The “before” reminded me a lot of a hotel. In an “Oh, it’s an old hotel I got at a great rate AND they’ve actually kept it up all these years” kind of way.
Truly thought-provoking. 
Sicks Ate, that’s a perfect description!
Made me think of y’all:
Holy crap… I’m not even kidding, I’m ordering that and secretly putting it up before my older boys shower.
Or maybe my wife too… I need some time to ruminate on the consequences of that one…
I have completed demo and am almost done with electrical and plumbing rough in for adding cabinets/counter/dishwasher/prep sink to an underutilized nook in my kitchen. As soon as I’m ready for the rough in inspection I’ll post a link for some photos and do updates from there.
Yeah, that’s pretty great. My grandson would love it.
I’m painting our guest bathroom this weekend, and granite countertops are being installed Monday, so I would think the whole shebang will be finished this time next week.
Then on to the real monster, the master bath. :eek:
Is there any interest in a general home improvement project thread? I hijacked my own thread here with the kitchen project since we had to put off the dream bath project. I decided today that since I have benefited from so many videos on YouTube that I would start taking video of some of my work. I may get savaged by trolls or picky pros, but I feel like I do good work and I’m ok with that.
I installed my PEX manifolds today for all of my plumbing expansions. There are still little finishing details to do before I show that off, but here is what I took when I started this morning.
grr…technical problems
Moved the above-mentioned link here.
Well, bugger. Our countertops are to be installed next Monday. At least we got the room painted. However much you remember painting to suck, it always seems to suck a bit more than that.
Sicks, didn’t we used to have a whole home improvement forum? Oh yeah, it was called The Barn House, after Ed’s book. It didn’t catch on.
Now I know I must have read that book, but I can’t remember anything about it. :o
Yeah, unfortunately that place was dead! That’s kind of why I threw out the idea of just one thread for the topic instead.
I always say how much I hate painting. And yet I do so MUCH of it! 
For this project I’m getting a sprayer though, I think it’ll give me a much nicer finish on the cabinets, I ordered them unfinished.
So hereis a quick picture I just snapped of the borderline useless nook in our kitchen. We had a cabinet there we used as kind of a pantry, a little table that basically collected random crap, and the trash can.
Now on the right side, we’ll have a dishwasher (we don’t have one now), a little prep sink to the left of that for rinsing dishes and…prepping, and of course a countertop the whole way across and wall cabinets. All of the little appliances like the toaster oven, coffee pot, blender, will live on that countertop to free up the main one for cooking prep and good stuff like that.
I found this thread late and confess I only skimmed the last couple pages, but it doesn’t look like you’ve broken ground yet so I’ll add my $0.02 to the topic just for kicks.
Key things I would prioritize for my throne room.
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In floor heating. Missed what part of the country you live in, but having a warm tile bathroom floor is a really nice perk. Also it’s energy efficient and you can get fancy timers so that it’s up to temperature when you want it in the AM.
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Custom tile shower. Avoid the prefab shower pans and shower liners. They aren’t that much cheaper than tile when you’re doing the labor yourself and they are way more durable and higher end. You usually can design them such that you don’t have a step at all when getting in which is very nice. Tastes vary, but I really like the design of a uniform large format tile (see #13 on this list) on the floors and walls. Include a bench and a overly-generous recessed shelf for shampoo/soap. Avoid natural stones like travertine and marble, they are too high maintenance and not worth the cost compared to new modern tile.
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Rain shower and/or multiple opposing shower heads. This one can be a bit touch and go if you have weak water pressure, but with good city water and new plumbing you can usually make it work. Having water hitting you from all directions is kinda fantastic and is what people expect when they imagine “luxury hotel” showers.
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Fixed Glass partition. If your layout can accommodate it, this is the finishing touch. I live in a city and have never had an issue with hard water spots, so as long as you don’t use well water I wouldn’t consider glass something to avoid. This type of fixed half-wall partition works with a rain shower/shower head combo but not with opposing shower heads for obvious reasons, but it’s much easier to clean than a sliding door and is far more elegant.
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Skip the tub unless you really need it. Shower-bath combos are usually a turn off for buyers and signal “builder grade” to most people. Assuming you have a second bathroom with a tub, keeping the master shower-only is aces.
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Steam shower. This one might be a bit far fetched and wouldn’t work with the fixed glass partition idea, but my wife would kill for one. If I’m designing a “dream” bathroom it’s on the list of things to consider.
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NO pedestal sinks. NO vessel sinks. Like it or not, you need lots of counter space in a master bath. In most cases these two options value form over function and they will drive you absolutely batty.
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Supercharge the exhaust fan with a over-sized duct. Most fans/ducts are too weak to get the moisture out of the room effectively. If you’re pulling it down to the studs, upgrading here will add to the lifespan of the room and prevent mold/mildew. Plus farts.
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Mirror with a built-in LED light. Nuff said.
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Charging station for gadgets. Most bathrooms these days have rechargeable razors, toothbrushes and trimmers. Give them a home somewhere other than the tank of the toilet, ideally someplace covered and away from the dreaded toilet plume.
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Storage for hair dryers and curling irons. Another biggie for my wife. Pretty much every vanity has a ugly jumble of cords and devices that are impossible to store easily. I don’t know what the magic bullet is here, but anything you can do to create a designated space for these things so they aren’t spilling out all over the place will be a welcome addition.
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Hand towel hooks/trays. This one sounds kinda dumb and obvious, but most home bathrooms tend to not have a good solution for this. More often than know you and your guests are drying their hands on the bath towels since they tend to be very obvious and at hand. If you’ve prone to cluttering the top of the vanity, a towel will be in the way. If you hook is out of sight or too far from the sink, you’ll get lazy and use the bath towel which isn’t great. This a spot where it’s definitely form over function, make sure whatever you pick for towel rods/hooks are sturdy and easy to use. You’d be surprised how many are basically just for towel display, not use.
That’s all for now. Hope this wasn’t all too obvious, but I’m planning a remodel of my own and this has been top of mind.
Better late to the party than never; here’s a hammer, get to work!
I say “hammer”, but when I started this round of projects I decided the first thing I’d do is get an impact driver. I can’t swing my 28 oz. framing hammer like I could when I was 22 :dubious:
So from now on, around here, any fastening that just requires holding two things together will be done with screws. And as much as the 22 y/o framing carpenter me would scoff, my 16 oz. finish hammer will do the nailing work whenever possible.
I love you, my trusty Estwing, and the feeling of your heft on the hammer loop of my framing bags is familiar and comforting…but my old shoulders and elbows can’t do it anymore. :o
Aha!
My husband and I are having this very discussion right now. He thinks tubs in the master are necessary for resale value. I’d rather do a big walk-in shower and let him put a hot tub in the yard.
Sicks, I’m excited about your appliance nook!
As with anything, it can be pretty buyer specific. If you’re really concerned about it, a call to a local real estate agent would get you an opinion that’s specific to your area. In my city, big walk-in hotel-like showers are unquestionably the premium trend.
The other thing is that unless you’re planning to sell fairly soon, don’t make decisions based on resale value. You’re living in the house now, so you might as well get what you want.
Yes and no. In my view, you should always look at all the facts. If you’re posed with a choice and you don’t consider resale value you’re making a mistake. You may ultimately decide that it’s less important than other factors, but it always needs to be the equation.
Also, “fairly soon” is a relative term. Paint and floors are somewhat easy to change and unless you’re selling in 2-3 years I’d say pick what you like. Tile, permanent fixtures and wallpaper tend to be a lot harder to change so your measure of soon might need to extend to 5-7 years.
Construction like removing/adding walls, closets and routing plumbing/electric should should probably always consider resale.
As an extreme example, maybe you’re an empty nester merging the master and spare bedroom plus the main bath into a single huge master suite. It might be amazing to love in and you never really entertain at home, cool. And you’re hoping to be there for 10-15 more years. But I think changing the arrangement of the home from a 2 bed to a 1 bed with no guest bathroom would probably be a bad choice in any circumstance.
Even if you’re not doing something nuts, plans change. Life can take lots of turns and there’s always a risk you’ll need to sell before you planned. If you’re in a pinch having something hard to change that really turns buyers off could be a crippling thing.
Oh my gosh, I can’t even tell you how excited I am…to have a dishwasher, countertops to cook on that aren’t cluttered by stuff because it has its own space across the kitchen…
Rough-in inspection is tomorrow morning…I haven’t had a problem with anything else they’ve looked at so far, so hopefully this will go smoothly as well.
As far as the resale issue…anything we do to this house will increase the resale value. It was very dated when we got here. But, we also plan on staying here until the little guy is out of the house, so 15 more years. All of our projects are done with the objective of making it a better place for *us *to live.
That was a long damn day. G’nite!
So, this will vary by buyer. I just spent a lot of money to make the tub in my master bath larger. And I would have been less inclined to buy a house without a tub in the master bath. But I think most people prefer a large walk-in shower, and I’d guess that matters to more people which translates to higher resale value.
I think you want a tub somewhere indoors. You might want to wash a small carpet, or a dog, or brew gin, afterall. 
Better late than never… guest bathroom finished! Not everyone’s dream bathroom, but a whole lot prettier than it was.
Next week demolition begins in the master bathroom. Feast your eyes upon the bandaid-colored walls, blue laminate, and looming soffit (pay no attention to that ass-licking cat in the corner).
Here is the coffin-like shower.
Here is the leaky tub and the closet that blocks the light. I post this one not only to show off my mad sheet-folding skillz, but also to show the mirrored door which is always open because it’s too hard to make it shut. Besides, when it’s shut you have to watch yourself sit on the pot, like some kind of homemade Total Perspective Vortex.
Gutting it all! Husband is going to get his new tub also.
That looks great, I like that grey. We chose grey to paint our cabinets but not the exact one yet. Floors are going to be a greyish vinyl laminate and the walls and ceiling will be pure white. If I can get it cleaned up so it’s not embarrassing this afternoon I’ll post a “before”.
I love that they removed that bulkhead over the sink, it really opens the place up! Very clean looking.
The master is going to be sweet if this one is any indication!