It looks like you have FRP - fiberglass reinforced plastic - panels on your walls and around the shower. They should be installed with the recommended trim pieces and silicone caulk. I have been looking into using these to convert my garage into a dog kennel. They are used in food service and commercial interior environments. Food for thought - your DH wants to cut corners which is not good. Maybe he is not really cut out for remodeling or is tired. I would be concerned about moisture damage behind your tub walls. If it were me, knowing that DH was not going to caulk, I would get my tush in that tub with a caulk gun and get busy. Caulking is very easy, there are even youtube videos out there. I suggest that you really research how to install sheetrock and cement backer board. How to install a tub and reconnect the plumbing. How to tile and grout. There is a lot of information on this forum if you search for hydroban or hydro ban and Redguard and kerdi. Mongoct and bill Vincent have great threads on the topic. Redguard is available at Home Depot and is cheaper. Mongct has 2 great threads on plumbing fixtures. If you go to the Terry Love plumbing forum, there is a great thread on getting a Kohler cast iron Villager bathtub in place. There are both good and lame videos on youtube. Get to Home Depot and actually look at the building materials and tools and start getting familiar with them and their prices. Draw your bathroom out on graph paper with the exact measurements so you can actually get a feel for the room. Even if you hire the work out, you still need to know how to direct the work to get the best finished product. But you will find more women on this forum who hire out the cement board and sheetrock work and do the tile work themselves - that is what I'm doing. As for the medicine cabinet, when you redo the walls, you can cut out the studs and build an opening with a header like a window for the medicine cabinet, and other recessed openings such as niches. Save your money and start learning and planning this remodel. Start itemizing the material costs - cbu, thinset, Redguard, cbu tape, sheetrock tape, sheetrock mud, grout, tile, paint, tools, etc if you think you can do some of the work yourself. If not, get 3 quotes for the tub/plumbing and the framing/cbu/sheetrock and the tile work - whatever part you and DH think you don't want to tackle. You may need more money to replace rotted wood. $500 is just decorating chump change. Plan the remodel in stages - tub and tub surround first, the rest later. Also plan on getting at least the bathtub and tub walls completed quickly so you can use it. Tear out the ceiling too. Bathrooms take a lot of detailed work and more money than other rooms. No, the tile on the walls does not have to match the floor. Folks do like to use a tile that has end pieces with beveled edges in the collection to finish the very top of the wall. Anything goes these days based on personal style = that's where browsing Houzz is great for getting inspired. I would use the same tile around the whole bathroom including the shower. I have 16 year old stone looking tile on my floors and I cam going with Daltile white 3x6 and 6x6 ceramic tile from Home Depot. I can cut it with a manual tile saw and run back to Home Depot for more pieces, or return leftovers. I still don't understand why you have to have a 13 inch deep vanity if the sink is going to protrude past 13 inches. Why can't the vanity be deeper than 13 inches. You will have to build one to get the maximum storage for your space. this is when having a picture of your floorplan with the exact measurements would be helpful. The forum could give you some good advice on the size and placement. I still think a wide pedestal sink is your best bet. Have you looked at the Kohler pedestal sinks - the models come in a variety of widths. There is not much storage in small retail vanities. To really maximize the storage, you really need to have a custom vanity made. Check out cabinet shops in your area because the prices are really not that bad - especially if you pick it up and install it yourself. This post was edited by Anna_in_TX on Mon, Mar 17, 14 at 18:46

Does it HAVE to be a quick remodel? I ask because you say "master bathroom" which suggests maybe there is another bathroom in the house. If that's the case, then I'd really look at your absolute needs and see if you can take a little more time to make certain you're happy with the end result. Personally, I'd take a little time (maybe a day or even two) and decide what general look I want. Use pictures online from sites like Houzz or this site and find the aspects you like. Come up with a solid layout (maybe it's essentially what you have but swapping a shower for the tub) as everything goes from there. And decide on a general look (tile colors, accents or no?, painted or stained vanity, counter material, light fixture type/placement, etc) and go from there. I'd then take another day or two and run to actual tile stores (not big box stores) and bring home all the samples I liked. In case you're wondering, I have a giant stack of samples in my basement from doing this myself. Tile is one of the first things to go in, so you want to have that picked out as soon as possible (especially if it has to be ordered). Then while mulling over the tiles (put them in the room if possible or at least in a nearby room) and picking out favorites, I'd hit up plumbing showrooms and do some research on plumbing fixtures. Pick out your shower fixtures so that they can rough in the plumbing in the shower. You can take a little more time with toilet and sinks and faucets, especially if you generally know what you want. They can be installed after the tile. I'd probably then hit up granite yards (or whatever counter material you want) and bring home a lot of samples again. I'd put those with my favorite sample tiles and mull over until I found the ones that worked best for me. I might hit big box stores for vanity options or maybe check out the cabinet maker that did your kitchen (assuming you replaced cabinetry). There is absolutely no reason you have to rush on the non-fixed items like mirrors, towel holders, etc. A bathroom can be perfectly usable before you have these picked out and installed.

>>a house needs a tub unless it is in a retirement community and even then, if there is more than one bathroom, it should have a tub>> Hmmmm....maybe, maybe not. I'm 65 and like the majority of my friends, prefer showers. When we remodeled our MBa it has a custom shower and a double vanity, plus a matching 6' tall linen closet. Plus an alcove with another 3-drawer cabinet in that. I'm a firm believer in lots of storage, LOL. My MIL loved baths, hated showers. When she moved to a nearby retirement facility, she had a choice - shower or bath, both with attendant. Eventually she gave up bathing for the walk-in shower, saying it was easier and faster. One reason she moved: she was terrified of falling in the bathroom during her bath, when she lived with us. We thought about putting in one of those walk-in tubs, but she did use them at the senior facility instead before she switched to the shower. It's a reasonable alternative, but forget trying to wash a dog in them [smile]. They're pretty tight-fitting inside, with the built-in seat taking up a lot of interior volume. I can tell you that when I broke my leg at age 54 (I was out gardening and fell on concrete stairs), it was IMPOSSIBLE to lift the cast high enough to step over the (rather short height) tub-shower on the main floor, at first. It was almost 5 weeks before I could do it, wrapping the cast in a plastic bag. That tub is only 16" high at the rim - but it could have been a mile high as far as trying to get into it, when disabled. My vote is double vanity, linen cabinet, shower (3x5 is ideal and I wish we had that). Add in safety bars and a good vent fan, too.

Yes, it does help dramatically in situations I have seen. The tile pros have very large rotary machines, like carpet cleaning machines, but specialized for tile. Some have a special machine with a narrow brush that goes back and forth on just the grout, like a gigantic mechanical toothbrush. The chemicals, detergents, and hot dirty water are sucked up by the machines, followed by rinsing thoroughly. They can seal the tile and grout again, I highly recommend it for easier cleaning afterward. A large kitchen and three bathrooms cost a few hundred dollars in a low cost of living area. It took all day. BTW, there are special hand-held electric scrubbers they use for wall and shower tile.