• America's Bathrooms Are Going Upscale (Post - Jan. 24, 2001) • Home Front archive • Furnishings & Design Section • Garden & Patio Section • Home & Garden Section • Talk: Home message boards • Live Online Transcripts

People are spending more on their tubs and faucets. This week, Home talks about the recent trend of upgrading American bathrooms. Also, find out how the Bush administration is changing the White house interior. Other topics include dog portraitures and the second edition of "Taylor's Guide to Perennials," a handbook of flowering plants, ferns and ornamentals.

• Taylor's Guide to Perennials is available on borders.com

Ask the Washington Post Home staff -- about these and anything and everything related to home and garden.

The transcript follows.

Post Home Staff: Hi everyone! We see there are a lot of questions right away about bathrooms. We have our resident expert here, Nancy McKeon, who wrote the great article today on bathrooms in the section. So we are here to answer any and all questions about any topics.

Springfield, Va.: Hi gang,

Perfect timing for this topic. I wanted to redo my master bathroom. My house is over 30 years old, so the master bath is not very large. It's an L shape. It has double sinks, and two closets facing the sinks. Around the corner is the toilet and the standing shower stall. There's another closet on the other side of the shower stall. My question is can I put a jacuzzi in this bathroom at all? I'm thinking of knocking the wall between the 3rd closet and the shower stall down. But I don't really like the idea of the toilet and the jacuzzi in one room either. Am I stuck? Thanks for your help.

Post Home Staff: You lucky thing! We think you have a lot of space to work with. We think you can put a Jacuzzi in your bathroom. Is there no bathtub at all currently? You are not stuck. But before you put yourself in the hands of a bath designer, I would go on line, says Nancy, and look at all the product out there. Call up Kohler. Jacuzzi. Whirlpool (which has a new lower priced Cielo line of tubs). There is a big trend back towards separate toilet rooms, or just partition walls, although this sounds like what you have. There are bath designers, you can find in the yellow pages, that will give you lots of ideas.

HLB - Mt. Lebanon, Pa.: My girlfriend/housemate just did the bathroom. $17,000! You could have spread $20 bills, evenly spaced over the footprint of the bathroom, then come back and covered those with a five spot and still not have spent $17k. As an engineer I can tell you, I've built buildings in my home state of Alaska cheaper than that. Is she nuts or just fashionable? Thanks much.

Post Home Staff: Your friend sounds like she has great taste - and she's probably used good materials, which is what adds value to your home and cost to the bottom line. In the Washington area, one contractor says simple +rip and replace+ bathrooms run $7000 all the way to $25,000. By the way, do you enjoy it?

Fairfax Va.: I found your article today on faucets to be very timely. I have a high-end faucet (installed within the last ten years) which is leaking; have been told it's caused by the ceramic disk valve which cannot be replaced, thereby requiring replacement of the entire faucet. My question: are there replacement parts for these ceramic valves (which you note are the best) or if so, might my faucet be too old to obtain one to fit? I really like this faucet and am loath to replace it, especially considering its original cost.

Post Home Staff: How much was your faucet and who manufactured it? What was the warranty on it? The industry says the average lifespan of a faucet is nine years. You could contact the manufacturer directly. They may still make it. Give us some more details, but frankly, Nancy is not aware of any disc parts available.

Arlington, Va.: My husband I just purchased our first house and need some ideas for inexpensive window treatments. Our bedroom windows have white blinds that provide privacy but not much interest, and we are starting from bare windows in the living and dining areas. Our house is fairly traditional, but many of the curtains I see are too old fashioned or fussy for our taste and I think plantation shutters are out of our price range. Any suggestions?

Post Home Staff: Contact Smith & Noble, a mail order catalogue and on-line source has many different window treatments. Next Day Blinds is a local source for blinds and other treatments. Check shelter magazines for ideas. A simple swag of fabric across the top of the window seems to work for many people using simple hardware. Ready made tab top curtains are inexpensive and available at many stores and catalogues.

Bethesda, Md.: We are in process of updating a small bath and are planning on a banjo top sink counter made of Corian. Room is too small to have a cabinet. Need advise on how to support this top and sink.

Post Home Staff: We are sorry to say we don't know what a banjo top is. Please enlighten us and everyone else!

Arlington, Va.: There is a tub faucet that is somewhat flat and square, but open on the top. The water flows out in a flat stream, like a waterfall and is very luxurious with a soaking tub. The sink version costs about $700 and I can only imagine what the tub version costs. Does anyone know the maker of this?

Post Home Staff: Nancy says this style is available many places. She has seen them at Expo Design in Fairfax.

Silver Spring, Md.: We are buying a new house where the basics are all pretty nice to start with, and we have allocated $5,000 - $10,000 to upgrade the master bath. What would you spend it on? Currently the floor is 12" ceramic tile and the counters are "cultured marble". Would you get marble floors? marble counters? ultra-fancy shower heads?

Post Home Staff: What are your walls made of? If you like the floor, keep it and save a bundle. How over the top do you want this bathroom to be? And what is your goal in the renovation- looks or luxury water? A wonderful shower system with hand shower and body sprays will cost around $1000.
Do yourself a favor and check into ceramic, stone-like tiles and surface materials, instead of cultured marble or real marble. Some of them seem more contemporary.
Are you really thinking of replacing a bathtub with a whirlpool? That is major (actually even plumbing the shower system requires taking out one wall of ceramic tile.)

Georgetown: I can't help but think that some of really far-out designs will look very dated in a few years. Of course the industry doesn't mind, because that just means more sales to replace unfashionable fixtures.

I guess I always thought of the bathroom as a place to keep it simple--you can always make it trendy with paint colors, towels, shower curtains, etc. Fixtures are harder to change out at a reasonable cost.

Post Home Staff: True. That's why one of the biggest trends today is towards traditional styling. It's the Edwardian look, sort of like an English country house bath. That is the look that is driving high end Waterworks and the fittings you will find in the Pottery Barn catalogue and at Restoration Hardware. It's a look available at all price points and is classic and beautiful.

Washington, D.C.: Only nine years for the average faucet life? That seems short. My parents have some hideous 70's-era bathrooms with equally hideous faucets. However, these faucets were top of the line and still work just fine.

It sounds like the industry is planning obsolescence into their products, just like with computerized CD players, refrigerators, etc. The consumer is encouraged to buy a replacement instead of trying to fix it--I don't like that at all.

Post Home Staff: Agreed. But that is what keeps our economy humming!

Washington, D.C.: For the window treatment person--try a store like G Street Fabrics or Calico Corners. They have excellent tables of home decorating remnants, many long enough to make a room full of curtains. I have found fabrics originally $40/yd marked down to $4.

As far as sewing the curtains, you can do them yourself, hire a seamstress, or beg a friend who sews to do it for you. Simple panels are very easy to make. Good luck.

P.S. Look for fabrics BEFORE you paint your walls. It's much easier to match paint to fabric than the other way around.

Post Home Staff: Good idea! We think that is good advice if you are starting from scratch.

Clifton, Va.: Follow up to my question last week and your answer. BTW thanks for answering my question.
How do I tell quality granite from the pretenders? Thank you.

Post Home Staff: Price. Price and Price. Granite is cold, the pretenders aren't.

Laurel, Maryland: The following information was originally submitted in the January 11, 2001 Homefront LIVE ONLINE. As per request of Jura Koncius, I am resubmitting this information to share with everyone.

I recently used a wonderful service that I would like to share with the readers. I purchased new furniture but didn't discover
until I got it home that it didn't match my carpeting. A friend told me that it was possible to have carpeting dyed so I decided to give it a try. It came out perfect and it looks like I have new carpet! The stains are gone and it matches my furniture perfectly. My cost to have this done was only about 25% of what it would have cost me to purchase new carpet. Why haven't we heard of this before? This is fantastic!

Post Home Staff: Dear Laurel. Who knew? We certainly didn't. That's a great tip but you forgot to tell us the facts about the company that works this magic. Could you write back and give us the name, location and phone number. Thanks.

The name of the company that performed the carpet dyeing is: Color Your Carpet. Their phone number is: (301) 776-2393. They also have a web site at: www.colorcarpet.com. I contacted them to find out if they do any work in Washington DC/Virginia areas and they indicated that they do a lot of work in those areas, though they're based in Laurel.

Since having my carpet dyed, I've recommended their services to several of my friends who have also been delighted with the results. They may be willing to do a sample for you since you're with a major newspaper.

I hope this information is helpful to you and your readers. Their services were certainly helpful for me!

Post Home Staff: Thanks.

Mason Neck, Va.: My husband and I just bought a home built back in 1973. We discovered that when we shower, only a very small amount of cold water is needed while the hot water is turned on full force. It's not only in the bathrooms this is occuring but throughout the entire house. Also when I ran the dishwasher for the temperature sensor light was on for almost the entire wash and rinse cycle. What could be causing this and is there a solution? Please help!

Post Home Staff: We think you need a plumber. Get a professional to check your house. There may be sediment in the hot water heater or in the pipes. Or the thermostat may need replacing.

Miami, Fla.: We have a new, modern home with very high ceilings (although not as high as cathedral). What can we do to the walls to break up the space, give them life without spending bundles of money.

Post Home Staff: Here are some ideas. Put up large black and white photographs. Hang a large quilt or tapestry. Do a decorative paint treatment. Blow up a poster, cut it into four parts and frame each part and hang them a foot apart. Shelves. A major light fixture. The Eye suggests chunky chair rail installed three quarters of the way up and crown molding painted a contrasting color.

Annandale, Va.: OK, it looks like the refinancing will go through and we'll finally have the money to remodel the second bath in our house. But since we want to move from a 3/4 bath (shower, no tub) to a full bath by expanding into a closet, we need design work beyond just the question of what fixtures to choose.

What's the best way to take the next step--without spending the entire project budget just on the design: find a design/build contractor, an independent architect, or are there home centers that help with that element of the project? I think I'd rather work out the design, then find a contractor--but is that wise?

Post Home Staff: Dear Annandale. Congralations on your refinancing.
Most small bathroom jobs don't need an architect. There are lots of design/build firms out there and many are very busy. The home centers have designers are happy to help you. Smoot Lumber in Alexandria is just one example of a place will help figure out what you need, sell it to you and then install it.
Other ideas are Home Depot, Expo Design, Lowe's.

D.C.: This isn't a bathroom question, but I hope you'll take it anyway.

I have a tuxedo style loveseat that I want to re-upholster and place in a bedroom. What is a reasonable price to expect for this? How much of the cost should be for fabric? And do you know any reputable shops in D.C.?

Post Home Staff: Jura just had a 78 inch sofa reupholstered for about $1200. That included fabric and labor. There are lots of upholstery shops and some stores like Calico Corners and Persnickety both sell fabric and do upholstery.

Washington, D.C.: A friend of mine has a New York apartment with dark maroon tile all over the bathroom--walls, floor, shower, etc. It's a hideous color, but he doesn't have the cash to rip it out and replace. I suggested the possibility of roughing up the tile with sandpaper, priming with Kilz, then painting over it--of course trying this in an unseen corner first. Do you think it would work?

Post Home Staff: Your poor friend. Dark maroon is intense for a bathroom. The Eye says she has heard you can paint over tile. Ask at your local paint store. There are also porcelain refinishers in the Yellow Pages who will do your tiles.

Bethesda, Md.: This is perfect timing----we are currently mid-project, with two completely gutted 1953 bathrooms (that icky yellow tile---finally gone!)---and are searching out faucets. I found a great online site to look at pictures of faucets etc.---worldhomecenter.com---and the prices are discounted. Question---have you heard about the electric netting (looks sort of like onion bags) that can be installed under tile floors to warm them and provide radiant heat in remodels? Does it work? Does it last?

Post Home Staff: None of us has personal experience with this. But there are several methods of delivering radiant heat. There have been many problems with the technology, we understand from news reports. This is not something to do without major research and making sure you are buying the best possible product.

St. Petersburg, Fla.: Hiya Posties,
Check out the a special Web report done by two college journalism school students about this bathroom and shower revitalization craziness: http://pubweb.nwu.edu/~pco375/shower/

Post Home Staff: Dear St. Petersburg: Thanks for sharing. We will check this one out more a bit later.

Northern Va.: What does a "rip and replacement" include? I assume it means removing current fixtures and replacing them with others, but what about the services of a plumber and electrician? Do general contractors handle this, or is it better to coordinate the work oneself?

Also, completely unrelated question, but I don't suppose Nancy McKeon is at all related to the person of the same name from "The Facts of Life?"

Post Home Staff: Our own Nancy says she is certainly not related to the Other Nancy's bank account.
Now on to rip and replacement.
Our Nancy says it includes everything from the design to the plumbing to the electrical work.

Washington, D.C.: Christopher Lowell (Discovery Channel) did a show earlier this week on bathrooms. He showed a segment on repainting sinks with some sort of ceramic paint that makes the sink look like new. I caught only the end of the segment, so I don't know the name of the stuff. Do you know what it could be?

Post Home Staff: We had a column on January 21, 1999 in the Washington Post Home section called Putting a Fresh Finish on Tubs, Tiles and Sinks. Check our archives. It will give you a good overview of what you are looking for.
We also did a story last year on Christopher Lowell!

Reston, Va.: I'm building a new house where the first floor will be all hardwood floors. What advice do you have for wood kitchen cabinets and other wood furniture? Do they all need to be the same type of wood? Will an area rug in the dining room allow me to buy a different type of wood for the dining room furniture, bearing in mind that the table and chairs would be on the rug, but the buffet and china cabinet would be on the wood floor?

Post Home Staff: There are many kinds of trees in the forest and they all look good together. Matchy matchy is out out.
Choose the woods you love.

Downtown D.C.: I own a little-bitty co-op with a small but quite functional bathroom. It's tiled with ugly yellow, often cracked, tile going up the walls to about six feet, then has plaster painted with a white semi-gloss above that. The bathroom has some quirks and some corners, like those around a deep-set window, that meant somebody put a lot of work into cutting little slivers of tiles to make them bend properly. The paint's peeling, the tile is ugly, and I'd like to come up with an easy way to fix it up. Paint the tile white? Hire somebody to tile over all the original tile (the quirks scare me off of doing it myself) and patch the paint? Hire somebody to completely rip out the old tile and run new tile up to the ceiling? (This would require removing the bathtub doors that I'd like to keep.) Any suggestions?

Post Home Staff: We have a few ideas. Marine paint might work. We know someone who covered ugly tile in her 1930s house with wainscoting. Your tile may be set in concrete. It would a major deal to remove it.

Pembroke Pines, Fla.: What gardening book would you recommend that speaks directly to the issues faced by South Floridians (hot, brutal sun; sandy soil)? What type of flowering bush type plant would you recommend for a south-facing backyard?

Post Home Staff: Dear Florida:
We have called in a Top Gun to answer your question. Our esteemed Garden Editor Adrian Higgins advises you to seek our local botanical gardens and extension agents. They are in a better position to know your climate and see what grows well there. In gardening, local knowledge is key.
Citrus, cannas, toubichina, oleander, bougainvillea, all manner of palms and cycads are what come Adrian's mind.

Post Home Staff: Thanks for all your questions! Its been a lively discussion. Tune in again in two weeks. So nice to have you with us.

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