Seeking Advice on Remodeling Bathroom... Do's and Don'ts

We have had two bathrooms remodeled in the past 4 years. I would suggest buying the high quality fixtures, toilet, faucets, etc. because they will get the most use. We bought american standard products in our first floor (guest) bathroom 4 years ago and kohler for our upstairs private bathroom. The kohler seem so much better quality - the toilet has a fast, silent flush, the faucets are heavy and come with a lifetime warranty. Also, re: colors, I agree with the previous post. Our downstairs bath is WHITE. which shows everything, but our upstairs bath has beigish porcelain floor and shower tile, an almond toilet, tubs and sinks. The tile hardly shows any water spots or dust.

There is a great Kohler store in Glenview on Milwaukee Ave. next to Abt. We bought everything there and they coordinated with our contractors for pick-up. At the Kohler store, you get a 20% homeowner discount off of the prices on their web site. Our sales person was named Jaclyn E. Wike. She was GREAT!!

Hi J.,

We just gutted and remodeled our kitchen and mather bath. (Well, we didn't do it; we hired a contractor who had a crew.)

I think the overall best store to shop around for ideas is the Expo Design Center on Milwaukee Ave. I think that's in Vernon Hills? They have a lot of bathroom displays, and a lot of stuff in stock or easily-ordered, and their return policy is pretty easy. We bought all our fixtures there (Kohler), and hardware, mirrors, etc. The toilet brand DOES matter; you want one that flushes well (there are different grades, I think Grade 5 is the best flush). Plus now there are nice upgrades like a soft-close seat, and also a one piece unit (versus having a separate tank and seat), which is easier to clean on the outside.

We did a LOT of tile in our bathroom. Our tile came from The Tile Store on Higgins Rd. in Schaumburg, and from Century Tile on Milwaukee Ave. The customer service at Century is not great, IMO, but the selection is good, and good prices. Expo has a lot of tile, too.

One thing I should warn you about: It took them twice as long as they said it was going to! Very frustrating, but now that it's almost done, it's looking very nice.

Good luck!!

p.s. for lighting, I like Jacobsen's on Lake Cook Rd. [EDITED: I take that back about Jacobson's; I do NOT recommend them. They were great until the sale was made, but now I'm getting really jacked around and am not happy at all with their service. I still haven't gotten my lights, despite being assured when I ordered them that they were in stock and I would have them within 10 days. Then being told 3 more different times that they were "being shipped tomorrow." It's now been a month, and our contractors were long done with the project, and still we have no lights (or mirrors b/c the lights go in first) in that bathroom! Argh.]

J.,

We bought a house recently and the former owners remodeled the bathroom. On the surface, our bathroom may look pretty "fancy" to people but my husband and I do not like it. It has a jacuzzi tub that is huge and dark green. It is noisy so it is not relaxing to take a bath in it. The dark color attracts dust. The bathroom sink has a black countertop so I can tell you without a doubt, that this is not good especially for the bathroom sink. You can see all the toothpaste and dust. I have to clean this at least three times a day or it looks disgusting. In the basement, we have a black toilet. It shows all the dust too. My advice is to stay away from dark colors in the bathroom. Since you mentioned that you already have two shower stalls maybe you'd like to get a tub (since you have the room). Or you can have a nice little towel closet put in .... you can never have too many closets. I saw at a home remodeling store (either Menards or Lowes) some sinks that look like small glass bowls. Also there is wall tile these days that looks sort of like glass mosaic .... almost like stained glass. For the flooring, my friends have told me that radiant heating for the floor is great (with ceramic tile) but you probably will only need this if you put a tub or shower in there. Kohler is a good brand for bathroom stuff and the brand does matter. We have recessed lighting in our bathroom with a dimmer switch which is the only thing in our bathroom that I actually like.

We will probably redo our bathroom someday not out of necessity but because our bathroom looks like something from a Sopranos episode. I'd like to get the name of your handyman as we have some issues in our house that we don't know how to resolve.