Has anyone used a designer for their bathroom remodel? It’s a modest 8x9 bathroom with the tub and toilet on one side and a vanity and closet on the other. We can’t change the layout, and it’s basically just a long, narrow room. I’ll never love it, but it’s time we do a cosmetic remodel and change the tub out for a walk-in shower. We plan on ripping everything out down to the studs due to any mold that may be there. My goal is easy maintenance.
I’m completely immobilized by decision paralysis. I can’t really find similar bathrooms on Houzz or Pinterest, as this room has some challenges (there is little floor space and the double vanity is a non-standard size due to the closet). I’m not looking for a high-end remodel, but I’d like to avoid making any costly mistakes. I’d also love to see a rendering of what it would look like with the finishes I pick. I’d also like to go over different options for the walk-in shower (solid surface, tile, etc) and compare the pros/cons and price differences.
Do you think a designer would be of any benefit? How do they usually work? Charge by the hour? The job?
Also, hit me up with your experience changing out a tub for a shower (will not be able to expand beyond the size of our standard bathtub). What did you do for the walls? Pan or tile for the floor?
I had good luck with using the AI visualizer tool. I uploaded a photo of my current space and then added prompts for colors, styles, and also inspiration pictures. It did a good job!
I am at this same point and considering a designer - I’m having trouble finding someone to even do that though! Some have stipulations that they only want to contract for new builds, multiple room remodels or for projects $100k up
The suggestions for finding pics and stuff to me help with style (which I don’t need help with) but not LAYOUT AND FUNCTION.
And honestly the recommendations for AI tools and such are way out of my comfort zone.
Try Google Gemini. It’s not that hard to use. Take a photo of your current room from a bunch of angles. You then upload that pic into Gemini. Then you can make changes. “Replace the bathtub with a walk in shower”. See what you get . OR You can upload pics of wall colors, different style vanities, mirrors, just about anything. It does take a little practice but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy and fun to do (although Gemini doesn’t always understand what you mean).
I’m haven’t done this with a bathroom, but I did it with my living room tables, rugs and window treatments. It was fun.
I have used ZERO things like Gemini. And it would be super hard to get photos of a bathroom from all angles - it’s not a luxury sized room.
Plus how do I or Gemini know things like what plumbing will work where? What to do about an awkward window? How to plan for lighting? How big is this room once it’s actually demolished? It’s too much to trust a tech site.
I want someone to come in my house, LOOKat my space and measure and give me configuration options. I want a visual of those options.
My space is teeny tiny. I used a panoramic photo. It wasn’t perfect but it worked. You can tell Gemini to either keep the lay out or maximize it and give you suggestions.
Like @thumper1 I found it very easy and fun to play around with.
I am in the process of doing a master bath remodel. I confess I have the absolute luxury of having my sister who is an interior designer helping me with the design. However, if I did not have that option I would have hired a designer.
There is a designer that several of my friends have used that is also a contractor and I would probably hire him if I didn’t have my S for advice. There are so many little details that she just knows about that I wouldn’t have even known to think about.
Also, she has been really helpful in helping me narrow down choices because otherwise I find it overwhelming, way too many choices. Can you get recommendations from friends or neighbors?
When I redid my guest bathroom about 5 years ago I contacted a design firm. If I recall correctly they said they would do a design for somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-3k which would be applied to doing the work if I hired their firm or I could take the plans and hire another contractor.
We are also going to do a walk in shower to replace the current bathtub, tile floor. Also no room to expand the footprint in that area.
I hope this is helpful.
We did a major bathroom remodel years ago for a small bathroom and did the following: stole about two feet of space from the bedroom closet on the other side of the bathroom wall so that we could have more room; added a skylight for light and a feeling of depth/expansiveness; bought an extra-deep tub for luxurious soaks and since it was extra deep then built a tub-length step/ledge from the floor that flanked it at about 1/3 the tub height it so it also added vertical depth/interest to the room.
Not sure if any of these would be helpful but I think they are not typical choices so I wanted to mention them in case any of them resonate. Basically tried to take a small narrow dark room and add vertical elements and more light.
I have a 25 year old home that is ready for a bathroom remodel, I’m just putting it off a little bit longer. What I will say is my 25 year old shower stall in the master bath has 3 sides marble slab walls and I will pay for again. These things are fantastic - no grout, easy to clean, very pretty. And, the grout in the corners where the walls come together, is still white after 25 years! I haven’t been cleaning it, it just doesn’t seem to get moldy. I would prefer a different flooring but slab walls are in fact AWESOME!
My daughter is just finishing up a remodeling project. She did the AI mockup but also got recommendations from friends and coworkers for a local designer. They knew they weren’t good at decision making and felt a designer was worth the cost. The prices varied dramatically from some who wanted a percentage of total job and some who only wanted expensive jobs to the one they picked who was willing to work hourly. They narrowed it down to a couple of designers and met with those in person. They ended up using her more than they had planned but felt the cost was definitely worthwhile. She drew up different designs and also mocked up designs with different finishes. The designer also did trips to the flooring store and the tile store for them. My daughter purchased all the products direct from the suppliers. Some designers want a cut of the materials.
Would you consider going for a really nice single sink with plenty of counter, instead of the custom double? I really regret putting in a double sink in our master-bath. It was great in the shared kids’ bathroom, but DH and I can use the same sink and I crave more counter space every day.
We did put in a shower-only, and my other regret is that whatever fancy tile/grout they used, constantly develops mold that I have to scrub off with bleach. And we are in general a very dry house, which is to say there’s no other mold and no humidity (and there’s a window in the bathroom). Our house is in general so dry that even when we discovered an illegal venting of our dryer, with lint in the wall, there was zero mold there. So I have no idea what the problem was with the bathroom but it’s been sixteen years. I see those ads for the “bath fitter” ladies with their adorable babies and toddlers and I kind of wish we’d done the cheaper-looking one-piece if that would have been better.
I recommend splurging on a really good shower head, and the largest shower stall you can do.
We found the guy at Lowe’s fantastic to work with….. we weren’t going for fancy, just easy to clean, not a lot of bells and whistles, maximize the space. They recommend installers/contractors- not sure what the financial arrangement is between the store and the independent operators, but we were pretty happy with the result and did not pay a “designer”. I think they all have access to the same software packages anyway– the key knock on using the store’s designer is that you are locked in to using their cabinetry and fixtures, but since I have decision paralysis that turned out to be a good thing.
I agree with you about the single vs. double sink. We’re going to put in a single sink in our upcoming remodel. In addition to taking up counter space I think a double sink eats up storage space in the cabinet because of the needed plumbing.
I was having mold and grout issues in our guest bathroom that we remodeled 5 years ago. I had it professionally cleaned this summer and since then my H and I wipe down the tile after we shower. I haven’t had to scrub the grout once since then.
