Remodeling the bathroom would probably be most every ones priority room to finish first on a complete home make over.
After I had the outside of my house pretty well shored up and I felt safe enough to venture inside, the first thing I wanted to do was have an operating bathroom. Of course this all came after I had also entirely gutted my house of the plaster and lathe walls.
I have two very large bathrooms in this house. The one upstairs did not come until much later. I put the downstairs bath in the same location as the original but stretched it out much bigger. Bathrooms can be tricky to lay out. Once you throw the swing of the door and any windows into the equation, it can be a real mind tester on how and where you want to set your bathroom vanity, toilet, and tub.
In my case I had plenty of room to move around and almost found the areas too big to fill. Storage space though is always a virtue whenever you can find it so I found many ways to soon use up those open spots with closets. I also installed a two person whirlpool tub to help make the upstairs bathroom look much fuller.
I decided on ceramic tile floors for both of the bathrooms. They may be a little cold to walk on in the winter months if you live in the north but you can install heat strips under the tile to eliminate that. Laminate flooring that resembles the look of tile are becoming popular for bathrooms. Myself, I steer clear of laminates in the bathrooms because of the always lurking danger of water getting between the seams and bubbling the surface.
Painting is your quickest and cheapest way to finish your walls. Pastel or "spa" shades are popular as well as warm earthy hues. Wainscoting is also a popular choice for finishing your walls. I chose this route for my downstairs bathroom but stuck with just the painted walls for the upper bath. Some people tint their ceilings with just a hint of their wall color so that they are not completely white. White ceilings supposedly make your bathroom seem smaller than what it is.
There are many styles of faucets available to choose from. Brushed nickel and oil-rubbed bronze are becoming the popular choices. This goes for the cabinet hardware as well.
You can find thousands of hardware styles to outfit your cabinetry.
All and all bathrooms tend to be small in most houses, especially the older ones, so unless you expand such as I did your options will be limited. Your best bet would be to visit a home improvement store and check out what is available. Arm youself with the dimensions of your bathroom and don't forget to include doorways and windows in your sketch. This will help you decide what will fit and what
will not. Lastly, if you are doing this yourself, plan ahead and be sure you at least have an operable toilet by the end of the day!
