Katie Robinson

We have come to the end of weekend four of our bathroom adventure.  Seeing as we took it all back to the studs and none of us had tackled such a project before, complete with tiling, I think we did it quite swiftly.  However, it has felt that it has taken forever because of all of the canceled weekend projects in between due to snow and life in general.  We started the demolition on January 4th, so we have been tub-less and down a bath for over three months!

This weekend, though, has it brought it nearly to the end.  I have been saying all along that this weekend would be the “fun” one because nothing should have been too hard aside from the tiling.  Everything was difficult enough, though, and I learned a lot.

Let me remind you, internet world, what we started out with:

Behind the badly-weather wood and stained plastic insert stood crumbling, broken tile and rotting, foul wood.  I don’t think that the “before” photographs quite show how awful it once was.  I didn’t like showering or taking a bath because it all felt so dirty.  The bottom the plastic enclosure did not even have caulking anymore where it met the tub, but instead horrible-smelling black mild dew.  So gross.  And rust-stained.  And it was sooo hot because the radiator was really keeping it too toasty and the fan didn’t work since someone had blown insulation over top of it in the attic.  I hated it all and was so embarrassed by it when family would visit.

We ran into a lot of surprises and there were times that I worried about ever finishing.  I guess things just come up every step of the way when working with a 72-year-old house.  But now it is nearly done, and I couldn’t be more pleased.  I think we freshened it up a great deal while maintaining the cottage-y feel authentic to the house.  Even though it took a long time, I think our weekends went rather quickly.

Weekend 1:  demolition–took it back to the stubs and the plumber updated the plumbing.
Weekend 2:  pre-liminary re-building–re-did the wiring, framed and put in the glass blocks, leveled the floor with concrete, took out the radiator, bought the green board and concrete board.
Weekend 3:  re-walling–put up the walls and spackled.
Weekend 4 (this past weekend):  re-prettying–sanding the walls, painting the walls and ceiling, tiling, installing the wainscoting, installing the molding, installing the shower faucets and handle, installing the lights, installing the mirror, installing the toilet.
Weekend 5 (next weekend):  having a professional re-glaze the tub, installing the last two pieces of crown molding, painting the molding and wainscoting, and hooking up the sink.

With the snow melting, we’re back to renovating the bathroom!  By Friday night, Christopher and my dad had completed the wiring (two new outlets, the new light fixture, the new ceiling fan, and fixed the light switch box), put up insulation, removed and capped the radiator, and put cement down along the edges to level the floor.  We had hoped to salvage the old tile, but it had many cracks and was severely damaged by the radiator.  Instead, we selected a nice laminate floating floor that will hold up well against moisture and look similar to the rest of the flooring.  Not only is laminate incredibly inexpensive (less than $80 for the whole bathroom), but wood and bamboo floors are not suggested because of water issues.

Saturday brought a new day with new goals and another trip back to Lowe’s.  Chris and my dad picked up the greenboard and concrete board.  I’m not sure how they managed to carry all those boards–so heavy!  Instead of putting in a window, we opted for glass blocks since, well, it is in the shower.  Creating the frame was quite a pain because, as you can see, the original frame wasn’t even level.  I was so thrilled to see the window finally uncovered.  It let so much light in!  I can’t express how dark and grimy our bathroom used to feel.  Then they managed to get some greenboard up.

I picked up these knobs from Anthropologie to dress up the new vanity.  They have a ton of great hardware.  Kind of pricey, but very nice.  These were $6 each.

We thought about shifting plans around and getting a clawfoot tub instead of tiling for about ten minutes.  I wish we could, but it would just be too expensive.  I know it will look great anyway.  So, next weekend we will get back to work again, take a week off, and then hopefully be in our last weekend of work.  And be done!  I am planning a red ribbon cutting ceremony and everything.  I think that my dad should be honored with the first shower because he has been such a big help through all of these projects.

As the upstairs bathroom project is coming kind of near a close, I keep thinking up new projects.  Too many. Ahh!  Home renovations are fun, but I could go broke with all of my ideas.

Wouldn’t it feel nice to always be clasping a piece of artwork when opening or closing a door?

I am on the lookout for old doorknobs.  I am happy to say that all of the doorknobs in our house are old, worn, and I believe original to our 1938 home.  However, the backdoor does not have a door knob at all–just a big hole where one once was and metal plate around it.  So, I’m trying to figure out how in the world we can find one to fit.

This past weekend, my dad and Chris were able to put a back light up along with a few other things.  It is quite cute.

Chris drilling the hole into our brick…

And…  Tada! 

We have some significant home improvement plans coming up.  We’re going to tackle the upstairs bathroom and it is going to go down hard and be a big pain and somehow we will tile the shower and then it will be awesome.

By the way, isn’t this kitchen from Design*Sponge amazing?

It kind of reminds me of my own, which makes me pretty happy.  I guess that is why I like it.

While we are not completely finished with the house, I figured it was about time to post some before and after pictures, so I took some shots of the main rooms of the house.  We still need to hang more pictures, paint the hallway, and one day refinish the hardwood floors in the bedroom upstairs.  But…  I think we’ve come a long way so far.

The living room before:

Living room after:

Dining room before:

Dining room after:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Our bedroom before:

Our bedroom after: