I’ve moved 10 times in 15 years, so I’ve never had to deal with a remodel until this home, which we’ve lived in for 20 years. We redid everything else slowly over time and never needed to deal with gutting a space. When we replaced our windows, I joked that I was used to just moving when the windows got dirty.
Due to a crappy ventilation fan, we’re now getting some mold on our ceiling and walls. Everything is builder-grade and 30 years old, so nothing is worth keeping. We’ll take it down to the studs and start over. It’s too small to ever be my dream bath, so I’m just looking for form over function. The room is 8x9. When you walk in, there is a linen closet follwed by a double vanity along the left wall and a tub/shower followed by a toilet on the right wall. I plan to replace that with a walk-in shower, but it will not be very wide (just as wide as our current bathtub, as that goes almost to the door frame). The shower mechanics are in a wall between the shower and the toilet. So, basically, there doesn’t seem to be any way to change the layout.
I don’t even know where to begin.
Looking for your suggestions on materials that are the easiest to clean and require the least maintenance. We will need a new walk-in shower, flooring, walls, ceiling, toilet, vanity, and sinks.
Any suggestions on toilets with built-in bidets? We now have an after-market bidet add on and I have been converted.
Shower heads? Our current shower head is nothing more than a nozzle, but it was great water pressure. It’s something I can’t live without. I complain every time we leave home about the water pressure. I’d like something that has a handheld unit to be able to clean the shower.
Also, did you work with your GC to pick out all of the fixtures or did you do that ahead of time? Where does one even begin to look? What is the general order of what I should do before I call a contractor?
1 Like
We started with the contractor first. Our contractor helped direct us to his preferred bath outfitter and designer, and we were able to use his contractor discount. The bath showroom ended up being high quality but reasonable cost points. The contractor also directed us to Floor and Decor for the tile and had a person for the countertops.
Personally I spent time on Houzz looking at photos for inspiration and then took the bathrooms I liked stylistically to the bath showroom. You can search by “small bathrooms” or customize whatever search you want. Just be prepared that you’ll go down the rabbit hole and can spend hours!
Thumper introduced me to Gemini AI which can also take your existing bathroom photo and allow you to do all kinds of customization based on what you like so you can visualize the actual space.
We love our Grohe shower heads. The bath showroom can direct you to what to get to maximize water pressure and your plumber/installer can help with that too!
3 Likes
Following. We need to do the same but job. I had two smaller companies come in and I’m overwhelmed. I know what I want in this bathroom but have no clue about layout and how to make it work. I felt like they sort of expected me to already know or wanted me to just go along with their first ideals.
They also worked with local suppliers and would want us to choose products from those places. Also overwhelming!
1 Like
I have an 11 inch (not rainfall) shower head, and also one that you can pull away from wall. I love having both. Think about shower door styles in addition to everything else.
1 Like
There are all kinds of free design quizzes on the internet if you really don’t know where to start. Also, you can hire a bath designer.
No idea on where to find these quizzes. Any recommendations?
Search “what’s my bathroom design style quiz” and you will get a bunch of hits.
I still like going though houzz and taking note of what appeals to you. You can take the inspiration pics with you to the showrooms.
1 Like
We have friends with the add-on bidet. They like it and figured it was made more sense than having one big expensive unit that could fail. But I’d be interested in hearing other feedback.