Bathroom breaks

September 4, 2007 10:47 AM

Remodeling bathroom, and looking all over the web. Question: any tips for searching, sites that I should check out? And are the tubs and vanities listed on Costco online good or crap? All help appreciated, hivers.

Just in case it helps, we're doubling the size of the (tiny) bathroom, and will be adding a new vanity and (possibly) pedestal sink, new floor tile and new shower (tile and fixtures). We're in the $35k overall budget range.

Oh, and the house isn't big (city bungalow built 1911), so we're not looking at anything oversize...

posted by Arch1 to home & garden (11 comments total)

I'm not sure what you need - sites with remodeling advice or sites with good catalogs of stuff to browse? When I was planning our remodel I used www.kohler.com a lot (they have lots of nice modern stuff I like, and a wishlist facility which is handy). I also used www.faucet.com because there was a wide range of brands (not just faucets! fixtures too) to compare and browse. However I did not buy any fixtures online, from previous bad experiences. Better to buy at a B&M store so you can return if there is damage, or go and yell at someone if they are running late with delivery. Online vendors often claim stuff is in stock when it isnt...
posted by Joh at 10:55 AM on September 4, 2007

We found great stuff at a hole-in-the-wall place the salvages antique bathroom fixtures. They also had new stuff and we got a brand new cast-iron tub that no big-box store carried and at a reasonable price. You'd have to check the phone book to see if there's one in Minneapolis.
posted by GuyZero at 10:58 AM on September 4, 2007

To better direct the answers, we're hiring this out... both of we MeFi'ers are hopeless at home repair, so we're looking for the tub, tile, shower, vanity, etc. Thanks!
posted by Arch1 at 11:00 AM on September 4, 2007

Sorry for the self links, but I was rather fond of our two bathroom remodels (and we have a 1914 bungalow): Bath one, more Bath one, Bath two. Let me know if you need to know the specifics of anything in there. We also posted our bathroom design ideas. (The orange bathroom is an April Fool's Joke.)

To get the second bathroom design, we held an "Open Source Bathroom Redesign Contest" and got some good ideas. We implemented the winner. So, you can always let the internet design it for you :)

I'm always combing Flickr, American Bungalow Forum, and Houseblogs.net (full disclosure: we run that) for great bathroom ideas.
posted by jeanmari at 11:12 AM on September 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is an excellent faucet site: Hudson Reed. Very high quality and attractive faucets (shower heads, etc) at really really good prices considering what you are getting.
posted by true at 11:25 AM on September 4, 2007

When I remodeled my bathroom, I spent my initial time walking around The Great Indoors and Expo Design Center, just getting ideas. That was the most frustrating part for me: deciding what I wanted. Once I did, I just did a crapload of Googling for whatever components I was looking for to see what else was available. So I ended up visiting a whole bunch of different web sites that I never would have otherwise heard of.
posted by iguanapolitico at 11:25 AM on September 4, 2007

I bought one of Costco's vanities a few months back, and I've been quite pleased with it -- much better built than the stuff I found at the "big box" stores, plus it was in stock and ready for pickup, while all but the most common ones were "special order" at Lowes and Home Depot...
posted by nonliteral at 11:35 AM on September 4, 2007

We're in the midst of this as well, doing a facelift on our master bathroom, though our scope is more modest, as we're not moving walls, etc. We've elected to go the cultured marble route, as this seems to give us the most bang for our bucks.

In the process of doing my own research, I found Cabinet Liquidators, which seems like a decent resource if they have the sizes and finishes you want.

You may also want to check out Faucets4Cheap.com, which has good prices on a number of familiar, quality brands.
posted by mosk at 12:33 PM on September 4, 2007

I highly recommend That Home Site. Their bathroom forum is pretty active, and has an image gallery you might find inspiring (or not). You can get a lot of insight there - help with layout, materials, etc.

Best of luck!!
posted by pammo at 12:35 PM on September 4, 2007

Just be sure that whoever's doing your tile work uses cement backerboard as the tile substrate. Some people don't consider it necessary. Those are the people you don't want to do the job. Also, try to be there while they're working, so that if they come up with some crazy solution to corners, windows, whatever, and it looks like crap, you catch it before the mortar sets up. Read a short tile how-to book, so you can talk to the person.
posted by SixteenTons at 3:04 PM on September 4, 2007

I double-agree on using a local source for plumbing supplies. My Kohler sink, which I ordered thru a large scale local plumber, came with a bent flange (or something) twice. The plumbers took care of getting the replacement (twice).

And do not go cheap on the faucet. You will be turning it off and on all day long and a cheap one wears out. You don't have to get all designer fancy but get the best quality you can. e.g., look at http://www.chicagofaucets.com/cfg_home1024.html.
posted by andreap at 4:25 PM on September 4, 2007