Before & After: Master Bathroom

Trying to show off the house via my blog to extended family over the holidays was kind of a pita because of how spastically I blog, and how randomized my picture placement is, so I'll be doing a before and after for each room we've tackled.

Click for our master bathroom redo!

From the realty listing

Ze Bathroom.... She es fee-neshed!

I know, can you believe it? LeBron came back to Cleveland AND we finished the bathroom. Witness!

In all, we ripped up the tile floor and concrete board underlayment, then ripped up 2 layers of old linoleum under that. Took out and replaced the pedestal sink. Removed old shower tile, ripped out green board walls. cut out rotten/damaged studs. Removed old, LOUD, poorly performing exhaust fan. Removed cheap light fixture. Took down toilet paper holder and round towel rack.

Laid down 1/4" concrete board on the floor and 1/2" on the walls. Repaired studs. Tiled floor and walls. Installed floating vanity and sink with LED faucet. Built in two cubbies in the shower. Added pretty light above the mirror. Installed 2 recessed shower lights fresh. Installed built-in toilet paper holder and square hand towel rack. Installed Kohler frameless shower doors with clear glass. Installed QUIET, high performance exhaust fan.

We also swapped out a flat mirror with a GUNNERN mirror cabinet from Ikea.

Typing it out, it does not seem like much, but it was WORK! I won't go into too many deets, I am just glad it is finished, because it looks fantastic! It's clean, modern and we actually increased our space with the cubbies, the medicine cabinet, and the room under the sink.

I just today put the last coats of paint on the shelves that go in the skinny cabinet.

What I learned (aka, what I would do differently):

Score around your tile/area you are going to sledgehammer out, or better yet, saw it out... you'll thank me when you have beautiful, clean edges.

CHECK YOUR PRODUCTS. The shower doors were the second thing we purchased... and they sat for a month, unopened. We went to install and the hardware skin was missing completely! Fast forward a week, the skin shows up in the mail, we're halfway through with the install and Kohler sent us the wrong brackets! This really extended the entire project... so again, check your products!

Oh and of course, here's some photos. I have to hunt my 18-55 lens down, so I can get some nice shots of the entire bathroom.

Gunnern Mirror

Grout is 185 New Taupe

Bathroom Jen: Older, Wiser...

There have been many epic battles that mere mortals have courageously faced head on. The Battle of Hastings, the Siege of Orleans. Neither lost to the endless span or clutter of history, will forever be to my recollection, allegedly, among the ranks of this bathroom remodel.

She is woman, hear her grout.

It is now July 14th and we began this journey on June 16th. I miss my real bathroom.

Just yesterday Guy finished the tile. Today it's my job to give the room a good clean up so we may grout in the next two days. I cannot tell you how refreshing it feels to be doing something other than installing tile! One more trip to the tile aisle at the Euclid Home Depot and they are going to crown me Grand Marshal of mortar.

Oh, but the recessed lighting is in place, and it looks even more stellar than I could have hoped! This update is more of an excuse for a photo dump, so without further teasing...

2 layers of linoleum under the old cement board

Shelves!

Tiled! We had the shorten the shelf at left

I TOLD you these looked outstanding!

Mosaic over the plumbing line

 We chose our grout color, too. I think it'll go very nicely with the tile:

So what's that leave?

• Grout walls and floor
• Install vanity and sink
• Install glass shelves
• Install new exhaust fan

Living without a Master Bath: Day 7

Guy and I are lucky. Not win-the-lottery lucky, but second-shower-on-premises lucky.

Our initial plan (True do-it-yourselfers know that you almost always end up throwing most of your first ideas out the window early on) was to remove the tile and put up new tile. The tiles are tiny and after chipping 893 (about 15 actually) off the walls, GUY (not me...) got the sledgehammer and we knocked the everloving crap out of the walls! Color ME surprised! It ended up being a good thing because under the window there was a tiny bit of mold and a lot of old carpenter ant damage. Even the studs needed repair in a couple areas, and we had to remove and replace some insulation.

Here's some progress photos.

Guy vs. Tile

Agg! Rotted/eaten wood!

Yeah, this piece of wood might as well have been paper

Insulation removed. This will wait till tomorrow.

Cutting out the rotten wood

New insulation and Durock cement board

All walls down, wood & insulation replaced and recessed shelves roughed in.

Pedestal sink all gone!

We had to remove some sanded grout that was on all three sides of the tub, who knew it would be so freaking difficult? We bought Sulfamic Acid Cleaner from the Home Depot to soften it. We saturated it and re-saturated it, then chipped it off. Yikes.

Next up is installing cement board walls then wall tiles. I'd like to get the shower up and running then demo the floor.

The online picture lacks detail

We did end up agreeing on using some mosaic tile. It's called "Silver Tip" and it's also from the Home Depot.

I love the metal bits!!

Embarking on the Bathroom

So it's been roughly a year and a half since we moved into the Little Cape. We've done the living room, office, master bedroom, virtually started from scratch on our tiny half bath and really come a long way on the lawn.

What does that leave? Roughly the kitchen and bathroom. We have nice appliances in the kitchen and some livable linoleum. It's the lesser of the two evils, really.

Our bathroom is small. In total we have about 25 square feet of space, not including the bathtub. Here's a current [really awful] panorama of the bathroom.

All we have done is swap out the toilet. Those blue tiles in the shower are 2.25" squares. That's bordering on insanity. The tile on the floor always looks dirty and I hate the grout. There's a marble window sill and it's got yellow spots that won't budge.

Much like the natural woodwork the house came with, people actually like the tiny blue tile. That said, the woodwork and tile were both high on my radar and we know how that worked out for the woodwork.

We're finally going to get started on our bathroom! I know I'm amped for this project because I'm already having nightmares about buying the wrong patterns and colors.

Here's what we've got:

Pedestal sink being replaced with hanging vanity, going from oil rubbed to chrome

Clear, frameless Kohler sliding tub doors

12 x 24 modern tile on floor and shower walls

I get to tear up the tile I hate on the floor and in the shower, and replace it with these gorgeous 12" by 24" horizontal striped tiles. The glass shower doors will open the room up as will the bright colors, and the smaller floating sink.

I'd like to put a shelf in the bathtub stall. I'd also like to get some lighting going in the soffet above the shower. Maybe move the shower faucet handle up as well. Maybe accent tile? I don't know if we're really going to need it. I'm going to go all the way to the ceiling with the new tile.

Little Cape's New Power!

The Little Cape Cod has a brand new service panel! What a far cry from this hot mess!


Better, isn't it? I would SO highly recommend A&M electric if you need an HONEST electrician in the Cleveland area. I am so happy with the work they provided and how friendly they were. To boot, they were 50% cheaper and 75% cheaper than my other 2 estimates.

I also picked out the peel and stick tile that's going to get us through at least a few years in the kitchen:

Armstrong "Slate Sand & Sky"

 Not bad at $.75 a tile. I figure for about $100 I can have the kitchen floor done, which works, because it's on the POS... how convenient!

The hardwood is gonna get sanded and poly'd, too... so we have out work cut out for us, and by all means, if you've any spare cash laying around...