‘Tis the season to live vicariously at the Home & Garden Show | Lifestyles

Those are mighty nice maybes to think about as the weather gets warmer and the desire to live again returns.

What’s interesting about any kind of trade show is how much money some people can apparently drop on what are essentially luxuries. I’d like to hang around with those people, especially around vacation time and holidays, provided they are as generous to pals as they are to themselves. I’ve never actually heard of anyone gifting a yacht to a friend, but it sure would make a nice birthday surprise.

For the rest of us, the folks who spend our paychecks on petty annoyances like bills and mortgages, it’s fun to live vicariously at something like a home show and see what’s happening in the world of kitchens and bathrooms. It’s also nice to dream about hopping onboard whatever is trending even though you accept in your heart that it is far more likely your bathroom is never going to get out of the Ford Administration era trend and that you prefer a Harvest Gold tub and sink as opposed to anything new and shiny. (If you can convince yourself something is a preference instead of a curse, you’re way ahead of the game.)

Speaking of bathrooms, I’ve noticed there seems to be a trend to banish bathtubs in favor of fancy walk-in showers, always pictured with fluffy towels and a glass of wine on the floor next to the shower door. One reason given for dumping the tub is that it will make your bathroom seem roomier. I’m sure it will not only seem roomier, it will be roomier without that big old tub in there taking up space, but is this really a wise move? To me it seems drastic and possibly dangerous to get rid of a bathtub completely.

It would be like ghosting an aunt you rarely see but who just might leave you a fortune if you remember to send her a birthday card every year. You just never know about those things, similar to how you never know when you’re going to want to take a long soak in a tub instead of a quick splash in the shower. Plus, I have to think (all right, I KNOW) it’s easier to drink a glass of wine in a bathtub than in the shower.

Then there are freestanding bathtubs which I do not understand. It’s hard enough to get to your feet in a regular tub with normal sides and maybe a soap dish bar you can use to pull yourself up. How would you get up in a tub that is perched in the middle of your bathroom all by its lonesome? What are you supposed to grab to gain some traction? It would be like watching an oversized and soapy turtle try to get off its back. Painful.

While our bathroom is certainly serviceable, it isn’t what anyone would describe as up to date. Ever since wandering through the latest Home Show I’ve been wondering how our bathroom would look avec a glassed-in shower and sans our apparently sadly out of date bathtub.

While it’s nice to think about, I’m sure I’ll never know. One very good thing about being a procrastinator is having trends come and go while you’re still pondering whether to ditch the shower curtain printed with flamingoes you bought in 1993.

Not participating in trends is a good thing since when you do finally catch up, you can buy what was trendy 30 years ago at a thrift store for a song unless you wait so long that the item has become vintage. Most of the time that doesn’t happen. If you don’t believe me, just go to your closest thrift store, and check out how much a bread machine costs. And then smile as you recall all those foolhardy souls who rushed out to buy one when they were new and trendy.

Homemade wheat bread, anyone?