[alydev]

I am planning to reno my main bathroom. I'd like to use Ikea kitchen cabs to create a vanity, hopefully with one stack of drawers. Not sure what else to do yet. I would like to avoid moving plumbing so the fixtures will be in the same positions if possible. Maybe a tall cabinet at one end of the vanity for storage? Don't know what to do with the area next to the vanity where the heat register is because we can't cover that.

Here are the before pics so you can all share in my joy Do I win for ugliest bathroom??
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...bath%20before/

[stacylu]

Sorry, I think I may have had you beat on the ugly bathroom... I had 2 bad ones, one yellow and one green.

I can't wait to see what you do. What doors doyou have planned?

[GardenOfDarwin]

Oh, boy...I'll have to pull out pictures of our ONLY bathroom when we bought the house. The toilet didn't work, the paint was peeling off the ceiling in sheets, there was a filthy "custom" vanity that left a mere 14" between the front of itself and the wall, and the shower curtain rod was dangling at a precarious angle. If we're going to do an Ugliest Bathroom contest, I'm in!

I'm sure if you post dimensions and requirements, you'll get some takers on planning help. Good luck!


Susan

[alydev]

Wow, I think you had me beat, Susan! We had 3 ugly bathrooms. We had one renovated professionally- no DIY at all. It cost WAY too much, so the rest is going to be as DIY as we can manage.

Our ensuite bathroom has BLUE sink and toilet. I've done a bit of a facelift there because it was so hideous, but had to work around the blue so that wasn't easy. That project is going to require expanding into our closet to make a larger BR. We want a soaker tub for 2 and double vanities there- dreams for down the road!

Back to the main bath. The dimensions are 8.5 feet wide (window wall) x 7 feet deep (vanity wall) The closet at one end of the tub is 21 inches wide inside, the opening is only 17 inches wide. I would love some suggestions about how to open that space up or how else it could be used more effectively.

We like corian, so will probably do that for counters and an undermount sink. We'd like some drawers in the vanity and possibly a tall storage cabinet, and maybe a recessed medicine cabinet on the wall somewhere, and a smaller mirror over the vanity. Where do you think the best place would be for the TP holder? In the pics you can see where we have it but I'm not sure that is a good spot.

Thanks for looking!

[kirsty]

Um...at least it seems to have a good layout? (Don't get me started on my tiny bathroom with giant window and triangle shaped vanity)

I just wanted to throw out that I've seen heat registers that fit down in the toekick (my parents have one in their kitchen) -- might be an option if you wanted to maximize storage space?

[alydev]

Silly me- I didn't even think of a toe-kick register! thanks for mentioning it- that really helps me have more flexibility with my plans. Not sure I want to have a giant vanity in there. I like the look of a smaller (maybe 48") vanity, with something on either side. Do you think having a tall cabinet on one side only would look unbalanced? On challenge in there is where to put the towel rod- we have one on the back of the door right now, but I don't like it there. I was thinking of a wall-mounted heated towel rack, but where to put it? The PO had one above the toilet tank under the window, but that leaves no space for the towels to hang, so we took it down.

Any ideas about options for towel hanging?

[kirsty]

good point-- all your walls are covered. Maybe a shorter vanity,with an open space on one side, withtowels either on the wall next to the toilet or hanging over the heat register?(warm air coming out might be a nice thing)

I don't think a tall cab on either side would be bad, both sides might be too much & make it feel like a corridor.

The broom closet might be narrow, but you've got some great storage there if you could open up the framing and put in pull outs of some kind? (so long as you preserve access to any plumbing valves that migtht be back there)

I see no reason why there'd be anything in the soffit. I think it was just the style back then.

[alydev]

thanks Kristy! It's so great to get feedback and someone else's thoughts.

I wondered about doing pullouts in that closet. If I opened up the framing around it, I'd have to find some sort of door(s) to cover it up I guess. Not sure how to do that. Also, the closet is behind the door so I'd have to make sure the pullouts were never left pulled out and then the door gets opened and ....wham!

Has anyone done bathroom tiling? I've done one tiling project, a very small floorarea in the front entrance of another house which turned out great, but I've never done walls. How would you rate the difficulty from 1-10?

Do you think I should open up the soffit area and take the ceiling up?


I Just had a thought- what about opening up theedges, then installing a tall pantry cabinet in the space? I'd have to look at where the plumbing access is in there, but perhaps that would save me having to fashion something DIY...?

[jen_va]

Just a general observation about soffits: It's always a good idea to first cut a hole and use a mirror to look inside and make absolutely certain you know what, if anything, is in there. Knowledge is power!

[kirsty]

Pullout pantry might work nicely-- it would depend on what you wanted to store in there, I guess? Since this is not your primary bathroom (I'm assuming) then you have some leeway.

I agree that making a small hole and having a look in the soffit (maybe from inside the closet?) before attacking with a crowbar would be smart.

I did a similar bathroom renovation on my last house; it had an old shower stall that I tore out,openedup (soffit, threshold,and little side walls)and retiled. The tricky part was installing thehardibacker so thatthe enclosure was square, but once it was in, the tilingwas quite easy, and kind of fun. (I'd never tiled before that)