Hello Bathroom Reno!

Feb 2
5 min read

The Baby Bathroom. The Mini Of The Wonderful New Primary Bath.

Hello

Baby!

I think that if our original 1940's bathroom and our new spectacular 2020 primary bathroom had a baby, this would be it! Do you have a retro bathroom ready for an upgrade? If so, you can do it!

So, once a lot of the bigger stuff was getting closer to being finalized in our reno world...I started researching redoing the original bathroom. Although I loved that original green tile and thought it was "cute", the floor was caving in mysteriously underneath the tile and I figured, if we have someone pull up the floor and fix whatever is wrong underneath, we may as well price out redoing the entire thing. Scary and exhilarating at the same time!

Ironically, I had thought about this before. A LOT. I even had a folder labeled "Bathroom Reno". Yes, I make folders too! I actually ordered the light fixture and the medicine cabinet that I had originally selected all those years ago and stuffed pictures of into my Bathroom Reno Folder! And going back to how my brain works, this originally came from my good old faithful Design Binder...I had ripped out a picture of someone else's bathroom and put it in the Binder and this is what gave me my starting point of my ideas, all crammed into a folder, all those years ago!

THE O.G.

The ORIGINAL GREEN Bathroom!

I really truly did love this bathroom! And I truly miss the funky green tile some times, but it was definitely time for an update!

The original green bathroom has changed a lot over the years and at one time the walls were cream and there was a big bulky sink cabinet in there! Then, for a while, the walls were purple! I definitely went through a purple faze. But…you’ve got to move on right?!

Over the years, I had already made some changes. I changed out the bulky sink cabinet for a pedestal sink (which I made sure had a decent amount of edging around it, so it was more usable) and I had already put the cute little storage cabinet in to make up for the lost space. Thank you Home Goods!! And I had already installed the floating shelves above the toilet. Thank you Design Binder! So I was off to a good start on the updates before the update!

This picture is from before I bought the house, when I was doing my first walk through.

Back to the Reno…So I hired someone to fix under the floor first. They were amazing!! Shout out to Hygema! (I won’t mention the name of the other company that snobbily wouldn’t even come check out my situation…) These guys were amazing and they reassured me that my house wasn't falling apart. They fixed whatever was wrong under the bathroom floor, but also, at the same time, added a new crawl space entry, as the old one was now buried under the addition. They even deducted money (a lot of money) off of my final bill, because they were able to use my existing permit and did not have to submit for their own. Who does that?! They do! For some reason, maybe because of this, this was the first time that I realized that I needed to thank people with a gift for helping out in a dire situation (even though I'm paying them to do so - ha ha)....so, I bought their office Peterbrook Popcorn! If you know, you know! After that, all of my fabulous helpers got Peterbrook!

So what happened next was...I then found out that the guys who put in my shower door in the new primary did total bathroom remodels! What?! So I asked for a price. I expected double what they quoted me…and since I was already in debt up to my eyeballs, but hoping to refinance it all out later, I quickly agreed! Moral of that story is, it never hurts to ask!

And then the pandemic just seemed to be getting worse and worse…dun, dun, dun…I said to the main guy - are we still on or do we have to wait? He literally said, “these guys aren’t afraid of Covid. They live on coffee and cigarettes and as long as your ok with them being in your house, they’ll work”. I was like, ok. And let me tell you, these guys were awesome! They totally appeased me. I told them from the beginning that I was afraid, being an off grade house, that when they tore everything up that bugs would get in the house and so they covered it in plastic every night before I got home from work! I could barely take any pictures because everything was covered in plastic! LOL!

I think it took like 2 weeks and they were done! I still reminisce about the OG, but I really love the new “old” bathroom! When you are sitting on the couch in the living room and the bathroom door is open, I actually think, wow that’s fabulous, because you can see right into that new space and it’s just so pretty!! I painted the walls, the dark color from the accent walls in the addition, called Cathedral Stone by Valspar. I knew I wanted classic white Subway tile with the same Mapei Warm Gray Grout color and I added that little chair rail type accent at the top, because I saw it in my best friend Tami's house! I also wanted a little bit of modern added in there so, I went with the same gray floors from the new bathroom, which also wouldn’t show any dirt - and I had tons left over from the primary bathroom. Win, win! Those tiles came from a kind of salvage place, who sell old doors and old hard wood floors, and random other things (like my tile) that have been ripped up or saved from somewhere else, and sent here to repurpose. Love that!

Oh, and we kept the original cast iron tub, because why wouldn’t you? The new tub that I contemplated getting, at that time, I think cost at least $600 and it would’ve been plastic! Keeping my old cast iron tub - best decision ever. Refinishing that tub is still on the list, but we have bought the refinishing kit so, one day!

I never would have thought that a door and glass place would have been able to do a bathroom remodel. Who knew?! And I know these guys saved me a ton of money! A remodel company would have wanted obscene amounts more. I never would have thought that redoing this bathroom would be obtainable and I'm sure it's way more expensive today...but just ask! It never hurts to ask!

RIP The O.G. Bathroom

The Baby Bathroom Is Born

And so, here we go!! Demo / Remodel Pics!