Oh the fabulousness of what I call schoolhouse paperboard ceilings!!! They were all over my first floor in one form or another thanks to a previous home owner who thought lowering the ceilings would save on heating bills (I'm blaming the infamous Mr.G!) - I've torn out the ones in the Living Room, Dining Room and Library - still have them in the back of the house - kitchen and back entry in a larger format, and my office ceiling looks just like yours. If you have to just patch, look in a closet to see if there's a piece you can cut to patch - but tearing them out and replacing them with drywall is so satisfying! If you can't patch in a tile, your solutions are to cover it, or just fill it with drywall compound similar to patching a hole in drywall - it's not pretty, so it gives you motivation to do it right and tear it out! ;-) Next up for removal in my house is the kitchen/back entry - which also gives us access the very scary wiring between the paperboard ceilings and the original plaster ones 18inches above. That Mr.G - he was a genius at wiring! Just look at the photo of the live wire cutting the corner over the bathtub of our 1950s Bathroom From Hell for proof of that! (First photo in Starting From Dirt thread) Old houses, gotta love them or burn them down! ;-) Always ;-) Hunzi Keeper of the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Renovations

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

I know of ladies that painted their kitchen counters and they've lasted. I'm not sure how they did it. I'm guessing a few coats of polyurethane to protect it from water damage and scratches. As for the future make sure whenever you go to HD or Lowes to check if they have any vanity tops on clearance in the size you need. Both have had great deals on them now and then around here. Sometimes just because of an open box. If you are handy you could also uncaulk and remove the sink and add ceramice tiles over the existing counter, then reinstall the current sink. You sure made a great difference already by painting the base of your vanity. It looks amazing. For added detail you can always add a fram type trim to the doors and paint them to match.

Looks real good, CATH. As I remember, you seal the rocks w/something to make them shiny. Are you gonna do the counter top? Many years ago in So. CA, I saw a guy who mosaiced his whole kitchen counter and backsplash in rocks. I loved it so much I always wanted to do that, but never got to, and now it's too late. You're lucky that you get these rocks free.