what would you change in your bathroom?

[ponder]

To follow up on my shower wall discussion, I am looking into what you guys love or hate about the functionality of your bathroom. I especially want to know if you close the door to your water closet or just close the main bathroom door and if you have a bench/seat in your shower, do you use it.

 

[Enerchi]

OMG!! I'd love love LOVE to redo our master bath!! I would start with ripping out that stooooopid corner platform jacuzzi tub. All the rage in the late 90's - not so much now. That would become a free standing angled soaker tub with end faucet, not side faucet. Taking that out from the corner would then allow us to access both corner windows - what a novel concept!

I would make the shower stall a 2 person shower stall --- not that I want to be in there with anyone (unless its Jimmy Smits - then I'd happily go back to the 1 person stall with 2 people in it! hubba hubba ) but I want the space in the shower to move around and not touch the walls. I'd have a rain shower head up top and then I'd have jets coming out of the sides - like a car wash! - I want to go in, spin, be sprayed from all angles and be totally clean in about a minute!! hahahaha!!!

I love your idea of the marble slabs - that REALLY appeals to me and as I said on your other thread where I've done that in client homes with glass doors, it looks AWESOME!

I'd have radiant heat in the floor.

I'd put rope lighting under the kick plate of the lower cabinets so at night, I could just have a little bit of light, not like when you flip on the switch and you could do open heart surgery when your eyes are practically blinded by the light (... "dressed up like a Duke, you know the roller in the night...." -- oh, sorry - that song always runs thru my mind when I say "blinded by the light"! ) And the cabinets would be raised so that I am not bending as much to brush my teeth/use the sink.

I'd keep it all in soft whites/creams/vanilla's and have open towel shelves and cabinetry in dark wood, and have more drawers than doors. And have a tall cabinet with a door for linen/medications/bulk items/toilet paper/etc.

...but not that I've given it any thought or anything....

 

[luckyerialc]

Since I only rent, there isn't much I'd be able to change to my bathroom since NYC apartments are TINY! My last apartment had a really awful bathroom. When I was moving a year ago, my main priority was to find a nice bathroom I'd enjoy spending time in and not be embarrassed to have guests use. My overall apt square footage is now smaller but it was so worth it!!

When I buy my first house (whenever that may be ), I would love a master bath with a separate shower and tub! And heated floors, perhaps?

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

2 bathrooms down, two do go! Actually, one is "just" a powder room....but...

I use the WC door--in fact I am planning to change the standard doors or ones with fluted glass--you cannot "see" through them (jsut shadows) but lots of light enters and they look cool. Or at least I think so....

I opted not to have a built in bench in the new shower because I don't sit in the shower--that is the province of the bathtub. There are many cool folding designs--great space savers. If you are building a steam room/shower, then yes seating is a good idea. I did have recessed spaced build into the shower to put products. Eliminates shower caddies, etc.

I really love the custom glass doors I had made with the shower--will repeat upstairs when we do the ensuite. Very elegant, no water marks--just seemless beauty.

cheers--Sharon

 

[tuffyluvr]

We have 80s tile from hell. It's absolutely atrocious. We also have the glass sliding doors on aluminum tracks. Yuck. I did some research and discovered that I can take out the sliding doors and tracks pretty easily, which is exciting. I have that on my to do list.

I'd love to rip out the ugly 80s tile and replace it with clean, all-white subway tiles, but we only have one bathroom, so we'd be without a shower and we bought this place as an investment and we'll only live here for another year or two so FI is very against putting the effort and $$$ into replacing something just for looks.

Here is evidence of the offending tile:

 

[jaysonsmom]

If we're talking about my master bath, I would lower the vanity! I swear my house was built for a giant. I'm 5'7" and I have a hard time bending my head over the sink to splash water on my face etc.

I would also put the dual vanities on the same wall instead of one on each side of the bathroom so that hubby and I could actually share stuff like toothpaste, floss, handsoap/facial soap etc. Right now we have 2 sets of everything!

For my kid's bathroom I'd like to knock down a wall that separates the dual vanities from the bath/toilet area and have one big open bathroom instead of 2 little rooms separated by a doorway.

 

[Ally T]

The people we bought our house from installed a new master bathroom & kitchen to make the house more appealing. And they look lovely. Until my almost 4 year old puts heaps of toilet paper down the toilet & flushes... For some reason (probably financial) they put a beautiful suite in a very large space, with a 'compact' toilet system?? So the toilet always bungs up & blocks. Nightmare

 

[aviastar]

Well, we only have a standing shower right now; it's nice and roomy but it's no tub. So I would replace with a stand alone claw foot soaking tub with a curtain that slides 360 degrees around it, so you could also stand to shower if you wished.

That's probably not ever going to happen (200 year old floors probably can't take the weight) and I'll have to hold out for the bathroom of my dreams in the future addition or future hot tub!

 

[ame]

To follow up on my shower wall discussion, I am looking into what you guys love or hate about the functionality of your bathroom.

I hate the whole thing. If this house ever got a full rebuilt and we could change the footprint a little Id make it bigger and rearrange it a lot so that we had more space and a better layout altogehter. Double sink for starters.

 

[iLander]

Ugh! The floor! It's a beige granity thing, that was big a few years back. It's textured so all the little grooves and grout lines show dirt.

I'm thinking of redoing it with something GROUTLESS in a medium mottled tone, so dirt doesn't show. In our kitchen we have navy blue tile, with matching navy blue grout, and it was awesome to get rid of grout uglies. Tiles are a bit dark, and show white specs, though.

We have a separate little room for the toilet and I think it's totally necessary. Without it, DH and I can't necessarily share the bathroom, if one of us is putting on makeup, the other can't tinkle. So, if buying a house, I would want that.

I wouldn't want necessarily a whirlpool tub (we have it and rarely use it), but I do want a bigger soaking tub. With a jumbo water heater, so I can have a hot bath.

I would like a little ledge in the shower, easier to shave my legs.

I do appreciate plain white fixtures, and plain white wall tiles, though. It's simple and never dates.

We redid our bath in a house we sold, and the tub guys came out and resurfaced the enamel tub, looked brand new.

We also used a vanity from Costco.com, and it included shipping. Nicer and cheaper than we could find at home stores.

There is also a division of Costco.com that does semi-custom cabinets, maple fronts, GORGEOUS, for cheap. We redid a kitchen, the quote from Home depot was $13K for white melamine, with Costco it was $4K for beautiful maple cabinets. And they did all the layout, and sent pictures, it was so easy. I suggest getting the $25 sample doors, so you can check the color/quality before you place a full order. They do bathrooms too.

Cabinet guys: http://www.allwoodfast.com/

 

[packrat]

Everything. I'd keep the shower curtain tho. We gutted it a couple years ago and completely redid it b/c of a leak (that we'd had for YEARS and I'd begged and begged to just fix it years ago and nobody would listen to me so yeah, nice, instead of just taking the tub/plumbing behind it out and redoing it we had to gut the entire thing b/c of 6 years of leaking), but (as per usual) nobody would listen to me on how I wanted things to look, so I've been unhappy w/how it turned out since day one. Plus, our basement flooded (18 months ago but who's counting) and JD's been using my bathroom since then--and he doesn't use the exhaust fan so the walls are all yucky and the whole thing needs a facelift.

The only thing I like about it is that the medicine cabinet is a full size cabinet, set into the wall, so I've got tons of storage in there.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

To follow up on my shower wall discussion, I am looking into what you guys love or hate about the functionality of your bathroom.

I hate the whole thing. If this house ever got a full rebuilt and we could change the footprint a little Id make it bigger and rearrange it a lot so that we had more space and a better layout altogehter. Double sink for starters.

Double sink is the only thing our master bath has going for it. We have a 2.5 bath home and all three of the bathrooms drive me nuts. The .5 bath bugs me most though with the pedistol sink. There isn't any place to put supplies and it's the bath off of our family room so it's a busy room and there is no storage...

 

[JewelFreak]

Poor Packrat, doesn't that gripe you when you mention things you want & it goes into a vacuum in space somewhere?

I'm gonna re-do EVERYTHING in our master bath. It is plain yucky through & through from the previous owners. Get up the nasty old gray w-t-w carpeting & uuugly wallpaper off, paint the walls w/maybe stenciling.

Re-tiling is the 1st MUST -- tiles are old, 80s style, boring. The shower will need gutting, I fear, but can't wait for new shower doors! A shelf for shaving legs. And a rack for washcloths & hanging hand-wash.

Our toilet is in its own little room -- but there is NO DOOR on the bathroom itself, which is weird! DH, from bed, can watch me take a bath. Will fix that.

The layout is nice -- tub set in a bay window looking over the back yard (where nobody is near enough to see in). Huge mirror above a large double vanity w/tons of storage -- I already changed the countertop from white formica to a beige-ish quartz.

We've been in this house almost 10 years -- I mentioned the bathroom the other night & DH says, "We can do it in 3 or 5 years." In his dreams -- I'm starting next month!

--- Laurie

 

[vc10um]

Ixnay the jacuzzi tub...we don't use it.

Make the GIANT window over the tub a bit smaller, with glass block.

Make the current tiny one person stall shower with effing annoying built-in corner bench thingies into an additional closet and put a giant two person shower (similar to Enerchi's idea!) where the tub use to be. Include one solitary small ledge for leg shaving.

Radiant floor heating.

Raise the vanity and frame out the builder basic mirror. (I'll trade you, jaysonsmom! I'm on the verge of 5'8" and DH is 6' and we feel like we have to bend over so far to use our sinks!)

New lighting. New counter top. (Keep the double sinks!) New paint (sea glass tones, please!).

(Oh, and we DO use the door for the WC...if DH isn't around, I'll just close the main door, but it's definitely useful sometimes!)

 

[packrat]

*sniffle* thanks JF! Argh, I had this whole LOOK in my head and it's nothing like what I wanted. Grrr.

And, get a sledge hammer or something and just knock a hole into the wall. If I could use my way back machine and redo it, that's what I'd've done and gotten it started a whooooole lot earlier. Better yet, put some goggles on, pull your hair back and get the sledgehammer-walk nonchalantly past the hubs w/it over your shoulder. He'll think pppfffft whatever. And then when he hears the big crash he'll be like oooh shit ok ok I'll fix it!!

 

[NOYFB]

Hmm....well, considering we live in a condo, I would want it to be bigger for sure. I have visions of moving the tub on the outside wall perpendicular to where it is now and turning the the area where the tub currently is into a double vanity. I also want to redo the tile with small glass tiles and the floors with wood-looking tile.

I would LOVE a clawfoot tub and an antique cabinet with a beautiful handpainted bowl placed on top and one of those faucets that comes out of the wall.

I have huge dreams that will never happen as long as we live where we do, but a girl can dream, right?

 

[texaskj]

For some unknown reason, the builder of my house loved to leave the vanity part of the master bath open to the bedroom. The toilet/shower part has a door, but the vanity part was open with an arched doorway. I can't stand that. When I'm in the bathroom I want to able to shut the door. So I had my contractor put in the rest of the wall and a door. (This house doesn't have the biggest baths, being built in 1976.) He suggested putting in a ceiling fan over the master vanity and let me tell you, it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think it's about 28-30 inches in diameter and flush mount, but it has six blades and they're pitched right, so it can really move some air. It's a real lifesaver with our summers in Texas.
Someone asked about a shelf/seat in the shower.. The people I bought the house from had some termite damage in the master shower, so they had the fiberglass tub/shower ripped out and just a tile shower stall done to replace it. They had one put in the back corner and it comes in really handy. It's a great place to put shampoo and I put my foot up on it when I shave my legs.

 

[ponder]

We have 80s tile from hell. It's absolutely atrocious. We also have the glass sliding doors on aluminum tracks. Yuck. I did some research and discovered that I can take out the sliding doors and tracks pretty easily, which is exciting. I have that on my to do list.

I'd love to rip out the ugly 80s tile and replace it with clean, all-white subway tiles, but we only have one bathroom, so we'd be without a shower and we bought this place as an investment and we'll only live here for another year or two so FI is very against putting the effort and $$$ into replacing something just for looks.

Here is evidence of the offending tile:

That tile is pretty...offensive. I think whoever put that in your place must have owned our place at one time. Before our kitchen remodel we had baby pink Formica cabinets with mauve corian counter tops. The grout around the white floor tiles was also mauve. Gotta love the 80's. And, yes, sliding shower door removal is incredibly simple and you can get the epoxy patch at home depot to fill the screw holes. You will be done in less than 30 minutes and you can then hang a fabulous shower curtain.

 

[ponder]

Ugh! The floor! It's a beige granity thing, that was big a few years back. It's textured so all the little grooves and grout lines show dirt.

I'm thinking of redoing it with something GROUTLESS in a medium mottled tone, so dirt doesn't show. In our kitchen we have navy blue tile, with matching navy blue grout, and it was awesome to get rid of grout uglies. Tiles are a bit dark, and show white specs, though.

We have a separate little room for the toilet and I think it's totally necessary. Without it, DH and I can't necessarily share the bathroom, if one of us is putting on makeup, the other can't tinkle. So, if buying a house, I would want that.

Unfortunately, I don't think a water closet is going to make it into the design, but right now the bathroom doesn't even have a door so I'm just excited to get that one.

We also used a vanity from Costco.com, and it included shipping. Nicer and cheaper than we could find at home stores.

There is also a division of Costco.com that does semi-custom cabinets, maple fronts, GORGEOUS, for cheap. We redid a kitchen, the quote from Home depot was $13K for white melamine, with Costco it was $4K for beautiful maple cabinets. And they did all the layout, and sent pictures, it was so easy. I suggest getting the $25 sample doors, so you can check the color/quality before you place a full order. They do bathrooms too.

Cabinet guys: http://www.allwoodfast.com/

Thanks for the cabinet info, luckily this is one thing I don't have to worry about. DH builds custom furniture as a hobby/stress reliever and is VERY good. He did a full kitchen of mahogany cabinets last year, and I think we are going to do walnut for the vanity and custom closet. When we did the down stairs last year all the trades people we had in (floors/granite/etc.) kept asking him for a card to give to their other clients, but DH's day job is way more lucrative than cabinet building.

 

[ponder]

Ixnay the jacuzzi tub...we don't use it.

Make the GIANT window over the tub a bit smaller, with glass block.

Make the current tiny one person stall shower with effing annoying built-in corner bench thingies into an additional closet and put a giant two person shower (similar to Enerchi's idea!) where the tub use to be. Include one solitary small ledge for leg shaving.

Radiant floor heating.

Why do you prefer a ledge over the corner shelf? Is it just that you have two corner bench thingies in an already too small shower, or is there something about the shape/placement that you would prefer? We are taking out our oversized jacuzzi tub and expanding our one person shower and I want somewhere to put my foot to shave but don't want to take up unnecessary space. My contractor said that nobody really sits in a shower unless you are old or handicapped, so a large bench is really unnecessary. He recommended a small corner shelf instead.

 

[ponder]

Our toilet is in its own little room -- but there is NO DOOR on the bathroom itself, which is weird! DH, from bed, can watch me take a bath.

--- Laurie

right now we have neither a water closet or a door to the bathroom. I'm ecstatic to just have one or the other. Looks like its going to be a pocket door on the bathroom. A water closet just doesn't make sense in this room, but I am going to have a knee wall put up for a little more privacy.

 

[justginger]

Our bathroom is absolutely HIDEOUS. Seriously ugly. Like so old, the grouting will never be white again sort of ugly - the ugly that no copious amounts of bleach can touch.

BUT. I don't really care. I don't care enough to spend the money on it instead of diamonds. Talk about misplaced priorities.

$8000 on a bathroom vs $8000 on a holiday vs $8000 on a diamond ring. The choice is pretty obvious to me - bathroom is knocked out in the first round of negotiations!

 

[JewelFreak]

Before our kitchen remodel we had baby pink Formica cabinets with mauve corian counter tops. The grout around the white floor tiles was also mauve.

Eeeeuw, Ponder, that has to take the cake! In fact, it sounds like a birthday cake. Can I borrow your DH? He sounds talented and useful!

Pocket door would be perfect for our non-door bathroom too, & if this were our forever house, I'd do it. I mainly want to get it in good shape to sell so will settle for folding plantation-shutter door or something like that.

So most of you don't use your jetted tubs, eh? I always wanted one but never use ours either. The jets are not where I want the massage feeling, like in the back.

How do you clean garden tubs? I get naked & climb in -- no other way to reach it; it's high & deep with a step up to it. So I hardly ever use the silly thing.

*sniffle* thanks JF! Argh, I had this whole LOOK in my head and it's nothing like what I wanted. Grrr.

And, get a sledge hammer or something and just knock a hole into the wall. If I could use my way back machine and redo it, that's what I'd've done and gotten it started a whooooole lot earlier. Better yet, put some goggles on, pull your hair back and get the sledgehammer-walk nonchalantly past the hubs w/it over your shoulder. He'll think pppfffft whatever. And then when he hears the big crash he'll be like oooh shit ok ok I'll fix it!!

Advice for me too!

--- Laurie

 

[Mayk]

The tub... Big marble, built in... A major waste of space, we don't use it but have to clean...the cat likes to drink water from the facet and lay in the tub. He would need a new place to hang out....

 

[vc10um]

Ixnay the jacuzzi tub...we don't use it.

Make the GIANT window over the tub a bit smaller, with glass block.

Make the current tiny one person stall shower with effing annoying built-in corner bench thingies into an additional closet and put a giant two person shower (similar to Enerchi's idea!) where the tub use to be. Include one solitary small ledge for leg shaving.

Radiant floor heating.

Why do you prefer a ledge over the corner shelf? Is it just that you have two corner bench thingies in an already too small shower, or is there something about the shape/placement that you would prefer? We are taking out our oversized jacuzzi tub and expanding our one person shower and I want somewhere to put my foot to shave but don't want to take up unnecessary space. My contractor said that nobody really sits in a shower unless you are old or handicapped, so a large bench is really unnecessary. He recommended a small corner shelf instead.

You hit the nail on the head. The two corners against the wall are taken up by 1/4 circle "seats" with an additional smaller 1/4 circle ledge up higher...all a part of the same plastic shower surround. I wish I could find a picture online to help describe what I'm talking about, but I can't. I DID, however, find a picture of what I'd prefer in terms of a shelf/ledge (although the shower isn't quite as large as I'd like), and I think it's along the lines of what your contractor is suggesting.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Good choice on the maple. My vanity wasn't a standard shape, so it was a custom configuration. The natural lacqured maple cabinets we put in (matching medicine cabinet) are devine. Really gorgeous. I have the smallest egg shaped knobs on the drawers--perfect match.

Used Toto toilet, Kohler tub, shower head and faucets in the main BR. Kohler had gorgeous choices, no regrets there.

cheers--Sharon

 

[MsP]

1) Upper cabinets-- like this http://st.houzz.com/simgs/77111ffd0e47d72f_15-9847/-bathroom.jpg or this http://img4-2.southernliving.timein...master-bathroom-teal-brown-bath-l.jpg?400:400 Not like above the sink, but to the sides. I have lots of makeup and perfumes and such that I want stored out of sight.

2) I hate glass doors. I LOVE how they look but I can't stand the upkeep and I don't like having to look at my bath soap/shampoo/razors/etc. A luxurious thick shower curtain is much better, IMO. Yes, glass doors show off great tile work and fancy showers heads... but then you move in and they get dirty with waterspots and the clutter shows. I know curtains aren't popular but just something to think about.

3) Separate built in heater. I keep my home very cold in the winter (can get down to 55 at night!) and walking into a cozy 75 degree bathroom is really really lovely.

4) Invest in good lighting around the vanity. Even if you have bright picture windows the lighting for makeup might not be optimal... and won't work at night or early mornings.

 

[mimi123]

Hi Ponder! We just completed a main bathroom gut - house built in 92, linoleum bathroom floor, a single sink on a large vanity and a std bathtub w/shower head and shower curtain. It's a very good size rectangular shaped room. I can't remember the last time I sat in a tub - hubby and I both prefer showering. We put in carrara marble flooring with a marble basket weave "rug" pattern down the middle. The walls are large rectangular plain white tiles but with a raised pattern which adds visual interest. The tub was replaced with a walk-in shower w/wall jets and sliding glass doors. We debated having a bench incorporated in the shower but decided against it. If and when the time comes where one of us needs to sit, there are many fold away options that will do, plus I use an electric razor on my legs when I do shave, which is not often. I'm blonde with very light almost non existent leg hairs. On the shower wall I have a 4 ft h x 2ft w handmade marble mosaic of two swans on a lake and on either side of it are two large wall recesses for bottles,etc. that are lined with the basket weave marble we used on the floor. We replaced the vanity and the single sink with a double sink w/single lever faucets and pearl blue marble counter top. What is left of the walls is painted a very soft pale blue. We both love our new bathroom and don't regret any of the changes and so far, don't feel as if we left anything out that we could have done better.

 

[mimi123]

One other thing - about keeping the glass doors clean. The glass doors have a protective coating that helps prevent soap build-up. Plus when we finish showering we use a squegee (?) on the glass, takes one minute before getting out and that's it- no other cleaning necessary!

 

[canuk-gal]

One other thing - about keeping the glass doors clean. The glass doors have a protective coating that helps prevent soap build-up. Plus when we finish showering we use a squegee (?) on the glass, takes one minute before getting out and that's it- no other cleaning necessary!

Yes, as I mentioned--spotless glass. Most times I don't need to sqeegee...it dries quickly and I have a microfibre cloth if I want it "perfect". Very low maintainence--not like the old "stuff".

cheers--Sharon