Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Remember This? Bathroom Remodel Update


How about this?
This is the ugly bathroom of my nightmares. This is the bathroom that almost made me put the kabosh on buying this house. This is the bathroom where the vanity top was not attached to the vanity, where you couldn't plug in and use the hair dryer the same time as someone upstairs was using an electrical appliance or when someone was using the micro wave in the kitchen without blowing the breaker and where the floor tile crackled underfoot because the prior owner installed it over the existing linoleum. This is the bathroom that had a constant smell of urine no matter what you did to it because (unknown to us) rats had climbed through a pretty large hole under the shower pan and gained access to the walls where they had families of little rats.
(Fortunately they were all exterminated before we bought the house but we still found 2 or 3 petrified bodies inside these lovely puce colored walls.) This is the steamy, nearly unventilated bathroom off the Master Bedroom where the closets were located  and where I found mold growing on my suede belt when I was finally able to move our clothes into the beautiful new closet in the bedroom that my man built me for Christmas.
THIS IS THE BATHROOM REMODEL WE STARTED IN JANUARY 2012!!!!

Why is it taking so long? Well first, the man has a job with only Sundays and Tuesdays off. Second he has me, the person that can't make up her mind where she wants something and makes him rewire lights three times, once on a completely different wall and twice on the same wall because I decided on a different configuration. (My bad). Third, we are trying to put a lot into a small space and every inch has had to be measured and remeasured  and redesigned to see if we could actually do it. Two inches to the left or right or in the wrong place could mean you couldn't get to the toilet or that the beautiful claw foot tub that I found wouldn't fit in the space that was once occupied by the horrid closet.  Fourth, money. Enough said there.

So where are we now after 10 months. We are still not done, that's where. But we are closer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I will shut up now and show you.

 Subway tiled shower with dual shower heads. Glass doors are on order.
New toilet, vanity, floor and trimmed out window.
Click on pic to enlarge. 
Detail of deco tile in shower. Love the leaf pattern.
I always was an Autumn. Click to enlarge. 

 Rewired twice with lights finally installed. Who says I
can't make a decision?

Fell in love with these Hudson Valley lights. Two polished nickel
 restoration vintage sconces and matching 3 light vanity light.  Got the sconces on sale but had to pay full freight  for the vanity light.
 Spent more than the budget allowed but has been the one big splurge. 

My free toilet! Notice the smooth easy to clean bottom! None
of those curly pipe looking forms to catch the dirt and (gag) hair
that accumulates on those forms. Bead board surrounds the room
and will be trimmed out with 3 inch trim on top.
Ok so the story here is that I bought this toilet online because I actually DID know what I wanted this time and Lowe's (big box store) had it. I took a ferry at 6 AM to go get it the next day and got home at 2 PM just in time for the man to install it before his eye appointment. Upon opening the box we discovered vital parts missing so being the NICE and CALM person that I am I called the store and demanded to talk to the manager. Then firmly told him how much MONEY he had just cost me because I had a PLUMBER trying to install a toilet without parts AND the ferry was going to cost me another $20 just to come get the parts AND I wanted them NOW!!! To his credit he offered to get the parts and have them at the store the next day and refund my  money. OK! Deal! This definitely helps with the price of those beautiful Hudson Valley lights I bought at Lamps Plus.


How do you like this wood floor! Not! This is a vinyl floor
that comes in strips that fit together kind of like tongue and
groove but with a special glue. The tongue part has one kind
and the groove has another so when you put them together
the glues react to each other giving you a tight fit. This floor wasn't
my first pick but it looks nice, feels good on your feet, was
easy to install and it was very affordable. (gee those lights should
be paid for by now) 

We use to have a bathroom door with clear glass panes.
Great for privacy. We now have a lovely pocket door that takes
up no space. This is one of the ways we got a little more room in here.
The walls are paneled in bead board and this wall will have
wooden pegs for bathrobes and towels.  


We were going to put a granite counter top in but with a vinyl floor that seemed too weird besides it was $850 on sale for a remnant. I found a Formica brand of vinyl that looks like marble called 180fx and we really liked it. Plus an 8 ft piece cost $45 on sale at Home Depot. The man will install it. I think those lights are actually paid for and then some. Will show you the finished product hopefully before the holidays. I am currently working on stripping and painting the outside of that claw foot tub. Almost done! And my man is the most patient on earth.




5 comments:

Izzy said...

Got a love those Men! Where would we be without their heavy lifting?

Progress is progress, and it's shaping up nicely. Nice job!

Leigh said...

Wow! This is a very happy post indeed. Having lived with my own extended house projects, I know you must be in 7th heaven to have it almost done! And it's lovely. Your man deserves something really huge. Tell him his patience is A+ in my book!

sista said...

Thank you all for your words of praise (for the man) and encouragement. We are about to enter into a bout of wet weather so perhaps I will get the tub refurbishing completed.

William said...

I love the transformation! The yellow lighting fixtures definitely helped to set a relaxing mood, making it a more comfortable room. I’ve been planning to remodel my bathroom too, as it looks dull and boring already. So now I’m stuck in front of my computer, browsing for bathroom remodeling ideas and looking for a good bathroom contractor. I’m currently opting for this company: http://www.upandabovecontractors.com/ I like their work portfolio. Now I’m getting so excited! =)

Chase Conely said...

Yellow lights are just so relaxing! I’ve always wanted to remodel our bathroom and give it a brighter atmosphere. I’m still planning what design and theme to use, though, but one thing’s for sure, I’ll definitely put my own personal touch on it. Now I’m getting so excited!!! :D