I wasn’t planning on a second TKR (Total Knee Replacement) when we embarked on our bathroom remodel adventure.

After having my right knee replaced, I was painfully aware how important it is to have an accessible bathroom.   Luckily, our main bath, although it had an awkward angled wall, had just enough width to navigate a walker.  The shower was big enough for the ugly, plastic shower chair that my insurance issued me.  (Not to disparage the chair, I was grateful to have it, ugly or not!) The bathroom was okay, but I needed a lot of help maneuvering, especially in the first few weeks post-surgery.

In my post-surgery journal, a common thread is the comfort and relief I got from my bath time. 

The homely plastic shower chair was a gift from heaven. It allowed me to sit in a long hot shower and let the soothing water wash away all the stress of surgery.  I luxuriated in my bathroom “spa” time, and I was thankful for that chair.

But months later, I was just as happy to remove it from my sight! It really is an ugly chair!

Post-surgery, The Fixer had to help me set up for my shower and move things strategically so I could get the walker into the bathroom and to the shower chair. Then he had to take the chair out and place it where I could reach my hair dryer and various tools and creams for the surgical site. If he wasn’t available, then these comforts, crucial to a speedy and complete recovery couldn’t be done.

I appreciate all he did post-surgery, but I didn’t like having to be so dependent on him.

The TBR (Total Bath Replacement) Plan

I toyed with a lot of different plans.  I really wanted to get rid of that angled wall and doing so would add a lot of space to the bathroom, but that wound up being too big a project and much too expensive. The wall had to stay.

The next best idea was to remove the huge whirlpool tub and have a roll-in shower built. The problem was, I love a good bath! Could I live without a tub in my main bathroom?

I waffled.

We have an outdoor hot tub on the deck and I love a therapeutic soak at the end of a long day of gardening, but there’s just one problem.

Bath bombs! Oils! Bubbles!

I love it all! And you can’t put those things in a hot tub.  So, I knew that not having a bath at all would be a problem for me.

The solution? Turn the upstairs bath for guests and grandkids into a spa for me! Ok, I’ll share with the guests and grandkids.

The only problem with this is the fact that it’s upstairs and I was having issues with the left knee.  Plus it meant remodeling the upstairs bath too. But I decided this was the best solution.

The plan then was to remove the massive whirlpool tub in the main bath and that would become the new roll-in shower. New cabinets would be installed in place of the old shower.

We still had that awkward angled wall, but we decided on a shorter cabinet and a tower, leaving a little open space on the angle. This gave us more floor space.

I interviewed a few contractors, got my bids and we were in business.

Demo Day(s)

To make a roll-in shower with a slab foundation, the existing floor has to be jackhammered to lower its level so the finished shower floor will be even with the new tiled floor.

Days of jackhammering and copius amounts of dust!

After three days of headache inducing jackhammering, and dust settling in every nook and cranny of my house, the floor was finally to the proper level and they could start tiling.

I wish I’d had the forethought of a fold-down bench while we were in this stage. I’d planned to have a tile bench built into the shower to eliminate the need for the ugly shower chair, but we decided it would take up too much floor space. I found a gorgeous, teak bench made by Teakworks4U.com.  This company in Minnesota manufactures a variety of teak products for the bath from ADA approved fold-down benches to stand-alone benches. 

I really wanted their fold-down bench. It’s sleek and beautiful and doesn’t take up any floor space.  When not in use it lays flat against the wall, but it’s so pretty you may not want to hide it!

The tiling was finished by the time I realized I needed wall studs to mount a fold-down bench, so we decided against it.

But no worries because the free-standing teak bench that I got from TeakWorks4U is one of my favorite parts of the shower now.

Tile selection is important in preventing falls. The main flooring is a larger tile and we opted for natural travertine which is more slip resistant. The shower floor tile is also travertine, but because it’s smaller, it has more grout lines which gives you a more stable grip to the floor helping to prevent falls.

The toilet area remains open rather than a water closet to make navigating the toilet easier when using a walker or cane.

And just for fun, the combo light/vent in the shower has a Bluetooth function so music adds to the spa-like feel of the bath.

Lighted medicine cabinet with power outlets helps you see at night

Light, bright and open are all important for aging in place

In the vanity areas, we installed medicine cabinets rather than flat mirrors and these are useful for storing medicines and supplements, especially those we use at night. The medicine cabinet features an interior light so you can see in your sleepy haze whether you’re grabbing Ibuprofen or Melatonin. the cabinets also have an outlet so electric appliances can be plugged in directly.

We purchased a bench for after shower sitting and hair drying. The bench will be easy to remove if we find ourselves needing more room to get a walker or wheelchair through.

The remodeling process was not easy! There were constant things that didn’t happen according to schedule and the whole process wound up taking more than twice the time we thought it would. 

It was inconvenient to have to walk across the house to the powder room for those nightly trips.  By the time I got back to bed I’d sometimes be wide awake.  In the beginning our traversing through the house at night woke the dogs up and they’d pace restlessly. We had to shower upstairs in the guest bath which wasn’t so great for me with left knee acting out. But we all soon adapted to the new normal and even though we were out of our main bath for nearly 2 months, it all worked out.

The second week into the remodel was when left knee really started failing and I had many days when I was using the walker again just to try to get around the house.  Really not cool when you’ve got dogs and contractors to wrangle!

As time went on and it was apparent my knee was not going to improve, I scheduled an appointment with the surgeon. 

Now I’m so glad that going into the second TKR (total knee replacement) surgery that I took the time to have a TBR (total bath replacement).

I know what I’m up against post-surgery and now bath time will be a full immersion in luxury spa healing time.  I’ll use my bench in the shower and my hand-held shower to let the warm water wash away the pain and trauma from surgery and take as long as I want to massage the surgical site to reduce scar tissue.  I’ll allow myself to lavish attention on my healing body. And to rinse the pain and suffering of arthritis down the drain. There’s a grab bar if needed that beautifully blends with the other fixtures. The large bench in the main part of the bath allows plenty of room for seating while applying lotions and hair drying/styling, but can be removed easily if more room to maneuver is needed.

Aging in Place

To get some ideas for how to make your bathroom more ADA compliant, here’s an HGTV article that discusses different layouts.The changes we made to the master bath make our home safer for aging-in-place. They include:

•             Roll-in shower with wide doors and no threshold
•             Wide pathways
•             Natural stone, non-slip, flat flooring
•             Adjustable, hand-held shower
•             Grab bar in shower
•             Accessible toilet
•             Lighted medicine cabinets
•             Sturdy, removeable benches

I’m really happy with the results and that we’ve created a bathroom that allows us to stay in our home longer. You don’t have to incorporate all ADA design suggestions to make your bathroom one that you can live with for a long time. Pick the ones that make the most sense for your needs, but always keeping in mind that those needs can change.

Enduring a total bath replacement is just like a total knee replacement. You have to swim through the river of misery, but when you get to the other side it’s so worth the effort!