Having done several home renovations over the years and having built more than one home, I have a good sense of what is required before undertaking a project. One of my favorite verses in the bible sums up one key point perfectly: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28) This also applies to remodels. This year, my wife and I remodeled the master bathroom in our 2002 home. We knew it would be expensive, so we wanted to ensure we did our best to catch any potential issues before they occurred. Here are 7 things to consider when remodeling a bathroom. Hopefully, our experience can help save you some potential grief!
1. Make a Mockup of the Intended Design
Before hiring a contractor or even doing the work yourself, you want to have a good idea of what the space will look like. The only surefire way to do this is by mocking up the finished space using a plan designer or similar tool. Several exist, and this article isn’t going to parse every option available to you. I used Floorplanner, a free online modeling program that let me lay out the space, add in the doors and windows, and even customize the surfaces and major fixtures.
My goal was to verify the layout rather than get an exact idea of what the tile and flooring would look like. I started with one design, which quickly grew to seven different designs! Eventually, I came full circle and ended up with something closer to my original plan. The point is that it’s far easier to redraw and redesign a plan on paper than it is to move a wall and lay tile, only to find out that something doesn’t really work.
My layout looked something like this and gave us a bathroom with a zero-threshold entry to the shower as well as a very open look and feel:
Incidentally, this is what my contractors used when they did the work. They took their own measurements, but in terms of the layout, this became their guide. it was also helpful in that it reinforced that we could accomplish the layout we wanted without moving walls or doing more than simply shifting some of the drains and water supplies.
2. Ensure Your Floor and Wall Tile Work Well Together
Once we had the layout, it was time to pick our floor tile and wall tile. We started here as opposed to starting with the fixtures, tub, or vanity because we already had a good idea that we wanted a black/white/gray motif. That took us to a few different tile stores where we were able to grab tile samples and place them next to each other to ensure they worked well together:
Here, you can see that we found some shower tile, floor tile, and wall tile that we really liked. We knew we wanted to go with a matte white 4×16 subway tile, and the store sample gave us both the size and color to look at—though not in the same piece. Incidentally, this shower floor tile is made from recycled glass. It feels wonderful on the feet, but it cost a pretty penny!
This is also a great time to decide on the tile dimensions. As I mentioned, we chose a 4×16 subway tile, but the floor tile was available in 48″ and 36″ lengths in addition to some other interesting configurations. We ended up running the 48-inch tiles like wood planks in a random pattern.
3. Select Your Large Items to Fit the Space and Decor
When it comes time to pick your tub, vanity, toilet, etc—make sure they match your decor. Having picked the tile, you don’t want the tub, vanity, or countertop to clash. Everything should blend together or present a nice, purposeful contrast for the space. Typically, your tub, toilet, and sinks should match unless you have something specific in mind.
The countertop also needs to take into account the wall color, and this is a perfect time to choose that as well. When choosing these larger items, consider the look and feel you want. Are you going for a more modern look with square under-mount sinks or a vintage look with a furniture-inspired vanity with legs?
We have a modern house and went with clean lines and colors. However, to fit our plan, we had to go with a somewhat smaller tub size. This didn’t present a problem for us, but it was a deliberate trade-off to match our intended layout for the bathroom.
4. Consider Paying for a Quality Demolition Crew
Yes, you can demo your own space. In some cases, this can save you money and might make a lot of sense. In other cases, however, hiring a crew who specializes in demolition can save you an awful lot of time and energy. Most people never factor in the disposal costs or material, nor do they take into account the time it takes to remove materials safely and do so without creating a duststorm throughout the rest of the home. A great demolition team will protect the rest of your home from contaminants as they remove and haul away tile, drywall, fixtures, and more.
5. Use Paint Samples When Choosing Paint
I have two big tips when selecting paint for any bathroom. First, get at least 4 samples and actually paint them on the wall in several places. You want to see how the paint contrasts your floor, your door trim, and your shower tile. Second, ensure you use the right “color” of lighting. LED lightbulbs can be 2700K, 4000K, or 5000K (there are other less common variants as well). A 2700K light is very yellow while a 5000K light is more of a pure white. 4000K LED lighting splits the difference, but still appears far more white than 2700K.
While I would never want to work under 5000K lighting, I do love it in bathrooms. It highlights clothing and lets you see more easily as you’re getting ready. In our case, 5000K lighting also really makes a black and white themed bathroom stand out with stark contrast. In what is one of my more eye-opening photos, I had 5000K lighting in the bathroom with a 2700K light in the toilet room. Both rooms have the same color paint, but you would swear the toilet room walls were a light brown instead of gray.
That’s how much the color temperature of lighting affects paint colors. Be aware of this as you test your colors!
6. Choose Quality Fixtures!
I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to select inexpensive, poor-quality fixtures and have to replace them down the road due to failure or corrosion. Do you know who understands who makes good-quality fixtures? Plumbers. I asked several, and Moen was one of two brands that came up over and over again.
Moen recently released its M-CORE 4-Series universal valve system, and we wanted a thermostatic valve in our shower. These valves let you adjust temperature and water flow separately instead of combining both into a single control like most showers. I reached out to Moen, and they supplied me with several fixtures and valves that met our needs.
Here are the fixtures we used—you can find different styles and finishes depending upon your preferences and needs:
Doux Matte Black M-Core 4-Series Shower
The Moen Doux M-Core 4-Series Shower system features a nice 6.75″ shower head with an efficient 1.75 Gpm flow rate. It also includes the M-PACT common valve system that lets you update the faucet style in the future with another style or color without replacing any plumbing. The dual controls let you set the temperature and water flow separately.
We also added a Moen rainhead and handheld sprayer. Fortunately, the 3-way valve allows for the use of all three as well as intermediate positioning of the valve for dual use of any adjacent heads. It lets us use the rainhead and main showerhead at the same time if we so desire—a pretty neat function!
Doux Matte Black One-Handle Tub Filler w/Handheld
For the tub, we went with the Moen Doux matte black one-handle tub filler with handheld sprayer. With our self-standing tub, we needed either a floor-mounted tub filler or one built into the wall. The Doux tub filler looks amazing and really helped make the bathroom pop.
Doux Matte Black One-Handle High Arc Bathroom Faucet
For the faucets in our double vanity, I wanted a single-hole installation to minimize cleaning and keep a simpler vanity top design for easier cleaning. The Moen Doux Matte Black One-Handle High Arc bathroom faucet fit the bill and perfectly matched our intended style. It features a traditional lift rod drain assembly and mounted easily in our quartz countertop.
Iso Matte Black Bath Light
Lighting matters—as does color temperature. With a largely black and white bathroom, we went with a pair of Moen Iso Matte Black bath lights and used four 100W LED equivalent bulbs in each. The amount of light plus the 5K color temperature made our whites and blacks look much purer. It also gave us plenty of light to get ready in the morning or before going out on a date (yes, after being married for well over 25 years, we still go on dates!)
7. Don’t Forget (or Skimp on) the Details!
When you get done with the big items, don’t forget the details! We added some Moen towel bars and even a couple of single-hook towel hangers to the tile wall. These used suction cups and have been holding now for three weeks without fail—a much better choice over something we’d have to screw through the tile wall. The mirrors were purchased separately and hung using a laser to get them just right.
We chose black towels to contrast with the white tile walls, tub, and vanity. They also work well with the gray walls.
Finally, for our shower, we chose a single 48″ wide pane of tempered glass. This is attached to the floor and shower wall only. It keeps our “open” design and still allows us easy access to the shower. While it may prove a tad cool in the winter (we live in Florida, so that means it’s 50 degrees outside), we can always run a small ceramic heater to supplement the heat in that room.
Final Thoughts
Remodeling a bathroom isn’t cheap. It can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $35,000 or more, depending on the level of complexity and the quality of materials used. Make sure you spend sufficient time in the design and planning phase so you achieve your goals and get the results you want. Hopefully, these 7 things to consider will help you when remodeling your bathroom. As you can see from the results, our finished bathroom looks almost exactly as we planned in the original design.
My wife and I are extremely pleased with the results. We’ll call that a win!
PS. Quick shoutout to Fuqua Construction who served as the contractor for the entire remodeling process!
