In honor of my dear sister's birthday week I thought it only fitting to highlight one of her favorite things...opps my favorite thing that she just doesn't understand. I love a long hot bath, especially after a long stressful day. To me there is nothing more relaxing than soaking in a hot bath filled with aromatic salts, bubbles and oils...not all at once obviously.
The Roman's history has baths running through it much like the aqueducts that brought water to their cities. Bath houses were the social hub of Rome with 170 known to have been in operation by 33BC; by the end of the first century they had exploded and were a part of life for even the lower class and women. The bath house was like the gym is now, it was both a daily ritual and and a social center, there were public ones and private ones.
Today's baths are not quite so public and social but are still a place where people go to clean, refresh and relax. Bathrooms are one of the top places to remodel to re-coup value in your home. People are blowing out walls to enlarge bathrooms and turn them into spa like retreats and bathtubs are getting all kinds of love! From fire places and fish tanks to flat screens...whatever your escape is it is getting paired with a bathtub... and not just any tub- soaking tubs. If you can't soak down in it shoulders deep then it isn't for me. I don't care how many powerful jets there are if the tub is shallow there is no saving it for me.
So I must confess, as the story goes when we were little my mom would put us in the tub together (get your mind out of the gutter I am talking 2 and 3 years old here!)and well, there is really no other way to say it...I got a bit too relaxed in the tub...thus ruining the entire bathtub experience for my sister. And so now almost thirty years later I must say I am sorry for scaring you so deeply. You really should reconsider... it is not just "stewing in your own filth" as you so eloquently put it. it is very relaxing (well except for when the dog jumps in the tub with you) and soothing.
photos: water works, business week, home lux, interior hit
