I don’t know many people who actually like to get out of bed in the morning. Someone who wants to pull back the cozy covers, squint in the morning sun and step onto the cold floor. Unless you are on permanent vacation though, you probably don’t have much of a choice.
Let me introduce you to our shower. Its super power? It can make you hop out of bed and into the shower without a groan or hitting snooze. Here’s a rundown of everything we love about it.
The Shower Head
Dan didn’t have a lot of demands with the new house, but he insisted on picking the shower head for our master bath. He indulged me the rain shower head, which gives the illusion of a spa, but the fixed head was his choice. His one criteria? It needed a powerful spray. Not one that the plumber has to hack in order to get around the village code, but one with a seriously intense flow.
The Grohe Relexa Deluxe 130 Shower Head delivers. It doesn’t pelt you with bullets of water, it lovingly soaks you like a garden hose douses a garden. And as a bonus, its spray is so powerful it rinses out your shampoo in seconds. When the sales manager at Studio 41 (also named Dan) said this was the head for us, he was right.
If you have the ceiling height to play with, hang it as high as you can. Ours is about 7.5′ high. No more craning our heads under a too short head.
(Full disclosure: We have to shower fairly quickly to ensure everyone gets a hot shower. And we probably need a bigger water heater for all that showering and all that water. Sacrifices.)
The Controls
The lowly shower control is an overlooked fixture compared to the all important shower head. One control or two never crossed our minds. But the simplicity and ease of this single control dual flow system from California Faucets is a winner. Plus, your control doesn’t need to be the same brand or system as your head, so you can pick what suits your taste.
The top valve works the fixed head, the bottom works the rain shower head and the cross dial in the middle manages the temp. Now you can use our shower and not scramble trying to figure out cold from hot, rain from fixed. And believe me, you might want to visit our shower. It’s only $5 a rinse.
The Tile Bench
If you have space for one, get one. Great for shaving legs, soaking up the rain shower, taking a brief nap and storing bath products. Make sure your contractor gives is a bit of a slope so it doesn’t collect water.
Light Walls, Dark Floor and Grout
Our shower is only 6 weeks old, but I’m pretty sure we won’t be seeing much icky moldy grout or shower scum on the floor. The combo of the dark gray grout and dark floor mask the yuck. White subway tile is nothing new, but it still feels refreshing and clean in a shower with a tile surround. Plus, it was an economical choice, so we could spend our tile budget on the cement floor.
Heated Floor
Technically this is not part of the shower (although wouldn’t that be an indulgence), but the heated floor is the best warm up (pun intended) when getting in and out of the shower. After all, the only thing more dreaded than getting out of bed in the morning is getting out of a shower in the cold. The heated floor solves that problem. And it’s probably not as expensive as you think. The Sabine Hill Lace cement tile has a natural warmth to it, and a great texture, which only gets better with age and the heating element. (Note: We are seeing very small hairline cracks in the tile which are a mystery to our contractor, so we have to investigate. But it still fits the aged patina of the room.)
A Pretty View
Some good friends visited the other weekend and their 12 year old daughter said, “your bathroom is aesthetically pleasing.” High praise from a tween, and another key ingredient to get you out of bed each day.
Lights, floors and vanity aren’t just functional, they are pretty to look at and can make a utility room like a bathroom your favorite room in the house.
Although, we don’t pick favorites here. We love all our new rooms equally. Next time, I’ll give you a tour of another part of the very very fine house. Until then, I hope your days are easy like Sunday morning.
very very (very) fine house 