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Spaces for Life: What you should know before remodeling your bathroom

By Lance McCarthy

Bathroom remodeling – bathing in style…

The bathroom. A lot happens in this little room. Teeth are brushed, hands are washed, bubbles and rose petals are applied, beauty is created… A great bathroom can have a huge impact on how well your day goes.

How much does a bathroom cost?

The #1 question we get from people is the ever popular…wait for it…”How much is a bathroom?”

Check out our budget brackets below to get some generic rule of thumb cost ranges.

Budget Brackets

Level 1: The Facelift $10-25k

New “surfaces” and fixtures, but no change in floor plan.

  • New tub/shower walls and door
  • New hardware and mirror
  • New countertops
  • Painting cabinets
  • New flooring
  • New light fixtures
  • New paint

Level 2: Full replacement $20-40k

Everything is replaced, and some floor plan changes happen

  • New tub/shower
  • New vanity/countertop
  • New sinks and faucets
  • New heated tile floor
  • All new surfaces
  • Reconfiguring space

Level 3: Full Custom $30-70k+

Everything is replaced and completely redesigned

  • Improved floor plan
  • New walls
  • Custom cabinet/countertop
  • Custom closet system
  • Walk-in shower
  • Custom lighting features

Of course each bathroom (and client) is unique, and a personalized budget will be developed for your project during a collaborative design process.

Some of our favorite bathroom finish products and design elements:

  • Heated floor- no one ever regrets this one
  • Free standing tub – corner jacuzzis out; free standing tubs in
  • Walk-in shower- glass doors are so 2014
  • Frameless glass shower surrounds-ok, so frameless glass is still pretty cool
  • Shower faucet options- handshowers and jets and rainheads, oh my!
  • Bidet-once you go bidet, you never go back

Pitfalls to avoid:

  • DIY nightmare  That Home Depot commercial makes it seem so easy.  We get a lot of calls from people who discover there is more to a basement remodel than 30 seconds of an exciting song and Josh Lucas’s sexy voice.  If this is something you are considering, call me in and I can help walk you through the pitfalls beforehand.
  • Too cheap to be true   We find a lot of advertisements out there for cheap bathrooms that trap a lot of people who just don’t know any different.  Bathrooms are probably the room in the house where the difference between quality to shoddy is most obvious.
  • Tricky tile The most important part of tile is what is underneath it.  On a floor, if the base moves at all, the tile will eventually crack and fall out.  In a shower, if the base is not perfectly waterproof, the shower will eventually leak.  Both are big time bad news.
  • Ancient pipes On a quick switch out, it is tempting to leave the existing shutoffs and ignore the pipes in the wall.  A new $5 shutoff is a lot cheaper than replacing the ceiling below.  Think on it.
  • Spacing There are important spacing guidelines when planning where a toilet will go near a wall or vanity, or how close a shower is to a door.  These are easy to solve on paper, hard to solve once everything is installed.

Ready to Take the Next Step?