Most of us don't think about our bathrooms. As long as the toilet flushes and the faucets don't drip, we needn't pay much attention. That is, not until we venture into a bathroom renovation. Then suddenly we have to grapple with a myriad of options: toilets, sinks, shower heads, water flow, trim and tile options, and so on. It's another reality—complex, even daunting, but never boring.

In 2006 my design-build firm was hired to do a renovation of a tired 1980s Toll Brothers house in Briarcliff Manor. The experienced homeowner knew what he wanted: a quick three-month makeover. When we first saw the house, it looked clean, but there were a few things that did not feel right. The carpets, clunky trim, and faux wood grain colonial doors—all had to go.

The owner asked that we take an ecofriendly approach whenever possible, and that gave us a design direction to go on: green, renewable, and sustainable. The materials we chose included bamboo hardwood flooring throughout the entire house; bamboo plywood trim, Kirei board paneling (made with sorghum), and "burl wood" panels (made from wheat chaff), all made with soy glue; and water-based paints and polyurethanes. 

We started with the baths. The master bath and a powder room, painted in shades of beige and baby blue, were out of date but functional. They just needed a little re-grouting. Or so we thought.

In the master bath, our project manager and co-designer, Ken Skalski, went from re-grouting the tiles to replacing the shower base before realizing that the entire base had gone to rot. We broke the news to the client: Start over.

So much for the quick makeover. Greenwald now found himself smack in the middle of a bathroom renovation that was neither in the initial budget nor in the timeline for his move-in date. We had to get moving quickly.

Don't Give Up The Tub There's nothing so soothing as a hot soak. What's more, realtors recommend having a tub in at least one bathroom of your home to maintain resale value. If your budget allows, select a freestanding model.

Early in the design process of renovating the master bathroom, the question invariably came up: Should we keep the old layout? The design was typical for a "luxury master bath" of the era: corner Jacuzzi built into a tiled platform, a small shower stall, toilet and bidet side-by-side, and the double sink. The sinks, Jacuzzi, and shower stall were a fortress of tile, particleboard, and Formica—and where all the problems with water penetration from poor workmanship were situated.

As a general rule and from a green standpoint, we do not recommend throwing away useful bath fixtures. This only adds to the burgeoning landfills. But in this case the bidet was not needed, the toilet was disagreeable in color and style, and both were water wasteful, so we justified their demise. Maybe they will start crushing old toilets and make roads out of them, we mused. (We learned later that a Texas company recycles discarded tubs, sinks, and toilets into beautiful porcelain terrazzo tiles: www.enviroglasproducts.com.)

To get the best layout for our client, we made a point-by-point wish list without speculating too much at first about how it would all fit in. Tub? Yes, and deep. Shower stall? Yes, and bigger. Bidet? No. Privacy for the toilet? Yes.

The question that lingered the longest was the sink: double or single? If we used a little finesse and creativity, there was space enough for the double. But the real question is, What do you give up when including two sinks in a small bathroom?

Double sinks are useful, but they demand a great deal of counter space, which is usually at a premium. Where do you put your hairdryer, make-up, creams, and shaving gear? Since the time spent actually using the sink is minimal in comparison to the time spent in front of the mirror, it only made sense to install a single sink.