Mine are all functional, but seriously ugly. I've been living with them for three years and am just now starting on the downstairs bath :o

I'd have preferred to do my master bath first, of course, but the other two are used by guests.

I would do it before you move in to avoid the mess, or wait until you are completely moved and settled in to your new home just because thats enough going on at one time. It doesnt sound like you are rearranging the layout, just replacing whats there, so i wouldnt wait a year.

until I have $ to remodel

We have the budget for it as soon as we move in. I just don't want to jump in and make mistakes because we're making fast decisions based on it being ugly... but also don't want to live with it longer than I have to!

The bedroom is ridiculously huge and cavernous with two walk-in closets, yet there's this tiny bathroom. I want it to GROW... but my husband wants to just replace everything in place. Maybe living with it longer will convince him that it needs to be at least a little bit bigger?

If you feel you have an very good handle on the floorplan of your new house and if you have experience with planning and living through reno's to where you're confident you know what you want and where to find the materials, I see no reason to wait.

I do feel that your husband would be short-sighted to not carve space out of the bedroom or closets in order to enlarge the bathroom. If the two of you aren't on the same page with this issue, do wait as you'll likely only have one chance to remodel the master.

Wait. Live in your house for a at least a few months. You don't want to update for fashion over funtion only to regret a year from now that you didn't bump a wall out. When you have the time & ability to focus on just the bathroom you're way more likely to wind up happy with all your decisions. Plus, it's your master. No one else needs to see how ugly it is and you'll tolerate it knowing your going to love it in the long run.

Sounds like the bathroom is functional but dated, and you just want something that is more current. No need to rush into updating it.

How long? Until you can afford it. Depends on your budget. Also on your stage in life and how many bathrooms you have had to live with. You know what you want and what is wrong with the existing setup. If you HAVE to make do with this, then well, Duh.

If you can (have the $$$$ ) to make changes, then do it the way you want it.

-Babka

I would wait until I lived in the house 3-6 months. You need to see how the whole house works together.

I would wait until you are completely settled in your new house. Then you can have the luxury of taking your time and doing it right. I have no idea why you would have to wait a year. If time is not of the essence, I would even do it before I moved in.,. If you have the time to carefully plan and shop for what you want. If not, get settled in your new home and then turn all your attention to remodeling the bathroom.

I understand why some folks say wait a year for a major remodel. I moved into my house in May. There were some things about the house I really thought I couldn't live with but after some time they don't bother me. However, I only have one full bath and I knew from the start I wanted to install a master bathroom. But the process of designing, getting bids, getting permits, ordering materials, and then scheduling the work doesn't happen overnight.

I have a contractor and he had the designer he works with come over to discuss the bath back in June. She came up with some options and that took a few weeks to decide on the plan. Then my contractor was on vacation so took a couple of weeks to come up with the bid. I said was ready to begin. The contractor and designer just came back last week to finalize the plans. The building permit takes 6-8 weeks in my city and we have to decide on and order materials so the work probably won't start until January so that they won't be destroying my house over the holidays.

So if I would you I would go ahead and have a designer give you some options. You and your husband will figure out pretty quickly whether you really need to expand the bath or not. Good luck with the new house!

Since you'd like to enlarge the space, live with it for a bit. "Ugly" only hurts your eyes. Maybe your pride. But as you wrote, it can still be used without chance of injury (slip and fall, etc) or house damage (water leak, etc).

Over time you'll develop a flow for how you and your hubby interact and move within your master bedroom, the closet, and the bath.

Then you can develop a plan and move forward, be it simply remodeling the space you have, or moving walls.