Hello all, I've been gathering ideas from here for a couple of months now. Everyone seems to be very helpful and very knowledgeable and all of your designs are awesome. How would you recommend finding all the contractors you need for a bathroom remodel? I don't even know how to approach it besides yelp and google. Nobody I know had any kind of remodeling done recently, therefore I can't get any personal references. We need a plumber to reroute some pipes and a tiler to do the floors and showers. I know a handy man who can do dry wall and paint, and we don't need any electrical work besides replacing old light fixtures. We have a good idea of what we want and we just need someone to do it (so no designer needed). We will also be getting all the permits ourselves. We live in Orange county, CA. If anyone can suggest a good contractor who can help us with the remodel, or if you know of any companies or showrooms that would be good to check out, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance and have a weekend day everyone

you would need an architect first. I would advise someone reputable and that has worked in the area and knows what your town codes/bi laws are, i.e, set backs from street, neighboring properties. But more importantly structure of the house, and a cohesive design to it.And then hire a G.C.

I do think the Allen wrench is metric, since the diverter was made in Germany, and I will look into getting some metric Allen wrenches, if we do not have any at our house in Los Angeles. I will take what we have here to see if any will work, but it would have been convenient if the contractor had left the Allen wrench that came with the fixture. I do have the instructions, such as they are, and they have essentially no text with them - only illustrations, and so it is better to go to Youtube for information on the adjustment. I'm sure it is simple and something that I can do myself, once I have the correct wrench. The contractor called me today and said that the glass doors in the master bathroom are already installed, but he thinks there is an issue with the hinge at the bottom because it makes noise and the door is more difficult to open inward than outward. The glass company installed the doors - the contractor never intended to do this himself, and while he sounded a bit weak on the phone, he said he was feeling well enough to oversee what is being done. Unfortunately, the glass door installers damaged a tile in the hall bathroom, and so now that has to be replaced, which will happen tomorrow. The glass company will pay for this to be done of course, but the door should be reinstalled this week. Anyway, I will go on Friday to see what is being done regardless. We have lots of extra tiles, and so that is not an issue, but the contractor told me that the bottom hinge on the second glass door also appeared to have an issue. I let him know that I would not accept hinges that are not proper, as I do not want to have issues later on. I also told him that I am in no hurry to get this completed, but he is because I will not give him his final payment until the work is completed to my satisfaction. There is no need now to get a shower curtain.

Thanks, everyone. This is super helpful. We’ve been crunching the numbers and it was looking like we’d be 1-2 inches short on the clearance in front of the toilet, but I think I may have found a toilet with a profile that can work assuming we can recess the sink. Lyndee Lee, thanks for that idea. We had considered bringing forward the closet entrance, but I hadn’t thought about it being possible to preserve the original woodwork and overall appearance. That’s a great idea because a major reason we’re so set on using this closet is I really would like to preserve the original footprint and bones of the house without cutting up rooms or adding an addition, and sadly we don’t have an ice room, butler closet, or otherwise appropriate space like others have mentioned as options. Do any of you have experience with a “self-contained” or macerating toilet? It sounds like something like this might be a good option for us if the plumbing proves as complicated as I suspect it will. Thanks everyone!