The One-Year Bath

Today is a BIG day for me.  One year ago, I convinced my husband to tear apart our very ghetto, very 70's master bath, even though we didn't really have sufficient plans or funds to put it back together in an efficient manner.  I jokingly said, "I don't care if it takes us six months to finish this bath! I just can't stand it one day longer, and at least if it's torn apart, we'll have to work on it bit by bit until it's done."  (I'm all about forward progress.)  Not fully convinced, my sweet husband agreed to start tearing up the bath, just to keep me happy.

Before Shot--tiny sink, carpet (yuck!), and a weird, little shower/toilet room that felt dark and claustrophobic.

Notice the lack of a door to separate the vanity from the bedroom.  This drove me crazy in the morning when I was trying to sleep and my husband was getting ready for work.  And what's with all those mirrored doors???

And so demo began.  Boy, were we thrilled with the results!  Tearing down the closet wall on the left and the toilet/shower wall on the right instantly made the space feel SO much bigger.  I think at this point, even my husband caught the vision and was glad I had talked him into starting the project.

Demo Phase--closet wall gone.

Demo Phase--toilet/shower wall and pocket door removed.

So little by little, we proceeded to work on the bath.  My joke about the 6-month project quickly turned into a reality.  The months crept by and progress was very slow.

In the early months, I worked on a floor plan; one which evolved to include both a tub and a walk-in shower, something we had previously not thought possible.  With efficient planning, we decided we could fit in both.  Next, I was on to shopping.  I went to a local plumbing showroom to check out the goods.  (This is always the fun part!  You're still in the dreaming stage, where budget and reality haven't fully sunk in.)  My first "find" was floor model tub, for sale at a deeply discounted price.  It offered sufficient size for comfortable soaking, but was not so wide that it wouldn't fit in our still rather small footprint.

The tub:  I didn't like the legs, so I decided we would use it as a drop-in model by building it a platform.

The next find was a lovely pedestal sink with chrome polished console.  By this point, I had decided that the look of our bath was going to be "rustic meets luxury", so a little sparkle was just enough to make my heart sing!  The faucet, seen here, was chosen from a wall display and oh-so-conveniently placed on the floor model sink to confirm that the two were a match made in heaven.  A little old-world for me, a little sleek and contemporary for my husband, and quality German engineering to-boot.

The pedestal sink and chrome console I choose.

Framing went up rather quickly, thanks to a good friend who doesn't mind doing little side jobs for us on the weekend. (Always good to know folks like that!)  Once framing was complete, we had the plumbing rough- in done.  That part was painful and very expensive.  Needless to say, our lack of proper planning and budgeting really bit us here.  Plumbing proved so expensive that we had to just put the project aside for a few months in order to let our wallets recover.  Thankfully, the next phase--electrical rough-in--wasn't nearly so bad.  

Here we sit, fixtures in hand, waiting for electrical help.

Finally, electrical rough-in was completed and insulation and drywall went up--also relatively inexpensive.    Then we sat around some more, gathering funds to put towards the next big ticket item--tile.  Happily, I did score an awesome deal on marble tile at my local Home Depot. (Yes, even designers shop there.)  I just happened upon it: 12x12 marble tiles for less than $2/sq ft!  The only hitch was that the existing stock was terribly flawed and I had to stand in the store for hours, picking through boxes and boxes of the stuff in order to find enough good pieces to use.  (Just FYI, the boxes were already opened, so apparently I wasn't the first to do this!)  When we had enough money saved up, we called the tile installers and they did an amazing job making my bargain tile look beautiful and expensive.  With the tile in, it was starting to look like a real bathroom.  I was happy about that, but then again, checking the calendar, we were at month 8 and still no finished bath!

Tile's in and trim work/bead board are done.  Just working on paint.

To give the room that rustic balance, I choose to clad most of the walls in full-height bead board.  I painted it white to give it a little of that cottage charm that I love so much.  The painting we did ourselves.  We don't always have the time or skills to do these home improvement projects, but painting is one task we can always handle ourselves to save a little moolah.

Along the way, there were also other little DIY projects.  Seen below is a wall shelf I picked up at a TJ Maxx store.  I loved the rustic quality and the exaggerated shape of the support brackets, but dark green color just wasn't going to cut it.  I painted it white to match the bead board and decided it would be just the thing over the toilet.

Painting Project--decorative shelf.

By this time we were in the home stretch.  Or so we thought.  We nearly died when we got a quote for the final plumbing trim out.  It was double what we expected to pay.  We were told that our sink consoles were very tricky (okay, but I still loved them) and that my bargain tub wasn't such a bargain (lesson learned there). Setting the tub was going to be a big job.  And so we sat.  Month 10 and still no bath.  Then finally, a breakthrough.  Our fabulous tile installers referred a plumber to us whose rates were much more reasonable.  Things were starting to look up.  The plumbing was installed at month 11 and everything was in working order.  Almost.  We still didn't have a proper glass shower enclosure and that too would have to wait....again....very expensive.

And here we are today.  Twelve months later.  It's a special day!  The shower glass was delivered and installed and I finally have a proper master bath.  Boy, was it worth the wait!  It's just the right mix of fancy and shabby, small but "lives large", both Sheila AND Dave.  Gone is the ghetto bath, the shag carpeting, the popcorn ceiling, and the weird shower cave.  Tomorrow morning when I shower in there, I'm going to feel like I have arrived.  And just in time.  Tomorrow is another big day.  I'm turning 40.   Maybe it won't be such a bad day after all.  Forty feels pretty good if it means getting your own little slice of spa perfection in the morning.

Ahh--complete! (will share more "after" photos in a future post)