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Color Calling Your Bathtub

By Alan Knight

Photo Credit: smallbathroomdesignsideas.com

Roses are red, violets are blue. How you color your bathroom is up to you.

Color and lighting can influence how people perceive and respond to the areas around them. By decorating your bathroom and bathtub in particular color schemes, you can tailor this most private room to reflect and/or enhance certain moods. You can also utilize different techniques to stimulate your moods such as changing the ambient lighting and/or coloring the bath water when luxuriating in a warm, soothing bath.

Before looking at the various colors and associated moods and feelings they can imbue, as well as discussing ways to take advantage of this phenomenon in your bathroom, let’s take a brief look at how we perceive color, as well as the history of humankind’s understanding of color.

The Eyes Have It

Photo Credit: pantone.com

Did you know the retina inside our eyes is actually considered to be part of the brain? It’s covered by

millions of light-sensitive cells, called photoreceptors. Some of these are shaped like rods (which perceive black and white). Other cells are shaped like cones (which perceive color). These receptors act as transistors that process light waves into nerve impulses and, via the optic nerve, send them to the brain’s cortex region. Most of us have six to seven million cones, and almost all of them are concentrated in a 0.3 millimeter spot on the retina called the fovea centralis. Thus, working together, our eyes and brain translate light waves into colors.

Red, green and blue are the additive primary colors of the color spectrum. Combining balanced amounts of them also produces pure white. By varying the amount of red, green and blue light, all of the colors in the visible spectrum can be produced. Think of all the colors out there; the majority of us can see/perceive about one million different colors. However, based on our genetic structure, some of can see more, others less. And to think, these millions of hues are made from just red, green and blue.

Photo Credit: tubking.com

Take teal for example, one of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ primary colors. It’s a mixture of medium blue and dark cyan. How do I know this? Because one of our customers had us custom-color a Clawfoot tub for them consisting of a teal interior, a black exterior and ornate clawfoot legs of gold.

Something to Reflect Upon

It was the English mathematician and physicist, Sir Isaac Newton ― more about him later ― who discovered that color is not inherent in objects. Rather, the surface of an object absorbs some colors and reflects others, which are then perceived by the human eye.

Take for example the famous red apple that led Newton to formulate his famous theory of gravitation. Red is not “in” the apple. The skin of the apple reflects the wavelengths that we perceive as red, while absorbing all the other lightwaves. A white bathtub, for example, reflects all the wavelengths, whereas one that absorbs all the wavelengths will appear black.

TedEd on Color

History of Color Theory

The study and usage of color is thousands of years old, much older than the creation of bathtubs in Europe. In China, Feng Shui (pronounced “fung shway”) was developed over 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass, originating in Chinese astronomy. Essentially Feng Shui is an in-depth system and school of thought that deals how to arrange and balance the energies of any given space to assure health and good fortune for people inhabiting it. Feng Shui concerns itself with the energy or “chi” of a given space. In this ancient system, colors are comprised of and can also reflect specific energies and moods.

Centuries later in Europe, the Italian architect, poet, priest, and linguist, Leone Battista Alberti (circa 1435) and the now-venerated Leonardo da Vinci (circa 1490) both wrote about “color theory” principles. Three hundred years later, Newton’s theory of color was espoused in his book, “Optiks,” which was published in 1704.

Photo Credit: masterlife.com

Newton also developed the very first color wheel, wherein he divided sunlight into red, orange, yellow, green, cyan and blue beams. He then joined the two ends of the color spectrum to depict the natural progression of colors. Interestingly, Newton associated each color with a corresponding note of the musical scale. What color is your favorite music?

Nearly a century following Newton, Johann Wolfgang Goethe began studying psychological effect of colors. He observed that blue induced a feeling of coolness and yellow had a warming effect. Goethe and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Shiller created the “rose of temperaments" (Temperamenten-Rose) in 1798, to depict the psychological effect and attributes of colors. These colors were then divided into two principal groups, the plus side (red, orange, yellow) and minus side, (green, violet, blue). Plus side colors were said to produce excitement and cheerfulness, whereas colors on the minus side were said to be associated with weakness and unsettled feelings. Their diagram matched 12 different colors to character traits and occupations, which were grouped in the four “temperaments” as espoused by the Greek physician, Hippocrates:

Photo Credit: wikipedia.com

Choleric (red/orange/yellow): tyrants, heroes, adventurers

Sanguine (yellow/green/cyan) hedonists, lovers, poets

Phlegmatic (cyan/blue/violet): public speakers, historians, teachers

Melancholic (violet/magenta/red): philosophers, pedants, rulers

The current form of color theory was developed by Johannes Itten, a Swiss color and art theorist who was teaching at the School of Applied Arts in Weimar, Germany. This school is also known as “Bauhaus.” Itten developed what he called “color chords” and modified Newton’s color wheel. Itten's color wheel is based on red, yellow, and blue colors as the primary “triad” (borrowing a musical term for a three-note chord) and includes twelve hues.

More recently, Carl Gustave Jung (a.k.a., C.G. Jung) the Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology, is also associated with the pioneering stages of “color psychology.” His work has historically given birth to the modern field of color psychology and art therapy.

The general model of color psychology relies on six basic principles:

Photo Credit: color-wheel-pro.com

Color can carry specific meaning

Color meaning is either based on learned meaning or biologically innate meaning

The perception of a color causes evaluation automatically by the person perceiving

The evaluation process forces color-motivated behavior

Color usually exerts its influence automatically

Color meaning and effect has to do with context as well

In this article, I introduced the concept of using color to affect your mood while in the bathroom, specifically while bathing. I discussed the physiology of how we perceive color, and how, throughout history, we’ve developed an understanding of our emotional interaction with color in an evolving science known as “color theory.”

If you found this article useful, please share it with your friends and co-workers. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the Comment section of this blog.

If you’d like to receive a FREE Clawfoot Tub Buyers’ Guide, click here. Have a question? Feel free to contact me at the number or email listed at the end of this article and I’ll personally get back to you. It’s been my pleasure sharing this information with you.

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Thanks again for visiting with us.

Alan and Kerry Knight are the owners of Tub King, Inc., and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville, Florida. Together they have many years of experience in the antique and senior bathtub industries. Their companies not only provide superior products, they are also multi-award winners, receiving the “Best of Jacksonville Chamber Award” four years running. If you’d like to contact them, call (800) 409-3375 or (800) 843-4231; or send an email to Alan@tubking.com.

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Treasure Hunting for Bathtubs

When I think of a treasure hunt, I am reminded of the ancient artifacts, items covered in gold, precious items that people hold onto and pass on from generation to generation. In order for an item to fit this description, it has to have staying power. It must be durable, important and part of our everyday life.

Check out Claw foot tubs are back

Years ago, when we first started in the bathtub business, and before cast iron/porcelain tubs were being manufactured again, my brother and I were always looking for the old clawfoot tubs, which could be refinished and sold. We would visit wrecking companies, and plumbing supply houses to see if they had any of the old tubs that we could buy and restore. Sometimes we would see tubs sitting outside of homes, being used as flowerpots. We would stop and ask if the owners wanted to sell them.

For a long period of time, the clawfoot tub had virtually disappeared. No foundries in the U.S. were casting these tubs because everyone was going to fiberglass. So, the old style, claw-footed tubs, as beautiful as they were, disappeared. Those we could find were always in high demand.

I remember delivering several antique sinks to a customer out in the country who lived in a farmhouse. We had refinished these antique sinks for him, and as we off-loaded them into his living room, I noticed a huge cast iron bathtub sitting right in the middle of the floor. It was a dual ended tub with massive claw legs. It was 75 inches long and 35 inches wide. It was extremely rare ... and I wanted it.

I asked the customer what he was planning to do with it. He said he and his wife were going to bury it in the back yard to make a goldfish pond. I quickly said, "I'll pay you $300 for it." They were hesitant, so I sweetened the pot a little. "Okay, how about $300 plus the three sinks I brought you, no charge." The couple looked at each other. The wife said, "Dear, that will pay for all our tile work." The husband thought about it and said, "Okay we'll do it." Music to my ears!

We eventually sold that tub for over $4,000. How? The tub was very rare.

Today, tubs that size and shape are being recast again. We can provide customers with the same basic tub for under $2,000. Customers like it for reasons beyond price. Since it is newly cast (new porcelain), it does not need to be refinished. The legs are now plated with chrome and brushed nickel, instead of the old cast iron legs that rusted. New faucets and hardware are readily available for the new tubs in designs that were not even available a hundred years ago. In essence, you can now own a beautiful claw foot tub that will last another hundred years without having to spend months on the treasure hunt trail. You won’t have to spend many hours and a lot of money resorting it. You can just buy and have it professionally installed it with matching fixtures, ready to enjoy, admire and use.

There has never been a better time to purchase one of these beautiful porcelain/cast iron clawfoot bathtubs. You have so many design choices and the price is extremely low. It will definitely add to the value of your home, and the hours of personal enjoyment cannot be easily measured.

In this article, I told you some of our treasure hunt stories, where we searched for old claw foot tubs so we could restore and sell them. Today, anyone can own one of these beautifully functional tubs, no treasure hunt needed. In fact, there are more choices, sizes and color combinations now than ever before. On top of that, prices are very reasonable. It has never been a better time to own a beautiful claw foot tub.

See our double slipper tub.

If you found this article useful, please share it with your friends and co-workers. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment section of this blog. If you’d like to receive a FREE Walk-In Tub Buyers’ Guide, click here. Have a question? Feel free to contact me at the number or email listed at the end of this article and I will personally get back to you. It has been my pleasure sharing this information with you. Thanks again for visiting with us.Until next time.

Alan and Kerry Knight are the owners of Tub King, Inc., and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville, Florida. Together they have many years of experience in the antique and senior bathtub industries. Their companies not only provide superior products, they are also award winners, receiving the “Best of Jacksonville Chamber Award” three years running. If you would like to contact them, call (800) 409-3375 or (800) 843-4231; or email them at alan@tubking.com or kerry@tubking.com.

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The Birth of the Bathtub

By Kerry Knight

One of the greatest philosophical question has always been, "Where did I come from?" Or, if you're more the intellectual, "From whence did I come?" We all love ORIGIN stories.

Have you ever wondered about the origin of the bathtub? Maybe it's not the most pressing subject on your to-do list, but it is very interesting. And if you are into decorating ideas for your bathroom, you may just love this little tidbit of knowledge.

Pot de chambre 3 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, let us begin. Before indoor plumbing, most homes or hovels used chamber pots or washbowls for bathing. They were portable and could be put away easily, and since bathing was not as popular pastime as today, it seemed to work just fine.

Around the 19th century, bathtubs became the product of tinsmiths, the tubs often being formed out of copper or zinc. In progressive houses with water heating devices, some had tubs made of lead sheets in a coffin like wooden box. For those today who know the dangers of lead poisoning, the idea of a coffin box was somewhat prophetic.

We actually owned a 19th century tub made of zinc in a rectangular box of mahogany. It was show piece, but not very practical since it was only about 48 inches long. While transporting it from one warehouse to another, it was left on the trailer too long and someone proceeded to steal it. I'm sure they had no idea what they had. Maybe it should have been made of lead.

English: Kids bathing in a small metal tub. The tub reads "SWANCE". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Someone came up with a not-so-bright idea of a portable canvas tub, much like the pot-bellied cot. We can all see through that one. No pun intended.

There was even the Mosby Folding Tub. You know, like the Murphy bed that fold's up. Again, not a winner.

In the late 19th century, tubs were cast in iron and copper, but problems of rusting and corrosion was a real handicap. In the 1880s, J.L. Mott was among the first to solve the problem. The result was the porcelain enameled, cast iron, footed tub. In addition, the ubiquitous claw foot type style is still working well for thousands of people today.

In the 1920s the vitreous surface inside was all white, but the cast iron exterior was often painted, with colors, stripes and even designs like Greek frets. Foundries became quite talented at creating designs for the feet, such as eagle claws, bear claws, lion claws and more traditional designs.

The original foot tubs came in a variety of lengths and designs. Most were 60 inches in length with an oval shape and rolled edges. Then came the slipper tub with the high arched back and dual sloping ends that make it perfectly symmetrical.

Because some people complained about cleaning behind the footed tub, the ringed or skirted tub was created with the oval pedestal base, instead of legs. This gave the tub a majestic, almost regal, look.

Slipper bathtub in Amsterdam store window. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, the old cast iron foundries are gone in the US. But you can still purchase these beautiful pieces of 19th century art. They are still made in many parts of the world, and a few U.S. companies import and stock them for their customers here.

An ad appeared in a retail catalog back in 1910, which read, "Why shouldn't the bathtub be a part of the architecture of the home?" Many are finding that to be good advice, even a hundred years later.

In this article, I shared with you the history of bathtubs. How they have come from chamber pots, to lavishly decorated status symbols and finally the state of the art modern day bathtubs. If you found this article useful or enjoyable, please pass it on to your friends and neighbors. If you have a comment, leave it in the Comment section below. If you have a question, feel free to contact me at the number or email listed at the end of this article.

Alan & Kerry Knight are the owners of Tub King, Inc and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville Florida. Together they have many years of experience in the antique and senior bathtub industries. Their companies not only provide superior products they are also award winners, winning the best of Jacksonville Chamber Award three years running. If you would like to contact them call (800) 409-3375 or (800) 843-4231 or email them at alan@tubking.com.

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