So, they said they could do the work to renovate both of our bathrooms in 7 days, they were wrong. Very wrong and there were many times I wanted to pull my hair out during the last 4 weeks... but it's done, and I'm obsessed. Its a weird comparison, but I told my mom, its a bit like a bad pregnancy, once the baby safely arrives, you forget about the struggle to get to that point, because it's all worth it.
This renovation was exhausting, frustrating, and just about everything else in between. Many week nights were spent running around to Home Depot, Lowes, Home Goods, or Bed & Bath, trying to find the perfect fixtures or design ideas. Then of course there were the trips to Tile America and Mr. Shower door. When we weren't out looking at things, or fighting with our contractor, we were staring at endless at photos of bathrooms online. Just exhausting.
When we first moved into our house, our guest bath looked like this:
Over the last year and a half we made some updates, and were happy to get to this place:
We always felt like beadboard would look nice in there, but held off doing the update until we were ready to do the floor and vanity too. The vanity was built into the wall, and even though I'd painted it and we'd gotten new hardware, it was hard to mask that the piece itself was very old. The standard vanity height now is 34 inches, I think this was 27. So, it was perfect for Madelyn, but not necessarily practical. The floor, was a cheap laminate that from afar, looked O-K. But up close, you could see it peeling up all around the edges. It just looked icky. So, it made sense for it all to happen at once. This was the smaller of the reno jobs - and now it looks like this!
We had a new toilet, and a white tub and tile surround along the back wall - all that work well with our new updates. We kept the wall color, light fixture, mirror and curtain that we had added before, and brought in the new tile floor, high bead board, new electrical and a pretty white vanity. I was thinking that this would be a simple update, but these little changes have made for a big impact. It looks great, and we LOVE it!
I'm actually surprised we have before pictures of our master bath. It was so ugly, I don't even remember taking photos of it. Are you ready? Don't laugh... When we moved in, this is what it looked like:
It had a hunter green laminate floor that was disgusting and a vanity that might have been original, from the 70's. I think I was so happy to have a master bath when we looked at the house, I dismissed how bad it was. It had a HUGE window the length of the shower, and a big tub, both of which we wanted to get rid of. Some days it was a challenge to shower and get ready in there because even though we took down the dark wallpaper and added lots of white to brighten it up, it was just bad. This is what it looked like the day before the reno. White walls, white tile in the shower and behind the vanity, and our new toilet :)
This is our master bath today:
We plan to do a nice glass shower door, but that whole process got held up. I'm so happy with everything else, that for now, I'm fine with the white curtain. We did a big subway tile on the shower walls, and matching grey tile on the floor and shower floor. The original vanity we picked was too big, so with just a few hours notice we found this one in stock, and we were able to make the switch pretty easily. Yesterday I bought baskets to organize our vanity, and next I need to find shelves and artwork for the wall... that's all the fun stuff. I finally got to shower in here today, and it was glorious. Although we all woke up late this morning, I took my longest shower in months :) It was such a long awaited treat :)
So, 7 days took 28. The first 7 days were weren't home, and then I think we were forced to stay at my parents for another 6 nights because of the simultaneous work. I'm not going to lie, the 2 weeks that we lived here during the work, seemed like an eternity. Brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink, showering in our guest bath, baths all off schedule, dust everywhere and workers coming and going, it was a bit more overwhelming than I expected. Now, we can just relax and enjoy. We've moved back into our baths, unpacked (finally!) from Florida and I'm thrilled to start this week feeling like we're back to normal a bit.
Would I do a big reno again? Yes, probably... because they came out beautiful but it certainly brought along some unnecessary stress. I guess they always do though, right? To say we are relieved its over, is an understatement. We were going to use the same company for a kitchen update, and that's definitely not happening. We've put that whole project on hold for the time being. I thin next up on our list, might be tackling some things outside - just in time for all the nice weather we're expecting!
Hope you had a great weekend - Happy Monday!
