Bathroom renovation

15 years ago

Ok, I need help. Time to sell the house after years of DIY renovation of the whole house. Of course now that we're finally almost done, we're ready for a change of scenery! The last thing to do is the Master Bath. It's probably a small space for many of you, but we're in an area with older row houses in the city where the expectation is that either there is no master suite or that the space is limited.

We already redid one bathroom that had the original floor with black and white hex tile and greek key border that we copied on the wall around the shower. We also redid a smaller bath with honed carrara tile. Both these bathrooms have original tubs which we had recoated.

We are trying to create a master that would appeal to a wide range of people. We want to spend as little as possible but realize we need to spend enough to justify a pretty high price point in selling the house. The space is approximately 10.5 by 7.5. We do have a walk-in closet with a built-in vanity that you pass through to enter and a cedar closet in the main hallway. We are planning to do this ourselves - not experts in plumbing but good enough to have done the whole rest of the house with no issues.

We think we'll have a shower/no tub because of the other tubs in the house and lack of space. What kind of shower will appeal to buyers? Do we need the frameless glass shower door? What about the surface of the shower floor? Minimum size for the shower? Do we need the dual sinks? Do most people really want that? Should we create some closet space in the room or buy/insert cabinets? Is open shelving ok? Any suggestions, "must haves" or things to avoid that can help us get it right will be most helpful.

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

R S
15 years ago
Yes to the frameless glass door - it's not a must, but it looks so good and when people are looking at your house it'll really show well.

I don't know about the floor, if you're doing it yourself then tile may be difficult, but that would be my first choice. I would go as large as possible with the shower - within reason, of course. There are people who are good at layouts who might be able to point you to some examples. If it were my bathroom, I'd probably want to have the whole back wall to be the shower, so it would be something like 3.5' x 7.5'.

I'm not sure you have a large enough bathroom for dual sinks. It's possible, sure, but you'd be losing a lot of counter space and possible storage space. I think people only want dual sinks in a really large bathroom when there's room for it.
philly_kid
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah we are planning to put the shower on that back wall, either the full length or most of it with some storage. I have thought about putting a Kohler cast iron shower receptor. I know some people like tile and others don't like to clean it. Do you think the cast iron shower floor will be as desirable as tile?
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R S
15 years ago
Yeah, I think you're good either way. I like that you're looking at cast iron, though. I just really hate the acrylic/bad quality shower floors. As long as it's nice, I think it can be just as good as tile. Plus, a lot of people do see that as being easier to clean (even though it's not necessarily, depending on the type of grout, etc. in a tile floor). I personally would have liked to see either one when I was looking at houses last year. Unfortunately, the bathroom I moved into was a bit of a disaster, and thus, my presence here. :D
AlvinMc
15 years ago
I agree to the frameless shower door. It will add to your bathroom times ten. Do your research, it is possible to do youreslf. I personally think ceramic tile will look great.

Here is a link that might be useful: frameless glass shower doors
nycbluedevil
15 years ago
If you can get your shower to be big enough, you can do an open shower and save yourself the money for the door. It looks really sleek and a new owner can always add the door. Our shower is 4' x 5' and the water does not come out on to the floor. We have a rain head in the center which helps because it directs the water straight down. The rain head can be expensive but is nowhere near what a door would cost.
philly_kid
Original Author
15 years ago
Great! More feedback! I will look further into frameless glass doors. I'm a little overwhelmed with stuff to do on the house and elsewhere before moving that I'm having a hard time pinpointing exactly what to do with the bathroom and layout. There are a couple of limiting factors - a window and a radiator as well as the location of my drainpipe that are constraining. Essentially, my rectangular space has a toilet, door, window and radiator on one end leaving three walls on the other end: 5 and 1/2 feet on one side, 7 and 1/2 feet on the back and 7 feet on the other side. Can you picture it? We are thinking about a 3 by 4 shower on one side and a 48-60 inch lavatory on the other - is that a little cramped in the middle? Suggestions? I was looking at neo angle corner showers but the one that looked okay is Vigo and there is hardly any feedback on those. I also couldn't find a base for one that wasn't acrylic. I suppose we could build a base with a Kerdi system, but that will take a lot of research and work...
margar
15 years ago
I like your idea of a Kohler cast iron receptor / shower pan. We are considering that option for our future shower. I think it would appeal to people (like me) who are afraid of possible shower pan (usual construction with tile and vinyl shower pan liner) failure in the future. Don't think there is any way that those cast iron pans can cause problems with leakage.