World Toilet Day

Today, November 19th, is exactly one week away from Thanksgiving. As you may not have known, it is also World Toilet Day. This day was started by the World Toilet Organization in 2001 as a day to increase awareness about sanitation problems due to a lack of toilets in some countries. According to UNICEF, “poor sanitation, hygiene, and unsafe water claim the lives of 1.5 million children under five every year”. It may seem insignificant, but having a toilet is actually something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.


Learn more about World Toilet Day and the World Toilet Organization.

Museum Bathroom Art

When visiting an art museum, you most likely are there to observed the works of art featured in the museum. However, at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the bathrooms themselves are actually works of art. Creating permanent art in the restrooms "begun in 1974 as a means of supporting artistic exploration by providing artists with access to industrial technologies".

Annually, a group of selected artists collaborate with Kohler Co. and actually handcraft the fixtures each step of the way. Each bathroom represents different periods and technologies. Photos below are from The Art Museum Toilet Museum of Art.

The Social History of Architecture:


Sheboygan Men's Room:


The Women's Room:


Childhood Vitreous:


Sources: John Michael Kohler Arts Center
The Art Museum Toilet Museum of Art

Kitchen of the Future

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) there is a group of researchers and developers who come up with new and advanced ideas for the kitchen. A BBC News Online article discusses three of these advances.
The first is a sensor that can be applied to a plastic food storage container. The sensor determines what kind of food is inside of the container, assesses the temperature, and counts down how much longer until the food spoils.


Another gadget being developed is a "chameleon mug" that tells you when the liquid inside is hot. The mug could also be equipped with sensors that could alert you when you've added too much sugar or rotten milk.


Of all the kitchen contraptions discussed in the article, the one I found the most interesting was the "dishmaker". The dishmaker begins as a plastic wafer and can inflate itself (using different amounts of air pressure) into the shape of a cup, bowl, or whatever dish you need. According to the article, the dishmaker "automatically recycles your dishes and stores them very compactly as thin disks."

Read more about developing kitchen technology.

Customer Gallery - Before and After

One set of photos submitted to our photo gallery are from Suzanne M. of Houston, Texas. The before photo seen below shows her gutted bathroom only including a sink.

Suzanne turned the empty space into a beautiful bathroom, as seen below. To complete the bathroom, Suzanne installed a 54 inch classic clawfoot tub by Sunrise Specialty, a clawfoot tub drain by Strom Plumbing, and a clawfoot tub freestanding faucet by Sunrise Specialty.



View other photos submitted of Suzanne's bathroom and browse the rest of our customer bathroom gallery. If you would like to showcase your own photos, send them to emily@vintagetub.com. Be sure to include your name, location, a description of the photos, and of course, the before and after shots.

The Science Behind Accuracy

Many of us have been in a toilet related argument whether we remember it or not. A toilet seat left open or an unpleasant mess left behind are both grounds for disagreement. But how much fault can we place on the guilty party?

This video from the Discovery Channel show Time Warp, discusses the science behind aiming accuracy among men. An model was constructed to simulate a human bladder in action. Other variables were added to the test to demonstrate the difficulty of accuracy. Check it out below.

If Everyone Flushed at Once

I was recently reading an article called "What if Everybody Flushed their Toilets at the Same Time?" The article discusses sewage systems from our households to treatment centers and what would happen if everyone unanimously flushed their toilets.

Pipes from your home are small in diameter while those leading to neighborhood, town, and city treatment centers get progressively larger. Sewage leaving your home and arrives at the treatment centers after being pushed by a lift station. This is the first place waste would back up. Eventually, all of the waste would be forced back through the pipes and into our homes, resulting in backed up toilets, sinks, and even dishwashers. Not only would it back up in homes, but manholes in the streets would also overflow.

A solution mentioned in the article is low flow toilets. Low flow and dual flush toilets use a reduced amount of water when flushed and also save money on water and energy bills.

Source: How Stuff Works

Customer Gallery - Kitchen

This gorgeous photograph from our customer photo gallery was submitted to us by Dennis and Susan M. of Morro, California.


Dennis and Susan's kitchen features a fireclay apron front sink by Belle Foret as well as a gooseneck swivel spout spray head from the Metrohaus Collection by Whitehaus.

Check out more photos of Dennis and Susan's kitchen or other photos from our customer photo gallery. If you would like us to showcase your renovation project, submit your photos to emily@vintagetub.com.