I've seen a few posts on this, and I'll weigh in this time. I had my 1929 tub reglazed 10 years ago, and it was looking fine until I had some work done in the bathroom a few years ago and things were dropped into the tub, chipping the finish. I also used bathmats with suction cups (not good) which removed some of the finish. So, if you have it done by a reputable person and baby the tub afterwards, you should be fine. I'll be having mine done a second time once my major renovation is complete.

If you continue to hire people in the hardwood flooring business who have not kept pace with emerging technology in finishes...well, you will have many of the drying and 'softness' issues of the finish films that you are experiencing with your floors. As for poor sanding jobs and the overall lack of good workmanship...well, you can find that in any business that is subject to 'cutthroat' competition. For the best hardwood flooring job (either installation or restoration) you need to hire an independent contractor who actually performs the work or closely supervises it. He or she lives or dies in the business by the quality of the work, so the work quality usually is of high caliber. Going with a company that sends a salesperson to you to 'sell' the job and then sends a 'sub' or a 'jobber' to do the work,...well that, in my opinion is not the best way to go. Perhaps there are companies that work that way and get excellent results, but I haven't seen it. Flooring work is a skilled 'trade' or 'craft' and there are good tradespeople and good craftspeople in the business. Your job as consumers is to find them, insist on quality materials and then pay them what the work is worth!

Thanks all. I was looking at the Kohler cast iron at HomeDepot for $300 or so, it looks nice. The old tub, is actually in very good shape, it has no chips, but it does have some iron stains on the side. My thinking is that if I leave it, and have new tile around it, that I will be refinishing it every few years. If I buy the new iron tub, well hopefully I will get maybe 7 or 10 years out of it. I can have the old one professionally refinished for $350 but if I end up having to do that every few years, I'm not sure I want that hassle. I am having a hard time seperating my wants from what is a logical business decision. I'm learning with all your help. thanks.

I think you should try painting the walls a color first because I think that makes a huge impact. We are building a house in a subdivision so color choices are limited. I told our sales lady that I wanted white cabinets. She, and the other salesman, warned me that they had a blue cast to them. They kept trying to talk me into the cream but I want white. They had me go look at a house that had them with the builder’s Dover White walls. The cabinets looked blue! But I had no other options for white so decided to get them anyway hoping wall paint would help. When we went to the design center to officially pick them they didn’t look blue at all. They were the perfect white! I’ve been worried that the sample wasn’t actually the same color and they’d still be blue. Last week my sales lady got me a scrap of trim to take to pick out my granite. No blue! So, my point is, it’s the stupid wall paint that makes them look blue. So I will have to paint my walls so my cabinets look good. Here’s a kitchen we looked at (not our floor plan). The cabinets look like the color from a spray paint can. Their counters don’t help either.