Stacy I think I saw your bathroom photos when I was browsing Garden Web, maybe was YOUR bathroom that gave me the cabinet idea LOL! I've been looking at a lot of photos lately. Your custom cabinets are very pretty! I LOVE the idea of an enclosed cab vs. open shelving above a toilet. Our linen closet in the hallway is small and there is very little storage in the main bath, plus our master bath is small like yours so we need all the storage we can eke out. Our toilet is next to the shower, like yours, but the shower is a rectangle and the sink area is outside that room (the pocket door would be on the left side of the toilet if you were in the room facing the toilet). Did you tile the entire wall behind the sink cab? That's something we're thinking about right now. Thanks!

My opinion will be biased because I have very similar tile in my master we redid 12 years ago. 4" squares on the diagonal for the shower floor and 12" squares on main floor and up the shower walls. Coincidentally we are in process of redoing my kids' bath the past few weeks (it was also redone 12 years ago) because a hard-to-find leak in the tub prompted us to consider replacing it....which then brought about the issue of replacing the tiled tub-surround that would be damaged...and we would also have to try to retile some spots on the floor because a new tub would be a smaller footprint leaving some bare spots once old tub was pulled out. My point is that we also had to figure out the whole, "do we do an updated 'patch job' to save a lot of money, or do we just gut it and accept the cost as the price of being at peace with it/enjoying a new look and improved function. Right or wrong...which is always a very subjective thing....we gutted it and I'm thrilled. I was not interested in painting my cabinets just to have them have peel-issues due to steam, and we also got rid of the tub altogether and opted for a stand-up/walk-in shower for my older kids. Resale was considered on this issue...but by the time we move, someone can either love it as we've made it, or we will price the house with an "allowance" in mind. The old space had hot-chocolate colored walls and 'slate' porcelain floor and tub surround...an overall warm and cozy feel but also tired and dated. The new space is a porcelain 'marble' hex with white subway walk-in shower that is awaiting glass doors...an overall calming feeling that is also bright and fresh. I now actually wish SO BADLY that I was able to redo/retile MY whole bathroom (tile similar to yours). And there's nothing wrong with my bathroom, and a planned paint job on the walls will help me like it even more...... In my kids' bathroom, however, even unfinished with the floor and shower tile installed just waiting for the rest to come together (waiting on backordered tile base moulding) ......... I walk in and just smile and breathe deeply because of the way the space now makes me feel :) So my very biased vote is to gut it ;) ;)

I'm sorry this is happening to you. This happened to me a couple years ago. So I recommend you do the following: Tell the contractor (whoever hired the tile people) to stop work and schedule sit-down meeting. Make the meeting be something like Friday so that you have some time to prepare. Do this communication by email. (Do every single syllable of communication by email from now on. Nothing verbal. If any verbal words are exchanged, confirm them by a follow-up email confirming your understanding of what at was said/planned/promised/agreed, and ask for confirmation in the email.) Get ready for your meeting: Document your understanding of everything that was done wrong. Put all the blue tape all over in the bathroom. You can download an online version of the TCNA handbook here: https://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications/218-english-publications/188-handbook.html It's a manual of industry standards for tile. It's less than $40. It also includes information about waterproofing. It's long, but you don't have to read the whole thing. Read the introduction (about 50 pages) and the stand-alone shower sections. You can skip all the other parts such as swimming pools, etc. Read about waterproofing and tiling on this forum and on the John Bridge forum. You need support for the meeting. Ask someone (a spouse, adult child, friend, neighbor) to attend the meeting with you as your support person and as a note-taker. Create your list of questions/concerns. Make them open ended and a bit broad, such as "How did you waterproof my shower?" "Do you have your TCNA manual with you; can you show me in there what method you used?" (probably he doesn't know what this is) "Why does the tile look so messy?" "What is your plan to fix all the problems?" Let the contractor talk and make sure your note-taker writes everything down. Don't interrupt of start arguing with the contractor. Always stay business like and calm. If the contractor gets upset that's his problem. Have the meeting. If they don't show up, send an email inquiring why. Go through your whole list of questions/concerns. If the contractor gets off track, always come back to the important question: "What is your plan to fix all the problems?" If the contractor gets upset, says things like "You're too picky", "We've never had a complaint before", or "You're too hard to please" ask them to stay on track regarding the sub-par work. If the contractor yells at you, stands up or starts pacing around (happened to me), ask them to stop yelling at you in your home and tell them to take a minute and let you know when they are ready to proceed calmly. If, through your research and the contractor's answers, you are reasonably convinced that the waterproofing was done wrong, and/or the tile mess can't be fixed without compromising the waterproofing, ask the contractor to re-demo and start all over with a new, qualified, certified and experienced tile professional in charge. Your contractor doesn't change; you don't pay more; this is on the contractor's dime. If they say anything about you paying more, or making a payment now, say that you don't feel that that is reasonable given the problems so far, but that you look forward to the new, competent crew, and if the work is truly professional you don't foresee any reason why full payment would not be reasonable at the end of the project. They will either agree to redo it or not; or they might want more time to think about their plan over the weekend, etc, etc. You might not get a definitive yes or no during the meeting. In our meeting (which was on a Friday), the contractor went off the rails several times saying we should hire someone else to re-do the shower and they would just finish the rest of the bathroom; that they didn't want to touch the shower anymore. DH kept bringing them back to "We hired you to complete the whole project and we trust that you will be able to figure out a plan to fix the waterproofing; so what do you think you will do?"...stuff like that happened 4 or 5 times. At the end of the meeting the only agreement was that they were going to work on their plan over the weekend and would contact us on Monday. After the meeting we confirmed this understanding by email. After the meeting, send an email with a general summary of the meeting, based on the notes, and re-cap any agreements, quitting, or what you perceive as the result of the meeting. Keep all your language business-like and clear. They might have agreed to re-do with a new, competent crew. Great! In your email, express how please you are at their business like approach to these waterproofing and tile problems. Say something like "We look forward to seeing you and the new tile crew on Monday for the re-demoing and starting fresh on the project. Have a nice weekend." They might flat our refuse and get mad at you (refer to the yelling comments above). If they flat out refuse, say "Oh my; so you are quitting the project?" After the meeting, confirm this by email. They might have huffed off, in which case you also confirm that my email. Something like "We were disappointed that you left our meeting this morning without letting us know what the plan is to fix all the waterproofing and tile problems on our bathroom project. After you have some time to thing about the project, please let us know how you plan to proceed. If this means you are quitting the project, please let us know right away so that we can start the process of hiring a new contractor. Hope to hear form you on Monday..." After the meeting, whatever the conclusion was, post the contractors answers here and/or on John Bridge where I hope you will get continued support from the pros on the forums. In our case, the contractor wanted to think over the weekend and then they quit by email on Monday. We had to start over. Months later they later sued us saying that we fired them illegally. We had no choice but to respond. It went to District Court where we were awarded ALL our money back plus extra for materials that they ruined. Why did the judge award to us? Because ALL communication with the contractor was done by email, and the judge could clearly see that they quit; she threw out their suit and award us everything that we put in our counter suit. Another huge reason is because our new tile pro, who is an experienced, over-qualified, certified pro, testified as an expert witness about all the things done wrong by the quit-GC. And don't be scared - we did all the legal stuff ourselves. It's not as hard as everyone thinks. Again, I'm really sorry this is happening to you. We also live in a Wild Wild West area (North of Houston) and the township doesn't care what anyone does in their house. You could string extension cords all over the house for every single thing, put an outhouse inside your bathroom, install a firepole in place of your staircase, and no one would care til you sell the house and finally an inspector comes inside.

First, I do agree with @emilyam819 that it’s important to budget for the things you don’t see. The materials needed to properly build and waterproof the shower are not cheap and shouldn’t be skimped on. Also, shower and tub fixtures require parts that go behind the walls. Be sure any plumbing fixtures you buy include all that parts necessary for assembling them. For example, check to see if sink faucets include hoses and a drain. Often they don’t and you have to buy those items a la carte. Also, to help with suggestions, it would be helpful to know if you prefer wall mount, four hole, three hole, or single hole. Also don’t forget to budget for your sinks and countertops. I definitely would stick to tile only in the shower and on floor from a budget perspective. More tile looks gorgeous but adds up in terms of both labor and materials. Also, make sure you talk to your contractor about exactly how he installs and finishes tile (including the prep steps he does before he ever puts the first piece down). Read up on Houzz on proper tile installation - you won’t become an expert but you’ll learn enough to spit red flags. Just search the advice forums for tile questions - you’ll be horrified at what you see and it will help you be cautious and ask good questions. Love everything you’ve picked out and I agree that vanity is a steal. Personally I would choose all gold. Mixed metals can look great but I’d be uncomfortable attempting it without a pro advising me. As for the floor, I think it’s important to consider the other flooring in the house, especially in the area where the bathroom is. I wouldn’t do the wood look tile if you have hardwoods elsewhere. And if there are bathroom floors elsewhere that you plan to keep, I’d choose something relatively similar for this room. Or if you plan to rip up other bath floors later, consider something you’d be willing to use on those floors as well. The idea is to not have the floors in all the rooms of the house feel like a quilt - all different, with no relationship to each other.