Main Bathroom Reveal

Hi there! Today's post is the much-anticipated bathroom reveal!! And I am so excited to share it with you.

We moved into our split-level house in the fall of 2015. Since then, we have completed a laundry list of home improvement tasks. We changed out all the windows and exterior doors, demolished the downstairs bathroom (it was a mess with mold and needed to go), and put down new vinyl tile flooring in the downstairs. We also added board and batten walls and custom cabinetry to the mudroom. We gave our staircase a make-over and put down new engineered hardwood flooring in the upstairs living room, hallway, and bedrooms. Our next big project was going to be the kitchen, but after some design plans and an initial cost estimate, we decided to tackle the only remaining bathroom first.

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

We looked at our calendars and chose the first weekend in November to tackle this project. Now I have to admit, I leave all the how-to and task management of the home projects to my husband. He loves creating things and working with his hands. And he is amazing at it. While I enjoy the finished product, I am less enthusiastic about the actual doing of the projects. I begrudgingly agree to be the assistant, but if I could hire someone to come in and do all the work, I would.

So when my husband showed me our five-day task list, I assumed he did all the research, and this was our plan to ensure completion of our bathroom by the end of the five days. However, two days into the renovation we were still on tasks listed under the day one column. I asked my husband why we were so off track. He not-so-pleasantly explained that this task list was not a "what we can accomplish each day" list, but more of a "what we have to get done each day to make our deadline" task list. Once my expectations were cleared up, I knew we were in trouble.

Renovation Realities

Not only was our five-day timeline unrealistic, but we also ran into some minor delays. Our old bathtub weighed 500+ pounds and took way too many hours to remove. The vanity light electrical outlet couldn't be relocated, which meant the light fixture we were planning to purchase wouldn't be centered over our larger vanity. The linen and vanity cabinets that we thought were blue-toned grey looked more green-toned grey after they were installed. The blue wall colors we chose now clashed with the cabinets.

The herringbone floor tile pattern my husband had his heart set on, was a little more complicated than we expected. After the third attempt to lay the floor, our frustrations got the best of us, and we scraped the herringbone pattern for a more typical running bond pattern. But we (my husband and father-in-law mostly) muscled through and crossed off task after task, changed up the plan to tackle the roadblocks, and made the best of the issues that couldn't be remedied.

Thankful for Family

A huge shout out to my in-laws for allowing us to take over one of their bedrooms and bathrooms for four weeks while we were without an upstairs toilet and vanity sink. Our lower level was equipped with plumbing, so we moved our old toilet downstairs for when we eventually add a second bathroom back. We could have stayed in our home throughout the renovation and went up my in-laws only to shower, but I get up at least once a night to use the bathroom. I could not image stumbling down the stairs and through a few doors to use the restroom and then come all the way back upstairs to fall back asleep hopefully. Yikes!

While it may have taken us three + weeks longer than we had initially planned, the end result was well worth the frustration, exhaustion, and hard work. There are still some minor tasks to be completed. We had to order additional trim for the tall cabinet, we have to install a hand towel rack, finish some touch-up painting and caulking, and add some decor pieces. Also, we need a bathmat and some additional towels to match our now green/grey color scheme. But those things will happen eventually, and at least our bathroom is fully functional. It's good to have another home project checked off the list.

How did we do? Leave your thoughts on our bathroom renovation below. Have you completed any home projects recently? How did they go?