Bathroom remodeling down to the tile.

A bathroom remodel contractor starts with the door

Kitchens fail because of traffic. Bathrooms fail because of inches. The door hits the vanity. The towel bar is behind the door. The shower curb is high enough that everyone thinks about it, every morning. We start by standing in the room with the door closed, which is the way you actually use it.

We mark what can stay: the window, the stack, the joists if a finished room is below. We draw the vanity, the shower or tub, and the place you stand while drying off. Only then do we talk about stone and tile. A slab that blocks the shower is not a remodel.

In Lisle ranches the hall bath is often original to the 1960s: a tub, a small linen niche, one globe light. The work is a new shower or a refinished surround, a vanity that fits the studs, and a light at face height. In later Naperville primary suites the work is usually the double vanity, the walk-in shower, and the long wall of tile that has to stay flat.

How a bathroom remodel works with REIJ

Call it a bathroom renovation or a bathroom remodel — the sequence is the same interior work.

Listen

A free in-home consultation. We stand in the room with the door closed, the way you use it, and ask how you use it. No quotes, no pressure — just understanding.

Design

We mark what can stay: the window, the stack, the joists if a finished room is below. Then we draw the vanity, the shower or tub, and the place you stand while drying off. Materials, dimensions, and finishes are laid out plainly so you can picture the room before a single cut is made. Stone and tile come after the drawing.

Craft

We build the vanity, set tile and stone, and do the trim at the door, window, and base. If a valve, a drain, a fan, or a light has to move, that trade is named in writing before tile is ordered.

Reveal

The walk-through.

What a bathroom remodel includes

• Custom vanities, including drawers instead of a false panel
• Tile at the shower, the floor, and the backsplash behind the sink
• Stone tops and the small details at the mirror and the niches
• Trim at the door, the window, and the base, so the new work meets the hall
• A written note when a plumber or electrician has to move a valve, a fan, or a light
• Lighting laid out with the drawing: a pair of lights at the mirror, not one fixture behind your head
• Shower niches placed where your elbow already goes

A dripping cartridge is a small repair, not a remodel. We take the room. We are a remodeling shop, not a repair service.

Typical bathrooms we remodel

The hall bath

The hall bath is often the original tub and a vanity that collides with the door. We remodel that room on its own. The primary can wait, or it can be a second project with its own drawing.

The primary bath in a 1990s or 2000s house

The pattern is a garden tub nobody uses, a shower that is too small, and a long counter with no drawers. The drawing is a double vanity, a walk-in shower, and the long wall of tile that has to stay flat.

The small bath in an older house

We measure the door swing and the window first. A vanity that looked right in a showroom will block the shower in a 1950s hall bath. The better answer is usually a shorter vanity, a recessed niche, and tile that runs cleanly to the ceiling so the room feels taller than it is. Old plaster can make a large-format slab the wrong choice, because that slab needs a wall that is already flat.

The lower-level bath

A bath downstairs only makes sense when the stack is close enough that we are not inventing a plumbing path across the house. A bath drawn far from the stack is a plumbing project. When the stack is close, we will draw a bath as part of a basement finish.

Remodeling every bath at once is rarely wise. We will sequence the rooms if you want more than one. Door swing, the toilet flange, and whether to remodel one bath or two are sorted in eight ideas for a Fox Valley bath.

Tile, stone, and the wood under a Fox Valley bath

Vanities

The vanity is wood, built to the alcove rather than shaved from a stock box. Drawers beat doors. REIJ builds fixed carpentry that becomes part of the house — kitchen cabinetry, vanities, built-ins, and millwork. Kitchens fail because of traffic. Bathrooms fail because of inches.

Stone and quartz tops

Stone or quartz sits on that box with a backsplash that dies cleanly into the mirror or the tile.

Tile

Shower walls want a tile you can live with at 6 a.m. Large panels suit a primary shower. A smaller tile, sometimes a herringbone, suits a room with a tub and one window. The niche goes where your elbow already goes.

Lighting

Lighting is part of the drawing: a pair of lights at the mirror, not one fixture behind your head. If the fan has to move, that is named before tile is ordered. We have built interior rooms since 2002.

Bathroom remodeling in Montgomery

Montgomery remodeling is the work of a Montgomery company that has remodeled interiors here since 2002. The village sits on the Fox River where Kane and Kendall counties meet. REIJ Inc. is a licensed and insured Illinois contractor, and the in-home consultation is free.

The hall bath in older Montgomery houses is often the original tub and a vanity that collides with the door. We remodel that room in inches, not in a primary-suite fantasy.

Permits are generally reviewed by the Village of Montgomery. Projects that change structure, add a bath, or move plumbing and electrical are the ones that usually need a permit. We look up the current checklist for the address. We do not quote a fee or a review time, because both move.

Bathroom remodeling in Oswego

Oswego is the next town east of Montgomery, on the Fox River in Kendall County. Oswego is part of our regular service area. Downtown Oswego and Hudson Crossing are on the east bank of the river, and the bath in a downtown bungalow and the bath in a later subdivision house do not share a drawing.

Upstairs in a downtown bungalow, the bath is one small room with a single bathing fixture. The vanity is sized to the door swing, and the tile follows the walls that are already there. A primary in the houses built from the late 1990s through the 2010s is a separate room. Those houses are two stories, with a basement poured tall enough to finish, many of them south of the old grid along Wolf's Crossing Road. That primary is drawn for the room it is in. The bungalow upstairs is not the template.

Bathroom remodeling in Naperville

Naperville is the longer drive east from Montgomery, and it is still inside the work we take. Downtown, interior remodeling in Naperville is one careful bath. On the south side it is often a primary suite with a tub nobody uses and a shower that should have been larger from the start.

The City of Naperville reviews new baths and sleeping rooms, and the packet is more formal than a small village's. We follow their current checklist. We do not advertise a review time or a fee.

We also remodel bathrooms in Lisle and Lemont. Hall baths in 1960s ranches are a common Lisle call: a tub, a small linen niche, and one globe light. In Lemont, a canal-era house is frequently one full bath and a tight lavatory.

Questions about a bathroom renovation near you