House Remodeling Thread (long)

[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.