bathroom

progress post: a bathroom update.

Update!

I have so many posts to finish about various areas of the house… but ya know, editing vacation photos just wins me over every time.

Remember the plans for our little baby bath? Well, we're sticking pretty close to it so far. We've got all white mostly everything. A beautiful custom vanity by our friend, James, at Rivertown Woodcraft. And the signature Ikea mirror. I purchased that like... pre-demo. Everyone puts this mirror in their bathroom, do they not?

We did not however, pull off the hex tile floor. Just wasn't going to work out. We contemplated the flooring forever, per usual. But I think sticking with a simple grey stacked mosaic ended up working out well. We'll bring in unique elements elsewhere- in non permanent ways. It also took us forever and a day to decide on a vanity faucet (because the round mirror hung down and out from the wall so much), and light fixtures (I wanted your entire face lit, not just from above.) The struggle with balancing modern and functional with midcentury and appropriate adds to our decision making delays too.

Pro tip: Make sure you measure ALL pieces and parts. I was convinced the light fixtures were not evenly spaced around the mirror and in relation to the vanity. But we kept measuring and realigning, and almost put new holes in the wall! The measurements were telling us everything was evenly spaced and aligned properly, yet the whole placement felt off. Last thing we thought to measure- the round mirror. It wasn’t perfectly round and the nail holes on the frame were not centered!! So we eyeballed that and it looks much better now. #ThanksIkea

And now some things we tried, things we learned, and things we redid.

Things we tried

We initially tried to cut individual tiles to create a custom floor pattern. I love our creativity and blind ambition. However, it would have taken much much longer to finish and the saw blade kept chipping the tile edges. We probably didn’t even have the right tile to be cutting like that anyway. But look how fun our idea was!

Things we learned

Another failed attempt was mudding and taping our drywall. My exact thought was, “Hey I went to art school, I know how to sand things! Dustin works on vehicles. This is just like bondo, I’m sure. We got this!” Absofrickinlutely not. One attempt at a corner and I was done; again fearing we were ruining the house. So we called in the pros! For the first time we hired out work and I’m so glad we did! MikeTheMudder, our OG VIP came in to save the day and has since returned to do our bedroom, closet, and living/dining/and kitchen area.

This was big because we learned when it’s necessary to call in people who already know what they are doing! DIY is F-I-N-E until it’s not. Mike saved us time, and in-turn money, because we won’t have to redo his work. No ripply bubbles in our walls! He also uses like five different compounds! There are specific reasons for each separate layer. Some are sticky and strong, intended to hold. Others are thin and easily sanded. We had purchased one… newbs.

Things we redid

Like the DIY tile and drywall mud, we’re not going to get everything right the first time. That was the case of our trim. Our first plan was to match the trim in the rest of the house. The rounded edge style common to all our grandparent’s homes. Our friend Drew, who has helped all throughout our renovation process, worked with Dustin to install the trim in the bathroom. The new toilet was set into place. I even got the new trim painted. After a couple days Dustin decided he didn’t like it. He wanted something thinner. We’ll end up replacing the trim throughout the rest of the house, so it reallllly wasn’t necessary to match anything at that time.

I’m stating right here, right now, if you’re ever contemplating changing something out in your house and get cold feet- call me in. I’ll rip off the bandaid for you. My mom can attest. I will tear down that strip of wallpaper, carefully remove the newly installed trim, roll on that scary bright paint color. I’ll do that initial scary step for you. You’re very welcome.

So I stepped up on the latter and said, “Yeah? You don’t like this anymore?” And popped off the first piece. Second time around we had a paint sprayer and painted the trim ahead of time. Our caulking skills had improved by then too. :) So it wasn’t the worst project to have to redo.

Round two!

Ongoing bathroom debates and projects:

Frost the windows. We have yet to come up with a privacy screen. We removed the lace contact paper and have since taped towels over the windows. So we obviously need a better solution, it just has not been the first priority. As a reminder, this window looks out into our garage, which through garage windows looks into our neighbor’s windows and into their house. Hiiiiiii.

Update the shower hardware. Still working with those plastic gems, guys. Need to find a stainless steel option to match the rest of our fixtures. We just haven’t yet because pickiness… are you surprised?

Decorate!!! Oh my gosh, I CANNOT WAITTTTT. We’ve avoided stores and antique malls for awhile. I didn’t want to decorate the finished rooms because of drywall dust and general construction woes. But we’re getting there!

Organize the vanity. My OCD tendencies can’t wait to make a trip to the Container Store for this specific reason. Kind of waiting to do this and the linen closet right outside the bathroom at the same time.

Refresh caulk and grout. Eh. ya know, eventually.

progress post: green beer and gray tile.

Saint Patricks Day 2017.

We went to a friend's house and drank beer, ate delicious food, and played darts. Then we came home and tiled our bathroom floor. Very productive day!

Tile drunk, grout sober. That's how the saying goes, no?

The hexagons lost out to this gray mosaic. Happy to have a stacked neutral / bummed about the hexagons. But those cement tiles were just too inaccessible for us at the time and would have created a height difference from the wood floor.

All in day's work! If only all projects would follow the Friends, Food, and Finished-by-the-end-of-the-night approach.

Stay tuned for the two things we tried/redid in the bathroom. Because who doesn't like doing things all over again...?

progress post: tile that tub!

From about October 2016 to January 2017 we used my sister's shower, work, ... or the gym on very rare occasions. Thank goodness they 1. live less than a mile and a half away and 2. weren't working on their shower at the same time. 

You probably noticed the floor tile isn't done. Of course not... that was a couple months later. You can see it here, though. Luckily, we knew what tile we wanted for the tub, but that floor was a wholeeee other decision!  Remember this idea? Anyway, we secured plastic over the subfloor and showered with the door open and fan on for about two months. #glamorous.

Also, don't get me started on the faucet knobs. I was told we could change those out later and we have yet to find a new set we like/works... so in the meantime, we're stuck with these default, yet period appropriate gems. Decisions are hard, guys!

But hey- after about three months, we could finally shower in our own home!

demo days: bathroom.

Update! Or more like "Recap!" It's about time for one of those, right?

I started this blog to keep track of our projects, document progress along the way (not just post dated before photos and beautifully blown out after shots). To be honest this blog would have year long gaps if that were the plan.

However, it’s hard for me to decide what to include and what not… I’ve taken so many shots of demo and construction but I don’t know how to curate it into a nice little story. Plus, we bounce around from project to project, room to room; so it’s not like we complete one entirely before we start another. Is that how you renovate- one room at a time? Or do you bounce around?

Well, knowing that I love looking back on photos no matter what, I’ll just include a whole bunch. My blog after all. Thanks for making it through this inner monologue.

We started renovating the bathroom in August 2016, here are a few photos from the early stages.

By the way, the cover photo was the first layer of wallpaper in the bathroom. I love it.

If you didn't see our plans for the bathroom, you can check out the initial mood board here!

bathroom plans.

I'm pretty sure my mom gagged when she first saw this carpet-covered bathroom. Eeee wasn't aware carpet in bathrooms was a thing... 

So we're going to gut it. (Insert muscles emoji.) Here's what we're thinking!

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MOOD BOARD

Bright whites for the small space. Stacked tiles. Wood accents. Modernized vanity, toilet, and tub.

mid mod-ish bathroom inspiration

SOURCE  ||  A B C D E F G H

Question... can you have a real plant in a bathroom with no direct sunlight? Is that a silly question? There's technically a window buuuut it looks into the garage, which used to be a carport. So if any sunlight manages to sneak its way in, it's veryyy indirect.

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