Bathroom Remodel

After talking about remodeling our bathroom for a couple years, we decided it was time to make it happen. We originally planned on doing the work ourselves, but after I heard how inexpensive some local contractors were, I asked for a bid. We requested bids from two companies. One never followed through! I was amazed that in this economy, someone didn't follow through on an opportunity for business. Anyway, it was probably good, because we felt more comfortable having someone we know do the bathroom. The other bid we requested was from a co-worker's spouse. We had a bid done on our basement, that bid was a little bit out of our price range. However, the bathroom bid was decent. We talked about it and since we only have one bathroom with shower and tub, decided we needed that room done as quickly as possible. If we were to do it on our own it would be left for nights and weekends, which would've taken a lot longer. Additionally, we only had two rooms we wanted tiled. Purchasing a wet saw or even renting one for two rooms worth of work wasn't super cost productive. We also would've had to learn how to tile, which could have been fun, but we aren't quite ready to add a new hobby in to our lives. We accepted the bid and now have a cute bathroom to show for it (or will very soon-more on that in a few paragraphs).

If you have not been to our house, you might be wondering why in the world we needed our bathroom remodeled. Our bathroom was a 1950's room with pink tub, sink, and toilet. There was a cute floral wall paper that was coming down, a glass shower door that was outdated, and the biggest bathroom faux pas was the lack of electrical outlet. Above is a picture of our bathroom pre-remodel. The bathroom is a pretty small area, so it is difficult to get a photo that really captures the whole feel of the tiny room.

We knew we wanted a toilet that was a little more efficient with water and a new sink. We looked into a new bathtub, but were not impressed with any option. Taking a sledge hammer to the tub would've been quite tricky due to the bathroom's size. Laying a white tub insert in wasn't going to give us the look we wanted. Re-bath or the procedure where they add a chemical layer to change the color did not have favorable reviews online. We were hard pressed to find anyone who had the gone at least five years without tiny bubbles forming or the shell chipping away. Since we were keeping the tub pink, we needed to work that in to our design. We also decided right away that white was going to be in the mix. Originally, we thought about adding brown. As we shopped for our shower curtain to serve as inspiration, brown just wasn't going to work. We found a cute shabby chic shower curtain at Target. We ordered our paint to match the stripe in the shower curtain. The appliances, medicine cabinet, and other items were purchased in white with silver accents. Replacing the silver handles in the tub was nearly impossible. I am really happy with our faux wainescoting look and updated design.

Our new bathroom is wonderful. We noticed there was some water under the tile last week. So, this week the contractors came back to put in a new wax ring on the toilet. They also replaced three tiles that had water underneath. I am still really happy with our "new" bathroom. The only funny thing is this is the most updated room in our home, so it seems a little out of place at the moment. We have already started work on the kitchen and I can't wait to see the final product! Slowly, but surely we will remodel the whole house. Part of the trick is we plan on moving in a few years. We are trying to keep remodel costs really low, but still make our time in this home comfortable.