Give me remodeled bathroom pics, ideas, tips

[mrspez07]

We’re looking at remodeling all 3 of our bathrooms, and are going with our contractor next week to pick out tiles and cabinets, etc.
they won’t all be done at once and don’t want them too matchy, but will likely use some of the same material throughout.

Lower bathroom: guest/main living bathroom with a 48” single sink, toilet and square shower area.
Upper hall bath: kids use, bathtub, toilet, 48” vanity.

Master bath: includes my reach-in linear closet, it had bi-fold doors but sliders may be an option, bi-folds were getting pretty beat up. Contractor threw out the idea of armoire type closet but there is a lot of area above and to the sides of the opening that is currently being used. 5’+/- double vanity and 2 medicine cabinets. Looking for double vanity solutions and wish list items for this area.
Then toilet and shower are behind a separate door we’re going to change to a pocket door (hits above mentioned closet doors). Considered changing shower to tub, would that be worth it? I won’t use kids bathtub, but it’s the only tub. Master shower is a long enough area but drain in center. This area also has a weird dead space that could have shelves but worried about trapped moisture. Thoughts on storage near shower areas?

[mrsukyankee]

Do you have any plans or pics you can show us? That makes it easier.

[mrspez07]

I don’t have any proposed plans. I’ll take some pics of the existing and upload those.

[mrspez07]

Here’s the guest bath. I’ll also take any stories about what you added that you like or wished you had. Including finishes and materials.

[mrsukyankee]

For the guest bath, I'd probably make the sink smaller and add a storage unit (if there isn't one already there) to store extra towels, soap, etc. You don't need much sink storage when you are visiting someone. And as someone who hates cleaning grout - a tip for all of the bathrooms, the less grout the better (so bigger tiles, no tiles on sink furniture). I'm also a fan of lipless showers (you don't have to step up), especially as we tend to have ageing guests and it makes it safer for them. Make sure the actual shower head has a shower head & a separate handle shower head so you can use that one for cleaning the shower: 

[simpsongal]

Sounds like you have some floor plan changes to consider. By only tub, do you mean in the house? I probably wouldn't take it out then. We personally love baths, so we did a large 68" tub in our primary reno.

Don't go builder grade or big box on fixtures, they're lower quality. Be sure to shop at a Fergusson type place (I've ordered from Wayfair too and gotten quality). Folks are also wary of flat top fixtures b/c they tend to collect water and spot easily.

We love our Costco vanity. High quality and a good price. I try to keep bathrooms interesting but not trendy, and as timeless as possible. We also love our heated floor. I have an outlet in my side medicine cabinet for my electric toothbrush, which is also nice. And an outlet in our vanity drawer.

Bluetooth vent fan is a nice bonus too. Not too pricey but a fun feature.

[mrspez07]

Thought I had posted this after the last pic. Whoops!

Master from the bedroom in all it’s messy glory. Through the door is the toilet on the right and shower on the left. There’s some house vents up to the roof in a wall bump out next to the toilet. Across from the closet is a double vanity with lots of counter space (it’s about 7’ long now.

[mrspez07]

We don’t plan to take out the hall bath, but was trying to figure out if adding a tub as a shower/tub in a master is a good idea or just stay with the shower only pan?

We went to the tile store yesterday, brought home a few sample boards. Am I going to regret a white/light grey floor tile? We weren’t drawn to the darker floor options.

[mrsukyankee]

Nov 4, 2022 10:58:17 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

We don’t plan to take out the hall bath, but was trying to figure out if adding a tub as a shower/tub in a master is a good idea or just stay with the shower only pan?

We went to the tile store yesterday, brought home a few sample boards. Am I going to regret a white/light grey floor tile? We weren’t drawn to the darker floor options.

I've only ever had lighter tiles and never regretted them.

[Susie]

Our previous house had only one full bath (plus a half downstairs), and we renovated the full bath in 2018.  At the time that we did it, we planned on staying in the house, but ended up changing our minds and moving in 2021.  

I loved that bathroom, and it was indeed a selling point when we put the house on the market.  But there are things I'd have done differently with hindsight.  

1) The quartz counters had veins of aqua running through them (Cambria Praa Sands).  I loved them, but if you wear contacts, this is a bad move.  It makes it really hard to find your lenses when you drop them.

2) We changed the layout significantly in order to go from single to double sinks.  For the 3 years we used it, it was a really nice improvement, but we spent way more on changing the layout than a mere "facelift" would've required, and I don't think it helped with selling.  It ended up not mattering because the market was on fire when we sold in 2021, but we'd have gotten just as much mileage for less money, out of just updating the fixtures that were there.

3) We chose cherry cabinets because that's what I loved, and because cherry is a very hard wood, that would hold up to all the showers, steam, and wetness that comes with a single full bath being shared by a whole family.  It ended up being overkill when we sold.

4) The cherry was stained a cool shade to coordinate with the marble tile.  Even in just 3 years, with one window that is partly shaded by trees, the stain faded and the wood got darker.  I was fully aware that that's what cherry wood does, but it did it to a degree that exceeded expectations.  The cabinets were already less coordinated with the rest of the bathroom by the time we left.  The new owners will probably end up painting them, which... I just hope I never know that for sure because painting cherry would hurt my heart.  In our current house, we have cherry floors and cherry furniture, all unstained, and I'm embracing the natural wood color.

5) We chose a basketweave tile for the floor, and I liked it a lot, but the install wasn't perfect so the small tiles in the mosaic weren't perfectly flat and you could feel it underfoot.  I'm sure it could've been installed better, but I wasn't 100% satisfied with that.  Next time I might choose something larger format for the floor.

6) We chose recessed medicine cabinets that had curved top and bottom edges and single-handle Delta faucets.  The cabinet height was set so that the cabinet doors cleared the faucet handle... but only when the faucet was off.  It drove me nuts.  You have no idea how often you reach into the medicine cabinet while the water is on, until they hit one another.  Lol.  Widespread faucet that rotates vs. up/down would've been better.

7) I never even thought about counter height really, but after it was installed we realized it was a significant number of inches taller than the stock 1985 vanity that was there before.  My 6'2" husband was thrilled.  My preschooler, not so much.

8) I also didn't think to specify the height of the shower head.  The installers set it high, and again, my 6'2" husband was thrilled.  But at 5'2", I had to stand on the tub edge to reach to adjust the spray pattern or take the extendable shower head down to wash the dog or whatever.  I hated feeling Lilliputian in my own freshly renovated bathroom.

ETA:  A few before & afters...

[mrspez07]

Susie
Did you find you used your double sinks simultaneously? We used to but rarely get ready at the same time, so actually pondering the need for double. I feel like it would take away value in the master to go down to 1 sink tho.
Your vanity layout wit the storage on the side is something we’re thinking we’ll do on the master

[Susie]

Nov 7, 2022 12:29:02 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

Susie
Did you find you used your double sinks simultaneously? We used to but rarely get ready at the same time, so actually pondering the need for double. I feel like it would take away value in the master to go down to 1 sink tho.
Your vanity layout wit the storage on the side is something we’re thinking we’ll do on the master

We did, but for reasons which may in part be specific to that house and that time of our lives.  Back then it was pre-covid, and we were both working downtown 5 days/week, plus we were using a daycare that was also downtown.  We all rode in together, so we didn't have to pay for a 2nd parking spot.  That meant we were all getting ready to leave together, in a way that we don't now when we have one catching a school bus, one at preschool, and two adults that work opposite hybrid office/WFH schedules.  Plus, we only had one bath for the whole family on the same floor as the bedrooms, so there was a lot more shared/simultaneous use than we have now with a 2.5 bath house.

In our current house, both the kids' bath and ours have single sinks.  I miss the double more with the kids than in our bath, but I'm not willing to go to great lengths to gain a double sink in either bath.  There are a lot of things I value more (namely storage space).

[moreace01]

Something I'm noticing in your pix - there are no real drawers in any of the vanities (I think I see one but might be a false front?). I feel like having drawers really helps keep countertop clutter at bay - way more so than under sink cabinets. It's too hard to grab stuff in cabinets. Anyway, something to keep in mind when choosing new vanities.

In regards to floor color - I've had light marble and no issues with that (I'm not sure what the drawbacks would be?). Keeps a small space feeling lighter/larger.