Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
jillybean103

Your Top Tips for a Bath Remodel

jillybean103
17 days ago

Things we’ve all learned in remodeling bathrooms. What are your tips?

  • Glass enclosures and doors….treat with RainX (water repellent).
  • Glass enlarges the entire feel of the bathroom and showcases gorgeous tile.
  • If you can, eliminate glass everything including walls and doors and just tile everything in (as shown in the snail pic). No shower curtain in a walkin shower (Looks like a locker room). Not a fan of shower curtains in a primary bathroom.
  • Niche. Make it big enough and not visible if possible. (tuck into a knee wall or the wall that isn’t seen). Shampoo bottles and rasors blow the aesthetic.
  • Shower seat. Not sold on a seat. Built one in a custom shower and never once used it, except to put my foot up. Build in a foot ledge or tile in a foot cutout.
  • Foot faucet under the controls to save $ moving plumbing (to avoid getting sprayed with cold water when turning it on).
  • Tile grout. Have installer have as close to 0 space between tiles.
  • Tub. If you have another tub in the house, it’s not as critical to have one in the master, unless you know your target buyer loves taking a bath. If you have the space for a standalone tub, great. But only after you have a great shower, double sinks, plenty of storage space. Plenty of houses have tubs. Not as many have great walkin showers. Aging population generally prefers no tub. Rough in or consider where someone could put a tub. We pulled both tubs in a condo and replaced with walkin showers. Knew our target market. Sold in one day.
  • Tub to shower conversion. Center the drain. Or, leave it where it was with the tub, if $ is a factor. Works fine.
  • Retail shower doors \- especially in a tub to shower conversion. If you buy retail a door/enclosure to cover a standard tub size opening that adjusts smaller, there will still be glass overlap when the door is closed making it nearly impossible to clean inside the two glass panels at the overlap.
  • Tile……shower floors, walls, and bathroom floors in the same tile is very elegant with the right tile (think white marble look). At most, choose 2 tiles, unless you really know what you’re doing. If you go with different tiles for bathroom floor, shower wall, shower floor, and niche, it can look like a mess. Remember you have a countertop to coordinate, too.
  • Mesh backed tile (like a 12” square mesh mounted backing) with nonlinear mosaics (like a pebble tile) will show the mesh grid outline. Yes, even if they claim it’s like a puzzle and interlocks and won’t show. It shows. Look at the displays at the big box stores. Once you see it you can’t unsee it. Had to have the tile installer remove all the pebbles and hand place. Fortunately he only asked for a couple of beers. :\-)
  • Toilets. Choose comfort height, elognated or comfort height, compact elongated. Contemporary shaped toilets up the appearance.
  • Water closet. If you have the room, enclose the toilet in a private space with a wall/door.
  • Techy gadgets. Careful on the super techy stuff (controls etc) especially in the shower. Think replacement. I’ve been in some kind of tech biz all my life and most people are not early adopters when it comes to tech in the house. They avoid it and object to it for reliability and replacement reasons.
  • Fixtures. Use quality brand fixtures and valves for years of maintenance free enjoyment. Easier and more cost effective to do quality now, than rip out the tile to fix a crappy fixture.
  • Countertops. I like to choose them first as I think it’s easier to find tile to coordinate.
  • Sinks. Use undermount and skip the vessels. Consider smaller sinks for tighter spaces. Love the look of square/rectangle.
  • Two sinks in a master. “Must” have. (Unless you can’t)
  • Mirrors. I don’t care what anyone says. A custom mirror with cut\-in sconces looks higher end than a framed one that’s flanked by sconces. Custom full size mirror also enlarges the space. Though there are super cute ones.

Comments (4)

  • Helen
    17 days ago
    last modified: 17 days ago

    I have some additions and some slightly recomendations - but really that is based on personal preferences

    I went with Showerguard over RainX - it is impregnated at the glass company and isnt a coating like RainX. I have had my glass for six years and have never squeegeed. It still looks pristine with a cursory cleaning once a week

    Grab bars - they now make them to look completely non-institutional and anyone can have a fall.

    Toto washlet or equivalent. Mine is the 550e and has performed flawlessly for 6 years so it is pennies a day

    I opted for one sink because realistically who needs to physically be over a sink for a long period of time - you brush your teeth and wash your face with water. I opted for a sit down vanity area and have customized interior of drawers to hold brushes and dryers to the side.

    @jillybean103 would gasp in horror at my bathroom which has four different tiles as part of the design for shower and walls - marble Calacatta basketweave tiles with black border for the floor as well as a marble "feature" in the shower 😂 My design inspiration was the fabulous colorful bathrooms of the Art Deco era along with a soupcon of Hollywood Regency. My counter is a very "quiet" marble - French Vanilla which is warm with almost no visible marbling.

    I do have a built in bench at one end of my shower which is one of my favorite features. I have a second hand held shower head at that end and so I am able to luxuriate by sitting on the bench while performing rituals like having conditioners soak in my hair or just relax for a bit in the warm steamy atmosphere.

    And on the subject of steam - I have a Panasonic Whisper Fan which turns on and off based on ambient humidity levels in the room. It works fantastically well as the condensation in the room is gone by the time I exit and the fan continues to run quietly in the background for a bit longer.

    Code requires bathrooms in my area to be equipped with motion detector lights. I thought it was going to be odd but I have grown to love them.


    Handheld shower heads. At least one but I have two as I have one at the end with the regular shower head and a second one by my built in bench which is at a lower level so I can access it while sitting down on the bench.

    jillybean103 thanked Helen
  • jillybean103
    Original Author
    17 days ago
    last modified: 17 days ago

    Hi @helen Love the tips! Not gasping in horror about the multiple tiles! Haha I would presume you know what you’re doing. I had the most beautiful tiles chosen (love calcatta basketweave) with quiet synergy and a bunch of designers here said that although they all go together, remove at least one. They were right!

  • Helen
    17 days ago

    @jillybean103 Glad you took my call out in the spirit of lightheartedness in which it was intended.


    I do agree that having a good designer is critical if one is deviating from the "standard" unless one has a really trained eye. I did have a really good designer who helped so much with both function and aesthetics. Without her the end result - just aesthetically - would have been not as good as I would have made choices that were much safer and paradoxically choices that didn't mesh together quite as well.


    I think that is one of the reasons for all of the rooms that are safe and look like each other because it is hard to go outside of the bland. I don't have a trained designer's eye to say the least but now when I look at rooms that I am instinctively drawn to, I can dissect them as my designer explained the process of how you avoid "matchy matchy" while not having a complete mess by using texture, colors, patterns, sizes and shapes to complement in a contrasting way.


    For example, Martha Stewart's "gray kitchen" from a decade ago bears no resemblance to the gray kitchens it propagated as it is such a subtle use of various shades of grays with textural elements as well as hits of colors - it is so far from the cliche of white or gray Shaker cabinets with white subway tile.

  • deegw
    17 days ago
    last modified: 17 days ago

    "Neutral" tile, paint, wood tones, etc. don't always play nice with each other. That applies to every room in the house.

Sponsored
NME Builders LLC
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars2 Reviews
Industry Leading General Contractors in Franklin County, OH