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hillsil Do it. You have to live with it, so enjoy it.

olldbobbi I don't see much wrong with your bathroom now! The things I would do are purely cosmetic. Remove the wallpaper, change the hardware, remove all the throw rugs.

Since you have so much white in there now (I love it!) perhaps paint the walls a bold color, like navy blue, and accessorize from there. You've kept this bathroom beautifully neat and clean, I don't think it needs much more!

Iyare I The throw rugs are because Im scared of moisture getting into the carpet. I do agree with you though. I do not like the look so I will get rid of them. Definitely thanks for those recommendations... that sounds great. I will start with those small changes, take a step back and evaluate from there.

olldbobbi Yep, I call it minute-by-minute decorating. I'll do one small thing, stop, step back and see what step should be next. I'd like to see the whole picture at one time but for me it just doesn't work!

feeny I agree with Bobbi, there is no need for a complete overhaul of your bathroom. Smaller adjustments will make a big difference and will keep within a sensible budget for your house. There is no way you should be spending $50,000 on a bathroom renovation (or even $20,000) for a house that is already at the top of the market for your neighborhood and is in the price range you describe.
However, I do think replacing the carpet with tile is a sensible and necessary change, just for practicality, but it doesn't have to be an expensive or exotic tile for the floor. I don't think that tiling the tub surround is necessary, and I can't see the shower from your photos so it is hard to say whether anything is needed there. White cabinets and white countertops are pretty timeless and totally neutral, so I wouldn't bother with upgrades on the counters either. I think you are being very sensible to step back and resist the temptation to overspend on this bathroom when only minor adjustments are necessary. I agree that taking down the wallpaper and painting the walls gray or another color that would be elegant with the white would be ideal.

Sharon Carlson I would have the carpet removed and hire someone to put the tile in. You can keep your cost down by using ceramic tile. Also the things you were going to do yourself should all be done but removing the wall paper and painting will make a huge difference. Carpet and wall paper are not a good choice in a bathroom, in my opinion.

DIAspoton i'm in a very similar situation.it's quite a dillema unless you plan to stay in the house at least 5 more years. my home value is down more than 35% from 6 or 7 yrs ago.there are some signs of the n'brhd turning around but a few foreclosures aren't helping values at all.

i decided yesterday i'm going to research for the most successful realtors in the area and ask for a quick walk through with advice on best places to spend. i wanto to know what buyers expect in this price point and what wows enough to make the sale. you might try it.

bare minimum you'll need to do:

replace carpet with a large neutral tile. talk with a tile designer about the least expensive way to an interesting monochromatic floor. cuts are expensive. sometimes it's just a matter of creative layout.

new shaker cabinet doors. polished or brush nickel hardware. knobs on drawers, pulls on doors.

replace all brass to match new cabinet hardware,
paint the walls an updated color to work with the bedroom. gray of couse is the new beige.

buy molding at HD or lowes and paint it white then distress with a pewter or antique silver glaze.have this installed to frame the mirrors.

new llight fixture.
new vanity stool.

white monogrammed towels.
replace the flowers with a silver tray for toiletries or a collection of perfume bottles.
add a piece of black and white art. a line drawing, sketch or photograph.

Iyare I These are more pictures... pictures before I put down the rugs and added the other stuff... which Im thinking about going back to.

feeny The pictures are lovely Lyare! I much prefer the look with white towels and no throw rugs. There is no way this bathroom needs major work.

Kelly I think it's a great space...just needs tweaking. New counter tops would be my first choice.....replacing the sinks. As mentioned above replace the doors- Home Depot has stocks cabinets you should be able to get a more updated door inexpensively. Replace the lights, maybe some sconces for ambiance. Dimmer switches for tub time. Update the wallpaper. I think a neutral grass cloth would be very pretty. It adds textured and will allow you to add any accent color you choose. Placing the floor tile on a diagonal will give it that wow factor- porcelain tile is inexpensive. The pic below shows how you can add an accent tile to the back splash to kick it up a bit. Home Depot has some very capable installers- just get some references. The larger the tile the harder it is to install, but if you go with the bigger tile you bump up the wow factor. New shower doors, knobs and towelbars and you are good to go. I would think you could do this upgrade for under $7000 depending on your handyman skills, your area and light/accessory choices. This guess is if you pay someone to do everything. You should be able to replace the doors yourselves, switch out light fixtures, demo the carpet and remove the wallpaper. Replacing sinks are not that difficult either. Just have the plumber do the hook up for you.

trappercat I'm in the process of renovating my bath replacing my 1988 built in fiberglass tub/shower combo with a 6' tiled shower with bench and nooks. We are also opening up the toilet/tub area to take advantage of the cathedral ceilings. Our construction costs are significant, but well in line with the house and neighborhood. We are also doing most of the things below. Your bath is much nicer than mine. If I had your bath, I would:
1. Get rid of the carpet and put down a heated tile floor - far cheaper than a whole remodel (we are doing this). Make sure you use larger tiles as they make the room seem bigger.
2. Change the shower doors from gold to a brushed nickel (if that is what your fixtures have) and leave the rest of the shower alone. (We have no shower doors and will install new, frameless doors.)
3. Change the types of knobs on the cabinets. Match the fixture color and change the door handle, toilet handle and lights if they do not match your current accent choice. (We are doing this)
4. Consider a new counter top with integrated sink (do not use one of those above sinks - they are too trendy for your price range). (We are also considering refacing our countertop and/or cabinets with the new Rustoleumtransformations. But we are waiting to see how the existing countertop and cabinets look when the tile is laid.)
5. We are having the room and ceiling painted replacing the bath fan and lighting fixtures.

Don't go for the huge project, changing little things like these will cost far less and still give you the newer, more modern look. Key is an integrated look.

Iyare I So heres what Im thinking.... To work with my budget of $5000 and to get the biggest WOW....

Wall Color: Gray clouds by Sherwin Williams (to flow with my bedroom color)

Traditional Bathroom design by Dallas Media And Blogs Sarah Greenman

Laminate countertops.... red eclipse by Formica

Lighting to go over mirror... found on ebay for $250... I would get 2 for both mirrors.

Replace the hardware... knobs and faucets with brushed nickel.

Replace the shower do with a frameless door (I'll have to see the cost)

White mirror frame to go around both mirrors. Ive seen websites where you send your measurements and pick your finish and frame design. They are around 270 for my mirror size.

and then a white ceramic tile for the floor like the picture.

I love the color combination in my bedroom... It is the room I spend the most amount of time in so I thought to carry similar colors into the master bathroom and since the counters will be laminate, it shouldnt be expensive and adds an unexpected pop.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TWEAK MY IDEAS PLEASE :)

I WELCOME ALL FEEDBACK TO THESE TENTATIVE PLANS...

olldbobbi Personally, I would say no to the red, but that's just me.

Kelly I agree, you were originally talking resale and red is for a very specific buyer. Go with red towels instead.

feeny No red. Keep it all lighter, softer, more neutral colors.

Iyare I When I was speaking of resale, I was more talking about getting the money I put into my house when the time to sell comes. Im not the type of make safer choices because of resale value... just didnt want to overspend on a remodel. I am strongly into color (it relaxes my mood and makes me happy), I just dont want it to be tacky. For now, I'll just stick with painting, flooring and changing out the hardware for now and go from there.

DIAspoton your architecture, cabinet style, palladian window are traditional. red laminate is more contemporary and very taste specific.i believe most people in the atlanta area would expect granite or marble counter tops in your price point. i don't know the dallas mkt.

Iyare I DIAspoton, granite or marble in the bathroom? I have granite countertops in my kitchen

krzakpa I did a redo of my master bath much like yours for a total of $7,000 including all labor and supplies. I removed carpet and replaced with 20x20 inch travertine ($1.87/ sq. ft.). Removed ceramic tile from shower stall and used same travertine as floor,just cut in half. New frame less shower door for $800. New light fixture over vanity, new hardware in oil rubbed bronze finish and I painted the tub hardware oil rub bronze spray paint from Home Depot. No need to buy expensive new tub spout. I left my cabinets white like yours. Also installed new tall toilet.

krzakpa Forgot to mention I also put in new granite countertop. And new framed mirrors over vanity. You can buy these for less than $50 .

CMR Interiors & Design Consultations Inc. I don't think the space is so bad. I'd update the floor-maybe with the heated floors and porcelain and put some modern wallpaper up. There are amazing vinyl grasscloth like papers that are gorgeous.

DIAspoton either. cararra marble would be pretty with your colors.

akck The space definitely has some opportunity and some changes could be done with minimal labor and materials. There are some inexpensive updated tile selections out there that present themselves at a higher end level that would be great for the floor. My recommendation would be to seal the wallpaper, do an updated texture right over it, and paint it. Remove the mirror and purchase an expensive framed mirror. Replace countertop with some rement pieces available through a fabricator, opposed to buying a slab. Add the frameless shower door and frame. And, a last nice warm touch would be to add an expensive chandelier. Happy to help you out and give you further advise with coordinating all colors and elements..
AK Interior Design Associates, 214-734-0435

Barlow Interiors The first thing I would do is replace the dated cabinet doors with something simple, like a shaker door style. I wouldn't invest in polished nickel which would be pricey for faucets and hardware; no one will care if they are something like a brushed nickel which is very popular now and much less $$$. Yes to a floor tile, something large, for example 24" square tiles in a neutral taupe. Paint whatever color you love unless you are planning to sell your home in the near future. Home Depot has rectangular white sinks that aare inexpensive now, so if you replace your counter with a quartz product (I think that is what you are thinking of using) use that for an updated look as well.

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. Hi Iyare I, Marie here.

You know what - both estimates are in the right ball mark.
Your bathroom is large - it would take a lot of labour and materials to complete it properly.

You just don't not do bathrooms properly. That means stripping everything down to the studs, and building it back up again TO CODE.

IF the professional do not do that - you are risking not only the end result for resale, but also your health. And that is something my design firm does not fool around with.

If you want to strip down the wallpaper, add a fresh coat of paint and new hardware handles - then go to it. But my design firm always puts the health of your home and construction standards first above the all mighty dollar.

Stay safe, be healthy and good luck with your project. Photos of a 1950's renovated bathroom that added value to this home by $100K.

Showcase Kitchen & Bath The estimates that you mention do sound appropriate for the size and scope of the project. Though $20k+ may seem like a lot for a bathroom, depending upon materials used they're right, it can go higher. You need to decide if it is worth it to YOU, not just for the value of the home. If you plan to stay there for 5, 10, 15 more years then I would absolutely consider doing a full renovation. You have to live with it and there are SO many nice, modern materials and features you could use.

If you don't plan to stay in the house very long then you could just give it a bit of a face-lift. It is extremely dated between the cabinets, the door style, the brass hardware, and brass rails on the shower enclosure. You could do a phased renovation, start with a new floor, remove wallpaper, change hardware, however it is extremely inefficient to do it that way, especially if you think you might do a full renovation in the future.

If you like the look of a white bathroom carrera marble is classic and timeless. You can even achieve the look of marble with porcelain or ceramic tile so it is a less expensive option.

Good luck!

wmpj Frameless shower doors are expensive. You could go with a semi-frameless door where there is a strip of metal at the top of the door. I don't think laminate is a good idea for a bathroom. It does look tacky. You could go with Corian if you don't want granite or quartz. You could also get an integrated sink with Corian if you want. Since your tub has a 3" lip around it, you don't have to tile around the tub.

pimms1967 Your bathroom is much larger than mine and I have to remodel mine as well. I have a 1929 house with the original master bath sink, toilet and cast iron tub. I plan to keep the sink and toilet, even "saving" on that I was quoted approx $15,000 to remodel for the Chicago area. If you're looking at this from resale aspect, kitchens and bathrooms are always the big sellers.

However, yours is not that bad and has a good layout, it just needs some refreshing (the second set of pictures is much better). Definitely get rid of the carpet and lay tile - keep in mind that white tile floor and white grout gets dirty easy and quickly. Replace all the hardware/metal to nickel, it's not that costly depending on what you get. Ditch the wallpaper and paint. New lighting would be good, but not critical. Make sure you have a proper working ventilation fan too, I don't have one at all in mine.

I'm really against the red counters if you're replacing, do a neutral color counter and pops of color with accessories, you wouldn't want to lose a sale because someone hated your bathroom counters (I'm sure it's happened), and the red will become dated quickly. I would consider painting your vanities black, maybe reface the doors or leave as is, painting black you wouldn't see the door shape as much, and black is versatile. Or, if you really want color, keep the floors and counters neutral and paint your cabinets the bold color. Paint is easy and cheap to fix so if you were to sell your house, that would be one thing to change and not costly.

DIAspoton just remembered: someone posted yesterday that she replaced her kitchen counters with inexpensive porcelain floor tiles with tiny epoxy grout lines. she loves them. they look like limestone. sounds pretty good to me.

also ; for what it's worth a kitchen designer told me real estate agents say the majority of buyers in the south, by far, want granite or marble. they only want quartz in kitchens which also have granite. like quartz counters and granite island top.

a glitzy mini chandelier over the tub is low $ for high impact.

i suggested framing the existing large single mirror rather than going with 2 seperate ones because the seated vanity needs a low mirror.

shelleyuk Goodness that's a lot of money. The thing is, with kitchens and bathrooms you can spend ridiculous amounts of money very easily. It doesn't mean you should, particularly if your house value wouldn't justify the expense.

We are in the UK and so things are different but we are just in the middle of renovating our bathroom. We have a high end house but are on a tight budget for this project and it will come in at under £5k for free standing bath, new frameless shower cubicle, new shower, sink, toilet, taps, tiles, underfloor heating, towel rails, mirrors, window blinds, lights and installation. If you hunt them out it is possible to find great looking fixtures and tiles for very little money. I just wish here in the UK I could get vanity units like you have in the US. They just don't really exist.

dianahb You could very easily spend $20,000+ for a bathroom remodel, but I think that includes a complete gutting and replacement of everything.

In your case, I would get rid of the big one piece plate glass mirror, and replace with 2 separate mirrors. I'd save money by replacing the fronts of the cabinets with something simple-- as someone said above, shaker fronts (less paneling, and a cleaner look)-- with maybe glass knobs-- or even stainless steel pulls (Room and Board has some really nice modern ones). I might go out to a tile place that has big slabs of granite, and get a tiler to measure out exactly what you need and polish the edges-- maybe replace the counter with that-- with a hole cut for a new sink. I'd get rid of the wallpaper.

To my eye, this looks like a nice bathroom that could use a little updating-- but not $20,000 worth. I think the biggest things are the wallpaper (easily and inexpensively replaced with paint); the plate glass mirror, which always dates things to about the 1970's or early 1980's for me; and the cabinet fronts; knobs; faucets. I'm not even sure I'd replace the countertop. Not sure what the floor is, but if you want to replace that, that's probably your biggest expense.

myfriendsclosets o gosh there are way worse bathrooms I would strip the wallpaper, if you want some dimension - paint thick stripes on a wall, I would replace the cabinet doors - no beveled edges grooves - keep it clean and contemporary. Also noticing the shower is gold? thats where I would throw in about $1000 to update and make a frameless shower. U can update fixtures as you go along etc. Add in a teak matt or something of a hardy natural wood. Maybe a clear Kartell stool where your current brass/iron stool is?

tt67 That is not a bad bathroom at all! $50k is nuts. Start w counters, hardware and wallpaper removal. I can't really see if the faucets are out of date but maybe those. Then sit back and access if you need to spend any of the $49k you have left. Those cosmetic things are your main issue.

Curb Appeal Renovations I am in the DFW area and the pricing that you were given is right on, if not low, but that depends on what you're doing. If you refer to Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs Value report, you'll see that the range is $14-46...but READ the description. The $14K bathroom is a 5x8 bath, you don't have that size, it is much larger.

For resale, since you did bring it up, your bathroom as it stands would not sell in the Dallas market. It may be at the high end of your neighborhood price wise, but in the resale market, it would be a tough sale, you'd have to discount your home because of the way it is outdated.

If you want to update it for minimal cost and are willing to do all the work yourself, you can probably get it done in that $5,000 range.

I would not recommend any type of laminate for a counter in a bathroom. I would go back in with a cultured marble before I ever did laminate. There are plenty of other counters on the market now that compete with cultured marble, but they will be slightly more.

The most expensive part of a cabinet are the doors and drawer fronts. Your cabinets are very outdated, they may be in great shape, but they are what they are. Putting new hardware on them may please you, but they're still outdated cabinets that are relatively inexpensive. Again, something you can do later when you want to invest the money.

However, if you're doing the shower, you've got to do it correctly. Cement board must be used. It needs to be sealed in all the corners. It needs to have the shower pan installed correctly and according to code. If just one step is done incorrectly, you'll be growing mold and mildew in no time and having to redo. Tile for your bath will probably be in the $750-1500 range depending on your selections and deco...grout, mortar, etc. Check out fusion grout. Great for showers. Installation for a bath done by a tile setter - $1,500 and up, depending on how involved your tile design is.

Installing tile around your existing tub is easy. If you have someone that knows what they're doing, you can even install it on the front of your tub.

Changing fixtures is also easy if you know what you're doing. And go for quality, don't go for something that is inexpensive. Shower door, framed will be half the cost of frameless.

And something that you didn't mention, but is VERY IMPORTANT, is if your home is built prior to 1978, you must test for lead. Don't forget, when you go to sell your home, it asks if you ever did any work and were required to pull permits. I can see this becoming more and more of an issue as time goes on because our laws are getting stricter, especially with the lead laws. Make sure you know what your municipality requires, even before you start doing it yourself.

In the pictures I'm sharing, it is of a job that we did. We didn't remove the cabinets or the bathtub. This project was in the $20's. The bath is larger than yours. The shower had to be completely rebuilt, it was a fiberglass insert. They hadn't updated their bath or kitchen. Not long after we finished the project, we called them to see if we could use them as a reference, they said SURE! This SOLD our house! It ends up that they were transferred...they had no intentions of selling their house when they remodeled, but boy, were they glad that they had. They got top dollar for their house.

Manhattta Architecture, P.C. If you tiled the floor, replaced the wallpaper, and replaced to cabinet hardware it would make a huge difference and cost a fraction of the price of a gut renovation.

cani I'm confused. Are you saying that the $18 to $21,000 did not include them removing the wallpaper and repainting? I just remodeled a much smaller bathroom. Instead of getting a general contractor to do the whole bathroom, I found a tile contractor and he did the whole shower/ tub area which included putting in a new tub , new fixtures and shower walls and new floor. The shower walls were 12x24 porcelain (didn't want the upkeep of stone) and I had some glass tiles put in and a niche built. I shopped for everything else myself. I had a custom vanity built that came out the same price as I would have paid Home Depot or Lowe's when I included their installation charge. I put in a quartz countertop and the installers put in the sink and then I had to get a plummer to put in the sink fixtures. You might want to price it that way and see what everything would cost you. I think your bathroom looks nice and you could easily make small changes without gutting the whole thing.
I would suggest keeping the countertops neutral and using the red as accessories. Not just for resale but also for yourself. If you get tired of the red in a few years, you are stuck with it. You do need to decide what to do with the cabinets before you do the floors. If they run the tile up to the cabinets then it would be hard to take the cabinet out later. I think your cabinets are fine and you could just change the doors if you don't like them.

Curb Appeal Renovations lyare l - I can see you LOVE color. I'd suggest you infuse color in your bath where it can be easily changed...paint color on the walls, accessories. Grey is a new neutral, paint your cabinets a grey if you want and go with a marble look tile on the floor, then you can add teal, red...whatever color you want...like you've done in the rest of your home.

dianahb Agree with cani above. You certainly don't need a contractor or designer for this. Do everything yourself, in terms of finding what you need-- and then you can hire a painter or tiler. Asking a good tile shop for a recommendation, or a good paint store for a painter recommendation will help you. Find some good hardware you'd like in the style you want (easily done online). Go to a local showroom and look at new faucets. You can do all this yourself and save a ton of money, even if you hire people to do the painting, tiling, etc.

cani dianahb, I didn't hire a general contractor but it was a tile contractor, meaning he was responsible for the shower tub area and brought in his own plumber for it. One of the tile guys I interviewed couldn't put in the tub or do the tile to face the front of the tub so I opted to have one person do it, hence the tile contractor. Anyway, I wanted one person to be responsible for that in case I got a leak so they couldn't point fingers at each other. I did pay more for him but his work was just excellent and worth every penny. What he did was very high end looking.

Molly Elizabeth Design I'm in suburban Houston, and a gut and redo of my master bath (tile, new cabinets, new granite countertops, new shower and frameless door, and replacing the jetted tub with a filled in floor and stand-alone soaking tub) recently cost $21k through a contractor. Your $20k estimate is probably not wildly off the mark, but I don't believe that it SHOULD be a $50k job. Mine was smaller than yours, but not by a lot. I used ceramic tile instead of marble or real travertine, but good use of tile (big diagonal tile on the floor, mixing a few colors or tones have impact on a shower wall to contrast the rest) can have a lot of design impact without having a lot of cost.

laurae1967 Switch out the shower surround to get rid of the brass. Lose the brass stool. Replace knobs with silver/nickel. Pay someone to strip wallpaper and paint the bathroom a serene color and get rid of all the brass fixtures and switch to nickel. Tile the floor only and get different bath mats. The dark grey is not a good look for your bathroom. That should cost no more than 5k.

Cheryl Bohlin Do you live in SWITZERLAND? Why on earth would this cost 20k or anywhere near that? Pick tile that is under 6$ a square foot, and youll be fine? You can take the wallpaper down yourself, update the fixtures and put new hardware on the cabinets.

laurae1967 Also, do not do grey and red in your bathroom! You are worried about resale value, you said, and most buyers would be turned off by that color scheme.

dianahb Laminate isn't a bad material, but you could find beautiful rectified porcelain or even natural stone for the same price you'd pay for laminate. And check out tile-stones.com. The prices are amazing, and there's a flat shipping fee. Beautiful stone at affordable pricing.

I also saw a rectified porcelain recently at my local tile store-- at $2.99/sq foot-- really pretty smooth porcelain. Porcelain and natural stone can be very affordable. I think there are good-looking laminates, but I don't think you'll ever get your money back on that. My 2 cents.

Laura Stermer wallpaper removal - a large spritz bottle, one cap of fabric softener to the spritz bottle and fill with water. use a scoring tool to run over the drywall. dallas is pretty dry so you might only have to find a corner to peel off the sheet. test under the vanity stool area to see what you are up against. good luck.

Connie Francis what material is under the carpet? I would pull it up myself. If its concrete, you could consider painting it, or even having it polished. And you can get bathroom linoleums, that are non-slip, and can look quite good. If timber, get it sanded, and then just one larger rug where you need it. Replace the doorknobs with something more updated. Strip the wallpaper (if its good quality, and stuck on well, a lot of home decorating shows now say you can just paint straight over the top of the wallpaper. And maybe just replace the shower screen with frameless glass. Realistically, this type of change should only cost you about $3k - less if you do it yourself!!

Iyare I Thank you so much everyone!!! I have read each and every comment. I will stay away from colors (except in my accessories) and keep everything else pretty neutral (although I am stuck on that gray color for my walls... I love gray). This is quite a lot to process as I was figuring on keeping my cabinets to cut down on costs. I would love to spend that amount of money for the bathroom I want but considering that I already put a healthy chunk into my kitchen and backyard, I dont think I can bring myself to take the plunge. Curb Appeals, I get what youre saying but once a week, I am on zillow and trulia to look at houses for sale in my market, in my price range and very rarely to I see houses that are better presented than mine.... Even with my outdated bathroom, I dont see a lot of master baths that are nicer (surprisingly). Also, I dont see a lot of kitchens with granite counters, much less bathrooms (Seems in Dallas TX... theyre really big on laminate counters and ugly flowery wallpaper **smile**)

That being said, I am going to stick to my budget of $5,000.

Heres what I am going to focus on in order till the budget runs out....

1. Removing the wallpaper and painting my walls Gray Clouds by Sherwin Williams

2. Removing the carpet and tiling the floor. I will actually look to see if there is concrete under the carpet and if there is, I'd be willing to work with it and see its possibilities because I love concrete floors.

3. Replacing the hardware and faucets with brushed nickel.

3. Framing the mirrors

4. Installing a chandelier over the bath (I actually love this idea a lot) and replacing the lighting over the mirrors

5. Replacing the countertops with granite or marble (depending on the cost and availability in the budget).

6. Changing out the doors of the shower.... Maybe not frameless since its expensive but even something with nickel should be fine as long as I get rid of the outdated gold.

Lastly,

7. Changing out the doors of my cabinets (budget permitting).

Im not very handy, I'll admit so I am not going to attempt most of this myself... maybe just painting and switching out the hardware so I have to consider labor costs.

cani Iyare, your plans sound great and you should be able to do all that with your budget. I have been looking at houses online in your area (Arlington and Dallas suburbs) as we are contemplating a move from California. Would you mind emailing me (in my profile), I would love to hear about the area. Please keep us updated with your changes.

Iyare I Cani, I live in the Arlington area and I love it!!! The great thing about Dallas is that many companies are moving to the area so that is nice for job security. The Arlington area is like a city with everything close by and lots of amenities. In Texas, you get a lot of space for your money (compared to California... my brother lives in Fresno) so if you like having lots of room, be ready to be wow'd. I used to live in Dallas and thought moving out to Arlington would kill me because i felt it was far but everything I need is in Arlington and I actually do less driving living in Arlington than I did when I lived in Dallas.

DIAspoton good choices . we want pics when it's done. check for cost saving remnants on the garnite or morble countertops.

cani lyare, I thought Arlington was pretty close to Dallas? If you wouldn't mind sharing info on the area with me, please email me at Robbiepet@yahoo.com. Don't want to stray from the topic here on the board.

Jeff Samuels One of the least expensive, yet immediately saves you money, home improvements is a hand held bidet sprayer. Ideal for the smaller bathroom as it takes up no additional space and requires no additional plumbing or electrical. The Bidet Sprayer will pay for itself many times over in toilet paper savings which makes this a very smart and green thing to do. Available at www.bathroomsprayers.com .

موزون القحطاني XXX

Naomi Frash I feel they are over charging you, for the jobs that you described. I would look around, and maybe try getting the individual jobs done. For example hiring a tiler to tile inside the bath area and the floor. I would keep the wall paper so long as the tiling was done up the walls in the bathtub area. (Though, I personally wouldn't tile the whole floor, just the part in front of the tub up to the cabinetry).

The carpet you could easily rip out yourself. I wouldn't change the counter-tops unless you want to change the bathtub to match the counter-tops.

Also keep in mind that you still want the bathroom to match the rest of the house. No good having an ultra modern bathroom when the rest of the house is traditional country.

kathleen MK Not sure if they are any in the Arlington area but Habitat for Humanity has several ReStore in the Dallas area(Plano and Garland) where can buy lots of remodeling supplies really cheap and the profits go to a good cause. Alot is builder surplus or salvaged from very high end homes. You can get hardware and some tile for pennies.
I'd go for large tile set on a diagonal. Replacing the wallpaper and shower door will make the biggest difference.

smidgen Kathleen beat me to it. Habitat for Humanity Resale Shops rock! 'Repurposing' is 'green' and all the rage. Besides, unless you tell them, no one will ever know where you got it. I got a bathroom counter top with integrated sink for $8. Yup! That's just an eight. Got a brand new pedistal sink and faucet and matching towel and toilet bars for...wait for it....$34!!! total! It let me splurge on a mini pump handle faucet for the guest bath. Found the matching towel bar at the resale shop for a tenth of what the faucet cost. Tiles @.29 saved enough that we could hire a handyman to lay them. We're visiting regularly now watching for the items we need for our masterbath overhaul. The more I save on tiles, etc., the nicer a whirlpool tub I can get.