Dear Genevieve, I can design bathrooms, too.

First of all, let me start this off with a sad story.  It's been so long since I've written a blog post.... that I forgot my user name/password combination....  Terrible, I know.  I will try to be better.

But, now for the good news!!!!!

Our master bath remodel is DONE!  If you look back at old blog posts, you'll notice that project started nearly THREE months ago.  (Let me clarify - demolition started three months ago.  All of our material selections had been made before that.)  I take partial responsibility for the slow progress seeing as I made several changes along the way.  I changed the tub deck shape (in two places) after its construction had been completed.... I had the tile guy re-work my shower shelf three times before I was happy with how it looked.  Then my re-working of the shower shelf meant we needed to special order more tile...  After all our beautiful (and pricey) tile was in place - I couldn't bear the idea of hiding any more of it than was absolutely necessary - so I upgraded our shower enclosure to the frameless glass. 

I don't have an exact breakdown of costs like I did for our prior (much more conservative) bath update.  But I can tell you - for informational purposes - that our total came in at a little over $11,000.  I (after-the-fact) referenced my 2010-2011 Remodeling Cost vs. Value report; and here's what I've come up with.

According to the report's project descriptions we should qualify (pretty much) as an "Upscale Bathroom Remodel".  The key criteria of an upscale remodel being:

Shower with Ceramic Tile Walls with Accent Strip  (check)

Recessed Shower Caddy (check - see above)

Frameless Glass Enclosure (check - see above)

Customized Whirlpool Tub (skipped jets because they get gunky and gross, but yeah - check)

Use Larger Matching Ceramic Tiles on the Floor, Laid on the Diagonal (check!)

So according to this report the average "Upscale Bathroom Remodel in the St. Louis area" should cost $58,000.  Yikes! Would someone really spend that much money on a bathroom remodel?!?!?!  You can buy entire houses for that right now...  In regards to amount spent, we're more in line with the "Midrange Bathroom Remodel" average of $18,000.  At any rate - according to this report, we should be able to expect a 57.2% - 64.1% return on our money.

I would argue that our bathroom remodel (if we were going to sell our house today) would give us a 2,000% return of on our investment, because I don't that anyone would have bought our house with that ugly, old bathroom.

One last thought on bathroom remodeling....  I have had a cold for the last two weeks, and have spent more time in front of the TV than usual.  I happened across the show, "Dear Genevieve," where homeowners supposedly write letters to Genevieve Gorder (formerly of Trading Spaces - Is that show on anymore???).  So, people write her little notes with their decorating dilemmas and she comes to your house and solves all your problems.  (That was what I took from the one episode I caught.)  And, conveniently, the room of the day was a bathroom!  The homeowners had a $3,000 budget - and would you believe at the end of the show - their bathroom was far fancier than ours?!?!  So what I want to know is... and maybe I will write her a letter myself...

Dear Genevieve, 

Where in the world do you shop?   Do you re-use all the decent stuff that you took out of peoples' houses on Trading Spaces?  All those years you were gluing feathers to the wall (maybe that wasn't you...) were you just stock piling the tiles and light fixtures that 'just had to go'???

Does the show (Dear Genevieve) cover the cost of the labor???  That's my guess.  I am assuming that the homeowners contributed $3,000 toward the new (visible) materials and HGTV performed all of labor as part of the show.  (Including all the demolition and haul-away.)  I'm guessing that the show covered all the 'behind the scenes' costs too - plumbing hidden in the walls, concrete board behind the shower tiles...  Genevieve, dear, you didn't fool me.  

I'm glad I didn't see that show before we started this whole process - I would have had some serious sticker shock if I thought my bathroom was going to be renovated for $3,000 - or LESS - since my bathroom doesn't have the crystal chandelier or vessel sink that hers did.

No matter, I love my bathroom $8,000 more than I liked the one on TV anyway:)