Turn my tiny bathroom into a spa--with a new bathtub. - remodel

My existing claw foot tub doesn't fill deep enough. I would like to replace it with a deep soaking tub, of course for the best value possible. Give me your ideas please.


The existing claw foot tub came with the house and has the faucet drilled in, and the over flow underneath that, so it doesn't really fill up. This makes bathing in it a cold, uncomfortable experience. I think--and the plumber agrees with me--that the easiest way to fix this is replace the tub with something deeper.

First question: How deep should I be looking for? Ideally, it's deep enough that I can easily put my shoulders in the water and keep them there, but I don't have to. I don't want to drown in the tub, but too much depth is better than too little, since I don't HAVE to fill up the tub. I'm 5'2", my partner is 5'10".

Second question: Are there keywords I should be looking for? I've tried "soaking" tub, but that doesn't really yield interesting results. "Japanese tub" does, but seems too limited.

Most important question: Which bath tub should we get? My bathroom is on the small side, and the only one in the house. The existing bathtub is a standard 5' claw foot tub, with a little bit of room in each dimension. It comes with a ceiling and tub mounted rectangular shower curtain rod, shower head and faucet combination. The tub has to double as a shower. (We are used to the slight cramping with the existing claw foot tub, but wouldn't be comfortable with a much smaller base.) Or we can maybe try to squeeze in a shower stall too? (That seems unlikely unless it's a shower stall with a tub in it.) We like to shower and bathe together if possible, so ideally it fits two people.

The bathroom has other problems we'd like to eventually fix, but not now, so something that can be a drop-in, long lasting replacement would be best. (I've been looking at freestanding ones for this reason.) For example, we don't want to tile the wall or retile the floor right now, but probably will in the next 5-10 years. (Other things I'd like including moving the sink and toilet to different arrangement, adding a heated floor, adding a window, etc. Basically, none of these are urgent.)

If you've had a wonderful personal experience with a specific tub, I would love to hear it. Or a strong dis-recommendation would be helpful as well. Or even just a good starting place other than lowes.com or homedepot.com.

It doesn't have to be a specific style. We do not have mobility issues (though if there's a way to not have to use a curtain for ALL 360 degrees around the tub, that would be fantastic). I'm willing to buy used or new or antique, but was hoping to keep everything under $2k (installation included). But I'm also willing to go above that if there's something truly fantastic that I'd want to take with me to a different house. I'm willing to wait (maybe for something custom ordered? or for something unique to show up on the second hand market), though having a nice tub installed by winter would be lovely. Lastly, I'm open to out of the box ideas that aren't strictly "here's the bathtub to replace it with."

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