I have a clear picture in my head of what this bathroom will look like when it's finished ... getting it to that point is going to be challenging. The space is 61" x 92". It is the original bathroom to our 1848 house, added as a one-story addition outside the back door when the house got plumbing in the 1920's or 30's. This is the right side of the room: and this is the left: The door is 28", opening in and to the left toward the tub, almost centered on the wall. Everything in this room except the basketweave tile floor is leaving. The toilet is old, the finish on the cast iron sink is worn through from years of dripping water, and the ceramic sink base has a crack that was repaired with packaging tape. The clawfoot tub will find a new home ... I plan to build a step-back cupboard in its place, to provide some much-needed storage. We have 4 other full baths in this house. Having a clawfoot tub in the basement is cool, but not very practical. The tub was added by the previous owner, so we don't feel guilty about removing it. We are going to remove the window, too. This bathroom addition is buried inside a larger 1960's era addition, and the window looks out into the garage ... with a lovely view of our water system. By taking out the window, I'll have a bit more depth to work with to build a better cabinet where the tub was. And I'll have a place to hang my inspiration poster. The electric is finished. We removed all the scary old wiring and the seriously illegal junction box behind the sink. Now we have a box for a yet-to-be-chosen light fixture, a new switch, and an electrical outlet (which the room didn't have before). For plumbing, we have to replace all the supply lines. The original galvanized supply was discontinued when the bathroom was remodeled during the 1960's construction. The copper replacement lines were run in the weirdest way, and the toilet supply leaked, so we're replacing them. The galvanized sink drain was still in use, but it has rust on the Y that connects to the elbow of the sink drain ... so it looks like we will have to see if we can cut it and attach a modern drain to it. Removing the whole thing doesn't look to be an option, because it goes down below the floor that we want to save. I have to call a plumber. I really want to reroute these radiator pipes, and put them into the wall. They were running outside the wall ... across the wall over the toilet, down the left-hand corner, and across the baseboard to the radiator under the window. This means that we'll have to shut down the boiler ... sigh. This is the my inspiration for the stepback cupboard. I know I got this photo from a decorating blog, I just don't remember which one. I love the size and proportions of this piece ... mine will have 4 doors, no drawers, and no glass. I haven't decided what color it should be ... maybe a vintage-type red? We're going to use this medicine cabinet. I bought it years ago at a thrift store, and I've been holding onto it until I could find just the right place for it. It has a beveled mirror, which I removed before I remembered to take a 'before' photo. I've stripped more than my fair share of paint off of things during the restoration of our house, and restoring and repainting this piece should be pretty straight-forward. BTW, if you're working on something and you're tempted to just paint over the hardware .... don't. Here's where I could use some help. I have my heart set on using a sink like this: (without the side extensions). Though I can't find one right now, I know they're pretty readily available if I'm patient in my search. I want to build a vanity to coordinate with the stepback cupboard, install a maple top (I have a bit of old maple basketball floor stashed away for just this type of project), and inset the sink. Has anyone seen a sink like this done this way, does this exist only in my imagination? There are two new sinks that may give me a similar look, if I can't find an old one in good shape. A new sink would be DH's choice, BTW. The Kohler Gilford, which comes in 24" and 30" widths. and this sink from American Standard, which only comes in 30" I haven't seen either of these sinks in person, but I lean toward the style of the AS sink from what I've seen in photos. I'm concerned, however, that 30" will look like I've plunked a kitchen sink into the bathroom, and the 30" sink only leaves minimum toilet space in the 61" width of the room. For this reason, I feel I should investigate the Kohler 24" model. Wall color? Probably some sort of ivory beige with white trim. I'm not a beige sort of person, but it feels right in this room. Any thoughts? I'd sure like to hear some other opinions. I have this sneaky suspiciou that there's something I may be missing. Thanks, Connie

Opinions on your questions: 1. Pocket vs. swing door: I'm not a big fan of pocket doors on bathrooms because they're more of a pain to close and lock. If you close and lock bathroom doors in your house. :-) 2. Benches are not mandatory. I prefer niches for storing shampoo and soap. Benches are usually to put your leg on when shaving. If you do have one in that corner, I'd recommend a triangular shaped one instead of square. There are pre-fab, ready-to-tile benches like this: I think the shower controls are fine where you drew them, on the bottom wall. Other thoughts: 4. code says toilet back to front should be 5' clear. Can you bump the wall a few inches to attain that? 5. I'd hinge the shower door on the other side. That will allow a towel rack on the bottom wall. You can easily fit a 48" vanity in that space. I'd definitely do it. On design, the typical "period appropriate" materials would be subway tiles in the shower and hex tiles on the floor. You could use natural marble on the floor if you wanted to splurge. I used larger hex porcelain in a powder room (not technically "period" but "in the style of"): With a neutral white/gray in the permanent stuff, you could pick your favorite splash of color for the walls. Or use that dark gray that's greenish, and use accessories, towels, etc. for the color. Your dining room is to die for, btw. Great work!

Thanks everyone! I also dont love Christina's style on Flip or Flop and I think it's boring to have the same tile in both places. The problem is I want light gray (pavilion gray farrow & ball) cabinets in the kitchen, and I have never seen a single inspiration pic on houzz or otherwise that shows a convincing non-white tile to go with light gray cabinets. Especially because we are having soapstone countertops, I don't want the kitchen to look too dark. I think I might look into different shapes of white tile as EAM44 suggested or take my pavilion gray paint chip to the tile store and see if there is any tile that looks good with it.

It’s now or never. In our area, highly skilled labor will not take on a small job such as a bathroom remodel. I fully acknowledge it’s not a small job but that’s how it’s viewed here based on neighbors who won’t get a call back from contractors for a bathroom remodel. Since we’ve got the best of the best working on the rest of the house, we figure we can leverage their skills now. Budget is more sticker shock than running out of money. We were naive to think we could get all that we asked for with the original budget we envisioned. Especially in this HCOL area. Over budget is due to us significantly expanding scope. We think the scope increases in the rest of the house are justified for improved quality of life or for aesthetics in high traffic areas. We thought we’d finish the entire basement later on. But we’ve changed our minds to finish it now. And if my husband who is more budget conscious is on board, I am jumping on that before he changes his mind LOL! It’s a slippery slope though. The rest of the basement will be a much more functional space. Already has a nice guest room, a good size living space in the addition. We finally have a plan to convert the existing basement into a media room. Which led us to adding a kitchenette. Then if we’re doing that, the basement bathroom will get more use. So here we are. It definitely hurts to spend more money. I’m wondering if small inexpensive changes will make a difference to the aesthetics and function of the basement bathroom. Or will it be like slapping lipstick on a pig? Or look like a cheap afterthought which definitely won’t fly in our neighborhood. Drains have to stay in place. Not worth the plumbing work, jackhammering the concrete foundation or a significant permit revision. Are you saying moving shower pipes is inexpensive? A few hundred dollars is an easier pill to swallow than thousands.