The last thread reached it's limit of 150 post

We are starting an emergency bathroom remodel due to a toilet leaking while we were on vacation so I can use all the help we can get.

Right now our masterbath is gutted at the floor level and we are having to make some major decisions with very little time to do research.

So please help us out and tell us what you love, what you wish you'd done differently and what you think was either a waste of money or a really bad decision.

-Linen Towers flanking the vanity--upright storage space is so much more accessible and organized than drawer space
-Shallow drawers so stuff doesn't get lost underneath other items
-Kohler's new Wellworth toilet (not the classic)
-Slow close toilet seats
-My Kohler Purist Tub with Effervescence feature
-My doorless shower
-Exhaust fan timer retrofit (turns fan on by selecting a time span of 10, 20, 30 or 60 minutes) for it to run
-Antique pewter shower fixtures from Delta
-Custom shower niche with rounded overhang edge.

Things I Would Have Done Different:

-Shower bench would have been 16-18" deep vs. the 12" builder talked us into
-I would have insisted on the electrician replacing the exhaust fans with the Panasonic Whisper Quiet ones that were specifically specced in the first place.
-I wish we had used more than 1 row of the 2"x10" shower accent tile in the shower and at the doorway thresholds as a transition strip between the bath and bedroom & bath and closet. I really love that accent tile.
-I would have chosen a shower floor tile that would have allowed a flush with tile surface grout line of 1/16" or narrower. This would have allowed for unsanded grout on the floor to match the walls and the shower floor wouldn't feel as rough.

Waste of Money:

-DH will tell you the ceiling mount rainhead in the shower since he hasn't used it in months and I use it only on occasion.

Linen Towers @ Vanity:

Kohler Purist Tub & Shower w/ Niche Detail:

Accent Tile Transition Strip:

Hope this helps!

Like:
-deep storage drawers in the vanity. A happy accident. All the tall stuff fits in them!
-double curved shower curtain rod, we wanted it to hang our towels on the inside rod. Works great. (only about $60 at BBB, Moen)
- Moen shower curtain hooks. They have roller balls for easy use and we got the ones shaped like a U with each end curved up. It holds the liner on the inner, longer side and the curtain on the outter, shorter side so the liner doesn't show, and it allows the liner more overlap of the tub wall. (about $15-20 at BBB)
-changed the vent fan to a fan/light combo, ultra quiet model
-switched out the vent control from a standard light switch to a timer that fits in the same space (maybe $30 or so at Lowes)
-set floor tile at an angle
-towel/robe hook next to shower, use it every day and it's so convenient
-comfort/chair height toilet with easy off seat and soft close hinges. The easy off seats make it sooooo much easier to clean!
-framed mirror
-higher vanity counter, much easier to use, though it was also a happy accident
-matching satin nickel tub drain and stopper toggle, which I found by accident after it was all done and swapped out myself. Never knew they came in different finishes, now everything matches!
-memory foam bathmat from BBB, it's like stepping on a cloud when getting out of the shower!

Would do different
-wish I had had the extra electrical run to operate the vent fan and light separate and the night light
-would have thought more about what to do where tiles meets the baseboard and the threshold to the hall
-would have recessed the medicine cabinet. So much is now in the vanity (and it's the absolute worst place in any home for meds) that a smaller one in the wall would have looked nice.
-backsplash along wall at the left of the vanity
-inspected the walls better before paint went up. The paint is the only thing that actually bothers me, the backsplash does a little when I clean, but not much.

I'm pretty happy overall, not bad for about one week notice. Should be able to see most, if not all, of these in the pics below.

~ Sticking to our/my vision of what the room should look like even as I'd see pictures of other lovely rooms that were very different from ours.
~ Building architectural interest with an elliptical arch soffit and columns around the tub
~ Keeping the colors neutral and using just our purple and tan/gold towels for accent color (I decided against the matching purple rugs and purple countertop accessories because I didn't want to draw attention to those items.)
~ Granite counters instead of marble (I thought I'd never find a granite I could love as much as the Paradiso marble that I originally wanted but I love the Moxura granite that we chose. I knew that I would constantly be worried about all of my products etching the marble counters.)
~ Choosing porcelain tile instead of travertine. ( I love our Edimax ~ Materia Forte in Bronzea because it blends so many neutral shades... tan, taupe, gray and cream. I love the mix of warm and cool tones. And I love that I don't have to worry about it. We have some travertine deco accent tiles and skirting /base molding so I did get my natural stone look too!)
~ Making our frameless shower door glass full height to the soffit at the ceiling (I worried that it would feel too steamy and claustrophobic but it's soooo nice and cozy.)
~ Not settling for the usual shower door installation but instead going with a pivot hinge on the full-height door; mitered glass and a single uchannel and silicone for the pony wall glass. (The less hardware seen, the better, to me.
~ Asking the shower door pros to custom-order the sculptural handle I had seen elsewhere.
~ The shower layout that we agonized over, especially the two big niches and the shape of the shower seat.
~ Using granite on our niche shelves, shower seat and curb and the doorway threshold.
~ Being willing to change our stain color choice on our custom Amish-built vanities when they came in much darker than we had specified. (He was perfectly willing to take them back to his shop, three hours away, and restain everything but we quickly realized that they were actually better in the wrong color than what we had first chosen!)
~ Designing upper cabinets with a lighted valance and then installing outlets in those cabinets so everything can be in its place and out of sight.
~ Having our cabinetmaker remake the valances when the size and proportion were just not right. (They had made them exactly as we asked so this was an unexpected delay and additional expense, but necessary.)
~ 36" tall vanities (34 1/2" cabinet + 3 cm granite)
~ Soft close vanity drawers and full-height sink base doors.
~ Putting every single light source on a separate dimmer switch (I love to adjust the lights to suit my mood and time of day)
~ Polished nickel finishes (love the warmth vs chrome) and then mixing in some brushed nickel for variety (and because my sconces and shower control didn't come in polished nickel!)
~ Replacing our casement windows with a pair of double hung windows so that we can get fresh air and still have our privacy.
~ Designing towel cubbies on either side of the tub
~ Using large (18" square) tiles on the floor set on the diagonal and including travertine accent tiles.
~ Designing the tile layout for the shower walls so that our 12" x 18" tiles could be set with a 1/3 offset that would continue around the corner. (No one else might notice but I love this detail!)
~ Realizing that we could expand into an adjacent closet and dead space to allow us to have a vanity in our water closet
~ Learning that drywall is one of the easiest and cheapest things to fix.
~ Not giving up, despite a very long 12 months!

Things that make me happy:

~ Pottery Barn Clarissa chandelier (It looks sparkly and impractical and I just love it!)
~ Sigma ~ Alicante polished nickel faucets (These really are the jewels on my vanities)
~ NuHeat heated floor (And we haven't even gone through our first winter yet!)
~ Moen I/O Digital electronic shower valve (I was skeptical at first but I LOVE this! It has pushbutton control of all 3 showerheads plus personal preference presets for everyone in the family)
~ Toto Rendezvous sinks WITH Sanagloss (I just swish them with water and they always look clean!)
~ MTI Harmony whirlpool/airbath combo tub (Ahhhhh!)
~ Solatube skylight (Love the natural light in our windowless water closet)
~ Countertop accessories from Target ~ Fieldcrest Luxury ~ Glass & polished nickel (I can't believe how little I paid and how expensive they look and feel)
~ Cabinet hardware ~ Restoration Hardware ~ Mason 4" drawer pull & Schaub ~ Empire knobs (I am so pleased with the quality and how well they complement the other elements in our room.)
~ MicroDry towels from BB&B (They are so soft, plush and absorbent)

Disappointments:

~Toto ~ Guineviere toilet (The Sanagloss helps but, of course, it still needs cleaning. The problem is it has too many contours inside the bowl so it is a pain to clean. Even the tank lid has a lip around the edge making it just a little more difficult to clean. My husband and the plumber felt it was a PITA to install. But, I do love the soft-close lid and the one-piece skirted design.)
~ Sigma handheld showerhead (It's heavy because it is all metal and it has no adjustments, just a fairly mild regular stream.)
~ Our travertine skirting/base molding isn't flush with the shower tile so I'm paranoid about keeping that lip clean/dry.
~ I didn't know about rectified tile before ordering ours. I really love our tile with its rustic/distressed appearance and edge irregularities but part of me wishes that we were able to have the skinny grout lines. (We've made a point to choose a rectified tile for our teenage son's bathroom!)
~ Runtal Solea 34" tall towel warmer (I love the towel warmer and it works great but because it only heats where it touches, we're upsizing to the 53" tall model.)
~ We couldn't decide/agree/afford the planned fireplace for one end of our tub so for now we have a tabletop firepit... it's just not the same!

Sorry, as I read back through this, I guess I'm gushing about this room... I suppose you could say I'm still in the honeymoon phase!

Threads like these were extremely helpful to me along the way so I hope some of my reviews might help someone else.

treasure--always love seeing your gorgeous bathroom again and again! It's like a luxurious spa!

Thank you for the kind words on the remodel, it was a very sudden and stressful processes. If you saw the before pics from my thread several weeks back, that is indicative of the rest of the house, a big sea of beige. I actually stop in the bathroom and smile every now and then when the rest of the house gets to me! Kitchen next...

The curtain is from BB&B. I no longer have the package since I purchased it in February, but the tag says Christy, and the reciept says "Lotus Blssm S/C 89010456490". I had a hard time finding one I liked, finally found this one!

I love treasuretheday's room too, every time I see it I want to move right in! Then I think about cleaning it all, and for me that helps me admire from afar, i'm just too lazy for a fantastic bathroom like that. And I agree that that chandelier may be a lot, but it is fabulous and really adds to the room. The whole thing is gorgeous!

What we'd do again that others have already mentioned
* Heated floor
* Wonderful shower door handle (we stole the idea from TreasureTheDay)
* Electronic shower valve. Really appreciate the easy on-easy off-pause feature. I especially like the ability to pause the spray in mid-shower to shampoo hair.
* Deep vanity drawers (as someone said; the bottles all fit!)
* Rectified porcelain tile with the 1/16 grout lines.

What we'd do again that's different
* Against the tile store's recommendation, used an "industrial" tile in the shower that mimics the look and feel of our concrete sink.
* The steam shower!

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What we didn't do right
* Lighting. We painted the walls & ceiling fairly dark colors and didn't take that into account when selecting lighting fixtures. We need more up lighting.
* Bought the Kohler DTV electronic valve instead of the Moen I/O system that has flow control (the Kohler doesn't). Here's a case of not doing our due diligence.
* While we like the recessed mirror, we now need a mirror that's closer to our face for our aging eyes! Probably will install a small one on the wall adjacent to the sink or one of those pull-out wall mounted types.
* Shower size. It's the same as our previous one: 45 x 72. We like the size, but it seems to take forever to squeegee all that glass after each shower. On the other hand, it is large enough to easily accommodate the bench when we use it as a steam shower. Life is full of trade-offs.
* Not using our regular plumber.

The issue for us is that the ceiling goes from 7.5 feet at the back shower wall to just over 11 feet for the wall with the lights. Since the lights only shine light down, there's nothing to light those last extra feet. During the day, the skylight makes the issue moot, but at night that top triangular space is like a black hole.

Thus, the lights put out a lot of light, just not enough for a room with a high, sloped ceiling and dark green walls!

Oh yeah, um, back to topic...I guess we both learned to plan lighting better, you needed more, and it seems I could have had what I wanted if I knew more (though I still don't know enough to pick fixtures).

BTW, loved your "not every kitchen/island" comment on the Kitchen side of GW.

mydreamhome - can you tell me what the subway tiles in your shower are? Brand/color? I'm looking for something similar. Thanks!

One thing I wish I had added to the bathroom was an outlet behind the toillet or under the sink if nearby. Seems like those fancy seats that spray water like a bidet are catching on and that's a little harder to retrofit once everything is finished. Always nice to have the option!

The surface is very smooth and holds the heat well. Just the other night after a day of doing battle with weeds, I spent just under an hour soaking in the tub.

Because of the relatively straight sides, it's easy to clean. The GC and plumbers all said to get a stool for getting in and out of the tub, but I have no problem just stepping in and out. I'm only 5'4" and not as limber as in my younger days, but it still is not an issue.

Because no stores near us had the tub on display, I had lots of conversations with the Jason folks. They were very good to deal with -- even sent an engineering drawing that showed the angle of the tub back.

The list price is quite high. A local plumbing supply company sold it to us for just above half that, however.

If you have questions about it, I'd be happy to answer them. I think I've sat in every tub out there! Good luck in your search.

Enjoy your beautiful bath.