Grab Bars: Hi @noramiami! This is what I spend my days doing Iām a therapist and do a lot of home health and accessibility assessments and such and also install grab bars (and hand-held shower heads - which you have covered). However, your showerhead looks a little high, which is awesome for tall guests, but you could add an extra showerhead bracket about 1/2 of the way between the showerhead and the water control to be extra accommodating. You can get one to match your bronze. You donāt want anyone having to get on their toes to put the showerhead back if possible (safety issue because it challenges their balance in a wet, soapy tub).
To answer your question, ideally you want one grab bar directly across from where you step into the tub and one grab bar perpendicular to the outside edge of the tub at the showerhead end. Like this:
And @KKC is correct, there are nicer, less institutional, designer grab bars. I noticed you have the rubbed bronze in your bathroom, so you could do something like this:
For whatever reason, the best photos I found had the grab-bar on the long wall horizontal but that isnāt typical. They are actually usually installed at a diagonal. This is mainly because of the 8-hotdog-buns-10-weiners phenomenon: most studs are 16 or 24 inches spaced but most grab bars are not that or multiples of that (I donāt why ). When I see a horizontal bar, Iām suspicious of it. However, placing it at a diagonal also has the benefit of providing bar at different heights and thatās good too. If you are going to self install, youāll need a carbide or diamond drill bit for the tile. If you arenāt super handy, it might be best to have someone else do the install. Itās better to have no grab-bar at all than to have one that comes out of the wall (or cracks a tile
There are other, more flexible and temporary options as well. You could have a grab-bar of this type that you could āinstallā and un-install as needed. For this to work youād need to have a feel for who is coming to stay and/or ask if they want it on for their visit. I donāt think itās a good idea to let the guests install these. They are easy on and off but creates a fuzzy liability issue if they havenāt done it before and read the instructions. So, Iām not sure if itās a great option or not for you but could be considered. And am including it because it is probably a great option for some hosts. For instance, someone like @jaquo who meets all of her guests so she could guess if they might want it and offer it during check-in. Edit to add: If you wanted to go this route you could āguessā and install it for people and then tell them if they donāt want it they could remove it and put it in a closet - they are fast and easy to remove and thereās no liability there.
I like this one because itās height-adjustable:
And I like this one because it has a leg on the floor:
Ok, that was a whole presentation but I am hoping it helps other hosts as well. Iām always happy to help you find the best place to buy, etc if youād like. You can PM me anytime!
Edit to add: A related note: hereās a huge safety issue that is lurking in many of your homes. The towel bar in reach of the shower/tub. People who are dizzy/stumbling/slipping/in sudden pain will grab a towel bar automatically. The screws are 1/2 long and the bar part is usually hollow. It wonāt hold them and they will fall. When I go see a new patient after a fall, I look for the mangled wall where a towel bar used to be. I find it in about 50% of the cases. If you want a towel reachable from the shower/bath, put a hook there. And then you can move the towel bar further away. FWIW.