We (well, mostly my husband) completely gutted and remodeled our bathroom when we moved into our 1938 home four years ago. It took nine months as we did it ourselves on our own time. But it was well worth the effort, and it cost thousands of dollars less than a professional remodel would have.

We removed the ceramic tile (in a "lovely" shade of robin's egg blue) from the floor and halfway up the walls. We took out the more modern tub and put in a clawfoot tub, which we bought from a salvage yard and renovated. One of the most expensive aspects was the setup for a new shower head and oval-shaped shower curtain rod, which was needed since we now had a clawfoot tub. We kept our old toilet - it was actually in good condition - and bought a sink that matched the retro design of the house.

I picked out a nice deep shade of blue for the walls, and we accented that with some browns and whites. It's my favorite room in the house right now, sheerly because of how it looks. Visitors comment that it's the kind of bathroom they wish they had, which makes us even more proud of our work!