House Remodeling Thread (long)

[ny biker]

The painters are coming TOMORROW.

Of course we have freezing rain today and tonight (if I allow myself to think about the weather I will start screaming -- enough already!!). But I don't think the weather will keep them from getting here on time tomorrow, and I just have to hope I will be able to get to my office since I can't work from home.

They said they would do one room at a time. I'm almost done getting the bedroom and hallway ready, so they can start there. By tomorrow night I should have the living-dining room ready, too.

Last weekend one of the curtain rods started to come out of the wall in the living room. I guess my insulated drapes are too heavy. But this is perfect timing! I bought new, slightly longer curtain rods for all three windows in the rooms being painted, will take down the old ones and have the painters patch the holes, then will have the new ones put up after the painting is done. I've also ordered white double-cell honeycomb shades for all 3 windows and the balcony door, for added insulation in winter that still allows light into the rooms.

Meanwhile I'm still looking for the right shade of pale pink paint for the bathroom.

[ny biker]

Has anyone completely remodeled a bathroom? I'm trying to plan a complete renovation of the small bathroom in my condo, getting rid of everything except the toilet, which I replaced a few years ago. This means buying a new vanity and bathtub. But I'm stumped as to where to buy them.

From research online, I know I don't want a cast iron tub. I'm on the second floor of a building with no elevator and the hallway outside the bathroom is narrow, so I don't want anything that heavy and hard to manouver. I think I also don't want acrylic, because I've read that it chips/scratches easily. Porcelain-covered steel seems a good choice. But when I look online to get a sense of price, it seems the only choices are acrylic or cast iron. I never take baths, the only reason I'm looking for a new tub is that I'm told every home has to have a tub for resale value. I just want a white tub in the same dimensions that I have now -- 60x30 and about 14" high on the the outside, and I want something reasonably durable. I'm starting to think I will have to choose between cheap crap and something heavier and more expensive than I want.

And then there's the vanity. I want a white one. Simple, shaker-design if possible, and white. The room is small so I'm looking for something 30 inches wide. From my research, it seems that real wood (not particle board or MDF) is better because it stands up to humidity better.

But some stores only sell white vanities that are cheap non-solid-wood. Others only sell expensive custom cabinets. There seems to be nothing in between. I think I will actually have to spend more than $1000 in order to get something that isn't plastic-looking veneer.

So yeah, I'm getting really frustrated. I cannot afford to let things get out of control with this project. But it must be done -- my current bathroom is a disaster with unkillable mold, and I've been living with it for too long.

On the positive side, I have found tile that I like for the floor and bath/shower walls. It's not the cheapest tile out there, but it's only ceramic so it's not crazy expensive and the room is small enough that I don't feel forced to go with something I like less just to get a lower cost per square foot. For the bath/shower walls, I want a white subway tile look, but with something larger than the traditional 3x6 tiles used for a subway pattern (which I have for my kitchen backsplash). I found a bright white 10x14 tile that I think will look nice. At first I worried that 9x12 or 10x14 would be too big, so I got some poster paper and a ruler and drew rectangles in different sizes in a brick/subway pattern and stuck them up on the wall. This helped me settle on a size and also decide that I didn't want something more rectangular, where the length of each tile is 2x the width (such as 4x8 or 12x24).

For the floor, I found a 12x12 ceramic tile that's white with silver veins. So it's got a marble look but for a much lower cost. What I really like is that the background is white, not gray, but it's not solid white. I'll use a grout that's similar to the color of the silver veins. I plan to have them laid out in a diamond pattern.

http://www.tileshop.com/product/carr...+12+x+12+in.do

One thing I haven't resolved yet is the paint choice for the walls. As mentioned before I want a pale pink. Some of my friends think this is crazy, but my thinking is: the room gets lots of sun, and pale pink walls will be cheerful; I don't want anything neutral (white, gray, beige); the other rooms in the condo have blue or green walls, so I need something different in the bathroom; yellow and orange would be different, but I don't look good in yellow or orange so I don't want it around me when I'm looking in the mirror. Originally I tried a deep ruby red, and it was beautiful when I painted a sample on poster paper, but it would make the room feel too dark and oppressive. I think even a lighter, brighter red would be too dark. But that's what made me think of pink.

But which pink?? I've looked at hundreds of paint chips from several different stores and brands. I've bought 4 or 5 sample cans and painted them on poster paper, only to find the colors are too cool/purple at night or they look Band-Aid colored in direct sun. I've searched home decorating forums and blogs and written down colors that people say they've used, only to find that they're all way too peachy. I've gone back and looked at the paint chips again, returned to the stores to get more of them, taped together 4-6 chips of the same shade in order to make a bigger paint chip, taped them up on a white door to look at them in different lighting conditions. I think I've decided on two more colors for sample cans. I hope one of them works, because this is getting expensive.

I bought this shower curtain -- http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-108...er-curtain.jsp -- if I can find the right shade of pink for the walls, I think the room will look really nice and cheerful, a nice place to be when you first wake up in the morning.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. And to think I haven't even started to look for faucets and towel bars yet. Or a lighting fixture. Oy.

[Trek420]

The CA condo that I sold came with a tiny bathroom that was divided into 3 tiny bits; laundry, sink, toilet. I bashed it open, took out the wall, installed a sliding door and converted it to a half bath, toilet and laundry. The utility sink was the sink.

The result since it was off the kitchen made the whole house and kitchen feel bigger, light and open.

Somewhere on TE are pictures, will try to find the link. We're thinking about a bath remodel here but just in planning, drawing stages. I'd like a step in shower, no tub, done with hand made tile. But just dreaming right now.

[ny biker]

I strongly considered replacing the tub with a step-in shower, especially since my friend broke her femur and we've talked about how she manages to do things like get in and out of the shower. It reminded me of a recent discussion here about having a home you can grow old in and be able to live in if/when you have mobility problems. But I've heard from several people that you need a tub in your home for resale value. So I figure the second best option is to find a low tub rather than a deep soaking tub. I hope I'm able to find one. I was just reading about an American Standard tub that is the right size and is not cast iron, but the reviews are not good in terms of scratching, etc.

I realized yesterday that I really need to get moving on this in order to meet a deadline I'd set for myself -- I'd like the bathroom to be finished before my sister visits in early July. If I need to factor in the time to receive a custom cabinet, I'm running out of time. I already know that I want to hire the same contractor who renovated my kitchen a few years ago, so I'm going to call him this week (it's in writing now so I'm committed! No procrastinating!) so I can get on his schedule. He will probably also be able to recommend a source for the vanity and tub based on his experience.

[Crankin]

We remodeled 3.5 baths in this house. Our master bath was a total gut/reno that a contractor did. We reconfigured the walk in closet and bath, took out the tub and separate shower stall from the early 80s that looked like it was from a bad gym. We put in a walk in shower, with a bench, all tile. I love it, but sometimes worry that this will affect the resale value of the house. On all of those HGTV shows, you always see the woman running into the sunken tub, fully clothed, and oohing how great it is. There is a tub in the "family" bathroom on the floor where the bedrooms are, but it is a very small bathroom. If you had kids, I am sure you wouldn't want to relax in there. We also put in all new cabinets, countertops, and sinks/toilet. This job only took 3 weeks; the total finishing was held up because we had to wait for our own painter and the hard wood floor guy, who was working on matching up the wood floor to where the bathroom started. DH remodeled 2 other full baths, which included tiling the floors (he did great), painting, new sinks and vanities, tubs, and toilets. The very small family bath needed a small white sink, with a cabinet under, and we got it at Home Depot. It is cheap and I severely regret it! Our contractors helped with the tubs, and installed them. They also did our half bath, which is used a lot and looked like someone had thrown a can or two of paint on the walls when we moved in.

[ny biker]

KHG - those V and A tubs are beautiful, but it looks like they're all freestanding. I'm looking for an alcove model (walls on three sides).

Crankin - I think I would really like a walk-in shower with a bench, and I think it would be great for many people who want to "age in place." And it seems they're pretty popular right now. Though people say you need a tub for resale value (or to rent a condo, which is more and more common in my neighborhood due to the real estate crash), it's still hard to predict what people will want. Some will prefer the all-tile walk-in shower, some will want a deep soaking tub and some will just want a basic tub that works for them to stand in while showering and also allow them to bathe their dog.

I've spent more time researching on the internet, and it seems that acrylic tubs are not so bad after all, while some complain that porcelain-coated steel can have noise problems and it not necessarily durable. I don't actually know what kind of tub I have now, except that there's metal under the scratched-up white surface. I do know that was that badly scratched when I moved in 11 years ago, which means it lasted less than 30 years, and that's less than I would expect from a well-treated cast iron tub. I also don't know if I've ever used an acrylic tub anywhere so I don't know if you can really tell the difference between that and cast iron. From what I've read, some people have reported flexing problems while standing in acrylic tubs, but if they're installed over mortar they should feel sturdy with no flexing problems. I guess that's another thing to discuss with the contractor -- how he installs the new tub.

As I read about mortar under new tubs, I realized that I need to change my planned order of operations. I'm also planning to rip up the wall-to-wall carpet in the living room, hallway and bedroom and replace it with new wood floors. After attempting to get estimates from three flooring companies I've decided to go with the one whose sales person came to my house, looked under the carpet and had a long talk with me about what I wanted and what my options were. I was about to call him to get moving on that project and then do the bathroom after the floors. My thinking was that the bathroom guys might damage the new floors, but then again the floor guys might mess up something in a new bathroom, which they would use for cleaning up at the end of each day. But now I'm realizing the potential for damage is greater with the bathroom renovation, with removing the old tub, ripping out the old tile walls and floor, new mortar, new grout, etc. So I should do the bathroom first.

BTW I've decided that planning and managing home improvement projects is like a part-time job. It really takes a lot of time and energy. But at the the end, there's less money in your bank account instead of more.

[khg]

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!

[rebeccaC]

Here's the website: http://vandabaths.com/us/americas/

beautiful bathtubs!!! Their amiata looks like my french bateau cast iron tub….wonderful to soak and relax in!!!

[Crankin]

NY, that's why we hired a bath/kitchen designer from a small business that focused only on this. We went to their showroom and chose the things we needed to do, after we agreed on the initial design. If I had had to research all of the things I bought to be installed, I would have gone nuts. I hate, hate, hate anything to do with home stuff, but I do like nice things and enjoy my home. I know that's an oxymoron, but the way we did this was not more expensive and there was someone who could organize everything and actually knew about this stuff. DH is very knowledgable, but he knew there were some things he couldn't and didn't want to do. This is the most involved I've ever been in any home project and there's still a couple of things (one big) that I regret. I hate the way my bathroom cabinet is in the middle of the counter, up to the ceiling. It's beautiful wood, and when I looked on the blueprint I said "yeah, sure," but really, when I look at a blueprint, I don't really "see" what it's going to be. I was pissed. Besides the bath tub issue, we also kept the same footprint in our kitchen/eating area. It looks beautiful and works for 2 adults, but I think we should have gutted the space and made it more open. We decided not to, based on time and money, which was dumb, as we had the time and money.

[shootingstar]

Funny how there's bathtub soaker fans vs. shower only fans. I'm a shower only fan. I actually didn't shower /have a shower at home until I was in university. At parents' home, it was only 1 bathroom, with 1 bathtub and no shower...for 2 adults and 6 children. This is in Canada. Even as older teens, we were never allowed to have high bathtub water..for safety, clean-up and economic reasons.

At hotels, I'm still a shower person even if there's a lovely soaker /Jacuzzi bathtub.

I disliked the maintenance and clean-up of bathtub afterwards. That's why I became a shower only person. My parents NEVER showered their whole adult lives. And they had homes with bathtub and shower combined in 1 after all kids left home and they moved to newer home.

[ny biker]

I used to be an occasional bath person, years ago. I haven't even considered taking a bath since I moved into my current home, because I've never been able to get the tub to look really clean. Maybe with a new tub in a cheerful new bathroom I'll make time for a good soak now and then.

When I was in college I had a housemate who liked to take long baths on Sunday mornings while reading the NY Times. It's enough of a challenge to keep a newspaper or other paper reading material dry when you're in the bath, so I wouldn't dare try to read anything on a tablet or smartphone. I wonder how soakers like my college friend have adapted to changes in technology.

At any rate, I did call the contractor yesterday. He was on his way out of town for a 3-day weekend so we have an appointment for Tuesday morning. He's done enough bathroom remodels in my neighborhood that he can almost give the estimate sight-unseen, but he said he wanted to see if my apartment is one that has room to move one wall back a couple of inches. He also gave me the name of someone he works with for custom vanities and cabinets, and I have an appointment scheduled with her tomorrow afternoon. Following that appointment I'm going to Sherwin-Williams to get a can of sample paint (Lighthearted Pink -- I forget the number).

I also asked the contractor about bathtubs, and he said that for most of the remodels he does, he installs Bootz tubs, which are porcelain on steel. There are some mixed reviews for them on the Home Depot site, but the contractor says he's never had a complaint about them. From reading the reviews, it seems a fair number of the problems are with tubs that are damaged at the store or during installation, and one reason for hiring this contractor is that I know he would not install anything that was damaged at the store and he would replace it if his workers caused any damage while putting it in. I still have a concern though, since some reviews mention that the white tubs in this brand are more of an off-white color, and that might not look good with the bright white tiles I want for the walls. So I'm planning a visit to the store tonight to have a look.

So the wheels are in motion. I'm excited!