Let me tell you a story about the downstairs guest bathroom in this house. When John first moved in and for the following two years before I moved in, the downstairs bathroom was the only bathroom. To close the door once you were in the bathroom and ready to do your business, you would have to lift the toilet seat to close the door because the toilet was too big (WHO DOES THAT?!?) As soon as I moved in, this bathroom was my main concern. The toilet was replaced immediately...because GROSS - who wants to touch the seat every time you need to shut the door! I tried to doctor up the bathroom as much as possible as you can see here....
I wish I had a before-before picture when it was still a bachelor pad. I painted the cabinet, hung a coordinating shower curtain and put up paintable wallpaper and painted. It wasn't so bad, but soon the cast iron bathtub drain started rusting meaning there was a leak therefore we just decided to rip out the entire bathroom and start from scratch.
As you can see here, there was about 6 inches of mortar-concrete crap behind the hideous tile. John did not have an easy time getting all of this out. Also, the walls were plaster, not drywall. And don't forget - the tub was CAST IRON. Navigating it through our small hallways and outside was not easy.
Here it is completely gutted - sans tile, tub, everything.
New tub, new walls, new tile.
And before you get the final reveal....give it up for this guy - my handy husband. He is the best! He did all of this work himself, with a help of a few of his friends for the heavy lifting stuff.
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| This is what he looked like after each day of work. And let me just say, I was not easy to work with. Beware - renovations can cause marital stress. But the finished project was well worth the wait and the stress! The Reveal! |
I love it! Guest are now welcome with a full functioning bathroom! Come visit!
We did this all on a budget too! The vanity was on clearance at Lowes. I reused the shower curtain. The tiles both mosaic and side walls were on clearance. I reused the paint color from our kitchen. I had a gift card at Target for the vanity mirror. I chose the neutral tones because they will be great for resell whenever that may be.
In the midst of this renovation - John had a case of ADD and also started building a patio, planting about 10 trees along our property line for privacy and redoing our deck. The deck and trees are done, the patio is still in process. Pictures of the other projects to come soon!
