Bathroom renovation choices

Parent Cafe
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<p>So it looks like we may be renovating an existing bath and putting in a new one. I’m not interested in a fabulous day spa, just in a nice, attractive bathrooms that work and are in keeping with our circa 1900 house.</p>

<p>In one of the bathrooms, I plan to replace the cheesy vanity and mirror with a nice vintage pedestal sink I bought years ago at an auction and a framed mirror. The bath in question has a wood floor, a vintage claw-foot tub and nice wainscoting. My though is to swing the tub around so that it is under the window, which gives us room to install a separate corner shower. For cost reasons, the shower will probably have to be a modular type, rather than tiled. :frowning: But not an el-cheapo one. That, plus new light fixtures, will take care of that bathroom.</p>

<p>There is sort of an odd arrangement at the back of the house, where you walk through one room, about 8x12, to get to the second room, also about 8x12 These two side-by-side rooms were obviously used as bedrooms at some time in the distant past, but they were never really finished up to the standard of the rest of the house, which is quite high. The outer room is currently a laundry room, and the inner room (which shares a wall with the existing bathroom) is an office. Our thought is to make the inner room a bathroom, and neaten up the outer room so that the laundry is contained in a cabinet running across the back wall with a counter top for folding, etc. Plenty of room for two front loaders plus hamper(s) and a roll-out cart for supplies in the cabinet. That leaves the rest of the room available for whatever one wishes: exercise equipment, yoga, craft or sewing, extra wardrobes and dressing suite if the walk-in closet in the master bedroom–nearby but not adjoining–is not enough. Both rooms have a central smaller window on the back wall, and a larger central window on the side wall. If you can envision this, read on… :)</p>

<p>I envision that the new bath would serve the master, and the renovated bath would continue to serve the other 3 bedrooms. (There is also a powder room downstairs that has a shower. I’d love to get rid of the shower, but H refuses and it does enable a person who is unable to do stairs to stay in the study if necessary.)</p>

<p>Here are my questions: How important do you think the double sink thing is? Would you rather have a nice 4 ft shower with some bells and whistles but no tub, or a shower over tub? If the sink is a pedestal, would you like to have a separate vanity of the kind you can sit at, with mirrors and storage for makeup and hair stuff?</p>

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<p>“How important do you think the double sink thing is?”</p>

<p>I think this is a very important feature of our master bathroom - it is a real time saver in the mornings. I can do whatever I want on my side while DH finishes his 10-15 min shaving ritual.</p>

<p>“Would you rather have a nice 4 ft shower with some bells and whistles but no tub, or a shower over tub?”</p>

<p>My vote goes to the shower. Neither DH nor I use our (separate) tub often, but we both spend at least 5 minutes in the shower (we have two shower heads in our 6-ft shower - HUGE time saver, too). If you have to have a shower over a tub, I would make sure that the tub has some sort of a side door so the user does not have to climb over the side of the tub and risk slipping and falling in it (and such accessible tubs can get expensive). Additionally, I would consider the ease of cleaning: a shower enclosure is much easier to take care of, IMO, than a tub (especially the area around the drain plug).</p>

<p>"If the sink is a pedestal, would you like to have a separate vanity of the kind you can sit at, with mirrors and storage for makeup and hair stuff? "</p>

<p>I like the sleek, clean look of pedestal sinks, but I think that they do not work well in master baths partially because of their lack of horizontal work surfaces (and the potential storage space under the sink is also wasted). If you have to have a pedestal sink, I think you have to go with the makeup station. In one of the European hotels where we stayed during our recent trip the pedestal sink had a tiled ledge above it (right below the mirror) where the makeup, toothpaste, etc. can be placed - I liked that solution.</p>

<p>Good luck with your renovation project!</p>

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<p>Contractor coming tomorrow to discuss bath renovation.I want to remove garden tub and make shower with a bench,put toilet where current stall shower is.Will keep two sinks and would like separate vanities with mirror over each and will make linen closet where toilet is.All ready have new tub and shower (tiled) in other bathroom and a powder room for guest.Worry about removing tub for resale reasons but supposedly one tub is enough.Have pedestal in powder room but need storage in masterbath and not enough room to do both vanity and pedestal.</p>

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<p>My husband and I have separate bathrooms. Same bedroom, separate baths. Love it. I’d take that extra room and make it into a nice bathroom and closet.</p>

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<p>So do we. H also uses a spare bedroom’s closet. I have my own in the master BR. So nice to have more space, a huge advantage being empty nesters.</p>

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<p>I think for resale, the double sink thing looks good, but for your own use, if you have the space, 2 separate bathrooms are great.
One word on fixtures (not that you asked) but we redid a bathroom with polished nickel. Very very hard to keep looking good.
I replaced D’s vanity with good old fashioned chrome – so much easier.</p>

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<p>Good luck with the renovation. Ours was a nightmare!!</p>

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<p>When we remodeled our master bath we faced some of the same decisions. We opted for one sink for a couple of reasons, despite the current trends. We could have fit 2 sinks on our vanity, but we would have lost too much counter space. Additionally, my H & I are NEVER in the bathroom at the same time. We also took out the tub (something neither of us had used in the 15 years we have lived here), and put in a large tile shower with a bench and nice fixtures. There is a tub/shower combo in the other upstairs bath. If we both need to get ready at the same time, he can use that one. : )</p>

<p>Since we plan on being here for quite some time, we decided to make the space suit us.</p>

<p>Edit: I agree about keeping the nickel fixtures looking good. If I had to do it all over again, I’d stick with chrome.</p>

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<p>My friend re-did her master bathroom with oil-rubbed bronze fixtures. They look great and are not that hard to keep clean. I think this finish goes well with pedestal sinks etc.:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.moen.com/shared/images/alt_478/set_shots_386.jpg[/url]”>http://www.moen.com/shared/images/alt_478/set_shots_386.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>DH and I are always in the bathroom at the same time! For us, a separate tiny toilet room off the master bathroom was a must. I can see why this cannot be doable when the space is at premium, but why do some people put their throne in the middle of the oversized master bath with dual sinks etc. :rolleyes:? We crossed so many otherwise fine homes off our list when we were house hunting because of that!</p>

<p>Consolation, if you are replacing your toilet, look into wall-attached toilets - it is soooo much easier to clean around those!</p>

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<p>If you have a tub in the “family bath,” I don’t think it is essential to have one in the master unless YOU like to soak in a tub.</p>

<p>I vote for double sinks in the master if you are concerned about resale.</p>

<p>I’m not a big fan of the hair/makeup vanity separate from the sink. It looks cool, but it seems that I often want to use water for something.</p>

<p>eta: some of these things may be regional.</p>

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<p>I went through the “replace tub with shower” decision last summer. I spoke with a realtor friend who echoed what IllinoisMom said – the family bathroom needs a tub for resale (for the moms bathing little kids), but the master doesn’t need a standard tub. She said that a bigger tub is nice for resale, but a standard tub is almost a negative and using that space for a better shower is the way to go.</p>

<p>She did point out that a bathroom with a tub is 1/4 bath more than a bathroom with a shower, but if the total in your house is more than two, then it doesn’t affect resale. We ended up with a full family bath, a 3/4 master bath, and a 1/2 powder room, so our total is more then two bathrooms in the house description. If we didn’t have the powder room, replacing the tub with a shower in the master would have dropped us from two baths to 1-3/4, and we wouldn’t have done it. Since you have a powder room with a shower, you’re good.</p>

<p>ETA: I’d go with double sinks and skipping the separate vanity, but that’s just my personal preference.</p>

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<p>Why is nickel hard to keep looking good?</p>

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<p>I think the sink question is a personal one, unless you plan to sell in the not too distant future. We have double sinks and they are a nice luxury, but I think they are just that; we got along fine before without them. In the interest of being Not So Big the house we are building will have only one sink in the master bath. (So as not to feel deprived, I’m looking at the bronze sinks from Stone Forest. :))</p>

<p>While I like to spread out when I get ready in the morning, I don’t like the look of a lot stuff all over the countertop. (Why spend all that money on a beautiful top, then cover it up?) If you need more storage you can often build a niche into the wall, which leaves things accessible, but still sort of tucked away.</p>

<p>I have brushed nickel in my bath and don’t have a problem with it. I always give the counter a quick wipe after I wash my face and swipe the faucets at the same time.</p>

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<p>The polished nickel has been nearly impossible for me to keep clean, and it was from Waterworks (supposedly a good brand). It seems like whatever splashes on it (and I would assume liquids and splashing are part of the life of a faucet) leaves a mark. I don’t know if I’m in a hard water area, but there is now a hazy veil on my once shiny surfaces. With lots of rubbing with Cape Cod cloths, it looks shiny, but only until the next use. It’s such a nice look (with the richness of old sterling) but practically speaking, a nightmare.</p>

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<p>^ Yikes. I hope it’s your water and not the polished nickel. I have $2,500 worth of polished nickel bath fixtures waiting to be installed in our new master bath next week. I’ve had several designers recommend it. One of them specifically told me not to get clear shower doors because they’re hard to keep clean. Surely, she would have mentioned that about the polished nickel. Hope I’m not going to regret it. It’s very pricey and we won’t be replacing any time soon. We definitely don’t have issues with our water.</p>

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<p>^^try plain old isopropyl alcohol to wipe the fixtures.</p>

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<p>I have a hard time understanding the dual sink thing because I like to be in the bathroom ALONE. :smiley: I also buck the trend in that I love to read and soak in my deep, old claw foot tub. (I must say that I personally prefer a nice separate shower to a shower over tub, which most of the time is inadequate as a tub because it isn’t deep enough and is only so-so as a shower.)</p>

<p>What is a garden tub, Mablab?</p>

<p>Okay, here’s another question: do you prefer the overhead, “rain” type shower, or the more conventional variety? The disadvantage I see to the rain shower is that it makes it just about impossible to take a shower without getting your hair wet, which sometimes is helpful.</p>

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<p>I prefer a wall mounted shower head for just that reason. In the summer I sometimes like a second shower without having to deal with my hair. I am also with you on the tub. We are giving up a second sink, but keeping a decent sized walk in shower and a soaking tub (not too long, but deep).</p>

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<p>I’ve never cared for the rain showers. I tend to get more water in my eyes with it for some reason and it doesn’t seem as powerful as a wall mounted. People get both because the rain shower is suppose to be more relaxing but you still need the power of the wall mounted. The woman at the plumbing supply place said if you are only going to do one, get the wall mounted.</p>

<p>I would prefer to be in the bathroom alone also but that’s not a reality unless your spouse will agree to use another bathroom (in our first house, we did this - worked great). Most people I know who have renovated master bathrooms and are short on square footage, choose to do the dual sinks and a shower. Again, our first house had that. Even though I’m a big bath person, a lot of people don’t take baths regularly and would prefer a shower.</p>

<p>For resale, dual sinks and a shower in the master are probably preferable to a single sink and shower plus tub but I see tons of houses on HGTV with a single sink in the master. A lot depends on the standard features for a house in your area in your price range.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you aren’t planning to move for many years - do what suits you because sure as the sun rises, the trends in houses will change and it might not matter twenty years from now anyway.</p>

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<p>BunsenBurner, I am with you about the toliet. We redesigned our bathroom so that the toliet is in a little tiny room of its own. This way one can use the bath tub or brush their teeth while someone else is busy.</p>