The Powder Room Redecoration

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are well.

Surprise! Two days in a row! 

In order to get this house in tip top shape and ready to sell in a few years, we had a couple of things that needed to be done. 

The bathroom downstairs was one of those spaces. 

It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either. 

When we bought the house, the tile in the tub surround was country blue. We closed on the house in 1993 and the house was built in 1990.  I think that color had already started to faze out of popularity by the time the house was built. I tried for years to make it work with my style. I think I was pretty successful with that. 

However, most of the time the shower curtain remained closed to hide the blue. 

I finally painted the tile with tub and tile paint about 7.5 years ago. 

It actually held up really well in that time. 

There were a few little chips but these could have easily been touched up. 

When we did the floors in 2019, the powder bath got a new floor and a new vanity. 

This was a DIY floor and I wasn't happy with how it turned out. 

I was so concerned about the area around the toilet being level, that I leaned on one of the tiles near the door and didn't notice that it got a little wonky. Nobody else would notice but I noticed and it drove me nuts. I wasn't really wild about the matte floor tile either. 

So when we decided to redo this bathroom, a new floor was included in the plans since this was less than $100.00 for me to DIY. 

Our plan included tearing out the bathtub and putting in a walk in shower. 

We talk about moving to East Texas when Bill retires but we've been back and forth on that idea more than Boomers at a pickle ball tournament. 

Our bedroom is upstairs. If one of us were to get injured or have surgery to the extent that we can't get upstairs, we decided that it would be a good idea to have a walk in shower downstairs instead of a tub. 

This bathroom is next to the office/guest room so it would be a good place to recuperate if need be. 

Our tile contractor made the point that this is the first bathroom seen when the house is listed. If it looks good, then it makes an initial impression concerning the house. 

We went with a black and white basket weave for the floor. The shower surround got a classic subway tile. There is a silver trim all around the edge of the shower. 

At the end of the first day, the space was cleared out. 

They rebuilt for the new shower pan and niche. 

At the end of two weeks it was retiled. 

We just needed the glass shower doors. 

We did exactly the same thing in our shower ten years ago. 

I love the chrome. 

We used the old toilet, light fixtures and vanity because they weren't that old. 

I love the black accents. The walls are Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. It's a perfect muted green. 

The art came from Walmart.com. They contract through Art.com if I remember correctly. The frames were from Joanns. The shelf is Hobby Lobby. 

 This bathroom fits in so well that I'd do it again out in East Texas. It looks like it's always been here. I almost forget that it's new. 

I love it so much. 

That's all for now. 

Katie 

 

The New Shower

Our shower had its first birthday the other day.

I realized that I didn't feature it in a post of its own.

Happy Birthday to our shower!

This post is a long one but I hope it helps others out there that are facing a bathroom overhaul. 

Our bathroom remodel was born out of necessity. 

There were some tiles between the tub and shower in the master bath that were driving me crazy. 

They were loose. Bill was out of town so it was a good time to dry it out a little and make the repairs to the little half wall in-between the tub and the shower.

There was standing water underneath the tile. 

I was just sick about it. 
A wet/dry shop vac took care of the water but where there is water - there is mold. 
At this point  I texted my darling neighbor and she came over and talked me down from the ledges. 

"Keep calm and call the professionals."

Bill was greeted with the happy news when he returned from his trip. 

We pulled off the false front to my gorgeous jetted tub (insert sarcasm now) so we could inspect the damage.

There was mold and general deterioration of the wood from the water damage. 

We'd long suspected that our builder basic bathroom needed an update after 23 years but we weren't quite ready to take the plunge. Now we were forced to. 

I immediately wanted to take action and demo. 

A saner head prevailed (Bill's, of course) and we took our time. 

We had two options. 

Have a general contractor do it.

Call my designer friend and let her be the contractor but us do the scheduling of subs. 

We went with the second option. We have done a fair amount of DIY so we knew the procedure and what the work should look like and we saved a ton of money. 

For the price of a builder grade bathroom we were able to go with a more glammy version. 

"Keep calm and call the professionals"

What seemed like a monumental job isn't to the pros.

The plumber came and disconnected the water to the tub. 

I left and went to work and Bill commenced with demo. It was done by the time I got home.

Whoo hoo!

We ordered the shower fixtures, tub and other faucets from a kitchen and bathroom showroom.  
We went with classic, chrome faucets.

The knee wall was not coming back so we could gain precious inches in the shower. Even though we were only able to increase the size of the shower by a few inches, it made a huge difference. The old shower felt claustrophobic, this one feels so much bigger even though it isn't that much bigger.

We picked out tile.

We went with 4 different tiles for the shower and a tile for the bathroom floor.

A slate look for the shower pan. It has some texture to prevent slipping. We discussed getting a fiberglass shower pan but we wouldn't have been able to customize the size of the shower and a tile pan just looks better.

We went with a marble look for the walls and a contrast border tile. My tile guy found this for me because I was being super picky. I wasn't even sure I wanted a border but he talked me into it and I'm so glad he did. 

Marble pencil molding frames out the border. 

Once the decisions were made we waited for our fixtures to come in at the plumbing design center.

Once the fixtures were in the plumbers came back to plumb out the shower, tub and faucets.

They had to move the drain over a tad so it would be centered in the new shower. 
They were in and out in two days.

The tile guys tiled repaired the cement wall and built the shower pan in day one. (In my mind this seemed an impossible task. To the pros it was a piece of cake.)

We requested a niche for soap and shampoo. 

They forgot to build the niche when they did the dry wall but we caught the oversight and they built it the next day.

It's a good idea to be on the job site during a tile job to catch mistakes.

They tiled the shower and the pan on day two.

We requested that he make the shower taller to look a little more modern and in proportion to the room. 

Day 3 was the floor.

Day 4 was grout. Just when you think you are done with decisions they have you pick out grout colors. 
I don't like contrasting grout but even so, there were 5 whites. 

The border was on backorder which was fine. 
He left a space for it. 

The glass guy came and measured for the glass which was supposed to take 8 days. The hinges were on order so it took longer than that.

In the meantime the tile guy came and put in the border.

I love the bling. I also love the touch of black that matches the vanities.

We went with a frameless shower enclosure.
We didn't want to blog the view of the tub.

We love our new bathroom and the new shower.

It was worth all the stressful moments leading up to the remodel. The actually week or so of work wasn't stressful.

"Keep calm and call the professionals."

Sometimes you just have to.

Katie   
Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style

Master Vanities

The bathroom vanities came with shelving that is visible through some metalwork. 
Calling it ironwork would be a stretch. It's not that substantial.

I knew that anything dark would recede and that white items would show. Stuff like our hairbrushes, hair dryers and the curling iron just fade in the background and are hidden in plain sight. 

 The challenge was filling these niches with some stuff that looked good but was also functional. 

I reused my old Kirkland's jar set but had to split it up.

Bill didn't have a lot of patience for pretties in his vanity so he got a stack of white washcloths and a jar of Epsom salt.

Just a side note, I have been using Epsom salt in my bath and it helps with my scoliosis pain. My granny swore by Epsom salt. 

I shopped the house for cups and jars. Silver baby cups hold Q-Tips and make up brushes. I filled old Avon jars with new creams.

You may be wondering how these new vanities are working out. 
Let me begin by saying that we love how they look. 
Bill loves how they function. He loves having something that is an appropriate height for him.  

Our old vanity had a center drawer (a very messy make up drawer.) 

I've adapted by putting my makeup in jewelry trays from Tuesday Morning. 

It stays so much neater than my old system but I have to stand to get ready in the morning or I scoot the chair up to a little mirror or to the mirror on the door. If I scoot the chair over to the mirror on the door, I end up balancing the tray of cosmetics on my lap. I've spilled it a time or two so 
I'm a little over it.  

My flat iron drove me crazy near the sink because the cord got tangled in the metal doors so it hangs in an old wall pocket.

 All this is appealing to Bill because my stuff no longer morphs over toward his sink.

Bill offered to get me an antique vanity table to put in our room. 

We love our remodel and we would go with two vanities again in a heartbeat but I finally got serious about the search for a dressing table.
I'll show you what I found in another post.
Katie   
Linking with,
A Stroll Thru Life   
Savvy Southern Style