Since I had planned to replace the old, worn-out porcelain-over-cast-iron tub that came with the house, I did some shopping around and found a unit that I loved. It was a one-piece fiberglass 60" shower stall complete with glass doors. I had decided not to bother installing an actual bathtub, since I prefer showers anyway and decided the extra space (the shower unit is 36" deep, while the tub units tend to be 32" deep) would be optimal. The price tag on it was a hefty $649, but I figured it was worth it. Well, as I was preparing to purchase it from Marvin's Building Supply, the guy helping us mentioned that he had a tub/shower unit sitting outside that a lady in Meridian had purchased, but she'd found a "spot" on it and they had to drive to Meridian to pick it up for a return. Since it was a return, they couldn't sell it for the retail price and it had a substantial discount to it. We went outside to check it out, and all of us searched for this "spot" the lady had complained about. The "spot" turned out to be some dirt that easily rubbed off. Now, while I had wanted a shower unit, rather than a tub/shower combo, the fact the unit was being offered to me for $100 won me over! This particular unit retails at Marvin's for $289, so this was a substantial savings. Granted, it didn't come with the shower doors, but I purchased those for $165, making the grand total for this set $265 as opposed to the $649 I was orginally going to spend. (I later took back those shower doors for some I found at Lowe's that were much prettier and only $15 more.)
In the picture above, we see the $100 tub/shower unit sitting in my kitchen. I didn't take pictures of the fun and excitement we had of loading it up into the back of my friend's truck, strapping it down, and finding room for the shower doors and the vanity, nor of when we got it back to the house and had to unload it, carry it up the back steps, and maneuver it into the kitchen. But rest assured, it would have made a good "Funniest Home Videos" clip.
Upon getting it into the house, we decided the only way to get it to the bathroom was to take it through my room and through the opening in the wall that conveniently is still in place. However, one problem immediately presented itself: My bedroom door wasn't wide enough. We started by taking the door itself off, but there still wasn't enough room, so we ended up having to remove the jamb as well.
Of course, once the jamb was down, that started giving me ideas about the bedroom door. But that's a topic for another post. :) Anyway, so now we have the door and door jamb off of my bedroom, and we managed to get the unit through there and into place in the bathroom:
And it's a good thing we did NOT get the bigger shower unit - it never would have fit through the doorway even with the jamb gone! But I'm happy with the purchase I made, and thrilled that it's in place, just awaiting the plumbing components now. These are the shower doors I originally bought to go with the unit:
They're very pretty, with a rain-drop pattern on the glass. But the doors I fell in love with at Lowe's are, to me at least, so much prettier! Here they are:
Notice the intricacy of the etched leaves? Very, very nice! Of course, before I returned the doors to Marvin's (which I insisted on doing before I purchased the doors from Lowe's), I made sure Lowe's had some in stock! And then I had forgotten to check the size, so I had to call Lowe's to get someone to check on that. Once that was done, I returned the raindrop doors to Marvin's, then went over and got these, and now they're all set and awaiting installation!
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