What to Consider When Remodeling a Bathroom

What to Consider When Remodeling a Bathroom

Ashley Wainscott: This is the Simply Home podcast, Ladies Who Build, a podcast for women by women. This is Ashley Wainscott and Michelle Mullins. After spending the last 10 years revolutionizing the construction industry and raising the bar of the contracting world, we are inviting you on our journey as we continuously learn how to be extraordinary and thrive in this industry. Now, come hang with us.

Michelle Mullins: Welcome to season 3, episode 24 of the Ladies Who Build podcast. Ashley and I are back in action to continue sharing some amazing, juicy info about remodeling and all the different ins and outs to make it successful. So today we're talking about what to consider when remodeling a bathroom or building a bathroom. There are surprisingly a lot of ins and outs that you might not consider regarding functionality or design and plan. And so we're going to jump into a little bit of those key factors you should be thinking about. We're also going to talk about some materials you should think twice about, things you don't necessarily consider in your day-to-day usage of the bathroom, and then what you should know from a remodeler perspective. So let's jump in.

Ashley Wainscott: Well said, Michelle.

Michelle Mullins: Thanks.

Ashley Wainscott: So we probably have remodeled what, a thousand bathrooms?

Michelle Mullins: Oh, have to have. We've been in a lot of bathrooms in our lifetime, a lot. Not just for, you know, bathroom reasons, but just hanging out in people's bathrooms and studying them from every angle.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, like I mean, it's kind of fair to say that nothing really scares us now. You know, it's funny because people apologize when we're walking through. It's like, 'Oh, sorry for my mess, sorry my towels are on the floor.' It's like, 'Oh, you like we don't even notice those things.' Like that is so nothing. So yeah, we've seen it all.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, this is lovely in comparison to a construction site. This is lovely. You're lovely, your clothes, dirty clothes, you're lovely. Like it's all fine. It means, yeah, I got, not even faced.

What should you consider when choosing shower glass?

Ashley Wainscott: So the first thing that we wanted to talk about when considering design and planning is shower glass. This is actually kind of a hot topic. I think a lot of people have opinions on shower glass.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, they really do. You know, and I don't necessarily think I feel like it all depends on the goal. So you know, you'll have some clients that want to trap the steam, and so their main focus is or the steam, the heat from the shower, and so their main goal is taking the shower glass from curb or floor to ceiling, which we all know a piece of shower glass is a hefty, pricey material. But then when you take it above the standard height and you go all the way to the ceiling, I mean, it's kind of shocking how price, how extreme the price influx is.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, glass is so expensive. Yeah, and especially when it's not a standard width or height and all of its, I mean, we usually just all order custom pieces. But the crazier it gets custom-wise, the more expensive it gets.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, and like, okay, you were just talking about if you want to go to the ceiling for glass and you want to make it all enclosed, like we've had some people that build will build a whole like a wall and then they just do a small door for entry. But then they want that to go to the ceiling. But you don't necessarily want that, because you need like steam to escape, right? Like we don't want to like suffocate in this hot shower. But also, yeah, I mean, every inch you go up with glass, it's so expensive because it has to be so thick and they just, they don't mess around. There is no discounts of glass. It just keeps going up and up.

Ashley Wainscott: No, and then when you're wanting low iron, where you don't see the greenish tint on the glass, which right, if you have like a nice, pretty white tile or something where a white tile is going to reflect the green and I feel like you're really going to see it. So it's worth considering the upgrade if that's going to bother you. But, but it just adds the cherry on top to your quote, right?

Michelle Mullins: I think, and that's like a good thing is some people will make the investment for it. And so it's like what's important to you to spend your money on in a bathroom. And if glass material is important to you, then so be it. Like more power to you, spend the money on it. But yes, it can, you know, there was like, you could get like the reeded design where you can have kind of a fogged look, which is great. Um again, all of that adds cost. And so I think a good consideration is your height of your shower glass. Also, do you want a single panel or do you want a swinging door on your glass? Do you want a towel bar? Because maybe there's nowhere else to place a towel bar in your bathroom, or a hook, you could add that which is nice. Like you can make it look nice, but then of course, some people don't like that because then there's always going to be a towel draped over it and so it kind of covers up the aesthetic of the of the shower.

Ashley Wainscott: Um, we've heard that a couple times, functionality potentially trumps the design or vice versa.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, yeah. And it's like you're spending so much money on the beautiful design, you don't want to cover it up with a towel.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah. Yeah. But then I'm like thinking about, there have been bathrooms where clients have no place for the towel bar, and it's across the room, you know. And I'm like, 'Well, if you want to walk across the room, then I guess so be it.'

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, no thank you, while you're all wet and dripping and whatever.

Ashley Wainscott: Um, yeah, the towel bars was a good ad. I forgot about the towel bars. And then the door swinging. I remember there were several times where you could get stuck in the shower, like depending on which way you put the hinges, right? You could get stuck either like by the toilet or in the shower, so you had to be very particular. And you would never think that you need a whole meeting just templating through the flow of it, but you do.

Michelle Mullins: Right, and that's like one of the reasons we don't order glass ahead of time. That's one of the materials that doesn't get ordered ahead of time because once you're, first of all, they have to measure it once the tile is in because it's so exact. But that meeting will happen with the homeowners and your project manager on site. And so it's nice because they'll talk about, 'Okay, let's talk about how you're going to use it. Do you want it to go inward? Do you want it to go out? How far do you want it to go in? Is it going to hit something? Um where do you want to go to grab your towel? Which side of the handles do you want it on? Okay, how many hinges are we going to have? Do we have studs in the wall for the hinges?' There's just so many things to really consider and so all of that's done at at the time.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, not before. And I don't think most people realize glass is and ordered. It's not like a Home Depot piece of glass that we're ordering. It's a custom-fitting piece of glass so that it looks exceptional with the rest of the bathroom. So yeah, you can't order it. And it's when during COVID that became a real issue when we had, I mean, we were even having glass timeline delays as of last year where it was what, there were a few times with like certain brass color hardware that it was what, six or 12 weeks or something.

Michelle Mullins: So long. Um which you order at the end of the project, so we're like, 'Well, there's nothing left. Everybody's waiting for this glass.'

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, there's nothing.

What should you consider when making a bathroom ADA compliant?

Michelle Mullins: But I think so transitioning into the next topic that kind of aligns with shower glass is also considering if you want your bathroom to be ADA compliant. Um this is important if you have maybe like aging parents in the home, or um you know, that like you yourself would like it for for better ease and functionality and mobility. Because I mean, there are things you'd have to consider. For example, you know, your opening of your shower has to be a lot wider. Your actual interior shower space has to be different. You do need to have certain handrails on the walls throughout the bathroom and the shower. Um your vanities have to be certain heights. So there's a lot of considerations. There's more to that, but there's so many considerations to think about. Like if someone was in a wheelchair or needed um help being in the shower, like what does that space look like? Another thing too with that though, you can't have a curb.

Ashley Wainscott: Yes, so if you were to have a shower curb, that's not ADA compliant. I was just thinking about that was the curb and then expanding, remember expanding all the doorways? When we've worked on those projects for the wheelchair, we've had to expand all the doorways so that the wheelchairs can fit into the bathroom, then they have space to move all around, space to get on the toilet, space to get in the shower. And um yeah, it's important if you are getting to that age or your parents are, then you definitely should consider all of those things when you're remodeling because you don't want to remodel it again in a few years, you know.

Michelle Mullins: No thank you.

What is the difference between a curbed and curbless shower?

Ashley Wainscott: Um, but it's like to your topic, okay, so another consideration is the curb or the curbless. So I think curbless, obviously, is like way, it has a different aesthetic, it's a whole different feel, it's beautiful, it's great, but it does astronomically increase your cost, I guess, comparably if you were just doing a normal curb. Because the process is not let me just remodel the shower. The process is now I have to demo out all of your bathroom flooring because all of the bathroom flooring has to be slightly sloped towards the shower drain. And we have learned from fun, not fun, past projects how this slightest slope, if it is not sloped enough, water will start to pool in certain parts of the shower. And so it's so imperative that that is done correctly. Michelle, how do you ensure it's done correctly?

Michelle Mullins: Well, let me tell you, all the times I've been on a floor of a shower with a large level making sure that certain parts of the floor is level, certain parts are sloped. If you're doing a linear drain, where does that linear drain go? It needs to go up against a wall. Um and if you're doing not a linear drain, where does that circle drain go? Uh there's so many things. Oh my gosh, I'm really getting kind of PTSD now, thinking about this is actually triggering, change of topic.

Ashley Wainscott: Well, and you wouldn't think when you're switching out a drain that it's not just how a designer thinks it should be laid out from a beauty standpoint. It's actually a functional, 'How is the water going to get to the drain properly?' And a lot of times you might not know that until everything's put together and then you see water pooling. So um that was a lesson learned, but we didn't do it again after that. I learned the hard way. And even the tile you're picking to go, you know, to go over the curved shower when it's going from floor to shower and like that slope and how it slopes, I think that that's a big consideration.

Michelle Mullins: Huge. So I think that's like as you're considering, 'Okay, do I want curb, do I want curbless?' Curbless, obviously, is more timeless. I get that, and it's beautiful. But um, curb showers um can give you a better price for, obviously for labor, and then it's so much easier to slope a curved shower because it's very simple. We're in this like small frame that we're working in.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, and everybody, everybody's preference is curbless. Everybody starts off and we always say we can quote both. And then when they see the difference, usually people don't actually care that much when you put dollars next to it. Right, then they get a change of heart. Um, because unless it's necessary, or just unless you have the budget for it, it's just sometimes not worth it. Um which you kind of started talking about this too, Michelle, was the moving of the plumbing. Like whether you're doing, if you're moving plumbing to do a linear drain, obviously that's more expensive. Or if you're making a shower bigger and we need to move the drain, you're making it smaller, we have to move the drain. Any moving of plumbing, whether it's something simple like that, you have to think about. We have to move the showerhead so that it's center and the valves, depending on where you put any valves. But anytime we're moving any plumbing, whether it's in the shower, the toilet, or the sinks, it's all a lot more money than just remodeling what's in place.

Why can moving bathroom plumbing increase remodeling costs?

Michelle Mullins: Right. And I think about moving wall plumbing is a little bit easier. I mean, it's easier because you're working within the studs. That's a little bit easier to work around. But when you're working with the drain plumbing, you could be the best designer in the world. You're not going to know if a drain can go where you want it to go until you're getting into construction. Because what we've run into is like, 'Okay, let's say it's on a first-floor slab house.' Well, there could be rebar running through your slab that we can't put a drain right there. Or let's say you're on a second story and we cut into the subfloor, put your drain there. Could be a truss running right there that we can't cut into, or maybe there's another pipe running underneath here that funnels another bathroom that we're not going to cut into. And so you could be dead center on your drain, but there are things that you can't really control. I mean, anything's possible with time and money, but you're not paying to move rebar in your concrete slab. So then you have to consider, I mean there have been times where we consider doing like a centered shower circle drain and then we actually went to linear because there were so many things blocking the center drain that it might of looked really funky. So then we ended up going to a linear drain, which is at the top of the shower.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, that's when you're like, 'A center drain is not in your future.'

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, this house was not made for a center. This was not meant to be. It's not for you, let's dump that idea and move on. I mean, which also helps when clients can be designers, I feel like for the most part understand, but when clients can be understanding and remain flexible throughout the process, because sometimes there's just nothing you can do unless you want to shell out a lot of money. Right? It's like why don't you just redo a different bathroom with all that money?

What should you consider when choosing a bidet or low-flow toilet?

Ashley Wainscott: Um, we also had talking about this is kind of tying in to talking about the different types of toilets. I feel like we were seeing an uptick of bidet and like bidet purchases, especially with specifically here in Austin, but in other places I think in the US they're also experiencing drought and other water issues. And buying something like a bidet is supposed to help that, right? Be more environmentally friendly. And even buying low-flow toilets. But the thing is is we have to plan for bidet. So just consider that when you're in the planning and development phase. You have to plan for them, they generally require, they usually require electricity. So we have to plan for that, um and it's around water, so it has to be in a very specific location, it has to be specifically done versus installing a standard toilet. I am going to say that during the freeze I think a lot of people learned how much water a toilet uses. Like people would, during snowmageddon or um during any of the freezes when water was shut off or things were happening, and you had to actually put water down your toilet to flush it, and it was kind of astounding how much water was needed. I know I kind of didn't realize and then it made me really sad. And I'm thinking of all the times I flushed and how much water we're wasting and it's like clean, you know clean water, right? Like it's not, it's not dirty. I mean, dirty, that's a whole other rant.

Why is moving a toilet drain one of the more expensive bathroom changes?

Michelle Mullins: Yeah. Um, yeah, that's a really good point. I think along the lines of toilets, though, that's probably the most expensive thing to move if I'm actually thinking about it. Like there have been bathrooms we've gone into that we've completely rerouted all of the plumbing, vanity, shower, toilet, and we put them all in different places throughout the bathroom. That is the most expensive by far, is to do um a toilet drain line. I think because it, yeah, it's just it ties into the rest of the house, it's large piping, you have to trench pretty deep to get to get it buried. It's true. Then you have to consider the flange and all the all the work required to get that ready. Yeah, it's a lot. But I think wherever you decide to put your toilet, you know, if you're like, 'I made it my mind it's going across the room,' great, that's great. But then you also want to consider the privacy around it. So like, maybe before you had it open, um and you maybe like that, or maybe you had it in its separate own little room, and maybe you didn't like it, or you liked it. But those are all the kind of things you have to consider because thinking about resell, too, people prefer to have a toilet space like its own little space, whether it's like maybe between two walls, um maybe it has an actual door that you go into and use. Um sometimes you can separate a toilet and a shower with a pony wall. Um there's there's so many different ways to do it. But I think for resale value you do want some sort of separation with that. But then, you know, you also have to consider then you have to bring like, let's say it's in its own room with a door, now you have to bring electricity into that room and you have to bring a whole vent into that room. So these are just things you're adding on, you know, as whereas if it was just out normally in the bathroom you would only have one bathroom vent. You wouldn't need two. I just thinking about, why would you need to bring electricity considerations there in the bathroom. I was like, 'Why would you bring electricity?' And then I was like... oh, like you might be sitting in the dark.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, but that's something you to think about. You're like, 'Oh, during the day it's fine, I can see in here,' but not at night.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, and not if you want to close that door.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, good luck. So you know, what's the point of the door if you can't have light? You have like a little five dollar puck light that you turn on on the wall.

Michelle Mullins: Oh, Ashley, great point. You do need electricity in that room and a vent fan, both are necessary. I think too with a toilet, like if we're talking about doors in a bathroom, you really want to be careful of what route you're going to. So a lot of people do pocket doors to save on space, right? So you're not having to like swing into the shower, you're not having to sneak into the bedroom. I love a pocket door. I want a pocket door in our bathroom. But you also have to consider, can you install it? Because pocket door has framing that has to go into the wall. And if you are putting a pocket door that has electricity on it, or maybe you're putting a pocket door that backs up to your shower, well now you're you're compromising your shower framing wall because it really needs the weight of the tile and the weight of the hard backer needs to be really up against studs on a wall. And so if you take those out and you're putting a pocket door framing, we've done it, it's fine. But it does, it can over time, like if you have a heavy tile, it can over time compromise the wall. So that would be something to consider. Um and then if there's electricity, you have to move the electricity to put your pocket door in.

Are pocket doors a good choice for a bathroom?

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, so that's an added cost. And you do need the double the space, like whatever the door is, while it's filling in the frame in the actual doorway. You need that space and then some for the actual framing of the door, so it can sit in the wall. And um the wall is definitely not as sturdy, right? Like you and I seen, it felt the wall, and it's not as sturdy, and then it's not as insulated either, right? It just doesn't feel as strong. So if it's a pocket door for a room that's connected, like a common space, I really wouldn't advise that because it doesn't give you any privacy whatsoever. That like it's just things aren't as insulated, the actual door isn't as insulated. Yes, you could get like a solid wood door, um but it's just not as insulated as like closing a door in. And all of the privacy and noise and everything's locked in versus a pocket door. And even a barn door, Michelle, when that was really popular with bathrooms, I mean I I'm still in shock. I'm like, there's this is not functional.

Michelle Mullins: No, it's not. And you can hear everything. I stayed in an Airbnb recently, and they had barn doors entering their bathroom on both sides, like from the hallway and the bedroom. No, and you might as well just been hanging out with your friend that was going to the bathroom in there because there was no sound. I mean, there's just no sound. It's just like basically an extension of the wall. Yeah, there's no question what is happening in that bathroom. Like you know, if they're being, you know, you know exactly what's happening.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, we we heard it. That's when you channel Alexa. You're like, 'Alexa, turn on loud.'

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, well, yeah. And I think, again, I love pocket doors, they save space. It really bothers me when doors like open into a bathroom and you're like, 'Excuse me, let me shuffle around this door.' So I'm all for a pocket door, but the biggest thing is just the functionality and where the pocket door framing is going to go. And like your contractor can walk you through that. Like they're going to know what makes sense and what doesn't. Um but yeah, you'll just you'll want to be careful about like, is this the best investment? Because you're right, like it's not just the opening you're covering, you're also covering the space in the wall, and then that's drywall, and then that's painting, and then that's reinstalling the trim. So there's a lot of factors that... yeah. How do you, how do you guys think the framing gets in the wall? We have to open up the wall and put it all in there and then patch it back up. Like it does happen, yeah. Pocket doors are the best, and you should, don't say we didn't tell you so if you're in this situation, we're just giving you a little warning.

Should you install a single or double bathroom sink?

Ashley Wainscott: Um Michelle, you mentioned earlier a good point about double sinks that I think you should talk about and what people should consider in their bathroom for double versus single.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, you know, we have a lot of people that come to us like that want to install double sinks. We do it all the time, it's no big deal. I think I have a double sink in my bathroom, but what I would suggest is no, because in all honesty, how many times are you and your your partner brushing your teeth at the same time, washing your hands at the same time, getting ready for bed at the same time? Maybe you are, and that's great. But like the three minutes that you need in front of the sink to brush your teeth, you know what I like, is it worth the whole added expense to add new plumbing, add a connection for it, add a whole vanity? Like is it worth it? In my opinion, no, because you you don't find yourself in the bathroom majority of the time with your partner. And if you do, like it's no big deal. You don't need an additional sink for it, right? And and again, some people love it, it's great. I think in that, along these lines, if you're doing two separate vanities, like maybe you have a vanity on this wall and you have a vanity on this wall, I think that can be functionally nice because if you have the space for it, like this could be his and hers side, I think that's really pretty. Um but if you have a full wall with a double vanity, it's just not worth the added expense. I mean, there's so many things you have to add for that. So I, what I would do is do like a nice full single vanity and then do some really nice built-in shelves or really nice storage because you can't have enough storage in bathroom. Um and so I would I would get creative with that space and not just throw a sink in it.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, I the one challenge I was thinking to this is if you have a partner or spouse that has a really, doesn't have the same cleaning habits as you, and they also have a lot of hair, potentially on their face, and they're not as like clean as you, and I mean either way it bothers me whether it's in my sink or their sink. But if you did have a partner that wasn't as considerate in that, then maybe that's worth it. Um but I agree. I mean, a lot of the times I'm not in the bathroom with my partner ever. We're, and even when we are brushing your teeth, we're not like standing shoulder to shoulder brushing our teeth at the exact same time, finishing at the exact same time. Yeah, then we're both trying to spit out the toothpaste at the same time. No, yeah, like it's happened like once, right? Literally, I think once. I actually wondered the other day. It's like, 'Huh, why don't we brush our teeth?' Or like you know, I think we specifically try not to be in the same bathroom at the same time. And you do have more counter space when you don't have double sink. So if it's not plumbed already for that, then just rethink if you need to add a second sink, is all we're saying. Just think about it.

What bathroom tile and grout should you think twice about?

Michelle Mullins: Um I also wanted to share on here my lesson learned with tile, and I'd highly advise not to pick something just because it looks really pretty on a picture. Because what you did, you're saying, 'Cause it did look really pretty on a picture,' and it does look really pretty in my shower at my old house. But I picked a gorgeous white marble, gorgeous, spent way too much money on it, you can vouch, it's really pretty. But then I picked a white grout to go with it. And I was just so excited to pick out something for myself that I picked out the most unreasonable thing ever. Because clients pick out tile, they get to pick out tiles all day, so I was like, 'Oh I'm just so excited to do this.' So I picked out white marble, which you have to reseal at least every six months, if not every year. And then a white grout. And then I had, and I ended up spending like every other day bleaching the lines in my shower while I'm showering. You know, you might as well like multitask. And I'm thinking, 'What did I just do? Why did why did I do this to myself?' It's killer.

Ashley Wainscott: How many times have we had to educate people on the grout colors that they choose? And then also like to your same point, the tile that you choose in a wet space. So I am all for marble, I love marble, I could live in marble, but it's hard to maintain in a wet space, um especially your shower. It's always wet. So it's it's naturally just going to soak in and that's fine. Marble is really porous, but over time it oxidizes, over time it starts to turn colors because if you are not religious about sealing it and keeping it up to par with the conditions that it's in, then it's going to start to turn. Um and so then your beautiful white marble bathroom doesn't look the same as it did from day one that we built it. There are so many alternatives these days, the material on the market that look like tile that are that are porcelain or some other material that doesn't have to be actual marble. Um but you know, that doesn't, we're not saying don't ever do it, but just know that it takes maintenance to keep it looking really spectacular throughout.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, you just know it's a complicated shower now. It requires maintenance.

What should you consider when planning bathroom lighting and windows?

Ashley Wainscott: Um okay, so the other thing we wanted to talk about is natural lighting or lighting in general. If you want a window in your space, if you have a window, but with the changes in your bathroom, or does it need to be a fog window, or does it need to be uh tinted, does it need some sort of liner over it? These are all great considerations. I don't feel like people consider their lighting in their bathroom enough. You know, we, I feel like we're always asking, 'Is that enough lighting? Do you like your can lights in here? Do you have enough vanity lights?' Because Michelle and I were talking, and I'm like most of the time you're putting on your makeup, you're getting ready. So but most people are probably putting on makeup or like doing their hair and getting ready. And I would always think about lighting, always.

Michelle Mullins: It's tough because you don't then you don't want it to be like blinding light, where I've gone into bathrooms where it's like super super bright and you're like, 'Whoa.' Um but I would consider, you know, if you have a shower I would put a can light over your shower, if you have a separate toilet room I would put a can light in there. You you could do your standard vanity sconces, um but then beyond that do you want more? Like do you want can lights in the actual bathroom ceiling in addition to your vanity sconces? Um like I say yes, just because I like a lot of lighting. But some people, some people actually really like dim, low lights in bathrooms because, again, I you could put dimmers on it. But like the first thing in the morning, do you need to be walking into like a blinding light bathroom? No, I do, but others don't.

Ashley Wainscott: I was like, 'No, no, most people don't.' I like to be woken up clearly.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, you want the flashlight in your face. Uh-huh.

Ashley Wainscott: So okay, when you talk about windows, I'm thinking of experience in this regard. So we did a beautiful shower, she had this big, beautiful window in her shower. It was like um tinted or something. Anyway, you couldn't look at it, whatever. But obviously a window shared with an exterior wall. And the way the design had her shower niche was also to go on that back wall. It was going to be really pretty, like beautiful like um accent tile in the shower niche, but we really advised against it, because because a window is shared with an exterior wall, obviously the wall, it it already compromises the wall to some extent because you lose that framing wherever the window is. And so then of course you just frame around the window with headers to make sure that you're you're kind of double securing that that support. But when you put a shower in, you have to cut the framing of where it's going in the wall. And you don't want to cut into, ideally you don't want to cut into an exterior wall, and you certainly don't want to cut into a load-bearing wall, because then you completely jeopardize the support of that stud. So you could have studs on either end, but if you're cutting into the middle stud, you might as well just take out that entire stud. I mean, it's doing no purpose at that point. And so we always, and you would know, like if you're like, 'Oh my gosh, I have no idea where my studs are in my shower,' well no one does until we demo, right? And so at that point at demo, if there is a compromising position that your your niche is in, we're already going to tell you, we're going to bring it up to you, we're going to give you options. But um you might want to put it on a wall that is not load-bearing.

Michelle Mullins: Um and also, some people don't want to see the shower niche because that's where they put all their shampoos and their soaps. Like you kind of don't want to look at it either. It can get kind of junky.

Ashley Wainscott: Yeah, a lot of people make it accent and cute, but if you know your shower niche is not going to be cute, then you can hide that puppy in a little pony wall or down, down low, especially when you know you have like big shampoo bottles and a bunch of stuff. I think the only thing would be like storage space. I think a lot of people when you're remodeling are like, 'I want to maximize my shower size, I want to maximize my vanity size.' Those are all great, but really consider storage space. So I'm working in a really small bathroom right now, very small. And we're having to put like storage underneath the vanity like open shelving because there's nothing, there's nowhere to put towels, there's barely any place to put like extra TP in there. It's very tight. So I would definitely consider like, maybe you do some floating shelves above the toilet, um maybe even do like a cabinet above there, maybe you do a medicine cabinet. Um there are some alternatives you can play to get creative with it. But definitely consider storage in your bathroom.

How can you maximize storage in a bathroom remodel?

Michelle Mullins: Oh yeah, you need it. And then medicine cabinets, you have to think about the venting from the plumbing if you're going to put large medicine cabinets.

Ashley Wainscott: Oh well, that's a whole other thing.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, are you going to recess it? Are you going to put it on the wall outside the wall? Yeah, highly recommend on the sidewall where the plumbing is not. But just know that's going to be an added cost.

Ashley Wainscott: So, Michelle and I, that that is everything. I know it's not everything, everything, but those are the big things, Michelle and I thought you should always consider when you're diving into a bathroom remodel, and tips and tricks from things and experiences that we've learned the hard way, or not hard way, we've just seen it all the time. So you're welcome.

Michelle Mullins: Yeah, and just ask us, we have tons and tons and tons of stories. We really do. So if you're curious, we could tell you what the good, the bad, the ugly, and what worked. Yeah, we, I mean we could be, about around this campfire all day for sure, for sure, there's a lot. Okay, well we will see you all next time, we'll be talking about kitchens, so get excited. Stay tuned, okay.

Ashley Wainscott: Bye.

Michelle Mullins: Now that you were hooked for the podcast, you were probably thinking, 'How can I learn more?' Well, sign up for our monthly newsletter to see our newest remodels and the best tips for a stress-free home renovation. With a few easy clicks, you will get to go even more in-depth with us as we go behind the scenes with life projects and our team. Go to SimplyHome.co for the show notes to sign up. See you next time. Bye.