Looking in from the master bedroom:

From inside the shower:

Plumber coming a week from Tuesday to install fixtures. :-)Waiting for callback from electrician to take care of lighting and ventilation. :-( He doesn't get his butt in gear he's going to be climbing into the tub to put the light fixture over it! (I spent entirely too much at Rejuvenation. LOL)

Thanks so much for posting--you should stick some "befores" in for those who can't get the full effect of the transformation!

Will be back later--running late to work but had to applaud.

FlowerLady

Well, the electrician's coming a week from Saturday. I wanted him to come earlier but he's booked up. We had a LOT of damage in this area from a storm last Tuesday (hail, horizontal rain, high winds, a couple of tiny tornadoes - VERY unusual for New England!) and he said he's flat out doing insurance work replacing outside lights, burnt-out breaker boxes (we had some doozies of power surges, thank goodness for our surge protectors - I need to go buy new ones), etc.

Vix is right. For true hilarity of effect, check out the "befores" (we did not create this travesty, we simply purchased it!), although it looks so much better in pictures than it was in reality. For reference, here is the floorplan to The Bathroom From Hell.
This is the too-small-for-code shower (I'm fairly sure they bought it from an RV company and bought off the inspector, because it's only 28.5" inside) and the tub. Note that the faucet is placed right at the most rational place to get into the tub. No wonder the spout was so loose, people used it as a handle to get in and out! There was sooooooo much mold at that end of the bathroom when we gutted it, lots of pinhole leaks. Oh, and we found a LARGE mouse nest under the tub.

The big tape square on the side of the tub surround is both to stop the drafts coming up from the garage (no insulation under the tub!!) and to keep the access panel from falling out. The tub was 48" round and 16" deep, water depth of maybe 12", with completely vertical sides so that you could only sit straight up. We called it the Kiddie Pool.

Sorry about the seat! LOL

Taken sitting IN the tub (sorry it's so dark - it's been twiddled within an inch of its poor life - try tilting your monitor a little):

And a couple of other taken-in-progress pictures just because now I'm in the mood to brag a little bit. Tilework by GW's own Bill Vincent.
My floor (which, BTW, has warming mats beneath so the floors over the unheated garage won't be quite so icy):

Shower wall tiling:


It's a nice big shower for the size of the room, 38x42". Those were taken on grouting day, which is why they look all hazy and smeary. The big hole in the ceiling is for the exhaust fan.

I'm being a moron though--how are you fitting a tub and that glorious HUGE shower in the same space? Do you have the new floorplan (or maybe you can describe based on the old one).

Tell those various tradespeople your InvisiPals need closure on this project and if they would be so kind as to show up....

ps I may be stealing your border idea. Imitation/flattery, dontcha know.

Steal away on the border. I stole it from someone else. :-) One of the houseblogs, can't remember which one. I was SO depressed that I couldn't get the right color hex tiles to do the gorgeous four-color Celtic-interlace mosaic border I had mapped out (and seem to have since deleted, bad Mari!) that I went and stole someone else's. Although they didn't have hex in the middle, they had 1x1s laid diagonally, so it wasn't exactly a complete theft.

Tina

I am actually not at all happy with the sink. It's much too tall (I should have mocked it up better) and I should have caught that the rough-ins were off center which pushed the sink too far back into the corner (building codes? we don't need no steenking building codes!). With the wainscot in place and finished moving the plumbing becomes a major endeavor. The console sink I showed above wouldn't improve things any as it's the same size (except less tall) as the sink that's there so it would still have that same "off center" issue. I need to think hard about what I'm going to do to fix this without just slapping in a big bulky vanity (ugh).

I really like all the pieces you've selected for your bathroom. They look nice together.

Tina

The height issue is just as bad a problem as the off-kilterness; it was Grand Central Station in here today, what with the plumber, cleaning lady, treecutter (we have to have a dying tree removed) DH and me, and EVERYONE agreed that the sink was too tall. Cutting it down isn't really feasible, it's not sensibly put together from pipe, it's thinner threaded rods inside pipes.

We're going to replace the sink, most likely with this Cheviot sink that will fill the entire space between wall and window - we'll cheerfully violate code on this particular point and he suggested that if anyone snarks when it comes time to sell in 10 years or so we pick up a $100 HD pedestal sink to bung in there and fulfill the "4 inches between sink edge and any obstruction to the side" requirement. He'll turn the trap like this picture shows. If the original sink were the right height we could bully it into fitting by futzing with the piping in this way, but it wouldn't look very good because that sink is much shallower front-to-back. I'd have to hang a big towel on the towel bar to hide it rather than the small one I had planned. :-(

This is the replacement sink (the 32", not the 36") I picked out. I think it'll look great with the toilet's similar curves.

I had bought a Toto Drake to put in the upstairs bathroom because the existing toilet clogs approximately every six minutes ;-) but there's a problem with the rough-in up there and it wouldn't fit. So I had to order a Vespin (the least expensive of the UniFit toilets, but still cheaper than tearing up ceiling/floor to move the rough-in) and the plumber has to come back to deal with that ANYway so it's not that big a deal to put in the new sink then.

And so if I look on the bright side of all this, I now have the toilet AND the sink for the powder room when we get to that project, at LAST year's prices! :-)

The new sink will be great, though. I *love* the poor off-center one, though--it's on my shortlist but Mr Vix has something against exposed pipes (?!). So who knows what we'll do.

Thanks for the new floorplan. The room looks so much bigger, but I suppose that's to be expected with the lovely *lightness* of the console sink and the negative space created by the new tub. It gives me hope that my (much smaller) baths might end up less squashed feeling if we bring some openness to the space!

I'll be looking for the final-final shot...you're so close now!

Electrician confirmed today for Saturday. Bradbury & Bradbury says it'll be at least six weeks to get me the rest of the wallpaper (a friend talked me into continuing the Aster border throughout the suite-lette, but that meant I had to order another 3 yards). I was planning to delay the paperhanger until I had the paper to do both rooms at once but I don't know if I want to wait that long to at least get the bathroom completely done! It's not something I am up to tackling myself and let's not even talk about DH going anywhere near it. I'll make some calls tomorrow.

I'll be ordering the replacement sink tomorrow too - I was going to get it from the same local company that I get my toilets from but their price was $200 more than Vintage Tub's. It needs to travel from British Columbia to NH, I hope it doesn't take too long! It'd be a week or two at the least.

I would not recommend the Retrospect sink to anyone who is shorter than about 5'7", but it's good for tall folks. They're not pipes though, they're a contemporary metal frame! ;-)

Not sure why the room looks so huge in the shot of the tub... the tub takes up almost 2/3 of that wall. It does definitely feel less crowded and "weighty" in there than it would have if I had used, say, an apron tub (although I desperately wanted a vintage corner tub, the kind with one curvy corner) and a vanity. The new sink will be a little more "massy" than the old because it'll extend the whole distance from window to adjacent wall and it's about 4" deeper front-to-back, but it's still an open enough design that it shouldn't feel crowded. I chose a linen cabinet (to go next to the toilet) that was up on legs instead of built-in cabinets for the same reason. I do think that's one of two ways to go with small bathrooms, either try for as much open space as possible by getting things up off the floor a little with things like clawfoot tubs and pedestal sinks or treat it like a boat and build in everything. I do realize that I am blessed with a relatively generous space for the master bath, 72sf, although I have to chuckle at the folks on the Baths forum with bathrooms larger than my bedroom AND bathroom together.

Although had I had two thousand dollars to spare, I'd have indulged myself in this (the one on the right). I've seen it in person and it's incredible.

And for sheer cool value every time I stop by that salvage company I just have to ogle this 1880 contraption:

ps By "pipes" I meant the exposed plumbing pipes one sees with consoles, not the frame, ha. Of course, I love that look (sigh).

Tina

Electrician was here today. Lighting's in and looks great. Ceiling fan is up, another MBR light fixture luckily could be moved. Exhaust fan is installed and good heavens, I had to get a stool and put my hand against the grille to make sure it was working, it is so quiet. Strong recommendation for Panasonic Whisperlite. I'll try to get things cleaned up some and take some pictures tomorrow... I'm whomped.

Looking forward to seeing your Rejuvenation lights!

Have lighting pictures, finally:
2 St Helens w/antique shades from eBay, over sink:

They will be flanking this antique mirror:

Baker City:

Close-up of antique shades, lit (60w bulbs at 50% dimmed):

Tina

Btw, have you thought about painting the ceiling? Sometimes just going a shade or two lighter on it will really make a difference. And some crown molding would tie it all together. But then again, I get carried away with details.

Are you enjoying the tub? I took a long soak in mine yesterday after working most of the day in the gardens. It felt heavenly. But I think I may need one of those neck rolls. Then again I may fall asleep and drown. lol!

Diana

The tub is not yet in use, although I've sat in it a bunch of times. It fits me perfectly, the rolled rim fits exactly under my neck when my feet are flat on the tub wall by the drain and legs flat on the floor of the tub, although I might put a folded hand towel over the rim for a little bit of softening. It'll be another few weeks before we are back into the master suite, I think. I hope to get the plumber in next week to get the replacement sink installed, and I still need to figure out accessories. There's a good bit of work left to do in the bedroom too.

Very hard to get both the sink and tub into one frame but I did the best I could. I swear that tub has its own personal space warp field; there's nowhere near as much space as it looks between the end of the tub and the sink edge!

Tina

I loved the old sink (though we won't speak of the install) but this one looks perfect too!

Is that a finish line I see in the near distance?

And hey to Ms. Vix....long time no talk to, girlie...

And don't worry, the first sink will be going in the powder room. :-)

What a great bathroom. Us small home folk need to make the most of each and every of our rooms and make them enjoyable! Congrats

Tina