Since i last posted about a century ago, we have gained a human member of the family and I've started my own little business and both of those things have kept me busy. And, mostly, laziness. I have no real excuse. Nor apologies. Sorry not sorry kind of deal. Moving on.
Though my lack of sharing the on-goings of this house doesn't mean that we've been idle. Have you met my husband!? He can't even pronounce the word "idle." It comes out sounding like, "I'm gonna go work on my boat."
In addition to some minor here-and-there type stuff, we've completed two major huge ridiculous projects: The entire floor was replaced, and - what I'm here to share with you today - our master bathroom renovation.
Here's a real quick snapshot of what it looked like during our walk-through back in 2013:
Theme: beige. But i mean kudos to them for ripping out the huge standard builder mirror and adding some pictures that i repurposed for my youngest daughter's room.
Things didn't get much better in the two years we've lived here. I added a gold ram's head and painted "U MAD BRO?" on the wall, which I like to believe got the wheels turning to start this project in the first place. Graffiti works, kids. Real change always starts with vandalism.
The best part of any remodel besides enjoying the finished product is DEMO. CHRIS SMASH/ERIN SNACK. Lets not kid ourselves.
If you've been paying attention, i had posted this photo on Instagram of the theme that I chose we agreed upon:
The beautiful charcoal floor was the first thing to go down:
We decided to add our own little flair to the bathroom by raising the shower off the floor. Here's a picture of my handy, hard-working husband making it happen so I can shower while looking down on the peasants:
It should be understood that Chris worked on this for two months straight. I was alone with my sick kids and three feet of snow for two months. I'm not kidding. While he was inside having the time of his life diddling around in the bathroom doing nothing*, i had to deal with this nonsense:
ANYWAY. The next thing we did that was kind of custom was rip out the wall adjacent to the baby's room and install some soundproof insulation. You'd be surprised just how thin the walls are in these cookie-cutter houses. Weird...
The next step was to put the wall back up and frame everything out. This required permit$, and time, which luckily were budgeted for.
I was able to be of use at this point, so i painted the new wall, and then my dad and Chris lifted our brand new vanity up the stairs and into the bathroom.
Then came the tiling and the grouting and UUUUGGGGHHHH it was awful. I was 100% certain i wanted the contrast of the white subway tile and the dark charcoal grout. No one should have white grout in a shower on purpose.
There were some minor setbacks, like the tile on the vertical separating wall being 1/4" off from the tile elsewhere and that just will not stand.
So we tried a few different things, like running the floor tile up the wall:
This was an "i told you so" moment because one of us said that would be a horrible idea but i'm not going to say who. (It was me.) That colossal mistake set us back a few days and honestly had us questioning a murder-suicide pact but we couldn't bring ourselves to blow our brains all over the new floor. Plus, one of the neighbors would get all our kids. SURPRISE! Eventually we ended up keeping the white subway tile up the wall, but vertical. That works.
BUT LETS NOT GET AHEAD OF OURSELVES.
Remember that thing i said about never having white grout in a shower on purpose? Well...
There was a point where Chris questioned this beautiful iridescent tile and wanted to rip it out along with my heart and use square charcoal tiles for the floor. But then what, have a monotonous bathroom of boredom? We'd be no better than the beige of yesteryear. I held firm, and knowing full well what a huge pain white grout is, insisted on it for a shower floor. Ugh.
And since Chris designed this bathroom he made me my own little leg-shaving bench. It was either that or i stop shaving.
Ok, so at this point, since i got ZERO pictures of the installation of our new whirpool tub, you'll have to just believe it's in there. The hard parts are done. Aside from some caulking on Chris' part, i got to paint the entire thing. Which i love to do. So therapeutic!
Now i present to you, our newly renovated master bathroom:
(Ok, yes, this is super awkward but when you've spent your child's college savings on a bathroom renovation, maybe use the medicine cabinet that came with the house instead of getting a new, expensive, pretty one that won't force you to watch yourself showering. Cut corners accordingly, you know?)
So now how about some Before & Afters??
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
And thanks for the free wall art, NASA! A free poster-quality download + an $8 Costco poster print = excellent deal.
*Chris worked super hard on this project and aside from the painting and the design, he handled everything alone. Of everything that we've done in our DIY lives thus far, this was probably the single most taxing project. And we once built a bathroom from scratch. So next time you see him, buy him a beer!
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