ny biker, we did a remodel of a small bathroom a couple years ago. For a tub we went with one from Victoria and Albert Baths. They're made out of powdered limestone in resin--lighter than cast iron (though not feather-weight), but with good insulative properties, looks nice, and durable. If it scratches or chips, it can be sanded out (within reason). So far we haven't had to test this, so I'm just depending on the company info for that. At any rate, we've been happy with it. Here's the website: http://vandabaths.com/us/americas/ Since you don't want it for yourself to take baths, it may be more than you want to spend, but just thought I'd let you know about this other option.

I don't know your heat situation, but if you're doing a tile floor, especially in a smaller room, you should look into radiant floor heat. We got a system from SunTouch--it's basically an electric blanket-like web of wires that get laid down under the tile (and whose shape/density can be varied as you lay it down), and it wasn't nearly expensive as I expected--I hadn't thought that radiant floor heat would be something we could afford, even with the insane amount of money we were throwing at the remodel (some of the best money we ever spent, btw...) I can not even begin to express how wonderful it is to step onto a *warm* floor in the middle of winter. We got a programmable thermostat, and I have it set so that at peak times, the floor is deliciously warm, but even the rest of the day, it's never really cold. Tile retains heat well, so in a small bathroom, it doesn't use much energy at all. We don't use much electricity, since our heat is gas heat--even so, our power usage hasn't noticeably increased since installing the floor.

Good luck! Remodeling our full bath in a 1 1/2 bath house was a pretty miserable experience, but we went from a hideous and dysfunctional bathroom to one we absolutely love. I swear it's made me a better person, because I start each day with a happy experience... It was so worth the money and temporary misery!