Help me plan my bathroom remodel

[ides]

My upstairs bathroom sucks. It was flipped badly probably eight years ago and it's falling apart. They used cheap particle board vanities and medicine cabinets that are breaking. I had to tape closed on of the medicine cabinets doors as it's falling off and isn't repairable. The vanities are too small so anything put on them promptly falls off. If they installed the stone correctly on the floor and in the shower and it didn't look kinda pink it would be okay. The floor is slanted and the tub corners are sloped outward and collect water that I have to sweep out by hand. Ugh. One other thing is that there is knotty pine on the door and window trim that is no where else in the house and I hate. I hate my bathroom so very much. We haven't decided if we are going to remodel bit by bit or all at once but have decided to start planning it. Bit by bit would be get vanity and medicine cabinets now/soon then later gut it to fix floor, retile and new tub/shower. I've never done this sort of thing so I'm nervous.

I like the subway tile look in the shower and half way up the wall with hex tile floor and some sort of color or black detail added in. I want a double vanity and if possible recessed medicine cabinets.

I like the floor and wall tile here.
bathroom1.jpg

Give me ideas/timelines/costs, etc. I'm a total newbie with this.

[Ravenclaw]

We are remodeling 3 bathrooms in the house we just bought. I've been reading this designer's blog religiously: http://www.mariakillam.com/
It's been really helpful. Houzz.com is also a great site to save ideas you like.
In terms of cost, it's cheaper if you hire people individually rather than a general contractor. (I hired a GC just because I know I can't manage a remodel by myself.)
I'm a total newbie too and we haven't even started yet. The whole project is supposed to take about 4-5 weeks and that includes 1400 square feet of wood floors (not in the bathrooms). I just signed the contract so take my advice for what it's worth.

[SoonerTexan]

Help me plan my bathroom remodel

Consider beadboard for that classic bath look...they make a PVC version safe for bathrooms.


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[OrionGrad]

Based on what you've described, I think you'd be better off going in and doing it all at once vs. piece by piece. (Even if that means waiting a bit longer.) That will also give you more time to research exactly what you want it to look like, including the specific materials (tile, faucets, etc) you want to use. You'll definitely save money managing the project yourself, it just depends how comfortable you are with that, since there can be a lot of moving parts in a bathroom remodel.
We got thisclose to doing a complete bathroom remodel a few years ago, but decided not to once I got bids from 3 companies. It was way more than we thought it would be (everything is in a home from 1925!) so we decided just to do smaller things like paint the walls and vanity, regroup the tile, change the lighting, snd change the mirror.
Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

[MarissaNicole]

I have little remodel experience, but I'd think you'd want to start with tile and flooring first if your doing all that work. I'd also just do it all one right after another and get it back to full functionality rather than try and use it between jobs. But that's just me.

Are you on Pinterest? I pinned lots of things I liked and then designed my kitchen from my favorite pins.

Wife of a PGY-5

[Vanquisher]

I agree with all at once. Definitely look at Houzz!

[HouseofWool]

I would do it all at once.

If you have the space to store things, start picking up the pieces you like now to spread out the costs. While I'm not a fan of their vanities, Ikea has some great sink tops.

[SoonerTexan]

Some of this is a rustic style that isn't what you are looking for, but we ended up deciding to go a similar route to what you want. It's really classic and I hope it wouldn't date too badly. Now, I'm not sure if it is ever going to happen at this point, but here is some stuff I came up with:

https://www.pinterest.com/soonertexan/master-bathroom/

[ides]

I do have a Pinterest account but haven't used it for a long time. Maybe now is the time to use it again. I've discovered an issue with our bathroom. If I put a standard 60" double vanity in, which is what I want to do, it will fit but the way the entry is it will block it some. Right now the two vanities in there are only 18 inches deep (at the deepest) and 24 inches wide.

[ides]

Here are some pics-

[peggyfromwastate]

It depends where you live on the contractor bit and who you know. The contractor hires Subs anyway. We are starting our massive remodel and it makes me feel sick. It has to do with my parents wanting a space when they visit... But geez.

Anyway I love our contractor and would hate HATE managing subs myself. My contractor is a woman and she is a firecracker. I trust her a lot too. We had a shady contractor for a little job we did earlier right when we moved in- what a disaster.

One thing I've learned-- moving the toilet is very expensive and problematic. Converting a tub to a shower is easy and cost effective. A contractor will probably want to buy custom cabs and a Quartz surface for the vanity- if you want a prefab vanity ask upfront if they are ok with that. (Prefab is often not great quality so some contractors don't like them).

Having side by side vanities like that would drive me insane.

[ides]

I've been thinking that our three options would be:
1. Build custom cabinet
2. Move the doorway
3. Use dual vanities again

I think having a custom cabinet built would be easier and cheaper than moving the door. And going with dual vanities again would not make me happy.

I know a contractor who I trust but he's expensive and slow. Guess I should ask him and then get other bids. He's done a great job on all the wood projects in my house so far. If I managed it myself I'd probably hire him to replace the window and door trim and build a custom vanity. I also know who'd Id want to do my tile. Im not sure I want to be my own contractor. I know for sure the big issues are - leveling the floor, redoing the shower plumbing, moving and adding electrical. Then it will be quality of work.

[SoonerTexan]

We had a similar situation in our bathroom...what about a large custom vanity towards the window that stops a few feet short of the door, and bridge the gap to the door with a custom cut countertop that narrows more towards the door? Maybe you could make it a vanity area with a stool that tucks under the counter?

We actually looked into the solid oak unfinished cabinets from Lowes and Home Depot--they are kitchen height, but that didn't bother me. They are surprisingly cheap and finish nicely. We built a desk out of them in our house. That might save a lot of $$$

[ides]

Peggy- how did you know your contractor was/is good? I'm trying to decide how to go about sussing out the quality contractors from the non.

[peggyfromwastate]

It's hard. She doesn't have a ton of references or reviews. I started with websites to see the quality of work. Yelp is not helpful- people don't tend to review contractors. I know why- I wouldn't review our first even though he was bad just bc I don't want to deal with him again. I mean, they know where I live, obviously. Anyway, we interviewed probably 12 contractors. Some you could tell were out of their depth. Some were in a hurry. Some were not interested. Some wanted a lot of $ down to get started. Some wanted to hire a spouse/friend to do the drafting, even though they weren't trained in it...

Our contractor is a design/build contractor. She has experience in working as a contractor for 20 years, but started her own business about 4 years ago. She worked with some architects (apprenticeships) early on so that she has a good grasp of architecture code. She has a lot of contacts in city hall to help get the plans through. She has been very patient and responsive, and she's open to us buying our own stuff as much as possible, which is a good sign to us. We can buy our kitchen appliances directly through a big box, and not through the showroom dealers, so this saves us a lot. She has been honest and forthright about costs, and will do a line by line estimate of how much things will be. Down to the last screw. The shady contractor didn't do this- he was all "one price fits all" but dh knew him through his wife who works with dh. So, we gave him a shot. Did not like the lack of detail on the contract though.

Anyway, it's tough. But one thing that really encourages me about Yvette is that her subs LOVE her. They love working with her (she's super typeA and a perfectionist) and will do anything for her. When she came to check out the project to come up with The Big Bid, she had all her subs meet her here. There was the architect, the plumber, the masonry guy, the roof guy, and the electrician. All these guys work with Yvette so they all work together often, and they like to work together. She managed all these guys and delegated to them very well and they all had their bids/concepts within about 45 min.

Another example- we had a leak in a flashing or something on the roof during really heavy rains. My dad and dh were going to climb up on the roof to fix it. In pouring rain. I was freaking out a bit so I texted Yvette. She said "don't let them up there- my roof guy is on it." He came out in between downpours and climbed up there and replaced 7 plastic things on 7 pipes up there, just for good measure. He's working on the big project too-- whenever that gets off the ground. Anyway I asked him how much, and he said "don't worry about it. I did this for Yvette." She told me that he just did it for free bc he's a good guy and will be doing the big job later.

Anyway, there are good people out there. Wide variety of people though.