Thanks, @sherpa . I build houses with habitat for humanity so i’m pretty good with DIY.
Way to go @fendergirl!
@fendergirl way to go!!
@fendergirl when I did a new island a few years ago, larger stove, larger island, more cabinets, I needed more drawer pulls and went to black from nickel. I took the ones out of one of the bathrooms and along with all the kitchen knobs and pulls, I had them powder coated for about $1 each, it was fantastic!
We bought $3 cheapo HD pulls (you get another discount if you get a whole box of them). 60 pulls… that would have been way too much at $10-15 apiece. 
The cabinet refacing guy really liked them.
has anyone tried refinishing wood floors in a gray, a white-washed or non-warm tones color? think that would be hard? know the process?
our oak floors have no stain; but are turning yellow/orange-ish. They are starting to look gray around the kitchen sink from wear/tear; and it made me wonder how hard it would be take the color in a different direction.
@somemom , awesome! @BunsenBurner My pulls are a slate color to match my appliances. At the time, they didn’t have them in a bundle. Maybe they’re more popular now.
Quick question, are there any drawbacks to getting a built in shower curtain rod? I hate the tension rods because they always seem to fall down when my kids are using them. Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a terrible idea to drill holes in the new tile to put up a permanent rod.
If you later decide to change the fixtures, it might be challenging to find a rod that would fit the exact same holes. Or if you decide to get a glass enclosure, the holes might be visible. There are polymeric patch products for tile that can make the holes almost invisible (ask me how I know that 
).
Thanks @bunsonburner- we may change to a glass door once all the kids are gone. Probably not for about 6-8 years. I bought one of each, they are installing fixtures today so I have to decide soon!
@fendergirl - you gotta spend where you gotta spend.
Wow - @fendergirl that is amazing - so much work! I am exhausted just from running around having to pick stuff out for our remodel. 
We are at day 10 of my guest bathroom remodel (not including weekends or the one day they didn’t come, so really it has been two weeks total.) They said they are planning on finishing today, I don’t even care at this point, as long as they get the toilet back in so D19 can stop yelling at S23 for stinking up her bathroom!
So far in 10 work days they have gutted the bathroom to the studs, ripped up my wood floors in the living room and dining room (what a mess that was!!), patched the hole in one side of the dining room wall (where they had to cut out a section due to mold) and put most of the bathroom back together. All that is left to go in there is the baseboards, final coat of paint, tub/shower faucet installed, toilet, vanity, mirror and hardware. Sounds like a lot for one afternoon so I am not holding out hope that it will actually be finished today.
It is definitely a pain to live with dust, noise and boxes everywhere but I am so glad it is getting done. I really like the workers who have been here so that is a bonus.
I MAY be putting in a tile shower soon. I have some questions -
Should I go with a tile bottom or a pan bottom?
How much if any “lip” or whatever it’s called should I have on the bottom?
The plumbing for the shower is on the left side (as you face the shower) , and there is a sink very close to the shower on the right side, so I’m trying to figure out what kind of door would be best. If the plumbing were on the other end, I might like just a sheet of glass, but the way it is, it would be tough to squeeze in.
Also, I was looking at pictures, and in one someone had a teak looking bench, instead of a built-in bench. Pros/cons of a bench and/or niche in the wall?
Thanks for the advice. This is one thread I don’t have much advice for, but I definitely appreciate what you have to say.
I think tile bottom looks nicer, but you may save a lot on a pan bottom. Just don’t get one of those bouncy cheesy feeling pans if you go for the latter. If you get a pan, the lip is built in and is usually quite small. If I do a tile shower with a lip I usually do a little over 4". (i.e. a tile + whatever gets used for a sill.) That said, I have a curbless shower and LOVE it. I think sliding doors are pretty flexible. I also LOVE not having a door at all. But you have just five feet for your shower, you probably want a door. I went back and forth a the bench idea and finally decided getting a teak bench would be more flexible. There are nice fold up benches to that you might like to look at. I’m putting one of them in a client’s bathroom also with some grab bars and no curb. https://www.teakworks4u.com/products/17-inch-wall-mount-fold-down-teak-shower-bench They want to be able to age in place. I would absolutely have a niche. You can have fun with a contrasting tile and it’s much nicer than the other options for storing soap and shampoo IMO.
Thanks @mathmom, I appreciate your input.
If I do a curbless shower, William need to worry about water getting under the door?
I wanted to go no-lip in my bathroom, but it would have been expensive because it would have required structural changes to support the tile floor (according to my builder). When you have the lip, the tile guys can build up a nice thick mud base to support the tile and provide the proper slope for drainage.
Plus, we wanted different tile for the main floor and the shower floor. If there’s no lip, then you have to worry about the transition.
We did a built-in bench with a nice marble seat. My shower is 6.5’ long though, so space wasn’t an issue. I have reservations about any wood, even teak, that is constantly exposed to water.
Niches are great, much better than trying to suspend some sort of crappy rack from the shower head or over the glass.
Bath remodel officially began today. We (Mr.) smashed the giant 10’ by 4’ mirror that was glued to the wall, and peeled it piece by piece. Took about 30 min to do it. Then we (I) cleaned up the mess. Now the fun part begins - wiring and hanging the new lighted mirrors.
In my opinion a niche is mandatory, the bigger the better. Where else are you going to put all the stuff??
The shower curb is usually two 2x4s laid down for 3” off the floor. Then waterproofing (hot mop or membrane) plus deck mud, thinset and tile. It ends up about 3 1/2 to 4” above the outside tiled floor and about 2 1/2 above the inside shower floor
Due to placement of your shower head on left and a vanity on the right you may have to do a shower door. But I have a suggestion. If you are tearing out the old tile and putting in new fixtures, chances are highly likely that you will have to get a plumber to install a new shower valve in the wall. You could leave the valve on left wall but ask plumber to run the single mixed hot/cold pipe up and across the ceiling and install shower head on the right. This gives you the best of both worlds. You can have a single piece of glass on the right side and the valve handle left side is open. You can simply reach in and turn on shower/adjust without having to get wet! And shower head is on the right where the glass is
You have to do a lot of work under an existing shower to go ‘curbless’. It’s pretty tough if you are on a slab, not sure how it could be done. If you are on 2nd floor or over a crawlspace you have to be able to lower floor joists about 2 inches or more and slope them to a drain, with added structural support. Then change drain lines and p trap under the shower
Darn woods are so expensive. Spent $600 at Home Depot just on pressure-treated red fir woods for my 13x13’ DIY pergola project. So heavy, too. Thought I was going to die of a heart attack hauling all those woods on the cart to the service desk to set up for a delivery service. $79.99 for a delivery service is worth it.