@ Tilly, others and nexusone... I live in rural Queensland... As far as tradies go, there are not many and they are all vying for the work, so their reputations are very important to them and people do talk Have no idea where you two Houzzers live..must be somewhere expensive because $3-$4,000 for labour for a tiling sounds exorbitant...unless every wall was entirely tiled to the ceiling with tiles that were also priced to impress. @ nexusone... It doesn't have to be like that...unless there's the "keeping up with the Jones's" to factor in. What's a "top quality" product anyway? One that costs more? It all comes from CHINA if you trace it back! The Chinese are a very large part of our economy and despite what many think they know, based on some of the negative things that have been publicised..... about Asian "sweat shops" etc.... when it comes to maunfacturing hard items (like plumbing ware, tiles etc...) the standard is mostly excellent and the cost is extremely reasonable. Where do you think our resellers of "top quality" hardware get their product from? Greece? Italy? Apologies for disagreeing and no offence meant, but we need to get our thinking caps on here. How is it that I could buy a magnificently crafted 8inch chrome plated retro styled brass shower rose for $79 ( including insurance and shipping)? Why is it that when I finally sourced the "Shepherd's Crook"...( a 1.2m long curved piece of chrome plated brass pipe) from an Australian reseller...that it cost me X3.5 times more than the actual shower rose? Where was this pipe made? Guess. I'm no advocate for trade with anywhere but hardware does not have to be exorbitantly expensive, and "top quality" is not necessarily associated with Brand or price. It pays to do your research before you do your shopping and to gain any technical information you can fathom to help you to understand what you are being expected to pay for! @ Tilly.... You mention that you supplied ( ? purchased) your own tiles, and on top of that you paid $3,800 for the "top quality" tiler's labour. In my experience of hiring tradies of all kinds over a 30 year period, off and on, and of having to keep abreast of costs of materials and hardware and of workmanship standards and methods, I found that there's a limit to the quality that can go into any product and into any labour, including putting tiles on a wall...(without getting ridiculous and grinding up diamonds in the glue!) So the amount of $3,800 tiler's labour alone doesn't make sense to me, especially since you had already paid for the tiles. So tiling alone in one bathroom cost about $4-5,000? not including anything else? I may have easily misunderstood...its easy in writing, but everything sounds very inflated based on "quality". I'm glad it was not I who shelled out all that hard earnt money. The comparison costs of your bathroom to your daughter's using DIY labour is about the same...did you leave something out? If one can find the right outlet, items and labourers...things should not and need not and, in my experience, do not cost that much, not even for "quality"...and that word needs defining. Nevertheless, Tilly, extremely interesting reading about your costs and experiences. Thanks! I'll add the info to my "experience" diary! @nexusone... Courage, again! Do your homework well, become informed, shop around and, may I suggest, based on what I perceive from the information kindly supplied by everyone here...When you go shopping, go outside your city, town or usual haunts where you are not known, keep it impersonal. Online shopping is not as scary as it seems either. An Idea about plumbing You say your bathroom is 1930's...that's the Art Deco era...external plumbing was the rage. Could you maybe consider fixing your plumbing TO the wall rather than having it IN the wall? You could just about have any design tapware you wanted today..Art Deco products are available in many styles. Retro Plumbing is IN and would go with the style of your bathroom. Just something to consider. All I think all you would need to do, (bear in mind I am not a plumber) is bring a fitting for HW and CW to the outside of your wall and you could then have, attached to those, any kind assembly/combo of taps and shower head you wanted, I wish you every tiny bit of good luck with this. It WILL work out! .

Oh dear, I think you are being a bit harsh in the house. I mean it when I say I love your house and see so much potential..there are many similar styles homes in out town, many have been redone, revamped into mid century master pieces. Your floors are stunning...but if you don't like it that much, maybe start again...check out all costs first, but I think you could do heaps with yours, our friends thought we had lost our minds when we purchased our house in the condition it was in. Embrace the style if you can but if it is just going to make you sad...start afresh

Sounds like a very stressful situation! If there is absolutely no way the builder will allow you to change things (even if they did, I imagine they would ask you to foot the entire bill of pulling the tiles down and replacing all water proofing in addition to new tiles), I can make a few suggestions for improvement. Firstly I would suggest replacing the tiles above the vanity with a white mosaic, a patterned or a textured feature tile/strip. You could also use this same tile to replace the vertical feature in the shower. There are some beautiful shapes and sizes available to choose from. Secondly I would address the grout situation in this way: Floor - dark colour grout & Walls - Light colour grout. Lastly if it does not prove too difficult or expensive, maybe replace the tiles below the vanity with a plain white tile (could be similar size). Good luck and I am sure once you have a lovely mirror up and some crisp white towels, it will look just wonderful.

Thank you for your rough guestimate, Louise. I will try to get to the cottage on Wednesday to measure and will post them then. Your questions answered: we are renovating to live in it for two years whilst we build our house. Our two sons will visit but probably at different times. I will place a daybed in the lounge in the event that we are all there at the same time. Once our home is built, we will Airbnb this cottage. We are in our 50’s and our intention is to move back into this cottage when the house gets too much for us. So it’s a long term investment with the view of having made the choice of where we would ultimately want to be later on in life - as much as one can make these decisions with all the unknowns. It is very close to a beautiful town - two minutes walking distance to all the amenities. We cannot do extensions as we have an easement and the land is small. As much as we do not want to be ridiculous in terms of costs, we also need to think long term and are therefore prepared to make the changes when our builder strips the cottage. The location will probably support the investment long term. Also to note, my thoughts: We need to add a freestanding gas fireplace into the living room. My thoughts were to place it on the wall that is shared with the kitchen. I intended to remove the wall between the family and dining. This will also allow the northern sun to stream into the living area in winter. The family room would become a dining room/eat-in-kitchen. The dining and living will become the whole living room. The entrance consumes valuable space and I like siriuskey’s idea of adding a powder room there - perhaps with the addition of an extra shower and basin where the linen is and skylights above both rooms for ventilation and light. Moving the front door would be problematic as it would throw off the symmetry and involve changes to the eves.