Guest Bathroom Reveal

I can't believe how far this bathroom has come! There are still some small updates that need to be finished but I didn't want to delay the photos any longer. Here's what we started with:

• Initial house tour
• Demo begins 3/11/2014
• Update 3/27/2014
• Update 5/7/2014 

We'll let the pictures do the talking. Source list below.

Sources

Wall color - Benjamin Moore Classic Gray

Tile -  The Tile Shop

Rug - Target

Vanity - Lowes

Vanity Top - Lowes

Vanity Lights - Home Depot

Mirror - Home Goods

Faucets - Home Depot

Shower, Tub, Curved shower rod - Lowes (1, 2, 3)

Shower Curtain - Home Goods

Toilet - Lowes

Frames - Target

Window blinds - Home Depot

This bathroom has come so far. And we absolutely love it. I mean the cracked aqua tiles, laminate flooring, and stained tub were all well and good but I think this is a bit of an improvement. :) We have a few items to clean up like adding pictures to the frames, painting the window frame, door frame, and door as well as purchasing new door knobs (for all of the upstairs doors) but like I said, nothing worth delaying these photos any longer. We've had this room finished since June...

What do you think??

Surprise! Let's Start a Kitchen Reno...

A few Fridays ago we finished up our deck renovation project thanks to the assistance of our AMAZING families, J was on cloud nine. The deck has been haunting him since last summer and we knew it needed to be fixed. But at nearly 1,000 sq ft, it's huge and we knew it would be a demanding task.

We went to bed Friday night feeling so great that the last BIG check off our renovation to-do list was completed and we'd be enjoying it all summer long. Fast forward to Saturday morning when we woke up early with time to go out to breakfast before our all day childbirth prep class.... 

Me: "J, what is that noise? Did you leave the pool filter on last night?" (Proceed to open the window and realize that no, it's not the pool filter.)

J: Runs downstairs thinking the heating pipe he patched in the downstairs half bath was leaking again. (Ya, never got around to sharing that story...but the ceiling was torn out of the half bath on our first floor after a few leaks from the upstairs guest bath)

J: "OH MY GOD. Efffff. #$%!!@#$!!"

Me: "Oh no." Run downstairs and see it literally raining in our kitchen. Every recessed light and pendant light pouring out water from the ceiling. Floor soaked, stools soaked, counters soaked, etc.

A view of the ceiling once we had the water shut off

Uh, yeah...didn't see this one coming!

Once we got the water shut off, we assessed the damage. **PS - know where your water shut off valve is. I cannot stress that enough. The pipe leak had nothing to do with our renovations, and everything to do with it just being an old pipe - This could happen to anyone.**

The water went through the kitchen floor and down into our basement too... 

Then we figured out where the leak was located - in a wall between our master bathroom and guest bathroom. And I just about died when I thought we'd need to rip out all of our hardwork in the master bathroom. Not a needed stress right now!

Yes, that tiny hole created a whole lot of damage!

But this is why we pay for home insurance. Our issue was a pipe that simply corroded. Yes, this little pinhole created a whole lot of damage during the overnight hours. Seriously, thank god we were home and caught this as quickly as we did.

So this is what our kitchen looks like today... and I'm 38 weeks pregnant...

 

What needs to be done?

• New wiring and lighting for all of the recessed lights in the kitchen
• New pendant lights
• New insulation and sheetrock for the kitchen ceiling
• New tile flooring in the kitchen - which spreads to the front door and over into the half bath
• We've decided to also have them update the hardwood floors in our dining room to the same tiles since its all one open space and the current threshold between the kitchen tile and dining room floor is very awkward
• A new stove installed - most of the water came down right over our stove which now makes the most annoying pilot clicking noise, and doesn't stop, until you're done cooking
• New insulation in the ceiling in the basement

Thankfully, insurance and our contractor have agreed on what needs to be done and everyone is well aware of our impending stork arrival. But we can only speed things up so much - we've been given an estimate of 2-3 weeks worth of work. Wah. Which won't get start until next week. Double wah!

Not exactly sure why it can take so long, the tile work I suppose. But seeing as I can't stand the current tiles in the kitchen and they're now getting replaced, I will make this work!

I'll do my best to post updates/design choices along the way. We've decided to go with faux wood tiles for the new floors and I cannot wait to see how they turn out (especially after reading posts like this).

We've accepted the fact that each design decision we make in this kitchen seems to make the cabinets look more and more orange...so a new backsplash and painted cabinets will be happening at some point....ambitiously hoping it will be later this year. ;)

Hooked on Kitchens

With the chaos of a bathroom renovation going on, as well as designing our nursery space, you'd think I'd have enough on my plate to keep the home decor part of my brain occupied. Nope. I cannot get kitchens out of my mind lately. White, bright, fresh kitchens at that.

It's no secret that the style of the former homeowners doesn't exactly align with our own style. The space itself is great. But the choices made for cabinetry stain, appliance color, floor tile, backsplash, and even knobs and pulls are not me. I can't thank them enough for choosing no-slam drawers and high quality appliances, but like I said the color choices kinda make me cringe. As a fully functional space, it really cannot be a priority right now. But I am dying to get this space updated. It's starting to bother me a little more everyday....And while I know things just cannot be changed right now, a girl can dream right?

Here's an updated to-do list:

• Paint walls - not shown in this photo but painted November Rain in the fall
• Paint trim & ceiling
• Regrout tile floor - phase 1
• Replace floors - phase 2
• Possibly paint cabinets - phase 2 phase 1 now...I think...
• Replace door to basement (and get rid of the cat door) - found a great 2 panel door to replace it
• Add barstools - done. Absolutely love these barstools
• Add floormats for in front of sink and stove top
• Add rug for in front of french doors - purchased this one and its working out great
• Hang valance or roman shade
• Upgrade pulls & knobs - thank you Threshold by Target
• Replace backsplash with something simpler, cleaner
• Cut down the bar height side of the island/breakfast buffet to counter height - phase 2
• And then replace the bar height stools for counter height ones...
• Paint the basement door (far right side of the kitchen) with chalkboard paint
• Replace the pendant lighting with more robust ones

Here are a few kitchen spaces I'd love to use for inspiration.

Our kitchen is not bright, at all. And that just doesn't work for me. But our kitchen upgrade will be a very slow project overtime unlike our bathroom renovations have been. Time is not on our side right now, neither is the money tree outback, so I'll be taking baby steps over here.

And I make no promises that things will get done before Baby C arrives. Boy would I love them to! But the free weekends we have between now and then are dwindling quickly. It's a bit frightening to be honest. But I'm no stranger to a little pressure so it'll be exciting to see what we can get done before the little love makes his/her appearance.

Guest Bathroom Update

In all honesty, I think I could write pregnancy/baby related posts daily for the next month and still not get all of the thoughts and ideas I have out. Is that normal? Because it is really hard to turn off the baby brain these days!

But with other projects currently going on at our house, I'll do my best to split my blogging time. I don't think you should expect a fashion related post anytime soon though...I'm in a what still fits phase right now and doing my best to buy only what is practical/necessary for the next few months I have left. Ok that's partially a lie - who doesn't get excited at the fact that the weather WILL warm up soon and want a few new spring/summer items? Plus, I'm only getting bigger, pre-pregnancy clothes will only last so long. But I am doing my best to be good about what's getting purchased. And sadly it's still freakin cold here so many recent purchases are more for my upcoming trips to Florida and Charlotte. Can't wait!

But I digress. This past weekend we picked up all of the big guest bathroom purchases we had ordered. Just call this free advertising for Lowes...other than the tile, yep it was a one-stop shop over here. And I'm totally fine with that this time. First of all, the prices were pretty amazing and the stuff met our quality tests. Second, we've seen some of these items installed and they look great! And third, the guys we worked with were so helpful - that really does deserve a mention in my book. So as I discussed in this post, practical won in this bathroom renovation. And as you can see, white, white and more white. Easy to clean, right? Let's hope.

*definitely not to scale

Besides the tile (our plan B splurge!), my next favorite piece is definitely the vanity. I knew I wanted a wood tone and loved the look of this one when I first saw it online. Well, lucky for me they carry the single vanity in stock at Lowes so I was able to inspect it. It's so warm, and a touch lighter in person. Just what I was looking for.

I'm pretty pumped about this toilet too. Why? Well see those flat sides? Yup, easier to clean my friends. 

Disregard the faucets in the picture above, those were just included in the online picture of the counter. Fixtures are next on the list. What we need to choose:

• 2 vanity light fixtures, maybe something like this? (going with recessed lighting overhead)
• 2 faucet fixtures - if we had ordered a custom vanity top like our master bath, I would go with an 8" widespread faucet fixtures. But the vanity top we went with is pre-drilled for a 4" centerset. These are my favorites so far. But I know good faucet fixtures are worth it so I'm a bit torn. Maybe give them a try and if we hate them in a year or two we'll switch them out? That's kind of the plan with the vanity top anyways...
• Shower head/bathtub/handle combo
• Vanity mirror - currently thinking a simple, big, builder-grade mirror to fill out the space above the vanity. Finding the perfect mirrors in our master bathroom was one of the most frustrating aspects of the project surprisingly. Time to keep it simple.

Then lastly it will be on to the small details that complete the look - possibly shelves, shower curtain (to go with this curved curtain rod), art, towels, etc. In the master bathroom we went with polished chrome fixtures to compliment the tiles we selected. But I think this time around a satin finish will work better with the pieces above.

via Bower Power Blog

Hopefully J can finish up the demo this weekend so we can get the plumber and electrician in here asap to get the rough work done before we put the walls back up. I can't wait to see this bathroom take shape!

Tile Options - Plan B

This past weekend we decided to get all major items for the kids bathroom renovation ordered. This is a bit of a different approach than we took with our master bathroom renovation (when we had no idea what we were doing really).

After a few headaches during the ordering process for our master bathroom renovation - everything takes longer than estimated it seems - we decided this time around, we'd make sure we had everything we needed ready to go.

Much to my delight, we found ourselves with a plan free Sunday this past weekend! Obviously that never lasts long so before I knew it we were out the door, off to make our purchases. Our first stop was really The Tile Shop but since they didn't open until 11 we killed sometime in a nearby Home Depot first. We strolled the aisles of tub options, vanities, toilets, etc. I already had my mind set on a few options at Lowes and Home Depot really did nothing to impress me in this department. Decor is definitely where Lowes takes the cake. Do you agree?

So on we went to TTS to order up our penny round tiles. I was so excited to get these ordered. My bathroom vision was taking shape! Welp, the store is completely sold out! Gah. Like, out in all locations and no ETA on when the backorder is until. WHAAAT?! Womp, womp. As much as I appreciated the fact that they didn't want to order anything since the backorder realistically could be 3 months, I was super bummed about this. I'm actually proud of myself for keeping it together - pregnancy hormones somedays can be killer.

Soo now it's time to figure out Plan B. We took a few minutes to browse the store before discussing the Penny Round tiles with the sales person and fell in love with this marble hex. Which of course is more than double the price per square foot. And that just does not fit into the budget we've set....But, how about the fact that they're running a sale and we could get as much as 20% off. Or that our vanity, tub, and shower purchases ended up coming more than $1,000 under the budget we set.... do we go for it?!

We spent Sunday afternoon scouring the internet for options. First off, damn is penny round in a moss coloring popular these days - it was sold out on every site we checked. And second, damn is everything else we like expensive! Champagne taste on a beer budget. As much as I keep reminding myself this is a kids bathroom, this is kids bathroom, I don't want to totally cheap out on it. It does have to last!

So what do we do? Here are a few options we've found between our internet searches and the best husband in the world making a few tile store stops Monday afternoon to check out samples:

1 - Our original plan that has fallen through the cracks.

2 - Do we switch it up for white penny tiles instead? Maybe go with a darker grout?

3 - A HomeDepot find I would have never expected! But at the same price as the other marble tiles and lack of color variation, it's not our first pick. To be honest, it won a serious second glance simply because I totally misread the pricing labels in our original trip down the tile aisle.

4 - A polished 1x1 Ming Green hex marble, pretty amazing right? 

5 - Or how about a 2x2 marble hex? Definitely a little easier to install and having seen it in person, it had us both drooling.

6 - Or how about a tumbled 1x1 Ming Green hex marble? We totally loved the more rustic, less polished look of this one!

Well, let's just say that something has been ordered!! And fingers crossed we're in love once it's in our possession (soon!). But I'm going to keep it a secret until then. :)

So stay tuned!

Another Bathroom Reno

Well folks, the time has come. We've officially started the guest/kid bathroom renovation!

It's something we've been planning for since moving last year but it's still crazy to actually get it started.

We sat down Saturday morning to finalize our budget on it and well, the itch was scratched. We've taken a fair amount of time off from house projects but lately my mind has seriously been swirling with house plans. Possibly it's some early nesting but I have a laundry list of things I'd like to get done before July. J's so excited! :)

But in all seriousness, he couldn't wait to get the old bathroom cleaned out. It's high time we got another big project going.

Goodbye original blue tiles (everywhere)!

So, what's the plan? First and foremost, the plan and budget for this bathroom is dramatically different than our master bathroom renovation. Let's be serious, this bathroom will be used by kids most often. So we'll be going with easy to clean/maintain products (read no marble, possibly no granite). And we don't need to change the layout of the bathroom at all, just upgrade everything. So we'll be taking a hands-on approach this time and diy-ing everything we possibly can.

I wrote about our original ideas for the guest bathroom back before we moved in (here). Some of these ideas we're still planning to incorporate but I've decided to change it up a little too.

via

1. Neutral Walls. The bathroom we inherited had crazy stucco-looking walls. Now we know why. During the demo we realized that the previous owners slapped some plaster up over the original wallpapered walls and called it a day. Seriously. Why wouldn't you remove the wallpaper and keep smooth walls? I still love the idea of shiplap walls but clean, smooth walls will be so nice too.

2. Double Sinks. Oh yes, this is still in the plans. I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect, reasonably priced, vanity. And that purchase will determine what we end up using as a top. So many vanities online today come with marble as the stone of choice. In a kids bathroom? No thank you. That is just way too much maintenance for this space. Even granite shows water marks. So this is still something being researched but the easier to maintain, the better. White corian is sounding better and better. 

via

3. Penny Tile Floors. Our original plan included slate floors. I am so happy with the floors in our master bathroom, which have a slate-like look to them. But I've decided to go in the complete opposite direction for our second renovation. I've fallen for the look and feel of penny tiles. Plus, I'm fairly sure these will be easier for us first-time tilers to install.

4. White Shower Surround. We've decided to opt out of tiling in the shower. Instead, we'll be installing a tub that comes with a shower surround. Something like this. After putting some serious thought into this renovation, we've decided this is just the smartest decision for us. Not only will it save us a few dollars that can be used in other home projects (or maybe a vacation?) but it will be so much easier to maintain. No grout lines to scrub? Sounds pretty wonderful to me! But getting a nice, new tub was an absolute necessity! We kinda know that another upgrade will happen in this bathroom well down the line once our kids have grown up. And then, we'll splurge on something nicer.

via

So here, we go. Round 2 in bathroom renovations over here. I'll share updates as we go for sure. Like, how J is getting the original cast iron tub out - think sledgehammer. Oh yes, he's pumped.

And don't worry, with a baby on board, I really won't be doing too much of the heavy lifting. Especially during the demo, the dust was insane so I steered clear. But count me in for the design (obv), painting, and tiling. The slow and steady tasks are more my speed.

Wish us luck!

Master Bathroom: Sources

Happy New Year friends!

Apologies for the unintentional blogging break. Wrapping things up at work, the holidays, and catching what appears to have been the flu sucked the life out of me. But I'm on the mend and found myself with a bit of free time to check in. So, hello!

First off, thank you so much for your kind words on our master bathroom reveal. Although it certainly was not without its headaches and frustration, it has definitely been our most rewarding project to date. I tried my best to find comps when we first started this project and we were trying to figure out a budget. But the only people who tend to fess up on costs seem to be bloggers and well, there are a lot more talented bloggers out there than J and I. So estimates like $2-$8k were what I found in my searches and unless you're planning on doing much of the work yourself, I warn you...this is not realistic!

If you're in the market for a bathroom overhaul and are looking to use a few higher end products, your budget should be around $20k. I had to pick my jaw up off the ground at this point. I thought for sure our first contractor bid was trying to take our money and run. Nope, it's the truth. Bathrooms are really, really expensive and we just had no idea.

So here we go, here's a rundown of the sources we used to design our new master bathroom:

Paint: Top - Baltic Gray by Benjamin Moore, Board and Batten - Pure White by Sherwin Williams

Toilet: Kohler Cimarron via Lowes. Best decision ever = soft close lid

Tile: via Bellew Tile - We used all porcelain tiles for both durability and cost. They were beyond helpful! Only complaint...restocking fee and won't always take excess tile back if more than 30 days passed the purchase date

Shower

Fixtures: via Republic Plumbing. (All polished chrome finish). Grohe Seabury line for the valve plates/trim, Grohe thermostatic valve, Grohe handheld shower. Per recommendation, we bought less known brands for the shower heads since the quality was just as good but by not paying for the Grohe name, we saved a few dollars. 

Glass: Oasis Shower Doors (polished chrome hardware finish)

Vanity

Vanity: James Martin (via Wayfair) This is extremely well made and we couldn't be happier. We ended up calling Wayfair because at one point there was an option to purchase the vanity without a top included for a much better price. 

Granite: A remnant piece we lucked out finding from a local granite dealer. I wish I knew the pattern name to share.

Lighting: Maritime Caged Sconces (via Restoration Hardware Outlet). The outlet price is 50% off, and we purchased them during a Labor Day Weekend sales....probably our best deal!

Faucets: Symmons Carrington via Republic Plumbing (polished chrome finish)

Mirrors: via Home Depot. Ugh this was a last ditch effort. I wanted built-in oval mirrors with storage, apparently I told everyone this too late in the game. If I had to do this again, I'd also make it known earlier that I'd like to use bigger mirrors....every guy involved in the project assumed 10 inches off the edges of the vanity was good for the plumbing of the sinks (so they didn't ask)....thus meaning the very widest mirrors we could get would be 20 inches wide, but would then basically hit the walls. Ah well, what can you do.

Did I miss anything??

Master Bathroom Reveal

I've been wanting to publish this post for a few weeks now. Just waiting for the right opportunity/light to snap some photos. 

In the interest of time, I've spent my "prep" time for this post re-sizing images, so warning, this post is basically wordless. I'm going to do a separate post on sources for this bathroom reno.

Enjoy!

Here are a few recaps of the process:

Before

Planning

An Update

Thanks for touring our new master bathroom! Like I said, I'll be following this up with a post dedicated to sources, colors, what we learned, etc. If you have any questions, please tell! I'll answer them in the follow-up post.

What do you think? Is there a bathroom renovation in your future?

We're thrilled to have this complete. Yes, we need a window covering still, and a TP holder, towel holder, etc but those will be hunted down after the holidays. We're still on a much needed no-house-projects break.

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