Well organicdonna, I'm coming late to this party....

While I understand completely where you're ocming from, I gotta tell ya: that room is BEEEEAUTIFUL, and totally worth it from my outsider's perspective. My absolute favorite thing, is the white veining to the left of the sink. Did you do that deliberately? It's heaven.

Truly, beautiful bathroom "suck it up" and enjoy it! LOL!!!

Best,
Ivette

Ivette,
When I looked at the limestone slabs that matched the tiles I didn't have any choice regarding which slab to choose. They made me purchase the entire slab and there was one small slab that was the least expensive. I only saw the slab once and remembered it had a section with a white vein running through it. When I laid out the tiles that went on the wall I used the few tiles that had white in them. I then drew a picture of my cabinet and marked exactly where I wanted my fabricator to put the white vein when he fabricated the slab. It turned out exactly as I pictured it would look. Thank you for noticing that detail. I really appreciate the encouraging words.

Today I went to make my 2008 Roth IRA contribution. I saw the balance of my account. In the last couple of days I have lost as much as I spent on my bathroom remodel. I just can't even think about it anymore.
I did have one good thing happen though. I handed the woman a check for $6,000.00 for my 2008 contribution. She said "you're not allowed to contribute that much money". Turns out she didn't think I was 50 years old yet. I'm 53 so that made me happy
Donna

::Sometimes these forums have a way of encouraging you to want things that you never even knew existed::

You can say that again! LOL But, at the same time, it's a source of information/education that, in the past, would have never been easily attainable. Tapmasters, Washlets, $50 sq ft glass tile...who knew!?
Monica

Wow, it looks amazing! I'm reaching the tail end of 7 months remodeling and spending crazy amounts of $$, so I understand how you're feeling, and sympathize with you. Congrats on doing a fantastic job!

Hey, don't be discouraged, the stock market goes down, then eventually back up again. It's a cycle fueled by emotion as much as facts, so don't worry about the hysteria in the newspapers.

I can totally understand that your med problems are bringing you down mood-wise. It's hard to feel good about anything when you're always exhausted. But you did an absolutely gorgeous job with that bathroom - you really have great "vision"!

So I hope your mood will ease once you start feeling better again, because very few people could have done such a polished, exquisite design as you've done!

jkom51,
I was heavily invested in tech stocks in 2001. I promise you, my stocks never came back. I waited 7 years and several of them went out of business. I lost a lot of money. How about JDSU? I lost about 90% value on most of my stocks.
Thank you though for the compliment on my bathroom. I really appreciate it.
Donna

Donna, you're bathroom is gorgeous. I wish it were mine. Instead my will look like s__t, unless I can hire someone to fix the $2000 worth of tile mess.

I know what you mean about spending too much money. I bought all up-scale stuff for a itty, bitty bathroom and now the bad tile job will override all those things.

YOU'RE BATHROOM IS GORGEOUS TO ME!

Marilyn

Donna,
Your bathroom is not only beautiful, but it reflects your soul. Very well done.

Thyroid problems run in DW's family. All I know is make sure you fully educate yourself fully, and more than fully, since most doctors mistreat them. They can have an enormous impact. You're obviously a take charge person, and I'm sure you will take charge of this too.

As far as stocks --get over it. If you're going to have kids, don't complain if they cry. If you have cats, they will mewl and scratch. Stocks go down. They don't go down to please you, and they don't go up to make you happy.

If you're in it for the long term, and you better be, you should be happy when the stock market goes down. I'm serious, and I have an MBA in finance. That means they are cheap, and you can buy more of them. The only time you want the market to be high is when you have to sell them for your retirement or whatever. It is perfectly normal for the market to go down 20% and even 30% on a fairly regular basis, and you have to take it in stride.

We were taught in business school that it is at times like this that "weak hands" panic and sell their equities and that "strong hands" (presumably us) buy them and make out like bandits. Well, I guess it is normal to feel upset as the numbers change, but don't let those "strong hands" take advantage of you! ;>)

downtowner,
Believe it or not I'm a fairly educated investor. During the tech boom I went against my own advice and invested in one volatile sector. Never invest all your money in one sector and sell your positions if your stock goes down more than say 10%. I bought all the tech stocks and they dropped like rocks and never came back. I lost a lot of money. I now have a fee only financial advisor and I feel confident in his abilities. I understand all about the swings in the market and how I am now investing with less dollars. However, once you've been badly burned you are not the same investor.

Thank you for the compliment about my bathroom reflecting my soul. I put everything I have emotionally into the project and appreciate it when someone recognizes my efforts.

I have a good endocrinoligist and your right, I was a take charge person in my younger days.
Not so much anymore.

Donna

Lovely bathroom, but I fully understand your sentiments. We are at the end of a very protracted renovation that cost too much both financially and emotionally. Bathrooms seem to entail way more than they should. For the amount of time we actually spend in them, it doesn't entirely make sense. That being said I went whole hog and did mine. I met someone today who was about to embark on a large project and I cautioned them against it. I guess that I am feeling similar to you given the disappearing act all the investments are making...not to mention the real estate plunge. It makes you a bit jittery. I know that both the market and real estate will come back, but it is the uncertainty of knowing if you are going to "need" it before it does.

Try to enjoy your bathroom. You did a fabulous job. We had a very similar before bathroom when we lived in a high rise. It is nice to see what can be done.

Donna,
what a gorgeous bathroom. i havent read all the posts here but kudos!

Hang in there, Donna. My company's stock has been in freefall for about 6 months and was finally stablizing 3 weeks ago. I shuffled a pile of my 401k back to company stock to try and take advantage of the inevitable climb back up only to watch it drop another 30% in 2 weeks. Today...up 15%! It'll come back, it always does.

And if not, you have a really awesome toilet to flush down your stock certificates, then take a nice relaxing bath.

alexamd, I'm glad to see you share my sentiments.
codnuggets, HaHaHa, That's funny, Sometimes we just have to laugh at our losses.
Donna

Donna, Your bathroom is gorgeous but I won't be copying you, LOL

We plan on going away again for a month this summer, and there is no way in hell I would spend my vacation dinero on a bathroom, no matter how beautiful it might turn out, so thanks for the reminder to STICK WITH THE BUDGET and not get carried away. It's very easy to do as you well know.

Still, you're done so now enjoy your space and take care of yourself. Stress is a killer!

I have had many, many, issues with the bathroom we tore out last fall. We have had to pay two other people to fix what the first idiot did. I had to leave it alone otherwise the end result would be me seeing the b.s. done and the money lost, and not the final project.

Now we're starting back slowly and I am sticking to what I planned to have in there which is nothing as gorgeous and modern as yours, but this is not a MB so I won't blow the budget on it. I am trying to get the best that I can for the money. Not too easy because there is always something so much nicer and better....sigh.

Thank you again for your wisdom and experience. Many hugs coming your way.

Mari

Oh, Donna, I had no idea how you suffered through this bath. I finished my bathroom last March and have been on the kitchen forum.

Your bathroom is a WORK OF ART!!!! It is so beautiful. Your absolutely perfect room shows the painstaking effort. Compare yourself to Michelangelo. We sometimes suffer for our art. Yes, and spend what we think is too much money...and effort. GW does teach us but it entices us at the same time. Perhaps it brings out the competitiveness in our nature, as in, I can do better.

Relax, now. Take it easy. Forgive yourself. Fortunately, you didn't spend it on medicines and doctors. You spent it on art--be proud. And so what, ultimately, it's only pieces of paper. I can say that b/c I am old..and my perspective has changed.
Here's a thought. You may never create such a thing of beauty again..due to time, money, motivation....nothing left to prove...you have proved it. Then next bathroom you do may be like mine. I think of it as self-cleaning! Ha! Altho I love most tiles, stones, glass, for the shower walls, I put up white swanstone. I will never, never clean grout again. I put up 1x1 inch glass tiles everywhere else, above the shower; on the vanity/toilet wall it/s 1x1 mixed with small subways. I thought of using a different grout color, but got so burned out, I just wanted it finished. I am 14 years older than you, very tired, too.
You are a rock star...an artist...We appreciate your beautiful creation. Others can look at your b/r, but we are the ones who know how smart, how hard working and just how visionary you are.
Take good care, Bev

Monica,

I agree with the comment about your bathroom being a work of art. It really is. I'm not "into" that type of style generally, but seeing your bath almost made me swoon with lust. Seriously, you've created something that few people could or will. And if few people ever see it, well that's also the case with some of the world's most precious art pieces. I hope you are able to enjoy your bathroom for many, many years.

Donna, your bathroom is lovely and unusual and we're all happy you posted your photos because so many are deep into remodels right now. So, I wanted to add my compliments.

But your one paragraph above, really caught my attention. You said:
"I just want all of you out there that may be on a tight budget to try and not get "caught up" in overspending on your bathrooms. That is what happened to me. I was trying so hard to come up with something that was as "unusual" as my kitchen. I almost drove myself insane. Sometimes these forums have a way of encouraging you to want things that you never even knew existed. LOL Just learn by my experience and stay on a budget. I was trying to design beauty without thinking of practicality."

I think I love you for that. Someone needs to say something like that on every one of these decorating threads every so often. It's way too easy to get caught up in what we need, what we think we deserve, and what everyone else is doing. Most of what I've done in the last 3 or 4 years has been pretty carefully budgeted and I'm not really sorry. But looking at my budget right now, the payments on the home equity loan, and where we're sitting at this point, I do feel that I would love to go back and skip some things. So many of us get inspired by others here and get too carried away.
The comments you made about how you feel right now are far more valuable to me than any information about materials, or products. I hope they are of value to others.

You rock.

Red

That's too bad that you are not entirely happy with it because you really did an awesome job with it. It looks very tasteful and spphisticated. It could be in a magazine. I would love to have that bathroom.

Sorry it didn't go as planned but you really do have a lovely bathroom. All of the work and money spent does show.

Hi everyone,
My computor is being fixed so I can't respond to your posts as often as I'd like.
When I was growing up and going to school I was a terrible student. I was the kid that could never do the assignment correctly. The teacher would say, "read this chapter and get together in groups for your project". I was the kid that was totally lost in the group. I never could figure anything out in school. It took me a long time as an adult to get up any confidence and try and do things on my own. I have grown so much as a person from that underachieving kid in school. Designing a kitchen and bathroom is one of the things I have found I could accomplish with a fair amount of success. Your compliments are a compilation of all the teachers that never believed in me finally saying I did a good job. That means more to me than you'll ever know. We are never far from that little lost child who couldn't succeed. At least today I know I am a little farther than I was before.

redbazel,
Thank you for "getting it". We are here to learn from each other and regrets are the biggest lesson. If I would have just said "here is my finished bathroom" and everyone oohed and ahhed over it, then the real lesson would have been lost.

I love all of you guys. You make me feel good about myself as a person. That has way more value than a fancy faucet.

Donna

hi there Donna your bathroom is beautiful...it makes me feel like lighting a big candle and taking a bath. and i hate baths and candles. the stone is just beautiful. if i were to have stone i would have to have all the veins "just so". i truly appreciate your perspective as we are about to gut a bathroom and completely re-do it. there are only 2 bathrooms in the house and the other is too recent to redo, so this is a chance to get carried away. but we will try hard not to get carried away. one thing you have reminded me is that i do not like having to chase down parts to rare fixtures...we will stay "off the shelf" and i am sure will be more relaxed for it. i will save my creativity for another, less expensive, area of my life.... still your bathroom is really just gorgeous...
thanks kren

Hi Donna, just catching up...your bathroom is gorgeous. We just did a complete master bath remodel last year and also spent more than we should have. Nothing fancy, all the tile is porcelain, but the new double vanity is topped w/ UbaTuba and the ledge for the linen cabs too. We could have bought a small (used) car for what the bathroom cost us, but we felt we deserved it...house is ours, no debt, kids done w/ school.

I have to say though, I feel very imtimidated to begin the kitchen, after reading on the kitchen forum...and I am going to try to keep from "letting it get away from me" when we start. When I get time I'll look up your kitchen, unless it too will make me feel bad! LOL

And yeah, we're sick about losses in the market too. But we have no choice, it is what it is. We just have to be grateful for a healthy family.

Susan

Your bathroom is very lovely, sleek and modern. Take pride in yourself every time you go in that room as it is a tribute to what you can accomplish. Stay positive and don't get too down about your stocks. Let it go. It is true that there is more value in life than money although it is what our society values. Perhaps the loss is a life message to simplify your life. Whatever, try to stay positive and let it go. But thanks for sharing your fabulous job and your life experiences. Go forward, girl!

Donna your bathroom is absolutely beautiful. You did a wonderful job. I also want to thank you for your thoughtful and honest observations. As we are planning our main/kids bath remodel we have been weighing whether to go with the nice tile, or splurge on the gorgeous tile that will cost twice as much. After reading your comments I will try much harder to stay within my budget. I know that the nice tile will be a great improvement over what we have right now, which looks remarkably similar to your before picture, and by going with it I will have money left over for some of the other projects that I would like to do. I hope that you are feeling better soon. Like you I have a thyroid problem and I can promise you that once they get your levels sorted out you will feel like your old self again. Hang in there, and thanks again for all your inspiration.

Donna, I, we, did "get it". There is something so very SEDUCTIVE about creating a gorgeous room/home that we lose sight of balance.
In my neighborhood of homes costing $550-1., a couple of builders, neighbors, actually, built, on spec, houses w/asking prices of $2.8, 2.6 and, $1.6, now reduced to $1.2. They have and will sit unsold for a long, long time.
The builder of the current $1.2, on the market for 2 yrs now, 2 houses down from us, is a good acquaintance/former ball coach of our 17 yr. old. During the build, he told me he put $250k more into the house than needed. He got totally carried away. For 2 yrs, he has carried the payments on that house. Very sad. The builder lives 2 streets away from us.
The guy who built the two $2mil+ lived in one, liked it so much, bought a teardown for $550k! and could not stop building this mega which took up the 1/3acre lot. On the market for 2.8. Sadly, his own house, 3 houses down, recently went on the market for 2.6.
These guys are really taking a bath.
My point is that perhaps there is an isolated gene or dna speck that tells us, spend, spend, make it gorgeous, prove it, show that you have taste, etc.
Don't beat yourself up anymore. You have a gorgeous bath. You don't have gorgeous mansions which won't sell. My best regards. Bev

I think I did a good job of keeping the costs down. Nothing that I bought was overly expensive. The thing that drove the price way up was the labor. When I started out the labor was $7,000.00. I decided to bring the limestone up the wall, recess the vanity and install a pocket door. My labor went up to $15,000.00!
Sharon, That's why I put in the more expensive tiles. As long as I'm paying that much for labor I may as well get tiles that I will be happy with until I die.
Donna

HI Donna, You already know I think your bathroom is beautiful, so I am writing here to address the rest of your comments. Budget issues are so important;one must NEVER lose sight of them. My biggest regret in building my new home is the tradeoffs I made for the "look" instead of function. For instance, originally we were planning on putting heat in the floor of everyroom that was limestone/travertine over slab as I hate being cold and stone over slab is a heat sink. I knew from past experience that keeping the stone warmish made my HA heat much more even. Instead, I fell in love with this gorgeous "special" limestone that cost more. I said "what the hey- not so cold on the SC/Georgia border, go for it and forgo the heated floors." So now I have cold floors that etch like crazy. Bummer. And you can't go back- you have to live with these decisions.
So all the rest of you,spend your dollars carefully and remember a cardinal rule "Function first, then form!"

Jillypie

Just echo-ing the comments above: Your bathroom is a work of art! You've created a beautiful room, and I hope in time you'll be able truly to enjoy it.

We built for the first time (and I absolutely believed, the last time) in 2001-02. I obsessed over every detail. I worried that this wouldn't go with that, and that neither would go with everything else.

It all came together beautifully, and to my eye, looks great. We've loved living in it, although at first I constantly noticed every tiny flaw. We've had lots of compliments . . . the biggest one being that when it went on the market, it sold last summer to the third person who looked, for nearly our asking price. We're now building again, and I'm hoping I can enjoy the process and keep from obsessing this time.

Congratulations! You made something absolutely breathtaking!

I agree that function should come first but that's not what I ended up doing. I chose a granite for my kitchen that's actually a solidite and is prone to etching and staining. I have to be very careful when I cook and clean up. In my bathroom I chose a beautiful limestone and again I have to be very careful when using the bath.
Yes, if I did it again I would more than likely go with function instead of beauty. I still love the look of natural stone though and it would be a hard choice. If you have a newer house, most people expect a marble bathroom.

It depends who is using the kitchen and bathroom. If you have a family I would go with function. I live alone, (two cats), so I am more inclined to get something more delicate.

Donna

Donna, thank you for your post. We are just beginning our first bath remodel, and your comments are very helpful. Since reading this forum, I've discovered things I didn't know existed a few weeks ago. My budget is tight and I need to know where to spend money and where I need to stop. Thanks again.

Hi Donna:
I posted a week or so ago. We are getting ready to start our bathroom project and would like to use limestone, would love to know your favorite places for tile in the Chicago area. Advantage Bath on Milwaukee Ave is a favorite of mine for advice and products.

Everytime I look at the pictures of your bathroom I am inspired. My friends think I am crazy how much I plan, plan, plan....I can not pick out anything "quick" without regretting the decision.

Are your contractors grateful that you are knowledgeable about your products and installation methods or are they resistant?

Again, thank you for your help.

These are on first floor of the Mart.
Maestro Mosaics
Hastings
Chadwicks (also Libbertyville)
Pedini
American International Tile
Another tile store in the Mart I don't know the name of on the west end with blue carpeting all the way in the back
Tile Outlet great marble prices, no returns
Tile Gallery Illinois St - expensive
Daltile - behind the Mart
Prosource - great place members only, I got in through Chris Fisher a member
Belstone Grand Ave
Mid America Tile Maywood
Stone City
Waterworks - near Chinatown
Max Gerber
Community
Scavolini
Bartlett Shower doors
Lightology
Hydrology (sister of Advantage K&B)
Clark and Barlow- door hardware

mdwstgrl,
I just got a great coupon for Lightology, spend 150/25off, spend 500/100off and spend 1,500/350off. I can mail it to you if you decide to purchase something there. expires April 15th.
Donna

It is beautiful, but I notice that it doesn't have any decorative elements. I think you need to add some to warm it up and make it more comfortable. It looks really classy!

Funny, the lack of 'decorative elements' is what is to me so absolutely appealing and soothing! I really like how the white items appear so nice and crisp against the more 'organic' limestone tiles.

Thanks for the wise comments about budget. I will keep coming back to this thread when it all gets too crazy.

It IS amazing how budget can get out of control. I just recently made the decision to "downgrade" my planned floor tile from a beautiful flat edged matte glazed porcelain hex (which wasn't even THAT expensive, about $12/sf with shipping) to something 1/6 the price - off the shelf octagon and dot. Saved about $1k but that quickly went out the window when we needed $800 of plumbing we didn't expect to have to do.

Then there's the inevitable "I'm only doing this once, might as well do it right." Our bathroom is rather large by my standards and it's amazing the sheer amount of material it takes - hundreds of square feet of tile etc. That also was a controlling factor - although I did splurge on some inexpensive off the shelf liners, decos and chair rails, that splurge came to hundreds and not thousands. When I see how much I will have spent on this bathroom for the cheapest of the cheap in tile it makes me kind of ill - although I did more splurge on fixtures. Fancy one piece toto, rohl faucets instead of off the shelf home depot type stuff - though $200 is hardly an extravagant faucet nowadays but still the extra few hundred here and there sure add up. I justified these splurges by convincing myself they were functional and not just aesthetic.

It's just so hard to REALLY know in advance where a splurge will make you happy every time you see it vs. make you sick every time you see it. We put in a new super high efficiency gas boiler as part of this whole project and broke our small 1900 sf house into 5 zones (including putting the bathroom on its own zone to accommodate the fancy towel warmer radiator combo I didn't research enough before buying based on aesthetics and not realizing how complicated the install would be - it's supposed to be on its own zone). The whole time it was going in I had a big knot in my stomach about how overkill everything seemed but now that it is up and working, I'm SO glad we did it the way we did it - this old house has never been more comfortable.

I hope I feel the same way when the bathroom is done. The other one was so awful from a functional standpoint that I'm hoping that the better layout (for us, I'm sure some will think it's just awful) will make it all worth it. At this point I'd just be happy to have a toilet on the same floor as my bedroom - I'm wide awake in the middle of the night after trekking downstairs for the 2nd time tonight!

happyladi,
When I took those pictures it wasn't finished. We are painting this week. The towel bars aren't installed yet. I have some rust towels that match the veining in the limestone. I also love buying art and framing it myself. I don't know if you are familiar with Patrick Nagel. He did posters of art deco faces of women. I chose a print of a woman with a gold fan. That picture will take up an entire wall. The picture is very contemporary. Maybe I'll take more pictures when I'm finished. It's very hard to photograph a 5x7 bathroom.

Here is a link that might be useful: Patrick Nagel

Donna:
Thank you so much for the great list of stores..will definetely make a trip to the Mart. One thing I keep forgetting to ask is about your pocket door. Did you opt to do a pocket door to maximize the wall space (to hang your art) or do you have a linen area behind where the old door swung in? Also, did you match the pocket door to your existing doors in your home? Did you loose any interior space in the bathroom due the framing of the pocket door?

We are planning on gutting our 9x9 bathroom and only saving the original 5x5 cast iron tub (I hope I won't regret this, GC recommends making a 5X5 walk in shower. The tub is rather unusual and impossible to replace unless we go custom ($$$$). Plan on using the same type of pivotting shower door as yours.

Also, where did you locate your exhaust fan? Over the shower area?

Thank you so much for your help. Also, I will take a look at the Lightology website to see what kind of damage I can do...will let you know if the coupon will come in handy!

Again, thank you!

Absolutely stunning bathroom - your attention to detail is fabulous. I know once you're over all this stress you will be able to sit back and enjoy it.

Sky

What light fixtures are there? I think your bath belongs at the Paris Ritz hotel!!Thanks for sharing it.

My old door swung into the bathroom and looked hideous. My pocket door looks a lot cleaner. If you look closely you can see what we did. Behind the bathroom is my bedroom closet. We cut into the wall of the closet about 2" to make the pocket. My contractor is a genious.

My light fixtures are from Lightology. You can see the ceiling fixture through the mirror in the picture. Thank you for the wonderful compliments.
Donna

Your bathroom is stunning. I am close to the end but would like to know about your pocket door. I , too, desperately need a pocket door but keep getting different opinions. I recently stayed at a relatives new condo in Florida and she had pocket doors in the bathroom. The worked and looked great. I have called three different door companies and all three tried to talk me out of a pocket door. They all told me the horror stories. I grew up in a 100 year old house that had pocket doors that worked. What is the big deal? But I don't want someone putting one in that doesn't have any confidence in his work. I have researched to find Johnson pocket door company. Anyone know anyone in Dallas Texas that knows how to do pocket doors?

many thanks,

Kim

I ripped out the pocket door to my old bathroom. Damp air from the bath had got into the "pocket" and grown mould all over the inside. Gross. I don't know how you could stop air from the bathroom getting in there and making the inside surfaces damp.

Our master bathroom has a pocket door; so did the MB in our old house. When we tore the old house down, we had a "reclamation" sale and someone removed the pocket door and frame for reuse. No mold. It had been there for at least 15 years.

For us, it created much more useable bathroom space in both applications. One warning: you won't be able to put electrical boxes on the wall where the door returns. That forced us to put outlets in the sides of the linen cabs that flank the countertop. No problem, but it would have been if the linen cabs hadn't been there.

I love the pocket door. My contractor was the brains behind the construction of the door. We had to cut into my closet to widen the pocket. If you need a lot of privacy or if you're constantly opening and closing it, I wouldn't do a pocket. I live alone and rarely close the door. It really opened up my bathroom.
Donna

needsleepmommy -- I am putting a pocket door in my bathroom remodel. My contractor loves and appreciates pocket doors.

Here is a link that might be useful: pocket door GC

Ditto what donna said. I'm so glad I stuck to my guns and got a pocket door (Johnson Lumber). I did so partly because of donna's comment in this thread that she was happy with her choice. It has expanded my bathroom tremendously and added a new dimension to a small room. When it was open the old door blocked the linen closet. It was obnoxious and intrusive. I replaced the linen closet door with cabinet doors and included an electric outlet. Now I have an accesible space for electric hair rollers, hairdyer, makeup, etc! My exhaust fan should eliminate any mold.

BTW organic donna, my compliments on a job well done on your exquisite and very unique bathroom.

It's super: I'm especially jealous of your stone and your faucet.

I think a bit of a let down is inevitable after any major project: it takes a while before we see the forest, and not just the trees. I've reached a point where I'm sick to death of people complimenting my [still not completed] house. Sometimes someone will say something like 'WOW, the 23 foot tall stonework around the Fireplace turned out great!' and I want to shout 'FOOL! Can't you see the fireplace is half an inch off center? And over there they used two stones almost the same color right next to each other! And the mantle was supposed to be an inch lower! Ruins everything!'...

I wonder if they sell perspective at Home Depot...

"I wonder if they sell perspective at Home Depot..."

LOL -- It would probably be the cheap, plastic kind, and you couldn't find anyone who works there who could tell you how to install it...

Great post, by the way, and I'm looking forward to having something to show off.

Donna,
Thank you for sharing your experience. Here it is, May, and I am just now starting to read the posts on this forum, but wanted to tell you how beautiful your bathroom is. I hope that you are enjoying it and that the stresses of the remodeling have dissipated. In the middle of January, I was in the midst of my bathroom re-do too, and mine is still in the early stages. We had to fire the contractor as he made many mistakes, ruined materials because he didn't follow the directions clearly printed (as in, you must seal crackle tile before you grout it.) I have a Porcher Ardennes tub, same as yours, but mine is still sitting on the floor in the hallway! I do have hopes that we will be getting started again next week with a different contractor!

I especially appreciate your candor, and the candor of the other people who posted, about the importance of not getting swept up in all the products that seems so wonderful but are probably not necessary. The bathroom is not yet done and I am already planning the kitchen. Have been spending time on the kitchen forum where I am reading about BlueStar ranges and fireclay sinks, and of course granite and marble. Taking a detour here to the bathroom forum and finding your post was like entering a temple and hearing words of wisdom when I most needed to hear them! Thanks again, and enjoy your bathroom and kitchen.

PS We're not out of the woods but looks like the market is turning around. . . .