July 28, 2016

Emma's Bathroom Renovation


While I would have been thrilled to renovate a bathroom that I actually use, before renovating one that I've never used, it seems our house had other plans for us. If you don't own an old house, you may be unaware that old houses are bossy and we were helpless to argue with a water leak that had her sharing our bathroom.

This was a total gut job. We took it to the studs and the floor joists. It was a complete loss. Here's a little before and after for you!

Before:

After:



What you can't see in the before picture above is the wood box built around a pipe sticking out into the room near the ceiling. It never ceases to amaze us the jack-assery, as we like to call it, we find around here. I was so proud of the great framing job my guy did so that we could drywall it.

Before:


After:


During:


After:


The beauty of a complete gut job is that you have a blank slate and from the ashes of that hot mess, a beautiful, fresh new bathroom was born.


We made a few changes shortly after moving in, taking down that wall cabinet, switching out the hardware, light fixture, vanity, faucet and mirror. By the way, that mirror has been in my family for as long as I can remember and hung in my great grandmother's bedroom when I was little and then hung in my bedroom when I was a teenager. Em was adamant that it not be replaced so it just got a fresh coat of paint.


This bathroom is a tiny 6x7 feet which somehow feels much larger now than it did before. It's actually a tough space to photograph and there are no windows so the only natural light comes from a window in the bedroom.


With such a neutral backdrop, I had fun introducing some color and personality into the space and I'm so happy with how it turned out. I'm looking forward to school starting back so I can sneak in here and pretend it's mine. I'm not kidding you when I say that it's the best bathroom in the house. Emma couldn't be happier with her new space. She even got new, towels, toiletries and organizing bins. I have lost track of the number of times she has told us that she loves it and has thanked us for doing this for her. While we didn't use top of the line finishes like we plan to do in our own bathroom renovation, we tried to use good materials that feel appropriate to the age of the house (c. 1900) and that we hoped would be timeless.


This project, like every other project in this house, took way longer and cost more than we thought it would. When will we learn? So far we have done every project in this house ourselves. I think chances are good that we aren't tackling the two remaining bathrooms or the kitchen. It's not as easy as they make it look on HGTV folks. Also, for the record, let me make it clear that almost every time I say we in this post I really mean he. Aside from the drywall, my sweet man did everything. He demo'd, framed, replaced the subfloor, did the plumbing and electrical, installed the shower, toilet and vanity, did all the trim work and probably a dozen other things I can't think of. I was only responsible for design choices, clean up and painting. Well, I was also responsible for tiling but after a major tile fail, we hired that out too. I really, really wanted to be able to do it. I watched a ton of videos, read how to articles, did two dry runs but it turns out that I'm a much better baker than tiler. That's okay. I can't be good at everything and I'm starting to learn to acknowledge my limits.


I'm so proud of my guy and all of his hard work. I love that we have spent the last 5 years working together to make this house our perfect home, and with each new completed project, I fall a little more in love.
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24 comments:

  1. I love it! So fresh & pretty and you! And, there is no satisfaction like doing it yourself (or having your husband doing it for you :) ).

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  2. Lovely! I think you made excellent choices...very classic. I love the story of the mirror and those pictures over the commode.

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  3. What a beautiful bathroom! I love the flooring and the vanity. The layout is exactly like our master bath (and about the same size, too) and we need a new shower. I like how your new one is on an angle. Only problem is, we have a wall there (between the shower and toilet). Wonder if it can be removed? Maybe I will find out someday. ;-) I can't believe your hubby did all that work himself, too. You are so lucky he's so handy and talented! My hubby is not at all handy (and I'm not demeaning him - it is what it is), so we have to hire out for everything. And that's why we can only afford to do a little bit at a time!

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  4. I love very bit of this reno, Jen. I share a lot of your taste...the fixtures to the wall art. I don't think my husband and I could work together on anything but I sure have some ideas to get on to paper. Love it!


    Jane

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  5. LOVE LOVE LOVE Emma's new bathroom! Love the colors! Love those prints over the commode ... so very Emma!

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  6. It looks so beautiful. Love the colors and the tile!!!!

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  7. Amazing transformation. Great look!

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  8. It turned out wonderful! I love the soft colors you used.

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  9. Oh, it's just beautiful--bright, fresh, and so lovely! I especially love the history of your mirror…what an heirloom!

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  10. It's beautiful!!! We have an older (1924) house and a teensy little master bath that has been waiting for a reno job. Like you, we know the "charm" of older homes is that something always needs attention. That turned out so beautiful and great that your guy did so much work on it!! Love it!

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  11. It looks beautiful Jen!!! We definitely have "charm" in our house also. I wouldn't know where to start in our bathrooms because of all that great charm. Cement subfloors upstairs are the worst for bathrooms. Don't ask.

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  12. Emma's bathroom is beautiful! Looks like it was a lot of hard work! The mirror is wonderful with it's family history.💟

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  13. Emma's bathroom is beautiful! Looks like it was a lot of hard work! The mirror is wonderful with it's family history.💟

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  14. Your honey did a fantastic job!! I love your choice of subtle colors and the floor tiles are wonderful. It looks perfect for an old house. Old houses are like children and fur babies, aren't they? They can be so charming and that is what saves them sometimes. : ) Happy weekend!! xo

    ~ Wend
    http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  15. really love the green acents in the towels and baskets. We need to renovate our en-suite but I'm hesitating because we will have to share the main bathroom with our son. I hate queuing to use the bathroom!

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  16. Oh my word, it is beautiful! What a complete labor of love.

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  17. The bathroom is gorgeous ♥

    summerdaisy.net

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  18. Jen, I hear you, my house is only from the 1970's but boy is it bossy! You have done a beautiful job of Emma's bathroom, I especially LoVe the colours & floor tiles!! My bathroom is next on my "To Do", lets see how that works out!
    Anna xx

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  20. I love what you have done with the bath. So fresh and young! :) Kit

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  21. Great style. You made the smart choice going so light with your colour scheme considering that the room has no windows. Rule of thumb: the less natural light you have, the lighter your colour choices should be. Would have loved to see a few more "during" photos. They show all the ugly and hard work beneath that smooth, shiny surface.

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  22. These are wonderful ideas. It hardly looks like the same bathroom. It gives me a lot of great renovation ideas to try on my own project I'm starting. The family mirror, pictures and green basket over the commode really add the feeling of elegance to your bathroom, and I want to do something similar with mine. Thanks for the great ideas!

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  23. I am looking this over, as I plan to redo my bathroom. Gorgeous job, btw:) What brand are the towels that are featured? Thank you

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  24. Looks just fabulous.Love what you have done. Come and say hi on my blog and see what we have been doing to our cottage in the Peak District. http://behindthecottagedoor.blogspot.co.uk/

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