We live in a fixer-upper, and there is a certain pleasure in making a home exactly what you want it to be. There are many challenges and stressful times, but being able to say 'WE ARE DONE!' is an amazing feeling.
(Side note: It is really my husband who is able to say that - as he is the one who completed this bathroom project - one that was MUCH bigger than we were anticipating!)
Before:
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| For whatever reason, the original tile had been painted over - with latex wall paint. |
Our original plan was to scrape the paint and save what was there. We love all things mid-century and thought we could make the pink and black tile work for us. So we scraped. And scraped. And scraped.
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| this is not our bathroom - but was our original idea for renovation |
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| After MUCH scraping, Carlos decided to pull up the floor, and found it had multiple layers of tile and linoleum. |
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| Here you can see he got the first layer of tiles off, and most of the linoleum and Carlos was going to clean the original mosaic tile, install a new pedestal sink to keep the vintage look. |
After we scraped the paint off of the wall tile we realized that there was a reason that the tile had been painted. It just wasn't in great shape, so Carlos decided it all had to come down!
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| the entire subfloor (and much of the floor joists) were rotted.
This is where it all got real. When he pulled up the tile, the sub-floor was wet and rotted. And when he pulled up the subfloor the floor joists were also rotted. That's the dirt under our house in that picture. That wasn't a fun moment. Not a lot of joy. However, there was gratitude - what if we would have just swapped out the floor tile and sink (which is what were planning)? We never would have known that the sub -floor was wet, rotted, and sagging until we fell through the floor one day. We were quoted by multiple contractors $10K and up to fix it and rebuild it. We kindly said no thank you and Carlos got to work. The plumbing was corroded, and the electrical wires were brittle. So after all new electrical, new plumbing, reframing the walls, new duct work, a new floor with reinforced support beams, we were ready for that new tile and fixtures. While he was tearing down walls, he also decided to take out the door and build a space-saving pocket door. This project took a long time and was interrupted many times by other, more pertinent projects (like a roof, a septic tank replacement, and a newborn!). We had another bathroom and so it didn't have to be wrapped up immediately. So for this project, there is MUCH joy for us to show these after pictures!
After: |
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| Because space was at a premium, Carlos created built-in shelving for the linen closet instead of having a door. |
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| Our new bathroom |
Oh, wow, I love your finished product! Having done some similar remodeling, I know the woes that go along with it. But....the finished product is worth it! And no remodel is ever as simple as it might seem. There are usually hidden surprises!
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