think the Victorian era a bit unhealthy in its general outlook and death-obsessed. The Regency lot were much more fun! Contrast William's skinny dippping with the arrangement above and the two eras are expressed!

Aw -Mims - thanks too kind, but it is lovely to share the pics with someone who has the same taste as I'm afraid most people might think us a bit odd. It is quite hard to love period things and have to live in such a stripped down age where ornamentation is sort of frowned upon. Good to find like minded Nancy Lancasters. Thanks for the lovely remarks.

Feltwell - your story made me laugh!! To move and have the same thing! I guess it's just a serious PIA to create bathrooms where they weren't! The drainage etc. Your house is fabulous though!

Hobden - it sounds like you need to embark on a campaign with Mrs H ! I suggest a planned strategy of cumulative romantic weekends to some of the UK's most atmospheric period properties! This is how I've converted Chris!

 

[Hobden]

Hobden - it sounds like you need to embark on a campaign with Mrs H ! I suggest a planned strategy of cumulative romantic weekends to some of the UK's most atmospheric period properties! This is how I've converted Chris!

If I did that she might get the idea, possibly correctly, that it would be cheaper to live in atmospheric hotels all the time than buy a period property and pour money into it! I am starting to get the idea that period property can seriously damage your wealth. Still, what price beauty eh?

Perhaps the answer is to buy one the many superb properties that have been "finished" by various members of this forum :lol: Lazy, moi?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Lol!! I think if you want to protect your wallet then absolutely yes! To take an old house that's been sensitively conserved and restored by someone who's used lime, suitable timber windows, and the correct roofing materials would be ideal.

However the chances of finding such a place for sale are remote!! Most people have no idea! Cheap roofs are slapped on with dreadful Chinese slates, uPVC windows shoved in, new coat of Sandtex on the 20th C cement render on the Georgian or Victorian building and they call it done

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Does the Christopher Wray lighting company still exist? I had lots of lights from him over the years----left them in each house that I sold --stupid thing to do but they wrer bought specifically for those houses!---There are now chandeliers that are part p cleared for bathroom-- M & S do one amongst others.