Bathroom Reno Sneak Peek

I think I've teased you long enough. Honestly, I was hoping it would be done by now. So close though.

Let's remember what we started with, shall we. First reaction, no way. Second thought, hmm this could be fun. Here's my first post with our ideas.

We decided we'd take care of the painting ourselves. What were we thinking? Kidding, sort of. But I've taken on this task and I warn you, it is tedious.

The timeline so far:

• Fill all one thousand plus nail holes with wood filler, let dry
• Sand, sand, and sand some more. And wear a mask because it sure gets dusty. 
• Prime
• Find a few nail holes you missed while getting ready for bed, fill those
• Sand the trim and walls again with a high grit sand paper. I love the sand paper blocks.
• Prime again (on a Friday night).
• Paint the ceiling the following morning
• Second coat on the ceiling
• Prime the top half of the walls
• Take a break and enjoy life
• Wake up Sunday, sand again.
• Paint the board and batten (first coat)

Phew, it's been a lot of work. I have to sand once more and add one more coat of paint on the board and batten. We went with Pure White (Sherwin Williams) in an eggshell finish. I realized last week that if I used the trim paint we've been using in other rooms, the entire lower half of the wall would just be way too shiny. So back to the store we went - Sherwin Williams is running a paint and painting supply sale through October 31st so we took advantage of that. Also - in a bathroom, make sure to choose a paint that resists mold and mildew well.

Then comes the fun part, picking out the color for the top half of the walls!  I threw a few samples we already owned up on the walls - Chelsea Gray (Benjamin Moore) on the left, Greyish (Sherwin Williams) on the right. And have decided ones too dark while the other's too light. But I can't say we don't like the idea of something on the darker side...what do you think?

This project has certainly been a dream (and a major headache at times for sure). I never thought I'd have the opportunity to design my own bathroom this early into owning a home. I didn't think I'd be doing any major renovations just yet! But that's the path we've chosen, and I have learned so much from it. The house just needs a little TLC! ;) The final stages of the bathroom renovation take place this week - installing the shower glass. Then we will be able to finish the room. And I'll share the rest of the details and fixtures then. 

Stay tuned!

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Fun Fact Friday 9.06.13

Did anyone else feel like this was the longest short work week ever? No? Just me? Not that I should complain since I used to work crazy hours through the 9/15 corporate tax deadline but man this week went by slow. Very happy to see Friday roll around.

Even though I've already recapped our holiday weekend (minus the weddings), I have plenty to share. Don't you worry.

1. Tucker spent a few nights with my parents last weekend while J and I shuffled between weddings. And he just loves his bff Bruno's spare bed. It's a memory foam that my parents picked up at Petco and its plenty cushy. Heck I'd nap on it. I've been meaning to order Tucker a new bed since we moved. I promised him one. His size Medium, worn in bed just isn't cutting it anymore. This boy has gotten big in the last couple years! This is how I found him the other night. A bit dramatic no? I have never seen a dog kick their bed aside before.

Your new bed is on its way sir. Size XL. Now get off my Moroccan rug!

2. I found myself painting again the other night. Obviously with a glass of wine. I recently purchased some frames matted down to 5x7 that I'm planning to cut this down to fit (its on 9x12 paper). Maybe frame 2? Such an easy way to add a pop of color to a room.

3. I splurged...and I'm so excited to test this out tomorrow morning on our long run. Wednesday morning we decided to push our run a little bit and ended up running an extra 2 miles, thinking it was just an extra mile. We both felt great and I really wish I knew what our pace was. This (Garmin Forerunner 10) is certainly one of the more affordable options if you're looking, and the reviews are great. 

4. This week in the bathroom renovation decisions....it's granite time! We've been hoping to find a remnant large enough to cut a double sink vanity, bench seat, threshold to the shower, and two ledges which the shower glass will sit upon. Crazy, right? But it will look incredible. Here are a few options we have, given our requirements. And I think one just might work out perfectly...

5. And lastly, have I made you wait long enough? A glimpse at the bathroom space! (Here's what we started with)

Yes, that is plumbing for two shower heads. Bom chicka wah wah.  Haha I am so sorry, I had to.

And the grouted, dirty (sorry!) floor. 12x24" tiles laid in a running board pattern, perpendicular with the vanity & shower wall:

Unfortunately, our contractor is at a little bit of a standstill until we pick the granite, even though the vanity isn't in yet. The bench piece needs to go in before the walls are tiled, the walls need to be tiled before the shower floor gets tiled, and the batten board can't be properly measured until the granite ledges are installed on the half walls (so that the batten board is even with it). Oops. So ya, granite decision being made today!

Any weekend plans for you?

We are heading to the Cape for a friend's wedding! I cannot wait. 

Expect next week to be a wedding week extravaganza. I have so much to fill you in on.

Have a fantastic weekend!

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Linking up with H5F4, Friday Favorites, That Friday Blog Hop

Bathroom Reno: Lighting

Thanks to a weekend jam packed with getting things done and enjoying the last few days of summer, I took yesterday off from blogging. I hope you got to enjoy the close to perfect weather we had this weekend. I may have spent an hour or so floating around our pool yesterday afternoon, completely and utterly relaxed. It was just so nice out!

What allowed me to feel so relaxed yesterday and not guilty for taking a bit of me time? We fit our training run in Saturday morning, got a bunch of errands done, and even finally finished unpacking the office. Ahh, it felt good. It always feels good to get something accomplished, doesn't it?

Lets get back on track, shall we? With the tile ordered (and in!), the vanity on its way, and the electrical work done this weekend, it's time to choose lighting. Vanity lighting specifically. We've decided to go with two separate vanity mirrors so that we can install side lighting. (These pictures here and here were very helpful).

I failed to mention above but Saturday we also ordered all of the bathroom fixtures. First of all, I am in love with everything that we ordered which I guess is most important. But what a racket! I understand that every fixture is its own expense but seriously, I need to order 5 separate pieces for the shower head/hose?! And another 4 for the temperature gage and to be able to turn the water on/off. They seriously get you.

While all of our fixtures were ordered in polished chrome, our taste is fairly transitional. The shower design may be somewhat modern, but I was really drawn to the more classic faucets and rustic vanities. So the question is, what do I do for lighting? I'm considering straying away from a polished chrome light fixture. There is going to be a whole lot of shiny metal in the bathroom between the double sinks and double shower heads. Potentially even from the mirror hardware (also getting ordered asap).

Here are a few lighting options I'm considering between:

Vanity Lighting by talkative-tlc

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Decision to be made soon! 

Would you mix and match metals? Or go with all the same?

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Bathroom Reno: Hunting Down the Perfect Vanity

Hi friends! How was your weekend? We had a pretty great weekend over here getting things done around the house. There were many things crossed off the to-do list which always feels good, even got a few unexpected things done. But there's one thing that's haunting us. One major to-do item that is causing a whole bunch of gray hairs at the moment. Finding a bathroom vanity.

This bathroom renovation is definitely teaching us a lot. And we are going to be so much better prepared next time we have any major construction planned. Who knew that 60" wasn't the norm for double sink vanities (it's 72"), or that stores don't stock them very often (it's 4 weeks+ production)? Well maybe you did know all that, but we sure didn't. This could basically be a travel post considering the number of miles we put on my car this weekend searching for the perfect bathroom vanity.

Our requirements/wants:

• Two sinks
• Counter height (34")
• Cabinets and drawers (preferably a cabinet under each sink with a drawer under the cabinet, or a shelf within the cabinet for extra storage)
• Not too detailed/intricate wood patterns on the drawer fronts
• Stained (or possibly painted in milk paint so its a matte finish)

Not too much to ask for right? Oh, and one more important thing, we need it asap. We are learning that we could have made a few more decisions (like where we'd order a vanity from) earlier on. And that there are times when things come up and decisions are needed immediately. Ack! Doing my best to roll with it!

So yes, we drove all over Routes 3, 24, 93, 95, and 495 between Saturday and Sunday (if  you're not from the area, just disregard those numbers and note that it was an insane amount of driving!).

And what we learned in our travels:

• There are less than 3 stocked 60" double sink vanities at any one store, and none were our style
• They love placing the gorgeous, custom ordered vanity (12 weeks production, $$$) next to the half the price, 4 week production vanity so that you can REALLY see the difference in quality and REALLY want the custom one out of the price range and time frame.
• The Restoration Hardware outlet is the most amazing place on earth and you should totally check it out. (They had a 72" double sink vanity that I'd been eyeing online for 30% off. Ugh it was gorgeous)
• Don't even bother with IKEA bathroom vanities, unless you want an ultra modern look in which case definitely check them out.
• Take pictures of what you really like - you may be able to find someone local to build it for you (which we almost did - our contractor offered)

Needless to say, we were feeling pretty defeated by Sunday night. I'm sure many of you can relate to the whole champagne taste on a beer budget analogy? It can kinda suck sometimes. I didn't want to choose a vanity just for the hell of it because we needed one, and I really didn't want to spend a fortune on one either. We can't! So while I got dinner together Sunday night, J took to the web for some browsing. And thank goodness for his patience because we may have lucked out! I won't tell you what we ended up with yet (because we still need to order it). But here's a taste of what you can find with some searching....and how they line up to a few Restoration Hardware options that I love. Really, who doesn't love RH?! If they weren't side by side with the differences so obvious, would you be able to tell? I've included 72" options here for comparison (And yes, they all come carrera marble as an option! Just didn't have a picture of it always).

1 /  2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

We've decided that between the gray floors and gray/white walls, we'd like to warm up the space a little with a rustic vanity. Well, at least that's what we're currently envisioning! And while we were originally leaning towards a darker finish, these more natural stains have really caught out eye. Wish us luck, ordering a vanity in the next day or two.

What's your favorite stain or color option for a vanity? Would you ever choose a paint color other than black/white? 

We debated a gray painted vanity at one point but then found ourselves so drawn to something warm and rustic, keeping the space from getting too modern. I also think a colored vanity, like deep blue could look amazing in the right space. 

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Master Bathroom Renovation - the Before, the Details

Today is the start of our big, huge, most expensive project we'll do on this house for a long time, master bathroom renovation! Confession - I'm totally freaking out!!

Yes, I have a million ideas swirling through my head and have a very good sense of what I want, but now it needs to be definite. What we choose cannot be undone. Gah! I can be very indecisive at times, lots of what ifs, so this project is major. It's not just painting the walls and wanting to repaint. No, I cannot change the layout, the tile choice, the vanity options, the fixtures, etc once they're installed. They will be here for good.

Here's what we are working with right now. I was having a hard time visualizing the size of the shower we'll be putting in so I taped off both the size of the standard tub shower, and the size of the larger shower we've decided to go with.

And here's a very simple amateur drawing of the plans... the shower and vanity will run along the same wall

Lastly, here's what we're thinking for tiles...

• 12x24 Dark Grey floor tiles
• 2x2 Dark Grey shower floor tiles
• 8x20 White/Grey shower wall tiles

We've decided to use porcelain for the tiles. All of them. I absolutely love the look of marble, but really didn't want to have to worry about maintaining it, nor was the price tag all that fun to calculate. Thankfully you can find porcelain in a variety of textures and shades these days to imitate the finer stones. I think we had a similar approach in our tile decisions as Lindsey did here. She's much better at explaining it than I am (and so much more experienced than us!).

Originally, I wanted a lighter shower floor which is why there are various smaller tiles on the left side of the picture above. But then I saw this bathroom renovation and changed my mind completely. I loved the cleaner look of using the same floor tile throughout. I realized that the bathroom could look very cramped very easily if I add in too many colors, patterns, textures, etc so we'll keep the tile simple.

I spent some time yesterday walking around The Tile Shop, and while I wasn't super impressed with their selection (honestly, I spent the whole time comparing what they had to what I'd already picked out and couldn't find anything I liked better - huge relief, going with my original selection) I so appreciated the numerous bathrooms you could walk through for inspiration. It really does help to see what your tile selection could potentially look like. Plus, they just might have been the nicest sales persons ever. Here's one I found using similar colors to us...

And another bathroom that caught my eye...

And I'm really liking the dark grey cabinets here...that is the next decision!

And here's one I found which kinda/sorta shows you what it looks like to use the same tile for the bathroom floor and shower floor - just using different sizes.

When you're picking tile for the shower floor, you need to pick a tile that is 2x2 or smaller. This is because the shower floor needs to be pitched towards the drain. It really wouldn't be good to have standing water in your shower, so being able to adjust the pitch of the floor is necessary. And smaller tile works best (bigger tiles would just end up cracking - not good). But the less grout to clean, the better really (in my opinion) so we'll stick with the larger tiles for the bathroom floor and the smaller tiles only within the shower portion. Plus, if you haven't looked at tiles before, I warn you - small tiles can be crazy expensive!

Now that the demo has started, here's what's in the line-up for our bathroom renovation:

• Demo current space - repair ceiling, open up the walls for plumbing and electricity, move current door frame over to make room for a vanity
• Bring in a plumber to fit for pipes - pipes will connect through the guest bathroom (which is through the far wall on in the pictures above). We are purposelly going with this layout so that a) we don't need to pull pipes up through the kitchen ($$$$) and b) there are no pipes along the exterior wall (very risky in the New England winters...)
• Bring in electrician to wire for new lighting, fan/vent system
• Order tiles for bathroom floor, shower floor, shower walls
• Order custom shower glass for interior shower wall, door, pony wall on vanity side
• Order double sink vanity and decide on countertop material
• Order sink and shower fixtures (currently thinking rain shower head like this, and hand held)
• Order a toilet (I'll let J handle that....maybe...)
• Decide on overhead or side lighting around vanity
• Pick out paint color for walls
• Accessorize!

If I'm missing anything major in my list above, well that's why we've hired a contractor for this job. Ha! We've decided to let the pro's handle this bathroom since there is just so much work to do. And J and I plan to tackle a guest bathroom reno later this year since it already has a footprint to follow/upgrade. But this won't happen until our master bathroom is fully functional (and will be the only full bathroom while we reno the guest bathroom). 

I'll keep you posted along the way. I can't believe it's actually/finally happening!

Happy Monday!

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!