Our DIY remodel on a 7x9 bathroom ran about $5000, a month of work with a few weeks prep beforehand and a month finishing afterwards (handles, baseboards, minor details). We closed off a doorway, replaced vanity and floor, re-enameled the tub and replaced the tub surround, kept the toilet. All in keeping with our compromise between too many ideas, and avoiding being the fanciest house on our fairly basic street. - $250 materials + 7 days to close off a door, reframe that wall, and drywall; also fix and skimcoat the manky old ceiling. - $550 lighting: $200 vent fan/light, $40 can light, $200 vanity lights, $75 or so on various outlets, switches, a timer switch for the fan, electrical boxes etc. - $500 flooring: adhesive, grout, and tile, Armstrong Alterna (powdered stone in a vinyl matrix, I love it!) - $1300-1400 Miracle Method: ~$500 for tub re-enamel, ~$800 for fiberglass tub surround fit/install. - $1800 for vanity setup: $950 60" vanity (RTA bamboo from Domain Cabinets Direct), $450 Swanstone top from Lowe's, $100 Delta faucet (internet order), $250 Kohler medicine cabinet, $50 handles - $350 finishing touches: $175 hardware (towel/shower bar), $100 soft goods (shower curtain, rug, towels), $75 paint and art. Add to that, another $500 in contractor fees for my father-in-law: several bottles of wine, and dinner at a good restaurant!

By "minimum square footage for a walk-in shower" do you mean a doorless shower? Because the minimum size for a shower stall is only 32x32". :-) IIRC I have seen doorless showers as small as 3x4' in magazines and it seems to be a popular retrofit for the replace-tub-with-shower scenario because it can be fitted in a standard 32x60" space. The location of the plumbing bits in relation to walls and openings is potentially more important than the size. Think about having the crack in the tub repaired; now would be better so that the little crack does not become a big crack, but at the very least do it when you plan to put the house on the market. As a buyer it would be a red flag for me. Bath showrooms, auto-body specialists, and marine suppliers can all point you toward someone who can repair fiberglass or acrylic and do it pretty much invisibly. And yes, you can replace the tub filler as long as you can get access to it from underneath. I'll put the fourth question about adding a second sink here instead of last since third question's answer is long. This can be very easy or rather difficult depending on where the sink is going and where the existing plumbing lines are in both bathrooms. You're going to gut to the studs, right? That will make it easier to see what you have where for rough plumbing; your plumber is likely to tell you that unless money is no object, you can't really make the firm decision until you can see what's where. Demo... demo is pretty easy and can be lots of fun - talk about getting rid of your stress! It does take some physical strength and endurance though, so couch potatoes or people with physical issues like arthritis may have a difficult time of it. It's good to have friends come help, if you can, especially a friend who knows what s/he is doing! Promise them pizza or steaks on the grill :-) and buy a few cases of Gatorade and beer if you/they drink it. (It goes without saying that no one gets beer until afterward!) Although I almost entirely supervised (since I was the only one who knew what we were doing LOL), three of us demolished an 8x8' bathroom to the studs and the subfloor in 3 hours. You will need to borrow or buy some tools if you don't have them already, and I've listed what we found useful below. Buying them will reduce your savings, but you'll have them for the next project, or you can resell them on Craigslist or eBay and get back a little of what you paid. Useful tools include: *a three- or five-pound sledgehammer with a short handle (easier to control where it goes), whichever size is more comfortable to handle. This may be called a "drilling hammer" or "engineer hammer" in some stores. 10+ pound sledges with long handles feel more macho but they are harder to control and the user gets tired faster. *a short wrecking bar (24" was good for us), the kind with one hooked end and one straight end. *reciprocating saw with more blades than you think you will need (save the recipt so you can return the extras; it'll cost a bit more but get the individually packaged ones rather than the bulk pack), because it seems like you always break a blade or it goes dull just when you're eyeballs deep in something and can't take the time to go get more. Try to borrow this if you don't have one, because good ones are expensive. *a wide tile or masonry chisel for getting up the floor tiles (the kind with the wide plastic collar at the top of the handle are safest) and a hard rubber or wooden mallet - If you have large amounts of floor tile and it's being a real beyatch to remove, hie thee to the tool rental place and rent an air-powered chisel and compressor. It'll be about fifty bucks a day. Yee-hah! What we did was bashed at the tiles with the sledgehammer and used the chisel to break the pieces off the subfloor. We were able to get the subfloor clean enough to put the new underlayment right over it, which saved money. *the usual selection of screwdrivers, wrenches, etc. for disassembly. When you can, disassemble and recycle rather than destroy! *heavy leather work gloves that actually FIT - write your name on the backs or cuffs with a Sharpie marker. If they don't fit you will get blisters. If you have ethical objections to leather, there are some good non-leather ones out there like these Work Crew gloves but the thin cotton ones don't do much for you. *dust masks (the ones with the valves are most comfortable and won't fog up glasses as much) *safety goggles (crucial! conventional eyeglasses are not enough) *earplugs or sound-proof earmuffs *kneepads - try on a bunch at the store and get the ones that are the most comfortable *even if it's hot wear jeans to protect your legs and workboots if you have them. If you don't have workboots, wear sturdy sneakers for better footing. Do not do as my friend did and attempt to demo a kitchen in Birkenstocks. :-) *a rented dumpster and a bunch of trash cans to get stuff out to it It is best IMO to have an electrician and plumber come in and disconnect everything before you start so you don't accidentally punch through a pipe or hit a live wire. Our electrician just disconnected the bathroom's two circuits at the box and everyone involved used heavy-duty extension cords run in from the next room. If the toilet is being reused it should be taken out of the bathroom and moved to a safe place, because it is very, very easy to break a toilet. Don't ask me how I know this because I will start swearing. :-( By the way, if your walls are drywall and you're doing major tear-outs, we discovered that it was easier/cheaper to strip the drywall off the entire wall so that the drywall guy could use full (or as close to full as possible) sheets instead of cutting smaller pieces to fill in holes here and there. It cost more in materials but a LOT less in labor. A bit of unsolicited advice - if you are planning on selling the house in 5-10 years, do not do ANYTHING that is currently trendy. It will be dated by then and your potential buyers may not want to have to embark on a renovation! Not everyone thinks remodeling is fun. :-) Think about staying on the plain side for stuff that is hard to replace, like tile and major fixtures, and getting your groove on with easy-to-replace items like lighting fixtures, accessories, cabinet hardware, paint, etc.

As far as style goes, I like the idea of things that are reminiscent of the original style but still updated. You don't have to keep things "period appropriate" if that's not what you like, but design often works better when you keep the original in mind. I think that your ideas are fine but could be a little more unique, have a little more interest to them. What do you like about the original design, or about 70's-esque design in general? Or what do you hate? I really like how this bathroom reads as retro but not outdated. The little vintage accents - especially that owl - add a cool touch, too. I don't really like the idea of a gray floor tile in this bathroom, unless you're wanting to go a lot more modern with it all. What about something like this if you wanted to reference back to the blue? Or go with 70's inspired neutrals, more brown/gold than gray. Good luck!

Is that a louvered door to the hall? Do not put textured product on the ceiling. It will only serve to provide more surface area for mold to hang onto. Is this a second floor bathroom? Or is the roof just above the bathroom? If so, you could ad a vent when the new roof goes in to provide ventilation. The door to the room will either need the lourvers, or a 3/4 or 1" gap at the bottom for makeup air to enter the room while the exhaust is on; you'll need the air flow so that the moist air can evacuate out the ceiling vent. If it was me, I'd get a fan in there asap. The tin ceiling will be up to you, but I know I'd want to take that down. Or totally cover it in some sort of primer for rust, then paint it with a quality bathroom paint. But nothing is going to tolerate moist damp conditions. If you can't get a ceiling vent in there, run a floor fan, safely, with the door cracked to evacuate the moist air while bathing. I'd save for a total gut in the future. If you don't have to move fixtures, that isn't as expensive. When you look at options for a new bathroom, really spend time with gardenweb, comparing what works and doesn't work with the projects on here. It is so helpful.