Bathroom

NATURE CALLED in the dark of night and I answered, plodding along a well-worn path toward the second-floor bathroom. Arriving in a familiar doorway, I came to the slow realization that most of the bathroom was missing. The room that once housed the household's essential plumbing fixtures now contained little more than bare pipes and dangling wires.Eventually it dawned on me that we are in the process of having work done on our bathrooms, and things are not where they are supposed to be.Take, for instance, the toilet.

We all have preconceptions of what constitutes a design that's elegant, rustic, functional or frivolous. Wood paneling, for example, has some definite associations in most people's minds.The standard image is of a wall material that's stately and expensive. It is also generally pictured as part of a traditionally appointed library, den or some other type of "inner sanctum."Wood paneling isn't cheap, it's true, and it is used most often in precisely those settings. But there's no good reason why it can't be applied elsewhere in the home.

We want to remodel and divide a big, old-fashioned bathroom. One part is to be converted into a powder room for guests; the rest of the space will remain a bathroom adjoining a seldom-used spare bedroom. We want to give both spaces a bit of flair so that they don't look purely functional. Can you suggest alternatives to white fixtures, tile and counter tops, and pastel wallpaper?In aiming for "flair," you're probably also seeking to give that new powder room a touch of elegance. That will certainly preclude not only the lab-like look of all-white surfaces, but also any use of pastels.

THERE'S NOTHING more depressing than an intractable home problem -- that persistent leak under the second-floor window, the basement that spouts streamlets when it rains, mildew in the bathroom.That last thing is the issue for a Baltimore reader, who writes: "We have a severe mildew problem in our bathroom. It was originally painted with oil-based paint, then several years later painted with latex paint."After that, large patches of black spots appeared over the tub area and started to spread.

WHILE WE ARE on the subject of ventilation, as we have been recently, it's a good time to revisit the age-old problem of mildew in the bathroom.Mildew likes the bathroom because it requires moisture to grow, and there is always lots of moisture there. So -- theoretically -- it's simple to discourage mildew from living on your walls and ceilings. You just reduce the humidity.However, the problem gets more complicated when you start looking at the causes of the humidity.When warm, moist air meets cold walls, condensation forms.

A roundup of new products and servicesFor Kitty's CarePruitt and Associates has created the ultimate bathroom -- for cats. Its Spot-O-Kitty is a custom-designed, odorless litter box house. The plexiglass shell with reinforced wood frame is 2 feet high and wide and 18 inches deep. Inside, you place your cat's litter box. A clothes-dryer type venting system from the Spot-O-Kitty to an outer wall will keep the area smelling fresh. An automatic motion sensor turns the vent on when the cat enters the box and stays on for 5 minutes after the cat exits.

In my opinion, the most innovative ideas in today's design world are being expressed in bathrooms and kitchens.I'm not referring just to refreshingly different looks, though they're numerous just now and certainly welcome. What strikes me as especially commendable about this new wave of design is that it pays the same close attention to functional considerations as it does to appearances.Admittedly, much of the convenience results from technological advances. But unless the technology is properly applied, new products can be more gimmicky than useful.

THE BIGGIST headache in remodeling a bathroom -- literally and figuratively -- is the tub.It's a big brute of a thing that may be quaint (claw feet), ugly (no charm, no feet) or merely outdated (pink). But whatever it is now, it was installed to stay.Randy and a client have been wrestling with the problem in a bath remodel: Do you keep the old tub, if you sort of like it, or do you replace it? And what about having it recoated -- is that effective?By coincidence, an e-mail correspondent from Ellicott City dealing with the same issues wrote for advice:"I'm about to remodel our bathroom, doing all the work myself.

An Edgewood man accused of robbing a Joppa convenience store with a toy gun was arrested the same day after witnesses and physical evidence linked him to the crime, a sheriff's spokesman said.Brett Lee Kimmelman, 23, of the 1600 block of Candlewood Court was arrested at 7 p.m. Wednesday on charges of robbery, assault with intent to commit robbery, unlawful detention, assault and battery and theft. He was held at the Harford County Detention Center in lieu of $75,000 bond.Deputies responded to an 8:30 a.m. armed holdup call at the High's Store at 910 Old Philadelphia Road in Joppa, and learned that a man had forced a woman clerk into a bathroom and bound her hands and feet.

In the world of interior design, no rooms have changed more dramatically than bathrooms. They have blossomed over the last decade, growing from tiny utilitarian areas into spacious, handsomely appointed rooms, often with whirlpool baths, steam showers and other fixtures designed to pamper and soothe harried residents.Bidets; oversized showers with seats and multiple shower heads; exercise areas; entertainment centers, and expensive materials like marble and granite are becoming more and more visible as Americans upgrade old bathrooms and add new ones.

It's not quite a royal flush, but perhaps the nearest thing. An Edwardian-era women's bathroom in the Tremont Grand in the 200 block of N. Charles St. garnered honors as the nation's second-best facility in a nationwide America's Best Restroom contest. Sponsored by Cintas Corp. of Cincinnati, a uniform and bathroom supply company, the eighth annual contest allowed "tens of thousands" of participants to vote online through July 31 from a field of 10 entries, according to a Cintas news release issued Thursday.

Ralph Jaffe wants to dethrone Gov. Martin O'Malley. And before a news conference outside O'Malley's downtown Baltimore office last month, Jaffe also wanted to use the gubernatorial throne. Security at the William Donald Schaefer state office building turned him away, suggesting that he use the bathroom at a nearby McDonald's instead. Jaffe, a 67-year-old retired teacher from Pikesville who is challenging O'Malley in the Democratic primary, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over the matter this week.

So up for the challenge of renovating and enlarging a century-old Fells Prospect house were Victor Corbin and Marek Tarasiewicz that they bought the small brick house within a half-hour of seeing it. The couple knew they wanted to enhance the original two-story building, giving it a more stylish and cozier living room. They also wanted a new space infused with an airy feel and modern warmth, yet with ties to the style of the old space. "We used old bricks from the back of the house to build a fireplace," Tarasiewicz said.

It has been, said Robert Kean, a labor of love to restore the stately home set back from the road in Roland Park. The 1915 Tudor revival was in need of an overhaul when he and his wife, Kim Lacey, moved in three years ago. But the structure was sound. "The walls are three bricks deep," he said. Kean, who has rehabbed several homes, did much of the work himself, tearing out the office enclosure to reveal the patio, restoring original windows and landscaping the property. Keeping the historical integrity of the house, he didn't move walls.

"I spent the second night of my honeymoon in this house 57 years ago," Mary Louise Gramkow said, recalling the home on the hill that her mother-in-law had rented for the newlyweds before they left for Alabama. Gramkow came upon the house again about 15 years ago, as she and her husband, Edwin, were looking to renovate an old home. She asked the owner if it might be for sale. "It would be for you," he said, and a deal was struck, she recalled. The Gramkows set about rehabilitating and enlarging the Howard County farmhouse that dates to at least 1899.

With warming lights built-in over the kitchen buffet, a club-style bar and game rooms in the basement, and a backyard pool and pool house, Kandi Slade's home in Baltimore County's Wakefield community has long been the place to gather. There have been holiday parties, pool parties, big family dinners, children's birthday parties and a later addition - grandchildren's parties. "I have had a Christmas Eve party in this house since 1979," she said, describing Santa Claus handing gifts to kids and groups gathering for songs at the player piano.

One day in 1999, Barry and Sharon Weiss decided they wanted to spend less of their time in their cars and more of their time in their home. They lived 22 miles from where their children were attending schools in Baltimore, and Sharon Weiss was making daily trips between the schools and the Reisterstown house they were outgrowing. Barry Weiss was driving 600 miles a week to and from work in Washington. "It was just too much of a commute," he said. On a day when he was at home to discuss with an architect the prospects of putting an addition on their home, his wife spotted a Roland Park house for sale that was within walking distance of their daughter's school, Bryn Mawr.

CKisMom wanted advice on nighttime potty training for her 3 1/2 -year-old, who uses the bathroom by himself during the day but still needs a pull-up at night. He doesn't drink much before bed and uses the bathroom before lights out, but isn't staying dry. Dr. Katherine Hopkins, a pediatrician with Box Hill Pediatrics in Abingdon, says it's common for kids to wet the bed until they're as old as 7. "If there is a family history of bedwetting, then a later age for night-time control is common," she wrote.

Today's question comes from Momof2, who asks: "OK, here's one from a friend who is a stay-at-home dad: how to deal with taking a potty-training or preschool girl to the bathroom? When boys go in a public bathroom with mom, no problem because everyone is in a stall. In the men's room, there are often men using urinals. Ignore it and take the girl to the men's room? Ask a stranger to take the girl into the women's room and help her? Keep her in diapers forever ...?" I asked Molly Brown Koch, a local parent coach for about 50 years and author of the recent book 27 Secrets to Raising Amazing Children, to respond.

The political opposition researcher who illegally snooped into Michael Steele's credit history has found something else to stick her nose into: toilets. Lauren Weiner fraudulently posed as Steele on the Internet to obtain his credit history three years ago. At the time, she was a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee researcher, and he was the lieutenant governor and a likely Republican candidate for Senate. These days, Weiner is a potty blogger. On fullyflushed.blogspot.com, she digs up dirt on public johns.