What do YOU do to keep busy during a Global Pandemic? Because .... Todd's got this!

 So, if there's a global pandemic happening, and you're supposed to avoid going out in public, stay home, and all of that..... what do you do? I'll tell you what TODD does. He gets right to work on any of his outstanding home improvement projects!

This one also just might go down in the record books as the fastest home bathroom remodel ever. (He's done other bathrooms elsewhere, probably in better time, but for the HOME baths ..... this was pretty darn fast!)

So this is the fourth (and final) bathroom remodel at the Haven. They're all finally done! It's only taken 17 years to finish them all. Not exactly the timeline that we originally had pictured, but we all survived just fine.

So here's what the Pink Bathroom (a.k.a. The Girls' Bathroom) looked like when we started:

Originally, it had a pink toilet, too, but sometime over the years, that was replaced.

It also used to have some wallpaper border along the ceiling line .... I ripped that down a few years back because a) I didn't like it, and b) it was falling off the wall anyway. There are only 2 things in that bathroom that I liked. One is the "Hello Gorgeous" wall decor, and the other is the functionality of the big 3-way mirror:

Notice that the sink is off-center. Notice also that the light bar is not attached directly to the wall, but to an unfinished wood box instead. It makes sense when you consider that if it HAD been attached directly to the wall, the lights wouldn't extend out far enough beyond the mirror to actually be functional.

When this used to be the only bathtub in the house, I would take a long bath and stare at the repeating pattern of the "marbling" of the tiles. We think this back wall had been re-done at some point, because it didn't always have the white checkerboard in the bottom three courses.

I don't have a lot of in-progress photos, and I know I'm missing a demolition video, but here are a few as we moved along:

With the walls all ripped out, electrical and plumbing happened. Removing the pink cast iron bathtub was a challenge, though.

Do you know what happens to a pink cast iron bathtub when you hit it with a sledgehammer?
Nothing much!!

See the chunk of pink missing off the front? That's the sledgehammer strike.

So, it went out the door, whole, on a dolly:

Miss Emma was also documenting with her GoPro camera, too.
(Footage is ..... somewhere? I can tell you it made a big bang when it hit the bottom of the dump trailer!)

Also, under "Things You Cannot See When It's Done, But They Make A WORLD Of Difference In The End", please add:

Soundproofing of bathroom walls:

'Nuff said!! Ha!!

Moving on ..... a blank slate is also a wonderful thing:

Pretty, NEW cast iron bathtub in place.
Definitely NOT pink. But it's also super-deep --- which I also love!

I wish I had great tile-progress photos to share .... but I don't. So here's Todd, starting the tile work. We chose a variegated long gray subway-type tile. I love the dimension that it has. We had the granite company cut some quarter-round shelves out of the same slab as our countertop, and then plane them down so they are not as thick:

Also, fun fact: When you install a new bathtub, before you get the drain installed, you can see right through drain hole, the floor, the pre-planned access panel, and into the downstairs bathroom!!

Q. So, how long does a "short" bathroom remodel take to accomplish?

A. Four months, fourteen days.

What a difference that makes!!

Ready for the big reveal? I feel like I should have dramatic music running in the background. No?
Ok, here it is!

TA-DAAAA!!!

Ooooooooooh, Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

See the different tones in the gray wall tiles?
The flooring is also tile, but the wood-look tile. I liked it so much from the Laundry Room Remodel, that we used it again here. Also, new white cabinets, soft-close drawers, European hinges. Here's a better look:

We did lose that 3-way mirror, but gained a ton of storage with the extra cupboards. We really like the granite counter .... it has a very pretty pattern.

The tub surround is SUCH a huge change:

Also, we've determined that it's the smallest bathroom in the house, as well. Kind of a tight fit for grabbing photos. There are four shelves total, ... two in each tub corner.

So, here are a few of the details in this bathroom, that I kind of love.
First ..... the cool twist in the faucet set:

And a "clear" shot of that granite. It's not polished, it's a "leathered" finish, so it has some texture to it, and feels very soft. The backsplash panels are cut so the pattern continues up the walls on the back and side.

And even though the mirror doesn't have the 3-way option, it does have some really cool corners.

The next detail is really hard to capture in photos, but it's the filigree pattern on the tub treads: 

Like the master bathroom, we made sure there were plenty of electrical outlets, and this one includes USB ports for charging. Got to stay current with the times, right?! (no pun intended, but hey, why not!)

So really .......... since there was only one thing in the old bathroom, worth keeping for the new bathroom, ...... we hung back up, "Hello Gorgeous"!!!

Bathrooms are not the only thing on the radar, but this is one more thing checked off the list!

We love it! And, also importantly, ... Miss Emma loves it. Which is good, because it's "her" bathroom, and guess who better keep it clean from now on?!

Master of the Bath

In a perfect world, there would be bi-weekly blog posts. Welcome to my imperfect world.

My Facebook Memories reminded me this morning that one year ago today, we finished the beautiful master bathroom remodel. Wait, what????

It's really been a year since it was completed. I have absolutely no idea where the time went. Actually, I do know, and it's recorded in scores of digital photos on my laptop. More stuff to write about!

So, in the interest of recording for posterity, updating the blog, and bragging on my talented husband ... here's the sweet tale of remodeling the Third of Four bathrooms at The Haven.


It really started back when the Incredible Laundry Room Remodel was happening. The grand plan from back then was to sacrifice some space from the old laundry room to gain some space in the coming master-bathroom-to-be.

So  you may or may not recall that the back half of the old laundry room (including that window wall) was closed off when we did the laundry room remodel. It sat there with tools, ladders, insulation .... until we started the master bathroom work.



Because there was no other way into that space, Todd cut out the back shower wall from the then-master bathroom for access:

So, at that point, the shower became obviously unusable. It looks like a dark hole in this picture because it was nighttime, and apparently I can't remember to think about lighting in photographs in advance. And yes, that is as clean as I could get that fiberglass shower floor to be.

And yes, you're seeing this correctly: the toilet and shower are inside the bathroom door, and the vanity and mirror are outside the bathroom door (IN our bedroom). And please do not adjust your screens: that really is a blue sink. With a blue marble-patterned laminate countertop.

Like many things in our home, it was up-to-the-minute-cool ...... in the 70's. Now, not so much. And that was one thing I really wanted to change with the new bathroom, because I'm  really just not a fan of having the sink in the bedroom. During my Seminary-teaching years, I didn't even use our bathroom in the mornings -- I got up way earlier than Todd, and he would never have slept through my morning routine.

A few other points of change .... the flooring in the bathroom was vinyl:

... with a seam that was separating. Any fixtures that hadn't been replaced, like the recessed toilet paper holder and robe hooks - were antique brass-looking. The cupboard over the toilet had been an afterthought-add-on before we moved in.We had removed the old medicine cabinet over the sink and replaced it with a flat mirror when we moved in, but the light fixture was off center. (Centered with the sink!!) And the vanity had seen way too many years of wear and tear.

Note that the blue sink was equipped as a hair-washing sink, so it was extra wide, and had a spray nozzle for rinsing hair mounted on the back. A convenient feature, I admit, but only Todd used it.

Also, some time ago, I did mention that the house moves, which was noticeable in particular in the master bathroom shower door frame. It alternated being so wide that the shower door could "tink" open at the merest touch, to being so incredibly tight that it took ninja moves to escape. The remodel eliminated that completely.

And finally, a word to the wise:

This was the shower wall. It had been finished at one time with the same kind of material as was used in the downstairs bathroom shower: a tile-looking paneling. It is water resistant, until the surface finish gets scrubbed off (or otherwise damaged). After that, it's as porous as anything, and gets scary looking and moisture goes right into/through it. Time for this stuff to GO.

Demo Day is always a good day!!

Here's just a few pic of demolition; this is the wall that was between the shower and toilet:

The wall behind the old toilet:

The south (outside) wall:

Cameron helped a great deal with this remodel. Maybe he's pocketing these construction learning experiences for future use?

Remember that the window on the right is from the old laundry room. And the sliding glass door on the left is in our bedroom, across from the old blue sink. This next picture has the drywall and walls gone, but you can see that some plumbing vents are there that needed to be moved to be enclosed in walls.

The spot where the gray garbage can is? That's sitting in the old shower. The old toilet was right behind the ladder. The forward plumbing vent was in the wall between the blue sink and the toilet area. The rearward plumbing vent was in the wall behind the old toilet. The blue sink was on the right (see the water lines sticking out?) and you can see the old paint that had been behind the vanity.

What do you do when you're demo-ing a bunch in the house? You get creative with trailer parking!

Todd backed the trailer right next to the house so he could toss scraps out the window, and directly into the trailer. The kicker? That trailer axle is straddling the stairs that lead down into the downstairs rec room. That's some well-aligned parking right there!!

Next came re-construction.

This was in preparation for wall texture.

The ELEPHANT in the room is the new bathtub!!

The tub had to be brought into the room while we could still get it in the room. When the tub is wider than the doorway, this is the way you do it! It would be some time before it could actually be installed, since the tub deck still needed to be tiled. 

Interesting side note: we had purchased this tub several years ago, in anticipation of the remodel. It's been sitting in storage, waiting for its moment to shine!! Finally!!

And this is what you do when spraying texture and sanding drywall threatens to overtake your sleeping quarters:

After the room was drywalled and painted, and Todd put down the insets of octagonal tiles on the floor:

And yes, having the bathtub still precariously balanced on the frameout for it made momma kinda nervous.

(Floor is done!)

You should also know that we moved the forward wall of the bathroom out (into the bedroom area) to gain a couple more feet, and to get the sink inside the bathroom. Now the bathroom entry door is right next to the sliding glass door, instead of two feet back. No sliding glass doors were harmed during the construction phase.

Emma helped painting! Most of this wall she's painting is going to be covered by a linen cupboard. But we paint anyway. The little "window" in the wall? I'll show you that, later.

(The tongue helps, HONEST!)

Decorative tile around the future tub area:

 Where the wall makes the jog back at the tub, is where we stole square footage from the old laundry room. Everything that you are seeing as tub and shower areas .... are in the old laundry room space.

My hardworking tile guy!! (He's also my hard working framing guy, plumber, drywall guy, painter, electrician .....!!!)

Decorative tile wrapping around the shower area (look closely, because it's gray on gray):

 The two insets in the back wall are for towels to hang (left) and shampoo/soap, etc. (right).

Cutting tile couldn't go super late at night, but Todd made the most of his daylight hours:

The back deck was the handiest tile saw setup location.

Things started really coming together when we got delivery from our cabinet maker. He brought and installed:

The tub access cover. In case we need to get to the guts of the tub, or the plumbing underneath.

The vanity! We patterned this off the bathroom vanity at our favorite hotel, and our cabinet maker custom built it for us.

Outside the bathroom, in our bedroom ... the linen cupboard.

And finally (for him),

The "medicine cabinet". I wanted shelf-storage for things that couldn't go in a drawer, and I didn't want the counter cluttered up with things. So, voila!! The linen cupboard is on the other side of this, and it's a little less deep on top, where this cupboard is. THIS is that hole/window in the wall shown in the pictures of Emma painting.

I know I took pictures of the counter installation as well, but I absolutely can't find them. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for this. It escapes me, at the moment. As did the pictures.

The final step was installing the glass shower wall:

And actually, waiting on the glass was the only thing that kept us from having the room completed by Christmas (of 2017). We did devise a temporary shower curtain arrangement before the glass came, so we were using the room, even though it was not totally complete.

So.

Are you ready for the big reveal? Don't forget what we had "before" :

The other thing you should know, is that the location of the toilet did not move. It is actually in the exact same spot, just rotated 90 degrees. It uses the exact same drain as previously.

So, here's the finished product!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE??!!

We have a few different sets of towels for the room -- around Christmas to Valentine's Day, I like to have the deep red ones out.

Here's a shot from the opposite direction:

You might not have a tub like this, but if you did --- you'd be taking baths instead of showers, too!

There's that finished counter!

You might notice that it's also the same metal raised tray to the right of the sink. It's a favorite piece of mine. And since I collect lanterns, there's surely some requirement about having a lantern in there as well.

I know, you're thinking that you would have put in double sinks. And we thought about it. But in the end, we don't usually have any issues with trying to use the sink at the same time, and if we'd had double sinks, we would have had minimal counter space -- and I didn't want that. So .... one sink.

It's our bathroom, and we got to pick!

Also, we chose not to mount a toilet paper holder, but instead are using a free-standing one. At least for now. Maybe one day we'll drill into that pretty vanity cabinet, but today is not that day.

Here's that cupboard, put to use:

How about some cool details, too? Ok!!

We did make sure to have extra outlets in the bathroom: two at the counter, two on the opposite wall, and one to the left of the counter. I'm never running out of outlets again!!

The ones by the counter also feature:

USB ports! (Hey, I mean, as long as we're upgrading here......)

The mirror over the vanity ....

... is a lighted mirror. A little hard to see in this photo, but we love the lighted border on our mirror.

And under the sink ....

A "hidden" pull-down door for under-sink storage.

The linen cupboard outside adds a ton of room for all those towel sets:

There's some of them:

 You can see the octagon tile insets in the floor. We had originally thought to use the octagons all over the entire floor, but then we found out the cost of those babies. Instead of dropping the idea altogether, we opted for the insets. We think it makes a runway-of-a-floor look more interesting.

Lighting changed to recessed cans, with cans in the shower, the chandelier over the tub, the light bar over the sink, and of course the lighted mirror. This room is plenty bright!

The window faces south, and it was dusk when I took the pictures here. I took a ready-made curtain, and hemmed it to length. Now it fits inside the window casing, and we close it when we need privacy, and open it for light, and during the day.

I will tell you one other thing .....

baths are super-peaceful and relaxing!

Bet you wish you were here!!!

P.S.  Ok, Pink Bathtub. Your day are numbered!! Last bathroom still to go, but I feel like we'll work on the project house first, before tackling the last bathroom.