Like any house, when we first walked through ours with a realtor about 5 years ago, we knew there were some projects we’d eventually want to tackle.  One of those was the master bathroom.  From a cosmetic standpoint, it was very green … but more importantly, we were concerned about the condition of the bathtub.  Although the tub itself looked fine, we were concerned about the faucet handles that weren’t sealed against the shower wall (potentially allowing water to get into the wall), the rusted (and very slow) drain, and the fact that the tub wasn’t installed level (so that water pooled in the back rather than draining) and generally didn’t seem very solid.  On top of this, there was no exhaust fan in the master bathroom and a single shower left water running down the walls.

So, for these reasons, we’ve opted to use the shower in the laundry room instead and this has worked pretty well for us.  Now, with a baby on the way, though, we decided it might make sense to re-think the condition of the bathtub since it’s the only one in the house and we’ll (eventually) need it in working order.  And, so, the project started with a plan to install an exhaust fan and a new tub faucet that would be properly sealed against the wall.  At the same time, we planned to also do some work on the drain to hopefully correct the issues with it.  The more we talked about this plan, though, the more we realized that, even with these changes, we still wouldn’t really feel like the tub would be usable as a shower for adults, so then the project grew to include replacing the bathtub/shower with one that was properly installed.

We’d done a bathroom remodel ourselves before (in our last house – pictures below) and would have tackled this one ourselves too except that we weren’t so confident we could actually complete the project before the baby comes especially since I’m not really able to help so much.  So, we started working with a contractor to put together a plan for installing a new tub.  After working through a few different variations of that project, though, we figured out that the tub was really a good portion of the work and the cost of a full bathroom remodel and that updating the rest of the room at the same time really made a lot of sense – especially considering that those updates were something we’d planned to do in the next 5 or so years anyway.  And so the project grew from the installation of an exhaust fan and new tub faucet to an all-out bathroom remodel including the tub, tile, vanity, medicine cabinet, and light fixtures – in addition to the exhaust fan and faucet.

Since we were so over loaded with color (green!) in the current bathroom, our plan for the new one was to stay pretty neutral.  In addition to being neutral, our other goal was that the new bathroom look more consistent with the age and style of the house, which is a 1915 colonial revival.  After reviewing a bunch of online photos to figure out what we liked and what we didn’t, we landed on a plan for a very white bathroom.

Just as a quick reminder, here’s what we’re starting with:

And here’s some of the inspiration for our bathroom remodel:

After making some final decisions back in June about what we wanted for the bathroom, the waiting game began … until yesterday when a crew showed up to start tearing out the old bathroom.  More details on that later, but for now, here’s a photo of the bathroom with demo basically completed.

The schedule for next week includes some time from a plumber to re-route and replace a good portion of the plumbing that was uncovered under and in the walls behind the old tub before installing the new one, a visit from the electrician to re-locate the light fixtures above the vanity so we can install some new sconces on either side of the mirror (rather than having a light bar across the top), and a plasterer coming by to clean up the wall where it was patched around the old medicine cabinet.

There should be a lot of changes coming in the next few days – we’re so excited to see how quickly the space is being transformed into something totally different than what we started with.

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One thought on “The Plan for the Bathroom Remodel …

  1. I LOVE the bathroom inspiration. My husband and I are trying to do the same thing, but those faucets are so darn expensive!!!

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