Almost Finished

We have been working diligently to finish the bathroom remodel. I can't believe I actually thought at one point that we could finish the whole project over Memorial Day weekend. I just went back and read the first blog entry about this project, and realized I am WAY overdue in posting the progress pictures.

At the conclusion of Memorial Day Weekend, we had new walls, floors, and functioning shower. We ran into problems at every turn of this project. We had to redirect plumbing, electrical, heating ducts were right where the shower drain needed to be, and the list goes on. Our home will be 100 years old next year, so we knew we would be working with corners that were not square and other such challenges. One of the major problems of this project was that the walls not only weren't square, they weren't flat, either. They tend to bulge in the most inconvenient places!

The older boys have been the primary users of the new shower. They left for camp before we installed the new medicine cabinet, so haven't been able to move their shaving things in yet, but that won't take them long to settle in when they get back.



I LOVE the new flooring. It was easy to install, and has been easy to keep clean. I'm glad we decided to install it on the diagonal. It complements the angled shower and adds interest. We chose to match the wall paint to the blue vein in the tiles.


The shower, although it takes up a lot of space, was really the inspiration for the whole remodel. We built the adjacent wall so that it did not go all the way to the ceiling, allowing more sunlight from the window that was partially blocked. Because the room is only 6.5 feet wide, there were limited choices in design. It has been so nice having the extra shower.


This is a picture of the new ceiling. No more gross mismatched dropped ceiling tiles. No more discolored grid. Now it's just a smooth white ceiling.


We installed wainscoting with a chair rail on two of the walls to match the new sink cabinet. All of the fixtures are brushed nickel.


The toilet remains the same. It still gets dirty. It did get pulled up and then put back down after the flooring was installed. The cabinet in the corner was the only storage in the room.


These are the new custom cabinets we built. They extend from floor to ceiling, from wall to sink. The doors have wainscoting as well. There is another cabinet behind the shower wall that is 18" deep and 24" wide. The best thing about building the cabinets was that Shannon bought me a NAIL GUN! It's so much fun to use, and makes me feel like a real carpenter. I even built an end table this week in about a half hour.




I now have TONS of storage. I was able to move all of my baking things, serving dishes, extra china, extra glasses for entertaining, and other various things that had been stored upstairs in the closet that is now my laundry room. And I got to use my handy dandy label maker to identify everything. Shannon thinks I'm such a nerd.



The cabinet holds six 24 packs of pop perfectly, and I didn't even plan it that way. It's been nice to stock the pantry with food, and clear out my kitchen cabinets a bit.

It was difficult to get good pictures of the bathroom. It's just too narrow. I'm pleased with the outcome, and we have added over 80 cubic feet of cabinet space to our home. There is still some trim work to be done. I need to paint the inside of the door and install the trim. I have about a foot and half of baseboard to install once the door is done. I have to stain the outside of the door and do that trim, too. There are paint spots on the floor still, and some of the trim needs to be touched up. I'd like to add a couple more shelves in the cabinet behind the shower wall. Maybe we'll get some art on the wall eventually, maybe not.

All of the hard work and LAYERS of paint have been worth it. I'm no longer embarrassed to have company use our downstairs bathroom.

Did I mention I got a NAIL GUN?!?

"Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established." Proverbs 24:3