Bathroom Remodel

Chaos & Planning Part 2

It seems I have had a bout of writer block, or really it's, a slight annoyance with the ultra slow pace of completing our many projects. Since I posted Chaos & Planning Part 1, Two years and five months have past. Boy oh boy how our little world has changed. We have checked off many boxes on renovations which is awesome.  Only catch is we still have a laundry list of projects or details that need finishing to really say the job is done. 

Can you say DIY Reality Check?

On a happier note, our kitchen, dining room, and living area are again mostly done. In June of 2020 we deemed the 1st floor as no longer a construction zone and move out of the upstairs in-law apartment and made the 1st floor our main living quarters. I have to admit a few tears were shed out of shear relief and the realization that our family is not going to live in an unfinished house forever. 

No worries though, I'll make a before and after post for that huge accomplishment, but 1st the one I have been holding out on is the 1st floor bathroom, since I so rudely left you all hanging with the demo post and our big plans for it, and now it's finally done... Drum roll please....

I can't even believe this is my bathroom.   

From this mess 

Bathroom before we tore it up. Nothing to salvage here.

The shower and sink drains rained into the basement. the closet door by the vanity didn't open enough to use (the vanity was in the way), and not to mention flooring! 

There were 2 doors that accessed the bathroom one from the hall, and one from the front bedroom. We deleted access to the front bedroom opening up use of the whole wall on both sides.

Below is the original floor plan design, not much changed, excepted the smaller 48" shower base that in now centered with the window instead of in the corner. We also choose to take out the washer and dryer which would have split the room as half dirty laundry room, to instead having the luxury of a antique soaking clawfoot tub.  Best decision ever!

First let's look at the spoils of our labor. 

Then a peek at the horrors of  remodeling a old house DIY style.

New walls and a newly built wide barn door slider offer a fresh entrance 

into the bathroom. The two must haves for this reno were the tile and the shower door. I fell in love with both and had to have them.  So everything else we found deals or refinished.  

The hall will be painted and sprucing up over the summer and fall...fingers crossed.

The washer and dryer are still here now, but will be relocated upstairs where the in-law apartment kitchen is. Yes! that's another project.

My Tub 💓💓💓

Super messy job if you ever decide to try this yourself, be sure to cover the floor and use shoes that are easy to slip on and off. To complete all the steps for re-glazing it took me pretty much all day, since I have no prior experience I was a little apprehensive to dive right in. In researching the "how to's" I found the product  ArmoGlaze an American made product that is an epoxy. The finish is applied by pouring it down the sides and is like the consistency of a liquid Marshmallow Fluff and dries incredibly hard. Definitely watch the YouTube video several time. They make it look easy, but I assure you it is not.

Purchased on FB Marketplace, repainted, reglazed, and new fixtures.

I think we've all seen old clawfoot tubs in need of refinishing and repair, some needing more help than others.  I'm pretty proud of myself for braving this challenge and are very happy with the results.  

View shower from mirror

The shower doors are from  the company DreamLine, Toulon collection. Lots of styles to choose from check out the DreamLine Shower Door Collections.  The shelves are locally sourced 14" x 2" pine planks, fresh cut and dried at home. Highly recommend finding neighbors with a saw mill, it can save you a lot of money on these specialty items, just check out the premium prices from the big box stores. We had them planed at a local cabinet maker when dried enough to finish.  The shiplap is also from a local wholesalers which was also much cheaper then buying from Lowe's. They get enough of our money. :)

I've always wanted to repurposed a dresser as a vanity so we used my old dresser stripped and repainted in a Midnight Shadow by Valspar and kept the top natural with a Waterlox sealant.  To finish it off I've topped it with a crisp white vessel sink and old rubbed bronze faucet. 

The chimney cabinet was all black and now freshened up with a new charcoal paint and a grey interior, I replaced the top panel with glass from a local glass shop. Brighten everything up with new light fixtures in a school house pendent style 💝

Our Shower with built in niche so we have plenty of space
for everyone's shower necessities 

Beware, A horror show ahead...viewers please be advised, the following may not be fit for all viewers

Here are some of the deep dives we had to take to get to the end results

The demo that never seemed to end

Finally cleared the room, time to pull up the old floor covering 

Oh No!  All the layers of flooring are coming up as one piece? 

 Figuring out our project is getting a whole lot bigger.

Watch your step.  

New floor stringers and slopping floors leveled. We closed off the door going into the front bedroom. We had to remove the walls entering from the hall to get the floor up and gained  about 6" for the bathroom by bumping out the reframed walls to be level with the hallway.

The room is coming together now, the ceiling and shower framed out, new shiplap walls, and new window placement  

I was surprised how well the plastic kept out the cold and held up over the winter 😬  

Love this tile bought from Home Depot. Looked at local tile places but they couldn't beat the $1.20sf price. Our tile for the shower I bought from my sister who found at a flea market and got for a steal.  Thanks Sister. 

That's all the projects, aside from plumbing which is all kind of behind the scenes and not my husbands favorite side job.  

Stay tuned, I'll post again soon.