Bathroom Remodeling & stufffff
Back in June 2013 when we bought the house we knew we were going to fix up the bathroom. It didn't come with a shower, just a tub. However we had to take down some tile to make that happen. There wasn't the proper drywall surrounding the tub to prevent water damage. Plus there was a window RIGHT in the middle of the exterior wall so we couldn't just easily put a shower in. As time went on and washing paint brushes in that bathroom (who cares if we get paint in there?) Jon started to notice a leak. So we stopped using that sink and figured there was more remodeling to do. At that point we said....all or nothing.
Issues in the bathroom/stuff that wasn't a big deal but wanted to change to make it our own:
1. No shower
2. Leaking sink faucet onto pipes.
3. Copper pipes (updated plumbing needed!)
4. Electrical updates desperately needed
5. Poor lighting (two can lights halfway down the wall only over sink is not well thought out)
6. Exterior Window
7. Vanity was as old as the house (1960), not a big deal but it made the entryway feel smaller.
*You can see how the lighting was in this odd placement in that wood beam. It made it seem gloomy and dark in the bathroom. The vanity went to the door way, which gave extra storage space but we're making up for it by putting a cabinet over the toilet. It will be better for storage out of kid's reach and not in the doorway.
4. Take out window and put in a new one that is not in the way of the shower. (Jon really likes natural light.) :)
5. Put in better lighting. Jon put in three can lights (one of them in shower area that has a fan combined) and a set over the vanity mirror.
6. Enjoy a new vanity (and spent more on a quartz counter top).
7. New sink (who would want a new bathroom and keep that pink sink?) and faucet.
8. New mirror (don't really like medicine cabinet mirrors).
9. Put in new tile flooring (and later decided on heated flooring).
10. Curtain rod & curtain, towels, hooks, rug, etc.
It was a slow start (we started painting other parts of the house), Jon got side tracked on his excitement on stuff he wanted to do, and the big bathroom project got stopped. Then he suddenly got the urge to get it going. During this time Ellie and I were at my parent's house staying out of the mess. I was dealing with two miscarriages (keeping Jon away from the house to help me with morning sickness and labors).
It was amazing how just paint made the rooms look so much better. (Probably also helped a couple of the rooms had some wallpaper to take off.)
Check here for details of how it got going. And then here for more. If you are having so much fun looking back, here's another one.
Those links will give you more info on our journey as we did each step on the house (and life that slowed us down). And there's more that slowed us down, but nothing we could do about it.
Back to the bathroom though. Seriously, I know, "Mary get on with it!"
If you follow me on Facebook you have probably seen the pictures from my album called Maxwell Main Bath. But I will also post some here to keep all our house stuff together on the blog as well. :)
Jon started demo like a pro.
He even removed the tub all by himself. I remember one day going to the house and just pondering what the next few months were going to be like. I had no idea. This stuff always takes longer than you could ever imagine. And if you guess longer, add more months to that.
In September we could still go to the bathroom upstairs. You had to wear shoes, but it was still workable. We no longer had a vanity. The bathroom was only useful for the toilet at that point. I told Jon to keep it there as long as possible (but to not let it slow him down though either). :) I don't like unfinished basements in case you were wondering....and our only other bathroom option was downstairs.
Step back view of the bathroom in September. Jon took the beam out that held the only two lights for the room, so he just stuck them in the wall until he got the plumbing and electrical worked on. That big space under the lights is where the medicine cabinet mirror was at.
Now I don't have many more pictures until January since I didn't go to the house very often during this demo. Have you ever had a one-year old at a house with nothing for her to play with but try to keep her away from drywall gunk? The house was always dirty from the demo and we couldn't keep up with it. Our little sweet girl wanted to crawl everywhere and her pants were always filthy after being at the house. Plus she doesn't like seeing Daddy and not have his attention. (Can you say Daddy's girl?) So Ellie and I kept our distance so Daddy could work.
So that is the next best picture I have. More drywall is out, updated plumbing going on, and Jon figuring out where new window will go. He had yet to get rid of the window (in the way of the shower), but had to wait for the weather to cooperate. :)
Then one night Jon got the urge to get that window out so tub could go in!! :) He got some help from his cousin Kristi (thank you!). Once the plumbing was done he was able to put the tub in.....
This picture was sent later (once the faucet/hook ups) were done. But I put it here to show off our nice, new tub! (White not pink!) :)
Then I missed a few pictures of the drywall getting done, but we had some help with that. We moved into our house on March 10th. That week I got busy unpacking boxes and making the house a home the best I could.
Go here to see what it was like the day we moved in.
When Jon returned home from work we had a home cooked meal, played with Ellie, and I had Jon do something I needed done so I could get more boxes unpacked the following day. Then he returned to the bathroom or to our clogging basement bathroom. :p
The rest of March and into April was finishing up vanity wall drywall, putting in new window, bathroom tile floor, and putting in new vanity.
Here's some fun pictures from the window and Jon closing it up with new framing and siding.
Left to do:
-Finish the wall with the window to prep for painting.
-Mud & Sand all walls in prep for painting (some already done).
-Finish floor tile (area where toilet is going is left) & then vac & grout
-Have counter top people come measure for vanity top.
-Paint (which doesn't take long once you get going & we already have all supplies needed)
-Put cabinet in over the toilet
-Put in toilet (YEAH! Time to not potty with centipedes!)
-Hang up curtain rod and curtain. (It's time to shower in a drain that doesn't have gunk from outside or one that doesn't clog from toilet clogging.)
-Install vanity counter top, sink and new faucet. Hallelujah!
-Then the fun stuff: towel hooks, decorative stuff, clock, vanity mirror, and last finishing touches. Pumped is an understatement.
The day I can organize our bathroom will be the day our linen closest will get more organized and no longer have so much bathroom stuff in it. It will also mean stuff in the guest room will be taken out (make up, razors, etc) since we'll get ready in the bathroom. Which then allows me to get the guest room more organized for guests to stay. It will also allow our tooth brushes OUT of the kitchen!! I feel like every other place in our house will feel more settled. Like I said, pumped for it to be DONE is SUCH an understatement. Because it also means more time with my husband and for our family to be together.
Which reminds me, I've never explained the washing machine story.
My mom gave me money towards whatever I wanted towards the house. I picked washing machine (something practical). The other one was kind of old and last used by a man who shortly went to a nursing home. I don't know, just something about having your very own new washing machine appeals to me. I'm not a laundry mat kinda girl.
So she got me this washing machine that was missing a part but it was supposed to come in (this was summer 2013). It never came but we weren't moving into our house yet so we held off on contacting anyone. Plus we were so focused on other things anyways.
Months go by and the part still doesn't show up. My mom knows how to call people and get things figured out. The guy lets her know it should come in by March 25th (15 days after move-in day). So I plan on coming to my parent's house when Jon gets busy on remodeling to shower and do laundry at my parent's house. It worked okay. Until the washing machine part never came. My mom called and now they tell her it won't come until middle of May.
Ugh.
Not something we wanted to hear. They wouldn't help us out or anything for THEIR mess up! So it will be almost a year without this part. Good thing we have my blessed parents to help us with the laundry needs or else we would be running out of clothes (or just really desperate). I'm already in survival mode and so I need some stability somewhere in my life. Back to my parent's basement Ellie and I came. No washing machine, no "decent" bathroom, and hubby working his butt off (sorry mom for using the word butt). It's hard for Ellie to be at the house when Daddy is around and he's not interacting with her. So being here and not there is helpful for all of us. (Besides the fact we're not all together.)
Right now I see Jon one night a week. I know some people have it worse than me, but I can't help not having a hard time about it. It's been my life for the past too many months to count and I've had enough. No more hiding my frustrations about it.
Well I guess this post didn't just end up being an update on the house but my thoughts as well. Sorry about that.
Hope you're having a great week and enjoying this weather! I think after a good nap for Ellie we'll get out! (She's had a rough morning so far.)
She didn't want to cuddle, but says "no" to a nap too. Goldfish and ice for lunch....
Issues in the bathroom/stuff that wasn't a big deal but wanted to change to make it our own:
1. No shower
2. Leaking sink faucet onto pipes.
3. Copper pipes (updated plumbing needed!)
4. Electrical updates desperately needed
5. Poor lighting (two can lights halfway down the wall only over sink is not well thought out)
6. Exterior Window
7. Vanity was as old as the house (1960), not a big deal but it made the entryway feel smaller.
 |
| poor lighting |
 |
| no shower, window in the way |
*You can see how the lighting was in this odd placement in that wood beam. It made it seem gloomy and dark in the bathroom. The vanity went to the door way, which gave extra storage space but we're making up for it by putting a cabinet over the toilet. It will be better for storage out of kid's reach and not in the doorway.
Our plans:
1. Take out all drywall and tile flooring and get rid of the pink/burgundy everything. (Remember all or nothing.)
2. Update plumbing.
3. Update electrical, add a few changes to the plug ins and light switch options. As long as Jon was down to the studs he added some electrical changes to the master bedroom (shares a wall with the vanity side).
 |
| all our plug-ins look like the one on the right, slowly switching over to what's on the left (thanks to Google images for this picture) |
4. Take out window and put in a new one that is not in the way of the shower. (Jon really likes natural light.) :)
5. Put in better lighting. Jon put in three can lights (one of them in shower area that has a fan combined) and a set over the vanity mirror.
6. Enjoy a new vanity (and spent more on a quartz counter top).
7. New sink (who would want a new bathroom and keep that pink sink?) and faucet.
8. New mirror (don't really like medicine cabinet mirrors).
9. Put in new tile flooring (and later decided on heated flooring).
10. Curtain rod & curtain, towels, hooks, rug, etc.
It was a slow start (we started painting other parts of the house), Jon got side tracked on his excitement on stuff he wanted to do, and the big bathroom project got stopped. Then he suddenly got the urge to get it going. During this time Ellie and I were at my parent's house staying out of the mess. I was dealing with two miscarriages (keeping Jon away from the house to help me with morning sickness and labors).
 |
| Ellie ~May 2013 (7 months) |
 |
| Labor Day 2013 (Ellie 11 months) |
Check here for details of how it got going. And then here for more. If you are having so much fun looking back, here's another one.
Those links will give you more info on our journey as we did each step on the house (and life that slowed us down). And there's more that slowed us down, but nothing we could do about it.
Back to the bathroom though. Seriously, I know, "Mary get on with it!"
If you follow me on Facebook you have probably seen the pictures from my album called Maxwell Main Bath. But I will also post some here to keep all our house stuff together on the blog as well. :)
Jon started demo like a pro.
 |
| June/July 2013 |
He even removed the tub all by himself. I remember one day going to the house and just pondering what the next few months were going to be like. I had no idea. This stuff always takes longer than you could ever imagine. And if you guess longer, add more months to that.
 |
| September 2013 |
In September we could still go to the bathroom upstairs. You had to wear shoes, but it was still workable. We no longer had a vanity. The bathroom was only useful for the toilet at that point. I told Jon to keep it there as long as possible (but to not let it slow him down though either). :) I don't like unfinished basements in case you were wondering....and our only other bathroom option was downstairs.
Step back view of the bathroom in September. Jon took the beam out that held the only two lights for the room, so he just stuck them in the wall until he got the plumbing and electrical worked on. That big space under the lights is where the medicine cabinet mirror was at.
Now I don't have many more pictures until January since I didn't go to the house very often during this demo. Have you ever had a one-year old at a house with nothing for her to play with but try to keep her away from drywall gunk? The house was always dirty from the demo and we couldn't keep up with it. Our little sweet girl wanted to crawl everywhere and her pants were always filthy after being at the house. Plus she doesn't like seeing Daddy and not have his attention. (Can you say Daddy's girl?) So Ellie and I kept our distance so Daddy could work.
 |
| 2.5.14 |
So that is the next best picture I have. More drywall is out, updated plumbing going on, and Jon figuring out where new window will go. He had yet to get rid of the window (in the way of the shower), but had to wait for the weather to cooperate. :)
 |
| 2.9.14 |
 |
| Feb 2014 |
This picture was sent later (once the faucet/hook ups) were done. But I put it here to show off our nice, new tub! (White not pink!) :)
Then I missed a few pictures of the drywall getting done, but we had some help with that. We moved into our house on March 10th. That week I got busy unpacking boxes and making the house a home the best I could.
Go here to see what it was like the day we moved in.
When Jon returned home from work we had a home cooked meal, played with Ellie, and I had Jon do something I needed done so I could get more boxes unpacked the following day. Then he returned to the bathroom or to our clogging basement bathroom. :p
The rest of March and into April was finishing up vanity wall drywall, putting in new window, bathroom tile floor, and putting in new vanity.
 |
| 4.5.14 |
 |
| There's a hole in my house!! |
 |
| 4.6.14 -planning on doing some painting this spring/summer |
 |
| 4.6.14-view from the inside |
-Finish the wall with the window to prep for painting.
-Mud & Sand all walls in prep for painting (some already done).
-Finish floor tile (area where toilet is going is left) & then vac & grout
-Have counter top people come measure for vanity top.
-Paint (which doesn't take long once you get going & we already have all supplies needed)
-Put cabinet in over the toilet
-Put in toilet (YEAH! Time to not potty with centipedes!)
-Hang up curtain rod and curtain. (It's time to shower in a drain that doesn't have gunk from outside or one that doesn't clog from toilet clogging.)
-Install vanity counter top, sink and new faucet. Hallelujah!
-Then the fun stuff: towel hooks, decorative stuff, clock, vanity mirror, and last finishing touches. Pumped is an understatement.
The day I can organize our bathroom will be the day our linen closest will get more organized and no longer have so much bathroom stuff in it. It will also mean stuff in the guest room will be taken out (make up, razors, etc) since we'll get ready in the bathroom. Which then allows me to get the guest room more organized for guests to stay. It will also allow our tooth brushes OUT of the kitchen!! I feel like every other place in our house will feel more settled. Like I said, pumped for it to be DONE is SUCH an understatement. Because it also means more time with my husband and for our family to be together.
Which reminds me, I've never explained the washing machine story.
My mom gave me money towards whatever I wanted towards the house. I picked washing machine (something practical). The other one was kind of old and last used by a man who shortly went to a nursing home. I don't know, just something about having your very own new washing machine appeals to me. I'm not a laundry mat kinda girl.
So she got me this washing machine that was missing a part but it was supposed to come in (this was summer 2013). It never came but we weren't moving into our house yet so we held off on contacting anyone. Plus we were so focused on other things anyways.
Months go by and the part still doesn't show up. My mom knows how to call people and get things figured out. The guy lets her know it should come in by March 25th (15 days after move-in day). So I plan on coming to my parent's house when Jon gets busy on remodeling to shower and do laundry at my parent's house. It worked okay. Until the washing machine part never came. My mom called and now they tell her it won't come until middle of May.
Ugh.
Not something we wanted to hear. They wouldn't help us out or anything for THEIR mess up! So it will be almost a year without this part. Good thing we have my blessed parents to help us with the laundry needs or else we would be running out of clothes (or just really desperate). I'm already in survival mode and so I need some stability somewhere in my life. Back to my parent's basement Ellie and I came. No washing machine, no "decent" bathroom, and hubby working his butt off (sorry mom for using the word butt). It's hard for Ellie to be at the house when Daddy is around and he's not interacting with her. So being here and not there is helpful for all of us. (Besides the fact we're not all together.)
Right now I see Jon one night a week. I know some people have it worse than me, but I can't help not having a hard time about it. It's been my life for the past too many months to count and I've had enough. No more hiding my frustrations about it.
Well I guess this post didn't just end up being an update on the house but my thoughts as well. Sorry about that.
Hope you're having a great week and enjoying this weather! I think after a good nap for Ellie we'll get out! (She's had a rough morning so far.)
She didn't want to cuddle, but says "no" to a nap too. Goldfish and ice for lunch....
Yay for progress! Looking good!
ReplyDeleteRemodeling your bathroom is indeed the best thing to do in this case, not only to update its appearance but also to fix all the damage it has in the interior and plumbing. It’s a lot of work, and I hope you hired someone to help you to make it somehow less stressful on your part. How is it progressing? I hope it's all done by now!
ReplyDeleteKristen Morris @ FiveStar Solutions
It seems to me that you were very prepared for this project. You have some pretty good ideas for the bathroom, and it looks like you are pretty familiar with what you want to achieve with it which is very good. I can see the progress in your photos – so far so good. Good luck with this project, guys! I can’t wait to see the finished product. Thanks for sharing it with us, Mary! More power and Godspeed!
ReplyDeleteHope Underwood @ Level and Square Construction