A New Master Bathroom

Remember back when I posted about us redoing our master bathroom? Yeah, it's been so long that I really didn't either. You guys, it's finally DONE. It took exactly 90 days, start to finish. Demo began on January 16th and everything was finished on April 16th. I thought that was kind of fun when I realized this. It's also kind of torturous that it happened in Ian's busy season when, you know, life isn't stressful for us or anything.

This reno took much longer than Ian or I expected. There were times I was annoyed. Times I was done being stuck at home with workers. Times I just didn't want to have to make my bed and try to keep Callum from getting all up in the workers business. But, it is finally over. And I must say, it looks more amazing that I would have imagined when we first began. Of course, that could be because the scale of this remodel took a much larger turn once demo started and we discovered a few things...like extra room to expand in to, messed up floor joists, blotched up plumbing and electrical. You get the picture. But now for the real pictures.

Here's a before, so you can remember what we were working with. I know it looks straight out of the 90's, but it was actually done only 3 years ago...glass block wall and all. And that bathroom was horribly lit, had no ventilation and the slate was impossible to clean. All it had going for it was the amazingly large shower, which I did enjoy.

And here's an after of the same view. Nice and bright. New, larger window...that isn't glued shut and stuccoed over. There are nice, bright led lights in there too. 

Another before shot. The WHOLE BATHROOM was slate. It also had a 3 foot long vanity, which was pretty dang small for Ian and I to share. We were hoping to go up to 4 feet, but actually were able to go all the way up to 5 feet.

And the same view of the new bathroom. Since we ended up having to redo everything, we were able to start with a clean slate and position the bathroom any way we wanted. I really, really wanted the window to be visible and not blocked, so that was what we had to work with. We stood in that little space many times with the contractor trying to figure how we wanted to lay things out. It felt so confusing and daunting when there were no walls or anything to figure out a scale of things with. In the end, it worked out great.

And now some more pictures of the bathroom. We picked everything out ourselves, which at times felt daunting, wondering if it would all go together in the end. We wanted something that went with the house (built in 1939) and wasn't a big fad that would quickly date itself. 

The shower glass has some sort of magic on it that frees itself of water spots. We've already used it and it totally dried clear. Talk about amazing! 

Also, the tile guys totally knocked my socks off with their attention to detail. Look how beautifully they lined up our tile in the floating drain with the rest of the shower floor. And they lined up the rest of the bathroom floor with the shower! The subway tile also seamlessly lines up around the whole bathroom, shower included. 

The quartz slab we chose for our countertop was also used for the shampoo nook in the shower and the shower ledge. That was something the counter/tile guys suggested and it turned out really nice. Also, I should mention, up until this point in life, I thought mostly all shower heads were the same. Um, no. This huge bad boy is life changing. I literally feel like I am at a spa, or a fancy hotel or something with that amazing thing. 

So there you have it, our shiny new bathroom. So light and bright. Oh, and the fan has a bluetooth speaker in it, which is totally awesome. I can now shower in peace, not hearing the fighting of the children in the other room. Talk about a win!

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The Reno Life

Ian has made mention in past home renovations that I become on edge and seem stressed out. And I'm like, I don't know what you are talking about!!! (insert sarcasm here) What's there to be stressed about?! I mean who cares not knowing exactly when people are coming and going from your house? People that don't seem to care about locking the door, and shutting said door seems optional at times. Then there is the mess. The mess that seems to make it to every inch of the house. And let us not forget the keeping the kids out of the way. That's like the hardest one when the construction area is like a piece of candy drawing the kids in. And I can kiss nap time goodbye! 

I actually found a plunger sitting right next to our bed the other day. Our bed. The place where we lay our heads at night to sleep. The place that is supposed to be a refuge. And, I must not leave out that they set said plunger not just next to our bed, but on our WOOL RUG without anything between said rug and dirty plunger. Face palm. Puke face. I shouldn't even have to mention this, but you just know it was a man that placed the plunger there. I certainly wouldn't and wouldn't think most women would. But I am sure my husband is reading this right now thinking, "What's the big deal Jess?!" Which, for his sake, I should be sure to point out it was one of the construction guys that put it there, not Ian.

But it will all be worth it in the end. Right? It always is. But my goodness it is stressful, messy and difficult while going on. Not to mention we have never tackled a project of this size and money so I feel all anxious about every decision, fearing I may hate it in the end. Oh house projects, I love you, but I totally hate you. Frenemies. We must be frenemies. 

So lets look back at my room, when there wasn't a plunger sitting next to my bed...don't worry, it didn't sit there over night. You can see the bedside lights Ian got me for Christmas. And get a glimpse of said defiled rug that I still love...because it's grey and huge and pretty. And my newest house plant baby right next to my bed. 

In a few short weeks (hopefully!) I will be staring at a pretty new bathroom attached to my room and not thinking about dirty plungers next to my bed.  Also, I now realize we have an oddly large amount of pictures of ourselves in our room. I guess there's no mistaking who the inhabitants of the room are!

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A bathroom reno

If you had asked me, this glass block goodness that is our master bathroom would have been the last bathroom in our house we touched. Why? Well, it was fully functional and in the master bedroom, so really didn't affect anyone except Ian and I. Never mind the fact that apparently slate is the WORST thing in the world to clean. I scrubbed and scrubbed, tried various products and nothing would clean it. Come to find out, that's how slate is. But no one except Ian or I saw it, so it wasn't the end of the world. Enter November.

I was cleaning the kids playroom one day in November when I noticed a leak. Whomp, whomp, whomp. We called a plumber. He wanted to rip into all the walls to find out the problem. Awesome. But it was a Friday afternoon and he didn't have time. The next week another plumber from the same company came out. This guy was awesome. In fact, he was the same guy that came out to our last house when our lawn was covered in poo. So basically, he's seen me through some dark times, haha! Anyway, he didn't want to rip into walls, but instead take time to measure, look in crawl spaces, etc to figure out the problem. And the problem ended up being that glass block goodness of a shower.

Now here's the thing, the shower could be fixed without redoing the whole bathroom. BUT, they were going to have to tear out the entire glass block wall, the floor of the shower and three feet up the shower wall. A new shower was no brainer. And, well, the floor of the bathroom should match the shower. And now that we are at it, the existing vanity wouldn't match the tile we picked out. And it just keeps going and going and going.

Picking out tile has been, well, a process. I never knew I had expensive taste until every sample I touched at the tile store was like five times the price of our budget. Then there's trying to find tiles that go together. One's that aren't to matchy matchy, but complement each other well. Let's not forget people's opinions. Those were enough for me to cover my ears and hum. So.much.advice. In the end, we went with what we liked. White subway tile with dark grout for the walls and large almost black hexagon tiles with dark grot for the floor. We still have to figure out some of the other details, but at least the big choices have been made.

So today I sit here, listening to them rip out my entire bathroom, down to the studs. There may even be a possibility of expanding the bathroom, but we are playing that one by ear...though it would be awesome if it works out.

In the mean time, I am over here feeling nervous that I fully like the choices we are making, because a whole new bathroom is quite pricy and I am stuck with it either way! Given we live in a 1939 tutor style house, I wanted something that went with the style of the house, was bright and clean (our last bathroom was a bit of a cave) and something that wouldn't be out of style next week. So here's some of my inspiration for our bathroom.

photo 1 // photo 2 // photo 3

One thing I know for sure is my bathroom has to be functional. I saw so many amazing bathrooms on pinterest with zero storage, or cute sinks that are totally not practical for everyday. And since our bathroom is small, it has to pack a punch. We have to have enough storage for our everyday essentials, not to mention room to move. With five of us currently sharing one bathroom, I now know the importance of space and storage first hand!

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The Back Room Renovation

We have so many plans for our house, but everything takes time and money. And I have quickly learned that I am a ball of stress when work is being done on our house, so for my own sanity (and Ian's) it's probably important that we spread out the love. This small reno that we had done to our back room is just the beginning of our plans for back there. Eventually, half of it will be turned into a master suite and the bathroom would be completely torn out and redone, with the entrance to it being in the master bedroom. But lets not get ahead of ourselves because that is a bit off…even if we did already buy the flooring for that project, so it will match what we just put down in half the room.

Let's start with a quick before and after picture form the same view. The before picture is actually from when we were in escrow almost 4 years ago, but it still gives you an idea of what things looked like.

We ripped out the bar and had a small laundry room put in. We also had all the wood paneling on the walls ripped out and replaced. The moldings were all replaced, as well as the flooring in half the room. We decided to paint all the walls that were touched with the grey that the main parts of the rest of the house are painted (kitchen, living room, dining room, entrance and bathroom) with the intention that we will eventually paint the rest of the room that color.

After debating about what kind of door we wanted on the laundry room (normal door, folding closet doors), we decided not to do anything and I made a curtain instead. I am really happy with that because it is super easy to use. Except for the first time, when I didn't put the bar up tight enough and it came down and hit me on the head, it has worked out great. Plus, I love the extra pop of color the curtain adds.

 ^^ This is the view from the kitchen

^^ Ian thought adding the rug made it look a bit living room-ish, but I liked it, so yeah. That big picture hanging up was Ian's Christmas present this past year. It is a picture of "the shore" in Edinburgh and happens to be where we lived. Our exact building is just out of the frame, but you can see our bus stop that we used every day in this picture and that's kind of fun.

I've never shown pictures of the kids playroom before, but here it is. It is actually the room in the house that gets changed the most often. I am rearranging it all the time. The couch has been against every wall (or non wall) in that room. When we moved in, even after Isla was born, this room was completely empty. It didn't get any furniture until our neighbor moved and gave us her couch…which Ian said we probably need to replace soon. That thing is an eye sore, but it is literally the most comfortable couch ever. In the right corner, behind the cabinets, is my desk (and random stuff storage) area. 

 

^^ This table and chairs was actually mine as a kid. I painted the chairs, but never got around to painting the table…which really could use a fresh coat of white paint on it. But, I must say, that paint looks good from being from the 80's!

I put up the decorations on the ceiling over a year ago. I originally set out to made one banner to hang across the room to give it some flair. It hung too low, so I tacked it up in the middle. Then I decided to add another one. Well, then there was a middle point that was just screaming to have something dangling from it, so of course I added a pompom. Ian has always thought it is a little over the top. I have always loved it…but lets be honest, I am a little over the top.

So there you have it, our little project completed. It was supposed to take 3 days and ended up taking 9 (well, they did take one day off in there). We lost power in the back of the house for a couple days and didn't have a working washer and dryer for more than a week. But, it's all behind us and I am super happy with how it turned out.

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