It started out as a major overhaul project. New tile. New fixtures. New everything really. Because if it wasn't for our current bathroom, I could stay here a long, long while. And because let me be straight up with you. I'm addicted to redesigning things in our house. And that bathroom was the last thing I hadn't touched. I live for projects. It's a problem that I'm trying to deal with. But every once in a while John appeases me and gives me the go ahead to start ripping things up.
So with a green light, I neglected laundry for days and scoured the internet like a mad woman planning out the bathroom.
Then a whole series of events happened - some exciting and some depressing (like when our sink leaked and caused pricey ceiling damage to our downstairs neighbor...go us!) - and I realized I was getting a head of myself to pour too much money and time into the bathroom of a condo with no yard, no parking spot, no dining room, no lots of things. So to John's complete shock and utter delight, I slashed our remodel to a quarter of the original projection and we are instead moving forward with a freaking awesome, but completely reasonable bathroom upgrade.
Here's what the room looked like last week before we started cutting holes in the wall. (Yes, those are dirty cloth diapers that mommy stockpiles behind the toilet for daddy to clean when he gets home from work. You're welcome, John. Annie loves you. And thanks you. And thinks you da bomb.)
So the bathroom is fine. It's not the worst ever. It's not a hundred years old. It works. But it was cheaply done. There are broken tiles. There's a huge stain in the middle of the shower from before I bought the place. The tub fill faucet got pulled off the wall and just sort of wobbles when you use it. The vanity is crazy small with no storage. That medicine cabinet is from Ikea and it looks terrible in there. We have ten too many half-used bottles of shampoo in the shower.
There's a long list of things that drive me crazy in here.
During that time when we were going to overhaul it, I used Google SketchUp to come up with a new plan keeping all the plumbing where it was to minimize cost.
Here was the retile everything in white carrara that we had a killer deal on, keep the tub, but build some storage and get a new vanity plan.
And here was the forget the tub, go for a walk-in shower, Annie stands the whole bathtime anyway, new tile, new vanity plan.
The tiles we'd picked out were 20 inch by 8 inch, but dear, free SketchUp's choices were rather limited. So imagine tile on the floor and walls like so:
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| Thom Filicia |
Then imagine me having that we aren't staying here forever epiphany where I brought the project down from overhaul to upgrade. Or you can read that last sentence as let's wait and go major gangster on the forever-house bathroom.
Here's the new plan:
one...keep the tile
two...toss the Ikea medicine cabinet (and due to drainage pipes we found after cutting a hole above the sink, lose the prospect of a future recessed medicine cabinet...major bummer)
three...maybe frame out the existing tub with tile matching what we've already got
four...WALLPAPER!!!!
five...go from a 24 inch to a 36 inch vanity with four drawers and a carrara top
six...keep the shower fixtures, but get a new sink faucet (which is on its way as we speak)
seven...bring the lighting from over the mirror to next to it and buy a new sconce (also on its way)
eight...find a 3x5 rug.
nine...praise Jesus. daily.
ten....keep repeating step nine
So here's my new jam -
The pictured faucet, sconce and wallpaper are the real deal - exactly what we've ordered. Everything else is darn close, but didn't have a picture.
So there you are. This is all I've been dreaming about lately. I'm way too excited about it. As though it might be life changing. What? Really? Yes, I know. I have a problem.
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