Published on Jun 20, 2026
Welcome to another Q&A session where I answer questions from y'all on the internet.
Today's question is:
Kolten offers a perspective many homeowners don't expect. While most people assume the choices that matter most are the visible finishes, fixtures, tile, and backsplash, and he agrees those are what make a bathroom pop visually, he argues the most important decisions are the behind-the-wall upgrades. Items like shower valves, plumbing lines, and drains are what truly protect the investment. He warns that building a beautiful bathroom on top of aging plumbing, for example lines dating back to the 1960s, puts all of that visible beauty at risk if the old plumbing fails. His advice is that if a homeowner has to choose, it's worth sacrificing some of the expensive tile budget to upgrade the plumbing they can't see, because it pays off over the long run.
That's an excellent question. A lot of people would immediately jump to say your finished fixtures and what tile you choose for backsplash and so on, and those are what make the bathroom itself pop and really catch your eye. But I would say the most important thing is to focus on the behind-the-wall upgrades: what products are going in as far as your shower valves, your plumbing lines, and your plumbing drains. If you want to achieve a big, beautiful bathroom but you still have plumbing from the 1960s and you're not willing to upgrade it, everything that's beautiful is at huge risk of being compromised by that old plumbing failing. So if you have to sacrifice some of those nice, expensive tiles to upgrade the plumbing you can't see, it's definitely going to be worth it in the long run. At the end of the day, the parts you see are what make the bathroom beautiful, but the parts you can't see are what keep it that way, so that's where I'd tell a homeowner to put their attention first.