Hopefully your ductwork is in good condition and properly sized. The fan should be sized for the bathroom. Here are some guidelines: Small rooms: For bathrooms up to 100 square feet in area, HVI (Home Ventilation Institute) recommends that an exhaust fan provide 1 CFM per square foot (approximately eight air changes per hour) to properly ventilate the bathroom. Example: Bathroom is 8'x5' (with 8' ceilings). Multiply 8 x 5 = 40ft. Bathroom area is 40ft. At 1 cfm per square foot the minimum recommendation is a fan rated at 40 cfm. Larger rooms: For bathrooms above 100 square feet in area, HVI recommends a ventilation rate based on the number and type of fixtures present, according to the following table: Toilet 50 CFM Shower 50 CFM Bath Tub 50 CFM Jetted Tub 100 CFM Duration of ventilation: HVI recommends that the fan be left on for 20 minutes after use of the bathroom. A timer is a good solution, allowing the fan to turn off automatically at the proper time. One thing you should know is most fans only produce 50% of the rated cfm because of undersized and poorly installed ducts. Ducts should be hard pipe, not corrugated plastic that will cause too much restriction and possibly degrade and leak over time. 37 year veteran HVAC professional Here is a link that might be useful: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Help and Advice

I'm no expert, but don't really see why it would be a problem to have both venting to the same outside vent. It's just air moving outside. You might want to clean the vent and make sure it's not clogged up with dryer lint. I had mine cleaned out and was amazed at how much stuff came out. If you have a leaf blower, you can just take the fan off the duct work and stick the leaf blower down the duct work and the lint should blow outside. Sortof messy! I'd get a new fan before I'd cut a hole in your house. They have really powerful ones that are very quiet. You might also want to post this over on the bathroom forum, to see if you get any bathroom venting gurus to respond.

Did you pick a sink yet? I got a kohler impressions(?) sink for my 24" vanity. It's integrated white cast iron. It has a surprising amount of counter space for a 24" vanity top. Nice cute circular sink depression. You can't store anything on it permanently except a soap dispenser, but there is enough room for the little plastic basket I got at bed bath and beyond. Otherwise you can put the plastic basket on the toilet seat. I put a washcloth down to keep from scratching the toilet seat. Mine is painted wood and it does not like water splashed on it either. Make sure your vanity will support the weight of your countertop/sink.

Mayflowers, where did all your examples go?! I like those ideas. I posted then had to get my kid showered after swimming so didn't respond to all of them...then got distracted by a tree trunk ;) Love your ideas. I wouldn't go crazy there at all for backsplash. I also don't want grey..it doesn't do anything for the space.