It looks like you have FRP - fiberglass reinforced plastic - panels on your walls and around the shower. They should be installed with the recommended trim pieces and silicone caulk. I have been looking into using these to convert my garage into a dog kennel. They are used in food service and commercial interior environments. Food for thought - your DH wants to cut corners which is not good. Maybe he is not really cut out for remodeling or is tired. I would be concerned about moisture damage behind your tub walls. If it were me, knowing that DH was not going to caulk, I would get my tush in that tub with a caulk gun and get busy. Caulking is very easy, there are even youtube videos out there. I suggest that you really research how to install sheetrock and cement backer board. How to install a tub and reconnect the plumbing. How to tile and grout. There is a lot of information on this forum if you search for hydroban or hydro ban and Redguard and kerdi. Mongoct and bill Vincent have great threads on the topic. Redguard is available at Home Depot and is cheaper. Mongct has 2 great threads on plumbing fixtures. If you go to the Terry Love plumbing forum, there is a great thread on getting a Kohler cast iron Villager bathtub in place. There are both good and lame videos on youtube. Get to Home Depot and actually look at the building materials and tools and start getting familiar with them and their prices. Draw your bathroom out on graph paper with the exact measurements so you can actually get a feel for the room. Even if you hire the work out, you still need to know how to direct the work to get the best finished product. But you will find more women on this forum who hire out the cement board and sheetrock work and do the tile work themselves - that is what I'm doing. As for the medicine cabinet, when you redo the walls, you can cut out the studs and build an opening with a header like a window for the medicine cabinet, and other recessed openings such as niches. Save your money and start learning and planning this remodel. Start itemizing the material costs - cbu, thinset, Redguard, cbu tape, sheetrock tape, sheetrock mud, grout, tile, paint, tools, etc if you think you can do some of the work yourself. If not, get 3 quotes for the tub/plumbing and the framing/cbu/sheetrock and the tile work - whatever part you and DH think you don't want to tackle. You may need more money to replace rotted wood. $500 is just decorating chump change. Plan the remodel in stages - tub and tub surround first, the rest later. Also plan on getting at least the bathtub and tub walls completed quickly so you can use it. Tear out the ceiling too. Bathrooms take a lot of detailed work and more money than other rooms. No, the tile on the walls does not have to match the floor. Folks do like to use a tile that has end pieces with beveled edges in the collection to finish the very top of the wall. Anything goes these days based on personal style = that's where browsing Houzz is great for getting inspired. I would use the same tile around the whole bathroom including the shower. I have 16 year old stone looking tile on my floors and I cam going with Daltile white 3x6 and 6x6 ceramic tile from Home Depot. I can cut it with a manual tile saw and run back to Home Depot for more pieces, or return leftovers. I still don't understand why you have to have a 13 inch deep vanity if the sink is going to protrude past 13 inches. Why can't the vanity be deeper than 13 inches. You will have to build one to get the maximum storage for your space. this is when having a picture of your floorplan with the exact measurements would be helpful. The forum could give you some good advice on the size and placement. I still think a wide pedestal sink is your best bet. Have you looked at the Kohler pedestal sinks - the models come in a variety of widths. There is not much storage in small retail vanities. To really maximize the storage, you really need to have a custom vanity made. Check out cabinet shops in your area because the prices are really not that bad - especially if you pick it up and install it yourself. This post was edited by Anna_in_TX on Mon, Mar 17, 14 at 18:46

Hi mom2sethc--Please don't be discouraged. Sorry that we all misunderstood and assumed you were wanting help to try to make your curtains work. Now that you've given us the info that your pillow fabrics are your inspiration/direction you want to go, I can see you're headed in the right direction with the Susan Jablon mosaics you asked about in the other thread. You do want your backsplash to be your star! You knew your answer when you posted: you do have to ditch your traditional curtains. You instinctively knew they're not "you". There was definitely a disconnect style wise between your curtains (traditional, low contrast) and your pillows (contemporary, bold/high contrast) and I think that is why so many of us were advising to tone down/simplify the backsplash to try to bridge the disconnect and turn it merely "eclectic" RE: getting the "wrong" curtains, I've made similar mistakes, but sometimes it's impossible to see "oh, no this is not what I wanted!" until after I see it in place. (Like the fact that the color of my sink doesn't go with the color of my cabinets and it turns out I don't like the finish of the faucet I special ordered. sigh.) Another point in your favor--at least you tried something. I have been without window treatments in the kitchen for 3 months with zero privacy--and lots of neighbors--but none of the dozens of fabric swatches I've brought home had the right "feel." It is discouraging when you have an idea what you want, but just can't seem to nail it, especially when these are precisely the finishing touches that can lend such great personality and style to a kitchen. Just wanted to say we all meant to be helpful, I promise. Now bring your inspiration pillows to the fabric store and pick out a complimentary bold print for some new curtains! :) Here is a link that might be useful: bold Susan Jablon mosaics

Very cute room. I found this forum very recently and love reading all the posts, so I will finally stop lurking and add my 2 cents. I know others have talked about the frames, but I don't think there are necessarily too many, I think part of what bothered me with the frames on the shelves was simply placement. The way they were arranged it is too symmetrical for my taste. I like to see more staggering of items. I currently feel there is a visual line drawn through the center of the shelves vertically. Also understanding the constraints of a budget all too well-- if the new mantel is too expensive for right now what if you remove the small white shelf below the mirror and paint out the top part of the fireplace surround, not sure how to refer to that part, but the area that creates a horizontal edge directly below that white shelf. I persoally like the green vase, but only if it is empty so it has a more contemporary "pottery" like feel to it. I think if you want a "vase" it is not the best. I like it empty off to the left of the mirror, but if you remove the shelf and do not add a mantel I assume the vase will not sit on that edge? I would definitely raise the curtain rod several inches to give the illusion of a more dramatic window. I was also wondering about switching the sofa to the wall below the window--does it fit? I just think it will soften the bottom of that window to have the sofa there, just move the chair to where the sofa was. I would think that it would be more comfortable to watch tv that way as well as you wouldn't be turned at the direct 90 degree angle you are currenty when seated on the sofa. I would then like to see a small table of some sort between the chair and the fireplace wall (under the wall opening) and then move the floor lamp over to the side of the chair closest to the kitchen. (so that pass through side would start with the lamp, then the chair, then a table. ) The table would be a great spot for a few more of those family photos. OK those are my thoughts, but keep in mind I always move my furniture 16 times before I decide what I like.

timber I saw that! That's what sort of got me going - then I saw this pic on the Schoolhouse site. One of the kitchens in the Willow entry are the same backless stools in gray, in Martha's kitchen. :-) I LOVE the Giannetti design ones - but I think they might be too much, plus they're WAY out of the budget. Those lyon stools with backs are only $70 each!!!! Palimpsest, maybe you're just telling me what I want to hear, but thank you for your input. :-) I really value your opinion on here. (not that I don't value others, of course!) Aww timber thanks for asking about kitty. This is the first really warm day we've had, so she and I are sunning on the deck, which she loves. :-) She isn't looking too hot (has a cancerous bone tumor growing on her jaw, poor baby) but she seems pain free and happy. she scared me earlier in the week when we got some blood, but it seems to have stopped. I think it's b/c her upper teeth were poking her lower gum, which is pretty deformed now. So sad. Yes!! The sink got installed, everything turned out OK. DH is at the house now, likes the island as is (I assume you saw that post) so it's staying. Whew, one less thing to worry about. :-) I am still waiting for him to send me pics. *tap* *tap* *tap* I should have just posted this pic to begin with - GC still has to do filler piece between sink and cabinet doors. (among other things LOL.)