A Much Bigger Bathroom

It was fun to recently pull together some room-by-room pictures of our house remodel. It's hard to remember how far we've come since the water damage and seeing pictures just makes me thankful we're almost done!!

One of the rooms where we see the biggest difference from 'before' to 'after' is in the upstairs bathroom.

Before:
What an UGLY bathroom! This is what it looked like when we first bought the house. Teal and peach with a weird wall above the shower that we had to duck under. As a temporary fix, we removed the glass shower door and that weird ceiling area and then used a tile paint to make everything white. On the floor we used peel and stick vinyl tiles to temporarily fix the ugly.

During:
This bathroom is where some of the worst water damage was. The whole ceiling and side wall were covered in mold and had just stayed wet for much too long. (thanks to an insurance adjuster who told us to wait a few months before taking action on the problem....grrrr)

So we had to gut the WHOLE thing! That tile was stuck on like you would not believe. The plaster walls were heavy and backed with metal lath. Not.a.fun.project! Below you can see the bathroom wall completely removed (along with all the walls and ceilings) and open to the boys' bedroom.

We decided to make the bathroom bigger than it had been by taking a section out of the boys' room (a great decision).

Foam insulation was put everywhere. (another great decision)

Then the 'pretty' parts of the bathroom could be put back in.

After:
What a night and day difference! We still have a few things to finish up in this room (it's the story of our lives, really) but we're thrilled with how it turned out!

 A few details can be found here about the vanity, and here about the shower curtain and rings.

Lights: Factory Sconce from Restoration Hardware
Shower Curtain: Grand Embroidered Shower Curtain in white Pottery Barn
Shower Curtain Rings: Restoration Hardware (no longer available)
Tile: from the Tile Shop I'm not sure they have the floor tile anymore but it's similar to this only the big hex tiles are matte and the small squares have a gloss finish. The shower tile is similar to this.
Mirror: Menards - it was $10 in the scratch and dent section. It used to be an off-white color and I just painted it white.
Window Shutter: Menards special order (it's pvc)
Baskets: Target
Wall Color: Benjamin Moore color called Black Pepper in a pearl finish

A Warm Welcome

A home's entryway is like a warm 'hello' and can make a great first impression...or it can make a stinky one.

We have been working on improving our entryway over the years, and really tackled it through our whole house remodel. I have blogged about the tiny area in little bits over the past couple of years, but seeing the progress in one short post is a little crazy to me. Wow. Our 'welcome' space got a whole lot warmer!





Before:
On the left you can see the hallway that used to be next to the stairs, and on the right you can see the color of the old flooring and treads as well as the wall that came to the end of the steps.

During:
First we opened up the wall that had blocked off part of the stairs...it made the house feel SO much bigger and more open!

Then a new wall was built to close off the hallway (it became our master bedroom closet from the other side).

The treads were very squeaky, so they all were taken up, planed down, and reset to be more sturdy and quiet. We also made the bottom 4 steps wider.

Finally, the steps were stained to match the rest of the hardwood floors in the house (that we redid) and we made the decision to put a runner on them. (here's the tutorial on installing the runner)

After:
Even though we still have a few things to finish up in the entryway, it feels much more light, bright, and welcoming! (and WAY more functional)

Welcome Remodelaholic readers. What do you think?

Still on the to-do list for this area: There is currently a big hole in the wall next to the front door that we left open so a doorbell wire could be pulled through. We also need to more firmly attach the handrail and repaint it. Then the blue wall color needs to be touched up because of some 'loved' spots. But overall, we love it!

Wall Color: custom blend...it took me weeks to get a color I like and I'm not sure I can replicate it exactly. :(
Trim paint: Sherwin Williams Super Paint (un-tinted)
Initial Knobs: Hobby Lobby (more details on the built in hooks here)
Stair Runner: Dash & Albert Blue Awning Stripe
Collage wall art: details here
Bench: Hancock Fabrics