lucycakes - here's the link to the Costco product. I read everything they had - the installation instructions, specs, etc, and it sounds like an excellent product. Costcos heat mat weedy - Thanks for the post. I read your posts and looked at your pictures and I was very impressed. I'm not sure if I ever posted comments or not; I think (hope) so, because you bath turned out beautifully. If mine turns out to be almost as good I'll be very happy.

My master bath used to be 4'x8'. I demo'd two bathrooms that were back to back and stole 1.5' from the other to make it 5.5'x8'. >I would like to know from others who renovated a small master bathroom from an older home if you were able to "find" space and make it appear bigger, gain space by using small vanities, etc. Our toilet is in a bump out so that the door--on one of the short ends--can open. This was original to the house. Now, it's just a shallower bump-out, 1' instead of 1.5'. We're using the full depth of that 1' for a wall cabinet, which will be 48" tall x 28" wide. This gives us a place for the humidifier, my box 'o Ace bandages/splints/etc, the cleaning bucket, and all the linens for that bath. Our medicine cabinet will be recessed. It back up to another medicine cab, which must have a light above, so it has sconces. There is a 10.5" gap between the door frame and the wall. We found a 10" deep cab that we're filling back there. Our vanity is actually a full 36". Part of it is 21" deep, and part is 18". We found a brand that looks nice but packs a huge amount of storage into the space. To put in the wall cab, we had to replace the toe-kick heater with a towel warmer, due to space constraints. Our colors will help open the space. The 66" tub will have frameless sliding doors. The walls and floors will be patterns of white with a light gray grout. There will be tile wainscotting to 40" in patterns of white, and the ceiling and substantial crown molding will be white. The walls will be a medium blue-green, but so little will be visible that it'll function as just an accent color. We can't steal space from the walls except for the medicine cabinet because it backs onto an outer wall. If it weren't for that, our 10" cabinet would be 14" deep, inset into the wall. With an 18" vanity, you'll have plenty of room to feel comfortable, even though 21" is murderous. At 4' depth, our 17" sink was bad, but an extra 6" would have made it okay. Our hall bathroom is now 8'x5.5', with a bite out of it where the toilet is for the master bath's toilet to have room with a swinging door. We stole space in that bathroom outrageously! A cabinet above the toilet, which is 8" deep, is recessed 4" into the wall (3.5" stud plus wallboard). I made two other in-wall cabinets, each about 14"x12", interior. One will be hidden behind a picture frame, so only one will be noticeable. I also but a HUGE medicine cabinet above the vanity, which is only 28" wide but packs in 6 drawers and even a shelf in the plumbing space--and looks nice, too. We couldn't recess that cabinet because the one backing it in the master bath is recessed. The lower in-wall cabinet will hold the first aid kit, while the upper one will hold meds that we use but not regularly--cold meds, etc. The medicine cabinet will hold all daily use things that don't fit in the drawers--even the kids' toothbrushes and tooth-brushing cups aren't going on the counter, which will have just the bathroom clock and the soap, and that's it. On the back of the toilet bowl is a kleenex box holder. In the tub area, I don't use regular shampoo bottles but travel-sided ones with really small openings to make it easier to get just a little shampoo or conditioner, even, and the toys are in a cute plastic frog toys scoop on the wall. Clear glass shower doors--when they arrive--will also help keep it open. I can't emphasize enough the importance of not having stuff sitting out to making a space look larger. Nothing makes a room feel small like a lot of stuff just cluttered around. The mud will only be in the shower. The rest will be sheetrock--the size of the room you have is what you get! In your case, if you REALLY can't move any walls (I'd want a tub in there!!!), I'd indulge in some creative thinking. Your bathroom is 4.5x9' total, which REALLY isn't horrifically small. (Remember that mine was 4x8....) I'd start with the shower. I'd stay in the same footprint but do a Kerdi shower so the threshold could be SUPER narrow--just 2". That gives you a good 2" of apparent interior space in the shower, plus likely another .5" of width without the mud base. Recessed niches are a MUST. Too big is better than too small! I'd get a frameless shower door--almost goes without saying in this setting. I'd do wainscotting to 40", continuing over the top edge of the vanity--this is a kind of "special effect," because unless you paint the upper part of the wall a dark color, it tricks the eye into believing there's more space. Continuing just those 4" behind the vanity makes a big difference, here. For the flooring, I'd do either a small mosaic OR 12x12" or larger, and the 12x12" should be on the diagonal. A "rug" effect actually makes a small room seem larger if the rug part has diagonal lines and the border is small. For the ceiling, crown molding make it seem higher as long as the molding and the ceiling are both white. Painting the ceiling any color but white lowers it in comparison to white. Use hooks rather than rods. They make the space seem bigger and stick out less. I designate a minimum of two hooks per person--one for a towel, one for a robe. The back of the door is a good place to hang things. Use art--and use it strategically. A properly-sized picture can make a space seem larger, and you can use it to hide another recessed medicine cabinet. With a .5"-deep frame, you can have 4.5" shelves. Extra TP, first aid stuff, and irregularly used meds can be stored there. Recess the medicine cabinet, if you possibly can, and make the mirror as WIDE as possible for maximum reflection. I'd commission a custom vanity for the space, and I'd use an undermount sink or would install a square vessel sink in an apron-front manner, like this: http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Kraus-White-Rectangular-Ceramic-Vessel-Sink/3250161/product.html You have 42" of space, which is plenty for quite a nice amount of drawers plus a good-sized sink. If you used the sink above, you'd have, with a frameless design, 10.5" for drawers on either side. Make the cabinet kitchen counter height and have two shallow drawers and a deep drawer, and you can still have 8" of open space at the bottom. Even a bun-foot design has less visual weight than going all the way to the floor. Under the sink, add a shelf directly under the plumbing to make a shallow extra "landing" for a small container of things. The one thing, in my bathrooms, that I want space for and don't have is dirty clothes. But as far as everything else, I have MORE storage than I know what to do with! I have space for a cleaning bucket in each bathroom, for all our meds, for my makeup (and plenty of space for kid makeup, when the time comes), even for the Drano, for linens in my bathroom, for tons of bulk storage (extra soap, extra lotion, extra hair products, etc.). We have so much space that the counters can be basically bare. AND far from looking crowded, our hall bath strikes people as much larger than its square footage.

Thanks everyonefor the kind words. We did use a contractor. He did the work and we bought everything other than the lumber/ hardware supplies and we also paid the tile guy. We were on budget of around 8k and spent about $11k. I went over on the tile among other thing like the shower fixtures. We somehow over ordered on the tile as I have a good amount left over. Lesson learned. The tile is porcelain made by View- It is Shore Varadero. It was about 2x as expensive as porcelain at Lowes. I second guessed myself for weeks when I saw the cost. We ordered from Best Tile. The accent tile is from Mosaic source and is Sumi-e. I can look up the color if anyone wants it.

Thanks for the replies! ROOBEAR, I think the other bathroom is about the same size as your master, it's really long and narrow. It has a ridiculously long vanity with 1 sink in it. I'm going to be redoing that one as well. Thought, if there was some way to tap in to that bathroom and utilize some space for the master...have to get in there and see once we get the house. I'll get a plumber to get under there and let me know how hard it would be to switch the plumbing, may not be as bad as I think. PKSPIGS, that wall where the dresser is from door opening to door opening is exactly 7" across. The dresser you see in the pic is 5'4" across. My dresser is the same size. So that gives me 20" to work with. Now, on the other side of that wall is the shower stall which measures 3" wide IN THE INTERIOR (my realtor must love me and my measuring tape!). Three feet/3ft+ would have to come off that wall before I could put in a doorway to clear the stall. Plus another 2'4" for the new doorway. Let's call that 6ft to be safe? I'm left with 1 foot, plus the old door opening of 2'4" for 3'4" - not enough to put the dresser. Am I thinking correctly?? HUDSONLEIGH-plz see my reply above regarding measurements. That's the shower stall you see. The purple shower curtain you see is the left side and the shower head is to the right, behind that wall, next to the vanity. I want to cut that wall in half and put in a glass shower enclosure. Can't do anything on the other side, the doorway in to the bedroom, that's the hallway and you can't extend anything out to there. JJAAZZY, yes, furniture will be as current owners have it. Really the only way ours will fit. That's my whole issue, having to stare straight in to the bathroom - and I sleep on the left! Me, I'm in and out, but my OH - geez, he's in there forever, every time it seems! The tile is in great condition, but really needs to be updated. It looks white, but it has little specks of a mustardy-gold color. Since it's so small, will replace everything. I just wouldn't be happy to have to live with it the way it is. The bathroom I have now is great. I won't even be able to sit and do my hair in this one, my current one has a spot for me to sit and do my girly things - will be moving that elsewhere in this house - had to give up somethings for others to finally find a house!!! Hopefully, no major hidden expenses to come up, had it inspected by one inspector, waiting for 2 others. If I did have to keep the toilet where it is - can anyone suggest a good door to put there. I'm not sure a pocket door will go or not. There's an outlet on the wall behind the dresser that's 33" from the doorframe. The bathrooms side of the wall has the wall heater. I can remove that when I retile. Other than a pocket door (and no more ugly accordian doors) is there anything else worth looking at? Thanks again everyone!