Bathroom Design - update 12/7/20 Post #84 & 87

[disneychrista]

I had a toilet leak about 6 months ago. I fixed the toilet leak (or so I thought) but the tile floor started shifting/cracking. I put off calling anyone to fix it partially because of COVID and partial because I hate having strangers in my house during "normal" time. Well that was a $15,000 mistake.The contractor said it is likely that he will have to rip out the entire bathroom (sink, tub, toilet, etc and to replace the subfloor) Note to self don't put off home repairs.

Anyway....so now I am tasked with picking out new fixtures - tub, toilet, sink/vanity, floor tile, tub tile. I know a lot of people would be super excited about having a new "fancy" bathroom. Me I just want a basic functioning bathroom. I am looking at Home Depot online and I am lost. Too many options. How do you pick? What if I pick "wrong" and don't like it?

If you've redone a bathroom what choices did you make that you are glad you did? Which ones do you regret? Any help, suggestions, input would be appreciated. It is a SMALL bathroom 7ft x 5ft.

If you've had a remodel done was someone home at all times while the work was being done?

The worst part it is the ONLY bathroom and we will be without it for 2 weeks.


See post #84 & 87

 

[Kittyblue]

I redid the toilet/shower area of my master bath a few years ago to replace the tub/shower kit with a bigger tub and tiled in walls. Do you have any fixture type places in town besides the big box stores? I'd recommend going there for materials. Does your contractor have a place he likes work with?

 

[disneychrista]

I redid the toilet/shower area of my master bath a few years ago to replace the tub/shower kit with a bigger tub and tiled in walls. Do you have any fixture type places in town besides the big box stores? I'd recommend going there for materials. Does your contractor have a place he likes work with?

I honestly have no clue if we have a fixture place but I don't think so. He just told me to pick out what I want and he would do the rest. I just met with him today for the first time. I wish I could go bigger for the vanity & tub but there really isn't any room.

My bathroom layout is basically exactly like this. But this one is a lot nicer.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

If basic is what you like, there's nothing wrong with that. I would think about anything you've seen/tried in hotels that you might want to add. (Hello, curved shower curtain rod!) Also, look on the AARP site -- they're working with the Property Brothers to do home remodel/redesigns that incorporate better, safer ideas for people as they age. You might want to add grab bars now before you need them --simple things like that. We stuck with calm, basic colors and I'm really glad we did. Trendy just didn't grab me then and wouldn't grab me now. We also asked everyone -- contractor and salespeople -- about ease of cleaning. We didn't want anything that required special cleaning supplies or equipment. And if you want more outlets or better lighting or better ventilation, now is the time to add them.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Okay, first, buy your fixtures from a company with a lifetime guarantee. For example, if a part on your Moen tap goes, you contact Moen and they send you a new one.

Do you have room for (or want) two sinks in your bathroom? Is it a main or master bathroom? Either way, if you have the chance for two sinks, and have multiple people who use the bathroom at the same time, you might consider it.

Definitely examine your storage needs. Do you have room for or need drawer? Just a lower cupboard? Maybe you'd just like a pedestal (I prefer having a place for my cleaning products, so a cabinet is a must).

Toilets - Consider height and oval or round. Are you all tall? Older and maybe will need to add a special seat? If your bathroom is narrow, you might go for the round toilet instead of the oval.

If you get a tile cap on top of your tub like the photo, remember you have to clean under it. In fact, when considering fixtures, imagine cleaning them. I saw one really cool faucet that I loved until I thought about cleaning it. It was open at the top and looked very elegantly like a waterfall, but I remembered my DH shaves and makes a mess of the top of my faucets daily. I would have to clean this faucet before even using it every time.

Like this:


Beautiful, but not practical unless you're the only user of the bathroom.

What about lighting and mirrors? Are you doing makeup in there? Or your hair? Do you need good task lighting? And do you need a full mirror? Take this chance to choose what really fits your style.

Also, think about where you will hang your towels. Maybe you are currently putting them in an optimal place, but this is your chance to move things around or add a hand towel next to the sink or a larger bath towel rod or even a heated towel rack.

Speaking of heated... do heated floors interest you? If so, have your guy price out the installation.

What about rainforest shower heads? Or telephone shower head?

Lots to think about.

 

[ronandannette]

I honestly have no clue if we have a fixture place but I don't think so. He just told me to pick out what I want and he would do the rest. I just met with him today for the first time. I wish I could go bigger for the vanity & tub but there really isn't any room.

My bathroom layout is basically exactly like this. But this one is a lot nicer.
View attachment 534540

That's quite nice; neutral, clean and stylish - why not go for something similar? Personally, I'd try to keep it economical and practically any look can be achieved at a number of different price points all based on what fixtures and materials you use. A conventional white toilet can cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000 for example; same thing for a set of taps and ceramic tiles. That said though, labor on a more expensive piece shouldn't cost more than the labor on cheaper parts. I actually recommend a big-box like Home Depot or Lowe's especially as you begin to look because they have a fairly wide range of stuff that you can see side-by-side and get ideas from.

Also - how on God's good earth do you go two weeks without a bathroom?

 

[disneychrista]

Lots to think about.

That's the problem.

My main concerns are cost and time to complete. This is the ONLY bathroom in the house, so the quicker it can get done the better. This is going to take a large chunk of my savings to fix. So expensive upgrade aren't really an option. I am wanting to do a middle of the road redo with classic design, so it doesn't get outdated too quickly. I don't want cheap fixtures but also can't afford high end fancy either.

 

[ronandannette]

Oh, and don't forget to paint it Agreeable Grey!

 

[disneychrista]

That's quite nice; neutral, clean and stylish - why not go for something similar?

Also - how on God's good earth do you go two weeks without a bathroom?

I will end up doing something very similar to that.

I honestly don't know how we are going to manage. A 5 gallon bucket and the kitchen sink?

 

[lizziepooh]

A medicine cabinet is important to me, especially if you have a small bathroom without much storage.

 

[disneychrista]

Oh, and don't forget to paint it Agreeable Grey!

My yougest daughter would probably love that. I asked her what her dream bathroom would be and she told me gray tile.

 

[martikus]

feel ya.
our shower plumbing Issues would cost $5000 to fix so we bit bullet and redid bathroom. Removed tub and put in big walk-in shower. Not our only bathroom.

yes someone home entire time.

my advise is find pics online to narrow down and stick with one store. Right now there is so much out of stock so finding in stock will Help narrow choices.

for flooring we wanted waterproof lvp so had 27 choices from lumber liquidators. Was easy to pick from there based on colors. Tile we went to a local place and once we knocked out everything 9.99 and higher only had a few choices. Once you pick one thing it gets easier as you color coordinate.

good luck. I too never thought I’d care what was in bathroom or I’d pick wrong. But it feels like a spa now every time and we didn’t pick anything high end.

 

[sweetpeama]

I honestly have no clue if we have a fixture place but I don't think so. He just told me to pick out what I want and he would do the rest. I just met with him today for the first time. I wish I could go bigger for the vanity & tub but there really isn't any room.

My bathroom layout is basically exactly like this. But this one is a lot nicer.
View attachment 534540

If you like this look I would just take this picture into your local home depot or lowes store and let them know this is what you are looking for.
Being that your bathroom is on the smaller size at 5 x7 I would either go with the white as shown here or possiblly a really light pine or a really light maple for the cabinent doors under ths sink. Lighter colors will make a smaller room appear larger.
I would go with a three light switch system one which runs a moisture fan to remove moisture from the bathoom while you are in the shower, one opperates an overhead light that I would say would be best located at the point above the center bottom of the photo and the final switch works a row of lights above the sink which for a single sink I would go with no more than 3-4 sockets for bulbs. Depending on how much light you need you can place anywhere from ones that corespond to 25-75 wattage bulbs. I would make sure that if one bulb burns out your entire system is not out because I can guarantee that even if you put brand new bulbs in at that same time they will not all burn out at the same rate-no idea why so please don't ask me at least but from experience this is what happens.

As far as not having a bathoom for two weeks I would recommend renting a camper from a local place and just plan on using the bathroom in there. As long as you don't need to go out in the night you should be fine. If you do just remember to put on sturdy shoes, and a warm jacket. If you keep a heater on in the camper you will still have a warm enough bathroom that will definently be warmer than using an outhouse. You might have a friend or co worker who has a camper trailer they are not using this time of the year that you could borrow just make sure you check with any local ordinances as to if you can have one parked on one half of your driveway for that long. In my area no one gives a rats behind but in the city in one direction from where I live (I am in a county area) you can not have a camper trailer or motor home parked on the front side of your property on the street for longer than 48 hours unless it is A hooked to a hauling vehicle and has a for sale sign on it then it can be there for one week before having to be moved, or you have a remodeling permit for your home which a copy must be secured to a window that can be seen from the street side on the inside of the camper trailer or motor home. You can only get one of those for an occupied home that has only one bathroom and it must say that the permit was applied for on date, approved on date, date the work is expected to begin and the date the work is expected to be completed by the contractor.
Another option is renting a port-a-potty like those used for large events and taking sponge baths in your kitchen if you can not access a gym to take showers.

 

[sweetpeama]

If you have a habitat for humanity restore I would look there first for some of the items you often can find some very nice things at a fraction of the cost. Plus the money you spend goes to help a family get in a home. We have found many nice things at our local restore for our home including ceramic tiles.

 

[disneychrista]

As far as not having a bathoom for two weeks I would recommend renting a camper from a local place and just plan on using the bathroom in there. As long as you don't need to go out in the night you should be fine.

I get up several times in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I wasn't kidding about the 5 gallon bucket I mentioned above.

 

[sweetpeama]

I get up several times in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I wasn't kidding about the 5 gallon bucket I mentioned above.

View attachment 534549

Just make sure you place the door to the camper as close to the door of your house as possible so you have a shorter distance to go in the night or at least that would give you an option for during the day. Save the 5 gallon bucket for in the middle of the night otherwise your going to be having to dump it some place a lot more often.
We have an old slide in camper that we have not used for years since one of the jacks broke taking it off one time and it was more of a hassle to go camping with as small as our children were at the time and not having the money we never got it fixed. Anyways there is a small toilet under one of the bench seats that at night makes part of the bed out of those and the table. That you can use if you can get it pulled out from under the bench and then under the table part of the bed and over to by the door which the only spot wide enough to have it and move it back in the night. In otherwords translation this toilet is only used if it is in the middle of the night and the local authorities for where you are camping have come along and told you that there are bears spotted in the area and the only reason that you do not have to pack up and leave immediately or sleep in your vehicle is the slide in is hard sided.

 

[MissStitch626]

We just had our bathroom ripped out and replaced this week. Our old bathroom was put in by the previous house owners thirty years ago so was badly in need of updating.

We hired a local company that previously upgraded our kitchen. They designed the bathroom layout and we just chose design element like tile colour, fixtures and fittings. I was happy with basic, functional and modern. We went with stone coloured tiling and a feature wall over the bath. Our ceiling, previously dark wood panelling, was replaced with white ceiling panels with a bath panel to match. Ours is also a very small bathroom but I was amazed with what they could do with the space.

My only advice is to prepare for any hiccups. Though the renovation was meant to finish on Friday, we've since realised there are problems with some of the plumbing work and have leaks that the guys will need to come back out and fix. Our bathroom is the only one in the house - no access to shower or bath since last Monday is not fun

 

[Christine]

I'm really surprised that you will be without a 7x5 bathroom for 2 weeks. I just had 4 bathrooms totally redone this past March and the whole job for 4 of them took 4 weeks. Granted, since I did all 4 of them, he brought two crews in but if I had just done one regular bathroom (not the master) it would have been 5 days! On the other hand, my coworker contracted out with a one man operation to do her master bathroom and that took almost 3 months!

Anyway, I went to a tile contractor who had a small showroom so I was able to go there and pick out my cabinetry, fixtures and tile. We did get the toilet from Home Depot. All I can say is, get a nice toilet, it's worth it. No need to spend thousands but get something that's in the $300 range. Flushes so nice, sits nice, cleans up easier by the way it's shaped, etc.

I ended up going with frameless shower doors (again easier to clean not having a frame). Also went with quartz countertop on the vanities. Square sinks are now the rage but I didn't care for them, so I went with the oval and don't regret it. These are things you'll need to think of. I kept very large, beveled edge plain mirrors in the larger baths versus trying to go out on the market and find framed mirrors. A glass company can handle all that easily for you as well as the shower doors. It is definitely harder if you go to one person and then you have to go out and handle all the items yourself.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I feel your pain! We had to re-do the master bath recently, similar issue. The shower leaked into the wall--not only did we have to replace the entire bathroom upstairs, but it leaked into our downstairs family room--specifically, into the wet bar (we use it as a coffee bar).

We had just finished a complete remodel of the kitchen, so I was so "over" picking out a gazillion appliances, fixtures, etc. I put a lot of effort into the kitchen since I spend so much time in there, but the master bath--I just couldn't bring myself to care. Some of the things, DH did care about, so I let him pick them. So, we have a "rainfall" shower head, with a separate handheld unit. But basically, I picked that I wanted stainless (versus brass), and let DH pick the rest. We have white faux marble tiling and a light blue paint on the walls. I'll try to post a picture later. The flooring is tile, but it looks like gray bleached wood.

We also had to re-do the family room at the same time, but very little to pick there. New floor, white walls, and they used a scrap of countertop left over from the kitchen, to go in the coffee bar.

 

[belleatdisney]

I do know as people age they sometimes prefer a huge shower instead of tub/ shower combination. I prefer that at hotels. At home I couldn’t live without a good soaking tub.

When I cannot get in it anymore I will replace it with a large shower with the programmable shower heads. There are companies that can do it in about 2 days.