@ 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! .

This is a question I face almost every time I talk with a customer when quoting a Bathroom renovation. You should always take to opportunity when renovating a bathroom to add ventilation into the design along with heating as in the form a underfloor heating of heat lights this healps with area's that would normally stay wet and reduce the problems of grout getting mould. As for selecting the right size tile this is really a personal choice there are lots and lots of options to pick from when selecting tiles. I always as what look are you going for? fine the look you like and study bathroom designs and take note of the size of tiles tou see in photos make a scrape book of idea's copy ideas pick the best bits. Small tiles can look great on a feature wall but to much of it can make a room fill closed in and to busy on the eye once you have added all your other fixtures and fittings to the mix. 300 x 600 tiles are the far most come tiles we lay where 600 x 600 are great for a modern look. 600 x 600 look great on a floor with 300 x 600 on the walls but I wouldnt suggest having three different tile sizes stick to the same or 2 different styles. it is a hard choice but go with what makes you feel comfortable and scrapbooking idea's is the best place to start. best of luck

@AAB That Ikea one looks like it has good dimensions from above, but I think you'd find 20cm too shallow to double as a useful laundry tub. If you could find one that was twice that depth… I did encounter such a sink in a long-stay apartment hotel I stayed in recently. The bathroom was fitted out with a combined washer-dryer unit and the "basin" – while styled aesthetically like a bathroom basin and oval in shape as well as rounded in cross-section – was really big. You could have washed a large baby in it! So clearly that kind of thing is available. It did require a fairly deep vanity to mount it in, but that was there to accommodate the depth of the washer-dryer anyway. The only thing with a deep vanity is you absolutely need to mount the mirror on a cabinet to bring it forward, not directly on the wall. If you don't do that anyone who is short and/or short-sighted has a hard time using the mirror for practical purposes such as shaving, inserting contact lenses, or applying makeup. (Yes, I discovered this during my hotel stay too!)

I'd just live with it, paint the walls and vanity your sage green. My decision would be based on the fact that getting rid of the pattern is either going to be extremely time intensive or $$ intensive for not much gain. You can leave that pattern and update the bathroom easily by painting walls and vanity. The only way to get a nice finish on painted tile is to have it resin coated professionally. It's not cheap. With a stone toned bathroom it's always going to look dated because that colour way has been out of fashion for about 30yrs anyway. Best to just update cheaply and refresh the whole bathroom once it's no longer servicable. You spend on average 30mins a day in the bathroom. If it's neat and clean that's good enough. Close the door on it after use.