Since I'm laid up for awhile from foot surgery, (I talk about that a little here) things have been a bit slow around here in terms of creativity. I was completely unprepared in every way to a) re-injure my foot, therefore leading to surgery and b) stay off of my feet for more than 12 weeks. As a result, I'm kinda seriously lacking in the project department. So I thought I'd share our guest bathroom remodel from a couple years back.
Three words I would use to describe our old guest bathroom: Ugly, Ugly, UGLY! What? Okay, I know, that's not nice. I'll try again: Dated, Dark, Stripey. Very verrrrrry stripey.
Now, back in the day (er..2010) I wasn't much for taking Before and After photos of our home improvements, mostly because I didn't ever want to remember what the spaces looked like. That's called living in the moment, folks. I didn't foresee the consequences of my in-actions...mainly being able to look back and compare how far the house has come since I've been here. Ya live 'n learn. I'm smarter now. So I apologize in advance about the lack of pictures.
Here's a picture to give you an idea of what it looked like pre-remodel. This is the best view I could get from the doorway, since it's so teeny tiny (think 8'x5', including shower space) that if I stepped in you would only get one wall. (please excuse the heinous point-and-shoot aka way-too-much-flash pictures. That was the old me. I'm a recovered flash addict now, promise.) :
Pretty depressing stripey, eh? Not pictured is our very small, old, dated (seeing a reoccurring theme here?) sink/vanity that was the same color as the door.
Here's Mackenzie helping me strip wallpaper, which I've found is one of her "most favoritest things ever in the entire world!". She's nine now and looks so young and un-tween like to me here. See that gaping square hole in the wall? That's where our toilet paper holder was located...ACROSS the room from the toilet, causing you to risk your life by leaning forward to try and snag some paper. Also note the horrific looking doorknob that would fall off every time we turned it...
At first I wasn't going to share this next picture. It was just too embarrassing. But I wanna be honest, you know...keep it real. So I'm gonna put it all out there. Be prepared.
WARNING: DO NOT look at the picture below if you have a strong gag reflex.
What can I say? I warned ya. The heating/air vent that we discovered upon ripping out the vanity was completely closed off by the bottom of the vanity. So for thirty years it was blowing air up onto the underside of the vanity. Couple that with a leaky sink and the moisture from the shower and you've got a recipe for disaster...and mold. Ew. But enough about that.
And now for the BIG REVEAL.......
*drum roll please*
Fresh paint, a new cabinet above the new toilet, and a cute, whimsical shower curtain and bath mat for the kiddo.
I love the fresh, clean look of our new vanity. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it head-on, but there's not enough room between the door and the vanity to get enough of the cabinet. Aaaaand, there's a reflection of the mirror on the wall. Such wonderful photography skills I have ;)
And finally, here's the new tile flooring. It made the room look a liiiittle big bigger, and it needs all the help it can get in that department. Notice the bottom of the vanity sits up off the floor a bit so the air can get out of the vent underneath. We also lined the underside of the vanity with sheet metal, just to be sure we didn't have another problem with rotting wood and mold.
Here's a list of all the changes we made:
Stripped the stripey wall paper
Patched the huge hole where the previous toilet paper holder was, and relocated the new one to the vanity next to the toilet.
Added a few fresh coats of paint to the walls and the inside of the door. Eventually the door will be replaced, but for now we just painted the inside white because the exterior had to match the doors in the rest of the house.
Tore out all of the old laminate flooring, and laid brand spankin' new tile.
Removed the old sink/vanity and replaced it with a new one.
Replaced the toilet, toilet paper holder, shower head, towel bar, lightswitch/outlet covers & doorknob.
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Well, that's it for the guest bath remodel. What has been your favorite home project so far? Put your answers in a comment below. :)
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