Hi baggie2: Thanks so much! I do so love my penny rounds. I was angst-ridden over those, for so long, and now I can't even remember why. I think that's my favorite thing about this bathroom-- well, that and the "dueling sinks." Somebody asked me the other day if we had a problem using just one sink. I could never find one large sink-- and after searching and searching-- I finally had a eureka! moment when I realized that, even if I found one, I just don't want to have to share a sink with anybody. That's all there is to it.

I still need to take a picture of me able to reach my leg up over the "high-stepper." I actually had a friend come over the other day, and she took one look at that tub and said, "You know, maybe you should get an Asian looking, really pretty, stool to just sit there, in case you need it. ??? I must look like I'm seriously ready to fall apart. One thing that would definitely give me trouble would be stepping up and down on a damn pretty Asian stool to get in and out of that tub. I'd break my neck for sure.

The plumber was not like the one in the commercial, though I do have my suspicions about the tiler. The plumber does stare, however, in a kind of lustful way, at those Kohler sinks. Of course, I find that I stare at everything Kohler in that way, too. His cohort who helped carry the tub up-- after it was all in-- took one look at everything and said, "In all the years I've been doing this, I've never seen a bathroom like this." And he paused, shook his head, and said, "Not ever." So, yeah, that was kind of ambiguous. He did say he loved my penny rounds, though.

We're still not in there, believe it or not. So I go in every morning and just stare at it all. I like to imagine it would be a nice bathroom to have and use one day. Okay-- so the plumber is coming back to fix that o-ring issue, and some escutcheon issue (which has become my new favorite word). Maybe something like-- "Those damn plumbers and their fancy escutcheons-- they're all in cahoots!"

So the "almost contractor" has transformed into the "probably-not-to-be-contractor?" Yikes. I can still make that phone call for you. I had to yell at a door guy the other day, which I followed up with an appropriately stern email. Apparently, according to this guy, I'm the first disgruntled client they've had in the 24 years of being in business. Isn't that amazing. Well, I can't envision raising boys-- at any age-- so if you could handle that-- you're probably okay on your own. But do yell if you need me. ;) Enjoy the company!

OK!!! We met with the probable contractor today! MNKY, need ideas for inexpensive fixtures and ideas for the new bath with shower. We are taking our current utility room and making it into a bathroom which will have a shower we can use for humans and doggies. I said we wanted a shower door, but am rethinking that idea since I had a bad experience bathing a cat in a shower with a door. Diana!! Can you believe we actually talked to a living breathing contractor. They said nothing will be touched until everything is ordered and ready for installation.
We had so many white subway tiles, white square tiles, and maybe even several squares of our basket weave marble flooring left from our bathroom so we will be using those for sure. The contractor, who shall henceforth be known as "Chad", seemed to think we would have enough, but they will count them and evaluate how best to use them. I would like to start a new discussion about the new sink so please, MNKY and Diana, help out in the new small sink decision. Looking forward to your suggestions!

baggie2: Wow! Congratulations!! Chad sounds like a dream. Is that his stage name, do you think? So I want to know why I get workmen with names like Billy Bob and Bubba? Seriously. Chad is definitely a stage name, but he sounds like a hunk.

Okay-- well, I love that you can use all the wonderful sounding left-over tile. That's great. I'm jealous. It already sounds beautiful.

About sinks-- I admit that I buy online ALL the time. I go to fancy showrooms and find what I want, and then I buy online. I even bought those fancy Kohler dueling sinks online for about half what they were asking for them in the store. They arrived in perfect condition, with absolutely no issues. And I have bought from VintageTub.com and also from FaucetDirect.com, and probably some others I can't remember right now.

Don't know how much you want to spend on faucets, but we love this sink faucet, which I did see in my local plumbing showroom, and then I bought from FaucetDirect.com. It's a Pfister, one hole, and I love it because it's modern and only one item I have to clean around, and the water is really pretty as it flows out. ;) Price varies if you're going with chrome or brushed nickel, from $164 to $229. Based on a lot of what I saw, I don't think those are bad prices. This is not skimpy looking and is made well and looks good. http://www.faucetdirect.com/pfister-gt42-df0-kenzo-waterfall-bathroom-faucet/p1699815 They have others, but the brushed nickel will always be more expensive. So if you stick with polished chrome, you'll spend less money.

So check out FaucetDirect, and also VintageTub. I bought a pedestal sink and toilet from VintageTub, which was a Porcher sink-- like it a lot. Not sure they still sell it, but they do sell some smaller pedestal sinks:
http://www.vintagetub.com/asp/sinks.asp
And this place (thebathoutlet.com) has some nice smaller sinks as well-- not sure how the pricing matches up-- but you can check them out for faucets as well: http://www.thebathoutlet.com/Bathroom-Sinks/?gclid=CLO1zfPOvrYCFQexnQodXAwAhQ Qualitybath.com is another I've bought from, too-- with no issues.

I also don't know if you have a Habitat for Humanity store in your area, but ours is full of amazing stuff. Lots of people have told me to go there for sinks, etc. I found everything I needed for the bathroom, elsewhere, but I did find a great exterior door at Habitat-- But you should check it out, and on Craig's List in your area, too. People buy tile, sinks, etc that -- for whatever reasons-- don't work for them, or builders make mistakes, and sometimes places won't take returns, so they donate it to Habitat, or try to sell on Craig's List.

Those are my immediate suggestions and thoughts. I'll think some more, while I'm trying to imagine what Chad looks like. ;)

And so interesting that you posted today. I had to yell-- big time-- at my plumber this morning. He's all finished, except for this o-ring continuing saga-- and, boy, did he hear a mouthful from me today. By the end of the day, he was calling me and saying "Please. Can you give me just one more chance? I'll be there tomorrow; I swear." It's too late now, though..

Anyway . . . I'm so excited for you and your fancy new doggie/human bathroom! I bet the dogs are excited, too!! My dog loves my penny rounds, by the way. He goes in there to sleep every night. Even though he has a big old soft bed to sleep on, he chooses the penny rounds instead.

Hi baggie2. Good to hear that you've at least talked to someone and things are moving a bit. The shower we have in the basement is the mirolin madison4. It is like a cave but its clean looking. We chose the tripanel shower door to go with it. I think it's better than the 2-panel door because you'd have more space to get in there when the door's opened. My inlaws have this same shower and they use it to wash their dog. I'm not sure about washing cats. The shower does have a seat so I guess you can sit in there with the cat if needed...
We bought the same kohler toilet as our upstairs bathroom. It was not too expensive. We got it on sale for $214. Here's a pic our basement bathroom so far. We didn't put in any tiles.

mnky100: That looks really nice. I like the wall color. Is that the one similar to Winds Breath? It looks really good. We didn't put any tile in our downstairs bathroom, either, and like that. And so who is not putting down the seat on that toilet??

MNKY and Diana,
I knew I could count on you guys! I looked at the Porcher sinks online and really liked them. As you mentioned, Diana, the extra edge space on a sink is great so I am keeping that in mind as I decide. Have you really fired an ill and psychologically challenged plumber??!!! Do MNKY and I have to brush up on o rings and come and help you? Several years ago we replaced a very old furnace and I became quite the expert on plenums, but no o rings were involved in the project, so that is a whole new area for me. If we do a good job maybe NASA could use us! MNKY, I did not know about the triple door closure and that sounds great. I really didn't want to use a curtain. We no longer have a cat so it will just be a large dog and me since my husband seems to think I "relate to the dogs so well" that I should have the privilege if bathing them. I tried the Huck Finn methodology to get the husband to help, but he read the book.
We do have a habitat store here and I must admit to being hooked. I bought a couple of drawer pulls to try for our finished bath and liked one so well I ordered all of them online. It's good to hear that your online purchases were successful. I will definitely look at those websites. Now...Chad is the actual name and I won't be sending a photo of him or you would definitely want to come and "supervise" my project. I will give my best effort to deal with the daily face-to-face contact which will undoubtedly be required. I imagine you both agree that close personal scrutiny is the way to deal with this. I don't want a repeat of our other project or I would never even consider this approach. : ). Will keep you posted when time allows.

so... I think based on all of this that you ended up leaving the tile line as is around the window... I have a bathroom that appears identical in layout... anyone with ideas as to what to do with the window ?? it is all but in the shower and although I was hoping to avoid it I cant come up with an idea other than dropping the trim and tiling right up to it??

This isn't my bathroom (not original poster here), but we did just re-do a bathroom and have a window situated like this. We did a tile wainscot, and the tiler just tiled up to the window and right around it. The window moldings/trim remained-- he just tiled around it all. It looks good and seamless. I'm not sure I would have liked it any other way. ?? Why do you want to avoid tiling around the window?

Like in the orig pic our window trim is basically inside the tub line. Previous owners just left the trim off the left side of the window and put in a glass shower door on the tub. We are taking out the door and have either to do different trim than the rat of the house to get u narrow enough or take it off and tile to the Untrimmed window. I'm having trouble imagining that look

Oh, I see what you mean. I actually saw another bathroom recently that my tiler did-- and these people did take off the entire trim around the window, and the tile was basically the trim. I thought it looked terrific and wanted to do that in my house, but we had only just replaced our window, and it was fancy wood trim, so I felt bad about removing it. Plus, it just looked good with the tile surrounding it. But-- I do think that's a great look-- and makes sense, given the location of the window. If you're hiring a tiler to do your work, ask for pictures. I'm sure he's done it in the past. But the one I saw was a deliberate choice that had a very integrated look..

Thanks. If you run across any pics of that look I'd love to see it. I'm prob my own tiler :) unfortunately for me.

Just Google "tiled bathroom windows," and you'll come up with some. Here's one:

Meickhoff, we tiled the bathtub area on one side and didn't tile around the window on the other side. We've painted the untiled area so when we look from down the hall, we can see the painted wall (at the top), the window and the bottom half of the wall that's tiled. I thought about tiling that whole wall too... But thought it'd be too much tile when looking from outside the bathroom.

Haha dianahb, I have yet to use that basement bathroom. must be the workers leaving that toilet seat up!

Don't you hate it when they get to use your bathroom before you do??

This is a pic of the before

Michee627, I think if you frame the whole window it'd look much better. We tiled the whole bath tub area including the ceiling I'm not sure which pic I've posted before of the new bathroom. I'll post a better one later on.

This is the doorway leading into the current utility room from the dinette...looking for ideas...see next...second picture is standing in room..picture 3 is the area they want to place stool and sink...picture 4 is closet which may become shower....see next

This door is opposite the first picture and is entry to storage room, scheduled to become utility room..last picture is across from the side of the washer..door to the garage. So many doors! I am dragging my feet about signing the contract. Maybe I am just tired of the process, but I am not sold on the layout. Any suggestions?

Hey baggie2. Happy Tax Day!

First off, WHO is winning all those pretty ribbons?? I am a huge fan of ribbons and awards and trophies and the such. External validation-- I'm all over it. So-- kudos to the guy/gal winning those! So why are they hidden in the washer/dryer soon to be bathroom area??

But in answer to your question, I had to look at this a couple of times. So, in that first picture-- as you walk in-- that door to the left (to our right on the screen) is to the current storage area that will soon become the utility room. Or is that another closet door? If that's a second door-- and not the same one we see in picture one-- what's it used for? Is it just a closet? If that's a door to a closet (and not the door to the current storage area), then I might open that up as open shelving. That eliminates so many doors. And is it possible to put in a pocket door where the washer/dryer will be (now a regular door to storage room)? Again, if that's possible to do, it will streamline things and the room won't seem so door-centric.

Where those double doors are-- to a closet, I guess-- seems like a smart choice for the shower placement. That makes sense to me.

I have more, but tell me if I have the layout correct.

Baggie2: do you have a layout actually? did they do a drawing for you... you could take a pic of that and post it? Having some trouble picturing it

I think I'll start a new string of questions and see what you all think.... that way we won't get mixed up and we can answer Baggie2's ideas. BTW I switched my name from meickhoff to michee627 just in case you were confused :)

Michele,

Here is the drawing, but not sure how helpful it is. It is looking the same direction as photo 1. Just an aside,
I am so very sorry about the people impacted by the terrible attack in Boston. My condolences to them and to their families and friends.

My ipad changed your name...so sorry I didn't notice sooner. Silly thing thinks it knows everything!

I have moved my discussion to a new discussion area. I apologize MNKY for usurping your discussion. I look forward to your input as well as Diana's and other contributors. Please see my new comments. I am in need of flooring ideas for the bathroom, but it will be strictly utilitarian.

My new discussion group is "Transformation from utility room to bathroom....FYI, since I had trouble finding it myself. : )

My new discussion group is .... "Bathroom window encroaching in tub space" I'd love ideas on how to handle tile levels....

Hi mnky100! How did the bathroom turn out? Do you have any photos to share?

ditto - would love to see the result?

Here is the new bath room!

More pics

Bathtub side

Thanks to all who commented on the post! You've made the renos much more fun.

That's really great looking! What a transformation. I love the wall color, too, that pulls out that same green in the tile up there. What did you end up using for the floor? It all looks really good.

Hi Dianahb. I ended up using charcoal grey long tiles for the floor. Worked out nicely with the rest of the bathroom. :)

I love love the charcoal gray. I couldn't tell if it was slate or what-- but really really like how it looks. I went back and looked at your original photo of the bathroom. What a major transformation-- hard to believe it's the same bathroom.

Good job. What are putting on window a white pleated shade from Lowe's would work.

MNKY! Hooray! Great job. I like the tile trim in the tub area, and really like the floor. It looks like a "happy" room. Congratulations and whew, aren't you happy to be finished?

really nice job!!

Very nice. Looks great!

Love it! It's so great to see the final outcome! Congrats on your beautiful new space :)

Thanks for all the compliments! It's great to have it finished and put to use.

How are your renos coming along baggie2? Dianahb?

Hi mnky100 -- All is well here, with pristine clean renovated bathrooms, and no contractors in sight. After much agonizing and indecision, I don't have even one regret over all that we chose (tile, tub, etc). We love it all. I guess we'll never move now. I am contemplating replacing the 20-year old limestone countertop in our kitchen, along with the sink-- but when I think about having a tiler and plumber come back in here to do that, I take another look at the countertop and sink and think-- gosh, they don't seem as horrific as I first thought. ;)
In one of our bathrooms we renovated, we've had one of those temporary shower curtain rods up-- and, because of various reasons (mostly old house wiring stuff)-- there is no light directly over the shower-- so even though there's plenty of light in the room generally, once the shower curtain is closed, it seems dark in the shower/tub itself. So we waited almost a year-- but finally decided to use glass instead of a curtain. The tiler is happy, because his tile will not be obscured-- but we're going with a fixed glass panel just on one side-- not movable-- seems the cleanest solution-- very minimalistic look, which I like-- though the downside is having to get in the shower from only one side, but I like the look and it's just us-- and we're not big people-- so we should have no problem with that 26" he's leaving us to get in and out of there. ;)

Beautiful new bathroom. You've done a great job. I hope you're enjoying it now.

Unlike you and Diana, I still have guys trooping in and out if the house on a not-so-regular schedule. The tiler was coming last Wednesday or Thursday..change to late Friday afternoon change to Saturday all day change to late tomorrow afternoon to "finish up". Chad will be here tomorrow to put in the toilet, sink and stand, and shower rod. He will need to reassemble our new door and sidelight since the painters took it apart but didn't know how to put it back together. : ). Then, we will need to have the concrete floor painted, some rods mounted in the Ichabod Crane cupboard (skeleton key required..sorry couldn't help myself). Assorted little finishing things. We will live with the new utility room a few weeks before deciding on the cupboard/closet arrangement. Next comes the removal of the sliding doors between dinette and sunroom and the painting of the exterior trim..if we can get it finished before cold weather.
Diana, sorry you had to go with the glass instead of a curtain, but I think glass always looks neat. Our son and I gave our cat a bath in a tub with the sliding door. We squeezed side by side in the half space and he held the cat while I applied the water and shampoo. It probably would have made a good youtube show. There was a lot if yowling and water flying everywhere, but the cat learned how to man up.

Dilly and Dudley showing eager anticipation of using new shower!

Oh my gosh. They look so good standing on those penny rounds! They look like they are tailor-made for the penny rounds, except the one on the left (Dilly?) is looking at them askance. I love the way it all looks, and especially love Dilly and Dudley. What a pair.

Honestly, with all the delays-- if I didn't know any better-- I'd say you had my crew over there working with you. ;) These photos look like everything is just about done, though.

I was hesitant to get glass, because I didn't want to have to clean it, but they assured me that there would be no problem. Maybe glass is better now than it used to be, but I doubt it. They said if I just clean it twice a week with a squeegee and some fancy cleaner they sell, I'll be fine. At least it's just one panel and even the supports that attach to the tile-- there are only 2 of them and maybe 2 inches square-- so really, nothing but glass-- not a lot of channels and metal for clogging mold and gunk (like in the bathroom we gutted).

Anyway-- good to hear you're doing so well and making so much progress there. We have a 20-year old farm cat, and our other cat (a long-haired calico) died a couple of years ago (at 18 years). In all those years, I can safely say that we never bathed a cat. Would have had to suit up for that, for sure. :)

Diana, sorry to hear that you missed out on a cat bathing opportunity. Our cat was a flea magnet so he endured many baths and we think (perhaps incorrectly?) that he came to appreciate that they made him feel better. One never knows what a cat is thinking, which is probably best. Dudley is the one with the uncertain look. Dilly knows from a previous episode that she can escape from me. Wanted to ask about your grout. We used the darkest grey from The Tile Store, but it seems lighter than I anticipated. (Dove grey).
Our glass installers suggested we use Rain X on the shower glass. It works very well on cars and showers. Beats a squeegee and can be reapplied as needed.

Dianahb, your bathroom sounds really nice. I think a glass panel is great to show off the tiles. Too bad I'll have to stick w a shower curtain for now. I still haven't put one in because I really don't want to cover up the tiles in the tub area. They're nice to look at. For now we only use this bathroom to bathe the little one. He enjoys touching the subway tiles even though they are all the same. Baggie2 Your dogs are so cute!
Hope your bathroom will be done in no time. I really like the flooring. Did you use that outside the shower as well? Do you have photos of the room in other posts? I want to see!

Hey baggie2-- I can't remember what grout color we used. It was the Tile Shop's brand, and I do remember that the color I chose was made in 'sanded' only, which the tiler used for the penny rounds. I wanted something to match it on the walls, but in unsanded, so I had to go to another tile shop to find a similar grout color, in unsanded. The unsanded version that matched the color exactly was called 'Limestone,' though I can't remember that brand. The sanded one, from the Tile Shop, I don't think was 'dove gray,' though. I do remember picking something that wasn't too dark or too light (you know-- just right!). My tiler kept telling me I wouldn't like anything dark-- but I think I would have been just as happy with a darker grout. I suspect he didn't want me getting a dark grout, because a dark grout would have more clearly shown up any problems with how the penny rounds were laid. That's my suspicion, anyway. But I also did not want a dark grout on the walls, so I picked something that would work for both the floor and the walls. I do think that what I chose did end up looking slightly lighter than I'd envisioned. I like it, though-- it's a perfect match for the penny rounds, so the whole thing looks very mosaic-like. I also think that the lighter grout shows off the coppery edge, and a darker grout might have hidden that. Looking at your floor online, it looks like mine. I wonder, too, have they cleaned it to get all that haze off of it? Mine looked instantly better when he cleaned it to make the penny rounds really shine, and gets the grout closer to the 'right' color. But I think yours looks really good. A darker grout, too, may have been too much of a contrast with the white subway tile. It all looks perfect from what I can tell on the screen. Oh-- and thanks for the tip on Rain X! I've heard of it, but didn't know if the real thing lived up to the hype. So I don't need to get a squeegee?? One more thing to stack somewhere??

mnky100-- Thanks; yes, I think the glass will go well in that bathroom and show off the tile. :) I actually like a shower curtain, because it's nice to have a soft flow-y textile up against all that hard tile-- but it's just too dark for us once the curtain is closed. And, definitely, if I had small children here-- or was, you know, doing crazy-town stuff like bathing cats ;) I'd definitely not put in the fixed panel. That's sweet that you're little boy likes touching the subway tiles. Isn't that funny? I have the same obsession with honed limestone--
something about the smoothness and cool-to-the-touch-ness of it all, I guess. Maybe he likes the repetition of them, too.

With our other bathroom, the one with the penny rounds, we got that 'high-stepper' tub, as baggie2 calls it-- and I have not yet broken my leg getting in and out of that-- but we put in a shower head in the wall, but we've yet to put up any curtain. The room looks so spacious without anything there at all, so I'm just using the tub for now.

But I love what you did here-- just looking at the pictures again. Hard to believe it's the same bathroom space.

baggie2 - Cute photos! Thanks for sharing the photos with your pups. - Mandi @ Dura