My daughter, Carla's dog, Kelly, not looking very thrilled about the idea of having her bath in Carla's new walk in dog's hydrobath.

My daughter Carla, who does a marvelous job of clipping our poodle Indigo at her Carla’s dog Clipping, Narre Warren, when we are at Summer studio Home, base in Victoria, during the warmest months, has added a walk in hydro bath to her dog grooming salon so she does not need to lift heavy dogs.  Some dogs are heavier than humans so I’m happy to hear that she is protecting her back.

My S-I-L, has just renovated their home, turning an en suit shower into a sit down shower bath and I have only just become aware of all these new innovations in bathroom fittings, take a look at walk in tubs ,before making final decisions on bathroom renovations..

I was reading about how a lot of people who are doing up homes to resell then make the biggest mistake in the area of the bathroom. Many, especially seniors like me, still have their heads back on the 1970’s when renovating the bathroom and if you are planning a bathroom renovation there are a couple of points to keep in mind, one is obviously to take a look at what is new today, bathroom design is changing rapidly and secondly be aware that western cultures have an aging population and bathroom design may need to consider this new, healthy trend of allowing people to live in their home independently, for longer and the bathroom is possible the room that most needs adaption to cater for disability and frail elderly seniors.

I did have to smile in agreement when I read the article that most senior’s ideas of a bathroom renovation are stuck back in the 70’s, because they were correct in my case.  Back in the 1970’s I traded a painting of a waterfall, for a luxury spa bath called ‘Just heaven’, and that is what it was, armchair reclining comfort. Fully stretched out, arms on arm rests, and semi sitting up sleeping position, I did sleep in that bath many times, also wrote long soggy letters J and watched TV relaxing. I loved that great tub 1970’s bath room design and if money were no object probably would renovate today in those same dated designs if I had not been jogged into seeing how things have changed, in bathroom fittings. J.

Today my bath is in the outside courtyard garden of a little retirement summer studio, our home during the warmer months in Victoria, in south Eastern Australia.  It isn’t even plumbed in, I fill it via a hose from the laundry that is passed out of the window and I empty it in 10 large bucket loads of water, which is the perfect amount of water to water every meter of my courtyard garden.  I lay back and look at my climbing roses and the bird life against the patterns in the sky and look at my vegetables growing around the base. 

My children are somewhat aghast that I tell people I have a backyard pool, they warn me about ‘Google Earth’ and I think they fear their less than perfect eccentric senior mum might end up with her ‘in the bath tub’ photo on show on the internet, LOL, I tell them I’ll curl up and hide under my diary if I see the ‘Google Earth’, satellite go past. 

The first photo below, shows our courtyard, before the outdoor bathroom makeover. 
The other photos are the after pictures.

The bath was new from a seconds shop, cost us $65. plus our garden plants, 6 x $10. climbing rose arches and the beautiful flat rocks came with us, from our last bush property. The total courtyard bathroom cost was very little.  We do have an indoor bathroom with a foot bath at the base of a shower and we have solar hot water service and free irrigation supply river water into the bathroom, so there is no costs involved in our bathroom use. it's a great summer retreat set up when we are not touring.

I'm going to run a hot bath, grab a cuppa and a magazine and go relax in the bathroom courtyard, right now. 

The before photo.