Please post photos, that would be the best way. Did you see the one posting where the poster spent $75 to refresh/redo her bathroom that was done in avocado 70's green? After her touches her bathroom looked absolutely gorgeous, so yes it is very possible to do an inexpensive remodel/redo and improve it. Of course that poster had talent and vision, which I personally don't have, but maybe you can get some ideas from some of the talented and inspired folks to help you. I can tell you that taking down tile is not hard at all unless it is the type put in in the 1920 through 1950 that is concrete/then metal lathe and that stuff is like iron. Most tile is thinset over sheetrock on walls so that stuff pops off really easily.

Oh dear. I am feeling so undecided. I put another coat of the Polyshades on last night and it does look nice now -- dark and even. But it definitely is "mahogany" -- deep, dark red. Not the espresso color I had envisioned. But I am now hesitant to start putting on other products and other colors. I'm worried that it will look uneven, or that I will just end up with a mess. Arg -- this is what I get for being impulsive and not doing enough research up front. Anyway, I am heading out to a music festival today, so I am going to take a break from obsessing about stain and see how I feel when I get home. Maybe I will just put the new hardware in and see how I feel about it once the tile is in. The overall impression of the room is more important than the precise shade of stain on the vanity, right? Although -- I suspect that I will have a hard time finding a wall cabinet (for over the vanity) to match this stain color -- I've looked around and there is a lot of "espresso" and white (and still a bit of golden oak). Maybe a "cherry" cabinet would co-ordinate, if not match. Anyway, I need to get my mind off all this for a few hours. Have a good weekend, everyone!

I’ll play. And I appreciate the education. I wrote in another thread that getting it right is one way, but getting it wrong is thousands of different ways. Like every time someone builds something idiot proof, a better idiot evolves to sabotage that too. I don’t have the experience with the 1001 different ways of getting things wrong. Just maybe the usual 20-30 that I see on a regular basis. So honestly, some of what is happening in that picture, I’m not really sure what is going on. Other than the better built idiot wuz here. To me. It looks like the drywall wall (A) (that should have been demo’d!) was so out of plumb, that some wood scraps (D) were used to sorta frame it in enough plumb that they applied cement board to that scrap. With insufficient support and the wrong fastening schedule no doubt. Did they try to glop in some thinset in between the two layers? (B) Why? I don’t get this construction at all. Nor do I know what C is doing, unless it’s some sort of Bubba shim. (E, F, G) is a freaking wood curb not even properly covered by the waving in the breeze pan liner and some thinset. That’s an abomination that I do have experience with. One thing I don’t see is the pan liner up the wall in that weird sandwich construction. Nor do I see any poly there either. Or anything red, green, or orange. I’m on a phone, so none of the images will enlarge too much for me. (Excuses, excuses.LOL!) Let millwork and others play before posting the teacher’s key.

Don’t expect seconds from a seconds company to be able to have small grout lines or be flat enough to do any herringbone. And you are NOT getting a good looking herringbone out of any 12x24 tile anway. The size is too large, and the space is much too small for either herringbone or chevron. And the proportion is too off. It’s too wide compared to length. Herringbone needs a narrower tile. And if you actually do mean chevron and not herringbone, you can forget that. No installer is going to hand cut every tile to a chevron pattern without a HUGE upcharges in labor. HUGE. What uncoupling system is going to be used over that plywood? Have you checked the deflection rating of your joists and floor assembly to be sure that your flooring structure isn’t too flexible? Because you will get cracked tile if you move forward and the floor is not supportive enough. You have some Giant Red Flags here. You need to put the brakes on and talk with some competent Pros ASAP. That would be a Kitchen and Bath Designer, and their fully qualified tile contractor. https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/homeowners-guide-to-hiring-qualified-tile-installer https://nkba.org/info/why-hire-a-designer [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/10-tests-for-you-and-your-contractors-first-meeting-dsvw-vd~5332686?n=90[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/10-tests-for-you-and-your-contractors-first-meeting-dsvw-vd~5332686?n=90)