"I have put the blue drywall behind where the vanity will go, I'm satisfied it's not going to get that wet, but around the shower and above it, I want to tile and thought I'd use backerboard or whatever the fibrecement sheeting is called....which leads to a couple of more questions -" "Blue" drywall...is that blueboard, or drywall typically used for veneer plaster applications? It can be finished with paper tape and joint compound, so it'll be fine in non-wet areas (wet areas being a shower or tub surround). For shower and tub surround walls, below 72" or below the height of the shower head, you don't want to use a drywall-type product. As you mentioned either a fiber-cement (hardieboard) or a true cement board (durock or wonderboard) would be used for the wet walls. The seams get finished with thinset and mesh-type fiberglass tape. In wet areas, above the 72" from the floor height, you can transition to a drywall-type product and paint the surface. Or continue the cement board and tile to the ceiling. Where you transition from the cement board to the drywall board, hide the horizontal seam behind the top course of wall tile. "1) I understand some drywall mud is suitable for tiling and some isn't, what's best, and should the backerboard stuff be mudded at all?" This will hopefully be an all-in-one reply: In wet areas, use cement board or fiber-cement board as the tile backer. For those seams use thinset and mesh tape. When you tile in a wet area, use thinset to adhere the tile to the cement backer board. In non-wet areas, the tile backer can be the items listed above, or you can go with regular drywall. Since the drywall will not be getting wet, those joints can be finished with joint compound and paper tape. For adhering ceramic tiles in non-wet areas, you can use thinset or mastic to adhere the tiles to the drywall. For adhering a natural stone in non-wet areas, you should use thinset, do not use mastic. Mastic can bleed through and discolor or stain the stone. "2) Can said mud be used for a transition join between the drywall and the backerboard? Can I tape the join, or is fibreglass tape (the mesh stuff) better?" For that transition seam you can use either; joint compound and paper tape, or thinset and joint compound. "4) I'm (ideally) keeping the original door jamb which means it finishes more or less flush with the drywall. Around the rest of the house I've used a plain, chunky square 4"x1" trim/skirting/doorframe. I figure I have to either affix the trim *before* the tiling because I assume the tiles will butt up against them. I thought about using parchment paper or similar to protect the trim edges when tiling then remove paper and silicone seal the edge (and maybe not attempt to grout up to the edge of the trim)" An easy way is to tack a scrap piece of wood in place where the trim will go. If your trim is 4", set the edge of the scrap piece of wood at the 4-1/8" line. Now tile right tight up against the piece of scrap wood. When tile is set, remove the scrap piece of wood. Install your 4" trim. You should now have a very nice 1/8" gap between the edge of the tile and the trim. Caulk that gap, as wood may move seasonally and the movement would cause grout to cracks. There are color and texture (sanded vs unsanded) caulks made to match most grout colors. "5) Am I crazy to leave the vinyl flooring when I'm doing virtually everything else? Vinyl is in good shape despite the work etc that went on around it, and it continues out into the hall unbroken so I'd have to redo a fair amount of flooring. I'd love to tile it but I figure walls are hard enough (haven't tiled a wall before) so floors might be a it much...besides, I'm thinking as long as I'm prepared to remove skirting, vanity and toilet, the floor could be redone later, if necessary....?" That's your call. If you think you might tile down the road, then plan for it now. Think of how thick your tiled floor might be. Example, if your existing subfloor is 3/4" plywood, there is probably something like 1/4" luan over that and your vinyl is on top of that. So on top of your existing subfloor you have maybe 1/4" plus 3/16", or just under a half-inch of "flooring". If you tile, you might need to remove all that half-inch of "flooring" and add half-inch underlayment, then either 1/8" ditra or 1/4" cement board, then your thinset and tile (1/8" plus 3/16"). So sort of worst case (and a total supposition) you'd be looking at adding 1/2" ply underlayment + 1/8" thinset + 1/4" cement board + 1/8" thinset + 3/16" floor tile, or about 1-3/16" total. But before you add that thickness you'd be subtracting the already installed 1/4" luan and 3/16" vinyl. 1-3/16ths minus 7/16ths means the height of your finished tile floor will be 3/4" higher than the finish of your existing vinyl floor. (I think!) So, if you want a 1/8" gap between your wall tile and your floor tile, set the bottom edge of your bottom course of wall tile 7/8" above the height of your existing vinyl floor. Now, all that figuring and ciphering is nothing more than a crap shoot. So what I'd recommend in a case like yours is to plan on eventually having a tiled floor, tiled walls, and a wood baseboard as a transition between the two. If down the road you wanted a 5" tall baseboard, set a 6" tall baseboard in place now, and set the top of the baseboard level. Tile the walls with the bottom course of wall tile sitting on top of the baseboard. When you eventually finish your floor, remove the baseboard, tile the floor, then rip about an inch off the baseboard to make it 5" instead of 6", and it'll fit nicely. A lot of "what if's" and made up numbers in my post, but it's a start. Mongo

I AM SPEECHLESS!!!!! Ditto everything everything everyone else said! I am in awe. I am a left brained design clod, but I do recognize genius. I am stuggling to dwsign 5 bathrooms and a kitchen with only two weeks to prepare for our newly constructed home in Irvine. Our two bedroom filled with mold was torn down to the concrete slab and has gone up faster than I expected. Any tips, help, suggestions, this peon will fall to her knees. I really know nothing about gardenweb protocol as I just joined and you are my first message. I am overwhelmed and don't want to go to a tile design showroom where I get the most recent 'in' Tuscan look ir white carrera marble design. How do you come you with such great ideas. I have sat in Barnes and NOble and looked through magazines...lthe saddest part is I'm married to a contractor and his design sense is more outdated than mine! We both just stared at yours and said...ooohhh.......aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

It's also possible that you didn't get all the TSP residue off, and that can interfere with the bond of paint to surface. TSP should be rinsed off with LOTS of water, which makes it kind of a pain. Regarding stripper, Molly/Housekeeping raves about Soygel, which is supposedly nontoxic. The original front door to my new old house and the stair bannister both have umpty-ump layers of old and new paint on them, so thick that they're sticky and you can dent the rubbery paint with a fingernail, but I'm sensitive to toxic chemicals and don't really want to screw around with a heat gun (I will probably hurt myself!). Some twit also painted the wide pine floor in the foyer/hallway with this awful shiny white paint and that is going to have to come off too, but sanding won't take it out of the cracks. Arrrrgh.

You must be in my neighborhood! Seriously, your baths are SO similar to ours in our 1964 house. Here's what we have done: Master bath--was Pepto Bismol pink. We had it reglazed in white and it's holding up well. We had the tiny tile floor ripped up and redone. Upstairs hall bath--was baby boy blue. DH tackled this one (very unusual!) by ripping out the floor and taking down the tile. He installed white beadboard and a new floor. The tub is the same exact style you have, which really is a high quality cast-iron tub. I hate the cliche that they "don't make things like they used to", but in this case, I really think it's true. This tub holds the heat like no other. It's worth saving, either as is, or having it professionally reglazed. First floor half-bath--DH painted the tiles with a latex paint in a beige and we then had the floor redone by a professional. We added another full bath in the basement area and used a one-unit tub/wall combo (not nearly as good at holding heat as the cast iron tub upstairs). We did tile on the walls and floors. Check out professional tile reglazing in your Yellow Pages. It will tide you over until you can tackle a reno. My advise is this: keep the cast iron tubs, but change out the faucets to a "mixer valve", which is fairly inexpensive. Good luck. I did all I could do to live w/ the pink and blue. No matter what I did it screamed "60's"!