UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

We're redoing both of our downstairs bathrooms as they are seriously outdated and remind me of a pepto bismal bottle...

In any event, we are FINALLY meeting with the contractor tomorrow night yet I have absolutely no idea what I want to do in the master bath and the guest bath. I kind of have an idea, but I don't know anything about vanities, cabinents, toilets, showers, tubs, tile...... I don't want to come off totally ignorant when talking to the contractor because I don't want him to take advantage of our ignorance.

We're talking total rip out of two bathrooms.... can anyone who has had their bathroom renovated give me some pointers???

TIA

Message edited 7/13/2006 10:41:24 AM.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

go to barnes and noble and pick up kitchen and bath and other home remodeling magazines. they have TONS of ideas..... then take a trip to Home Depot Expo - they have a great display of bathrooms already set up. Then browse around the different faucets, tubs, showers, toilets, tile etc. this should be a great starting point.

Message edited 7/12/2006 3:03:34 PM.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Thanks... have already done the book and magizine route, just leaves me confused. And unfortunately, there's only 2 home depot expos in the entire state of NJ neither of which are anywhere near me.....

Hopefully I can formulate my ideas properly and this guy will understand what I'm looking for

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Are you anywhere near woodbridge? there was a great store there that was similar to EXPO.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Probably about 40 minutes or so from Woodbridge.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Well you can break it down...

Do you want tile? Where? ie: just in shower, just on floor, everywhere?
Do you want tile in the shower or one of those vinyl/plastic shower stalls?

Do you want/need a large soaking tub like or a nice standard tub?

Do you want cabinets like a vanity w/ sink combo or do you want a pedestal sink?

The size of the space will deff. come into play w/ all decisions.

If you want white fixtures your tile selections are narrowed down for you also.

I'll try to post pick of my b-room that we redid.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

First, what's the overall decorating style of your house? Do you like modern? traditional? You want the bathrooms to coordinate with the overall style of the house.

Second, keep in mind you don't want the bathrooms to be too overall trendy as they are expensive to replace if your tastes change. We re-did 2 1/2 baths along with a lot more, all at the same time but I love this stuff. I would go with white fixtures (toilet, tub, sink) and a neutral tile. You can always change the paint color and re-accessorize if you feel tired of the look and you will have what feels like a whole new bathroom w/o the total re-do price.
That's what I did in my two main baths... all white tile, hall bath has a neutral colored floor. Our bath has white tiles but I wouldn't recommend them for a bath a lot of people will use. White floors tiles... you see every little piece of dirt.

Tub or shower w/ a seat or both?
Shower doors or curtain?

Tile- all along the walls or only in the tub area?
Any special design? Decorative border?

Shower fixtures- Fixed, handheld, movable bar, spray tower? We got both, the stationary one that goes with the plumbing suite and a movable bar. Both can operate at the same time. We use the movable bar to rinse down the shower. Makes cleaning so much easier.

Sinks- Pedestal vs. vanity. Pedestals are nice. I love the look of them but you also have to consider counter space and storage. Unless you have an ample medicine cabinet that you are putting in or a linen tower to store all of the bathroom stuff (and I like to have all of the towels in the bathroom and my hamper hidden so a linen tower was a must for me) where are you going to keep the toilet paper? Cleaning supplies? etc.? Pedestals are nice in guest baths but then again you need a place for the toilet paper just make sure you make another place. I always worry about storage and maximixing space so I went with traditional vanities.

Materials for vanity- If it's a bath that will take a lot of wear and tear I would stick with a neutral, durable countertop. No marble for kids or guests... so many liquids can penetrate it and stain it or ruin the sealant. We have it in our master but I would never get it for any other place in the house. We have Lifestone for the kids bath and guest bath.

Lighting/Electric- Do you need it reconfigured? You probably need...
Light in bath/shower
Light in center of the room
Vanity task lighting... this is important as you want to pick something that will not cast a shadow at certain angles as you look in the mirror.
Possibly a light above the toilet.

Words of advice...

Floor- Keep it a neutral light brown and a tile that has a variance of color. This hides everything

Toilets- round bowl not oblong as they tend to get clogged up more often Kohler sells a cheap and very well rated bowl available at Home Depot.

Cement board- this is special sheetrock that is moisture resistant. Most contractors will use it around the shower area. Make sure he is using green board throughout the rest (moisture resistant sheetrock)

Sink faucets- my contractor told me the aged bronze is beautiful but the finish wears off pretty quickly (in a few years). It's also the most expensive. The same faucet in aged bronze vs. polished chrome ot even brushed nickel will often be three times the price.

Plumbing fixture- like I said above, I'd stick with brushed nickel or polished chrome. Many more choices and it's easier to find accessories such as towel rods that match.

Sinks- everyone likes those trendy bowl type sinks. My contractor told me he has installed a couple of dozen over the last two years and almost all of his customers regret getting them as the water splashes out of them very easily and gets all over the rest of the vanity.

Electrical outlets- get a quadruple outlet by the vanity. We have so many appliances now that need to be charged (toothbrishes, grooming kits, etc) and two plugs are no longer enough.

Have you gone to Home Depot Expo and tile stores to get ideas from their displays.

Sorry so long but this was my life for four months and I learned a lot.

FM me if you need any help.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

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Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

So those are some messy pics of my bath room, we choose neutrals and can change the look w/ accessories & towels (which I don't have yet).

Tile was from cancos and once I told him we had all white fixtures there were about 3 I liked.

All fixtures came from home depot expo. They are Kohler, Stately editions. We went w/ brushed nickel faucets from price pfister also from home depot expo. We ran radiant heat on the floor under the tile. And the mirror and chest are from pottery barn.

If you have ANY questions FM me. I'm glad to help!!

ETS: we added the decorative border in the shower & chair rail all around.

Message edited 7/12/2006 3:34:50 PM.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Ladybug - that bathroom is BEAUTIFUL!!! I really love it!

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

This is the store I was talking about if you dont mind the 40 minute drive.

The Great Indoors

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Thank you!!! I can't take all the credit pottery barn had almost the same bath room in one of there catalogs and I fell in love!!

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

I LOVE your bathroom!!! That's the look I was thinking of for our guest bath.

I'll have to post pics tonight of our two bathrooms.

They are both basically the same size (the master and the guest), and they share the back wall with eachother. Our plan is to do both of the bathrooms at the same time, make the guest bath smaller and extend the master bath. It's pretty big now, but it's more narrow and longer than it is wide.

Thanks for the help ladies!!!

lulu - thanks for the info, I'll have to take the ride this weekend!

Message edited 7/12/2006 3:42:24 PM.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Check out American Standard You can see different collections and they have bathroom designs too. You can even design your own bathroom and add pieces you like, I just haven't figured out how to do that yet

ETA: You can design a bathroom on Kohler too

Message edited 7/12/2006 4:46:40 PM.

Re: Confused and don't know where to start..

Master Bath (don't you LOVE the wallpaper?) I don't think you can see, but the pattern on the wallpaper is actually glitter!



Yes, that's wallpaper on the ceiling!





(yikes! please don't mind the mess!)


Shower


I uploaded pictures of my guest bath too, but they seem to have disappeared. Will post shortly.

Message edited 7/13/2006 10:43:22 AM.

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

That is a very nice size bathroom and if you are extending it even more it will be plenty of room to work with. Can you get one of those planning books with graph paper in the back then all the cutouts for cabinets and different size bathtubs and just fool around with the placement of everything?

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

dont mind that its totally not done but this is the color scheme

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

Guest Bath Pics (share the back wall with the master bath)



Don't you love the color scheme?

Message edited 7/13/2006 11:01:56 AM.

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

first to make it cheaper have a contractor rip out all the tile and put up new sheetrock (instead of retiling the whole thing- which can be VERY expensive). Only put tiles in and around the tub and on the floor.

seocnd pick a new toilet, tub, vanity/pedestal sink and medicine cabinet and lights. you can get it at home depot or lowes etc.

then have a contractor install these items, pick an nice neutral paint color, find some pretty acessories and there you go

you dont need to spend a ton of money if you keep the renovations basic.

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

Ladybug, that is a stunning bathroom.
MrsRBK, There is a Home Expo in Bridgewater - exit 17 off of 287. It is in North Central NJ.

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..

Re: UPDATED WITH PICS AT BOTTOM...Confused and don't know where to start..