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When things don’t go as planned…

By Arielle on February 19, 2013

So I think it’s time to deviate from our current project (scraping and painting the main living area) and talk about something else. Anything else! This project is driving me mad, and it’s taking much longer than I hoped just to prep the rooms for priming! But more on that another time.

So when things don’t go as planned in my world, I usually cry. And this time was no exception. You see, I don’t like when things deviate from my plan. I’m not very spontaneous, I don’t “go with the flow”, and I’m not good at dealing with disappointment. Andrew tried to reassure me by saying “They’re only curtains!”, but that’s NOT helpful!

Here’s what happened. Remember my lovely, wonderful, perfect World Market curtains in the guest bedroom?

I loved them, but they were still kind of creased and stiff, so I decided to wash them (I’m sure you can see where this going) to soften them up just a bit and get rid of those pesky creases where it had been folded.

I checked the label. “Machine wash cold. Tumble dry low.” I washed them on the delicate cycle with cold water, and dried them on no heat just to be safe. I went to hang them back up thinking that even if they shrank a little it would be fine. We’d hung them so that quite a bit was pooling on the floor, so we had a few extra inches.

But instead this is what we got…

They shrank by at least 7 inches!! Even if we lowered the curtain rod so it was just barely above the window, they wouldn’t touch the floor. I was so distraught! Not only did that mean I wasted $60 on curtains, but I had to decide whether to try to find the same ones and buy them in a longer length or look for something entirely new.

Turns out these curtains are no longer available online in the longer length, so unless I wanted to buy them in the same length and never wash them, they were out of the question. This left me with the option of buying new curtains, which I so did not want to go through again! I think almost all of the curtains available are just plain ugly, and the cute ones cost a fortune, which is ridiculous for something that’s purely decorative.

Luckily for me, my family was coming to visit the next day, so I asked my mom about it. She is one of the few people who can always calm me down and assure me that we’ll figure something out. She suggested simply adding a border at the bottom. I’d thought of that, I think, but somehow it just didn’t seem like a possibility until she said it (could have something to with my fear of sewing!) We set out to find a gold/yellow fabric to match the yellow in the curtains.

We started at Walmart (cause it’s so cheap!) and found a cotton broadcloth in that exact color. And it was only $5.50 for a few yards! The next time she comes to visit, she’s going to bring her sewing machine and help me sew the border on the bottom. I’m a little nervous about whether or not I’ll like so much of the yellow color next to our wood floors, but it’s worth a try, and it’s a heckuva lot cheaper than new curtains!

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Bathroom Budget Breakdown

By Arielle on August 30, 2012

Over the course of our bathroom renovation, I’ve kept really close tabs on all of our receipts. I’m a super detailed person, so I wanted to know exactly what this bathroom cost us, down to the cent. Whenever we bought something for the bathroom, I logged the item and amount in a spreadsheet alongside my projections for what those items would cost. My projected cost for the bathroom was $5,000.

Let me just say that we certainly weren’t going for an “economy” scale bathroom remodel. I wouldn’t necessarily call it luxury, either, but we certainly didn’t buy the cheapest materials we could find. Before we even started the remodel, we made the decision that we wanted to do everything in the room wholeheartedly and not skimp out with the finishing touches. We’re so glad we did, because they really make the room! What would be the point of redoing a room only to fill it with cheap or simply “adequate” things?

We wanted it to be obvious that it was a complete remodel, not just a builder basic bathroom plus a few upgrades. But we wanted to get that look for a price we could afford. The average complete remodel for a bathroom this size is around $10 to $15k (with someone else doing the work, of course.) Those were scary numbers, nonetheless.

Obviously, I allowed for some surprises in my budget, and while none of the allowances I included in the budget were needed (like new subflooring or hiring a plumber), we did have a few other hiccups and unexpected expenses. For example, spending nearly $60 on plumbing just to move our toilet 3 inches…

I know that may sound crazy, but come sit on my new toilet and you won’t hit your elbow on the wall. Oh, the things you never knew you should appreciate. I severely underestimated plumbing. I projected $100 and we spent almost 3 times that. Silly me. It IS a bathroom…it’s all plumbing! We also spent $62.06 just for 2x4s and plywood to create a new wall behind our tub so the drain would line up. Another sad surprise was having to buy two sinks.

Stuff added up quickly, but we were able to save on some things, too. Obviously we saved a lot by doing almost all the work ourselves. I can’t imagine how much we would have paid someone to do all the plumbing. We also came in under budget on our vanity. We were very set on a solid wood vanity, but they were all pretty pricey and for some reason the top drawers on all of them were fake (not even under the sink, just fake because it was cheaper that way, maybe?). Our last shot was a store called Surplus Warehouse. We knew they carried designer vanities, but most that we’d seen there were too traditional and ornate. But this one was perfect! And only $400!

Another item we were nervous about was a light fixture. I knew what I liked and what style I wanted (see my mood board), but I feared it might be out of my price range. Miraculously, that week there was a Living Social deal, $50 for $125 to spend at Lighting Emporium. We bought it right away, and when we got there found the perfect fixture on clearance, but it had shades that were ugly as, well, you know. So we bought 4 new ones and still managed to come in under budget.

So, where did we end up? I am proud to say we were more than $800 under budget! Here’s the breakdown:

Demo: $1.09 (For a plastic turkey baster to get water out of the toilet. Yes, seriously.)
Plumbing: $294.37 (copper pipes, soldering equipment, PVC pipe, valves, hoses, etc.)
Toilet: $272.03 (we’ve heard from a few sources not to waste money on cheap toilets. And we love the look of Kohler!)
Bathtub: $262, Mortar bed under tub: $9.30, Materials to move wall forward so drain lined up: $62.06
Subway tile for shower surround: $160.48, Mosaic tile for accent row: $45.17, Misc. materials/tools: $150.47 (cement board & screws, moisture barrier, thinset, grout, grout sealer, caulk, etc.)
Shower doors: $420.53 ($370.36 for original kit + $48.03 for two new wall jambs + $2.14 for longer screws)
Shower fixtures: $161.69
Floor tile & grout: $175.11, Misc. materials: $66.71 (Hardibacker, screws, & thinset)
Tile installation: $400
Other miscellaneous materials/tools: $15.32 (light switch, replacement trim, mesh tape for drywalling, metal corner bead)
Paint: $34.21 (for a sample and gallon after a $5 off coupon, already had primer and tools)
Vanity: $400, Sinks: $174.94 (first sink was too big), Granite counter top: $492, Faucet: $111.25, Knobs for vanity: $27.87, Denatured alcohol and granite sealer: $25.41
Light fixture: $85.97
Mirror: $28.24 ($25 at Goodwill + $3.24 for hanging wire)
Towels: $100.42 (4 bath towels and 4 hand towels)
Towel rod, tp holder, and toilet lever: $79.71, Outlet/switch plate covers: $16.96, Trash can: $11.35, Paint chip art: $13.43 ($8 for the frame + $5.43 for spray paint)
Other miscellaneous accessories: $97.23

GRAND TOTAL: $4,195.32

About $300 of that was spent on things that we can continue to use like tools, mesh tape for drywalling, soldering equipment, etc.

All in all, we’re really proud of the finished result and where our budget ended up! We feel like we got a lot for our money between the solid wood vanity, the frameless shower doors, tile surround, porcelain-glazed floor tiles, a Kohler tub, sink, and toilet, granite countertops, etc. The one thing we’d do differently is to do the tiling ourselves. Now that we have our first major renovation under our belt, we feel much more confident that we could do it.

We certainly could have done the project a bit cheaper. For example, we spent over $400 on the shower doors. We could have just gone with a shower curtain. But we’re so glad we didn’t! The room feels so much bigger without a shower curtain! We also spent $100 on towels. But we know the finishing touches were just as important as the permanent fixtures in creating the feel of the room. Besides, who wants to offer their guests thin, rough towels? (Our towels are amazing, so come visit!)

We are so excited that we’re this much under budget, and we’re loving our new bathroom! I’m especially loving how much my planning has paid off. We knew exactly what we were ok with spending, we spent less, and we got exactly the result we were hoping for!!

I think this was possibly more work than anything I’ve ever done in my life, but seeing the finished product makes us so proud! It’s a really good feeling knowing that you took something dirty and ugly and gave it new life (all the while adding value to your home)! It almost makes me ready to take on another big project tomorrow! Just maybe not another bathroom for at least a year…

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Guest Bathroom: The Big Reveal

By Arielle on August 28, 2012

I almost can’t believe I’m writing this post! We’re actually done with the bathroom renovation!!!

Only 6 short months ago (I know, I know…too long!) we gutted our guest bathroom and started the long process of overhauling the entire thing. We thought it would take 2 months at the most, but we had more than one hiccup along the way. First, there was the whole granite issue. Long story short, we had 3 different countertops installed by 2 different companies before it was done right. Then we also had to wait a month for back-ordered wall jambs for our shower doors. If you take out the time spent on those things, it might have been about 2 months. On the bright side, if we had to do it again we’d know how to install the shower doors right the first time and which granite company to call first. At least we learned something!

Let’s take a look back at how gross the bathroom was 6 months ago.

This picture really doesn’t convey how bad it was. The paint was peeling and the previous bright yellow color showed through in a lot of places, the counter top was a thin sheet of laminate stuck over plywood (no joke!), the popcorn ceiling was uneven and yellowed, there was no drain cover in the sink, the light fixture had holes in the glass, the shower insert had cracks in the bottom (which is why we started the reno in the first place), and the tile was just gross. We’re pretty confident that everything except the paint, the towel rod, and toilet paper holder were original to the house, meaning it was all almost 30 years old! About time for an update, don’t ya think?

Here we’ve taken everything out of the bathroom and have already scraped the ceiling. Don’t you just love how “off-white” everything was? We didn’t either. (And those white spots where paint had peeled by the towel rod? Yeah, not a result of renovating. Those were just there.)

After about 24 hours of demolition, we had it looking like this.

You know how people say “it has to get worse before it gets better”? I’m not really sure this was worse. Maybe it felt worse since it was no longer a functioning bathroom, but did it look worse? You be the judge.

And here’s the same room put back together again.

Here’s another before showing the awful orangey pink tile.

And another after.

We painted the bathroom Valspar’s Mint Frost, but since there’s no natural lighting in the bathroom, it’s hard to capture the actual color with a camera. It’s a lot less yellow in person.

Here’s the before of the shower area again.

This time, we went with a tile surround. No shower insert for our bathroom! We used white subway tile, a neutral glass mosaic tile for an accent row, and Kohler frameless glass shower doors.

Here’s the antique mirror that we bought at Goodwill for $25 last summer. It was black when we purchased it (and though it worked out perfectly in the end, I had no idea what I was buying it for at the time!), so I repainted it an antique white to coordinate with the vanity. I also want some kind of greenery in the bathroom, but with no natural light I can’t exactly have a real plant. We’ll see what happens there.

We just installed these shelves over the toilet a few days ago, so I haven’t settled on what’s going on them yet. I stole the accessories from other parts of the house to put on them for now (except the grey ombre vase), but eventually I want accessories with more color since almost everything in the bathroom is already white or a neutral.

The white is a welcome break, though, from what the bathroom used to be. The trim, ceiling, and all the permanent fixtures are crisp white, which is a stark contrast from the rest of the house where we have old, yellowed trim and popcorn ceilings. The finishing touches have really just come together in the last two weeks and I can’t help but turn on the light and admire the room every time I walk by!

Another thing this project has taught us is that nothing is ever really done. There are lots of little things we already know we want to work on in the future, accessories that still need to change, other color schemes we may want to try, etc. But I think that’s good. We want our house to be in a constant state of metamorphosis, always changing and improving bit by bit. For now, though, I could use a serious break from working on this bathroom!

Our goal was to stay under $5000 for the whole renovation. Stay tuned in the next couple days for a complete budget breakdown!

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Making it personal

By Arielle on August 22, 2012

When we designed our guest bathroom, we purposefully chose permanent fixtures that were fairly neutral and not too taste-specific. We don’t have any plans to move, but we also don’t expect to be in this house forever, so we always try to think about resale. We chose things like subway tile and brushed nickel finishes so the overall look of the bathroom would be fairly neutral. Not only do we LOVE subway tile, but it’s a fairly classic tile that will look good for a long time.

Also, since it’s such a small space, we wanted to make sure it didn’t feel cluttered by mismatched fixtures. We chose to use all Moen Banbury fixtures (toilet paper holder, towel rod, shower faucet and head, even the toilet lever) except the sink faucet which is still the brushed nickel finish and a very similar design (it’s by Delta and was about $50 cheaper than all the other options!).

See? Practically the same. We chose a neutral gray tile on the floor that had just a hint of warm tones to coordinate with the warmer tan and white glass accent tile in the shower.

By having a mix of cool and warm tones in the room (the “antiqued” vanity, clean white tub, toilet and sink, grey floor tile, tan glass tile, etc.) we feel like almost any paint color would easily coordinate.

Having said all that, though, I was a little worried that our personal style would get lost in the neutral wonderfulness (I do love neutral!) of everything else. So I wanted to use a few unique accessories. It’s a teeny little room, though, so nothing overbearing.

Most of the fixtures are brushed nickel, but we do have an oil-rubbed bronze light fixture and knobs on the vanity. We wanted a ORBed trash can, too, because the brushed nickel ones get really dirty over time and show fingerprints. I saw one online I liked at Bed, Bath, & Beyond for only $12.99 (most of their trash cans in matching sets cost about $30, so this seemed like a steal!), but I figured it would be my luck that they wouldn’t have it. But they did!!

For a trash can isn’t it precious? We also wanted a hook on the back of the door for an extra place to hang wet items. Before there was just a plastic white hook, but I wanted something with a little more character. Several months ago I bought this metal bird hook while on vacation with my family.

But it was an off-white color and I didn’t really like the way it looked against the stark white door. I mixed up some grey chalk paint and coated it a few times.

Then I roughed it up a little bit with some sandpaper.

Now it pops off the white door. It’ll be cute little surprise when the door is closed.

This white tray is one of my favorite things in the bathroom. Probably 4 or 5 months ago I saw it at Pottery Barn. At the time I didn’t buy it, cause I wasn’t sure what type of tray I wanted for soap and lotion dispensers. I also wasn’t sure I wanted to pay the almost $20 price tag.

As we worked on our bathroom and finalized details of colors and styles, I just couldn’t stop thinking about this tray. I had looked at other places for something similar and couldn’t find anything I liked as much, so I finally went back to Pottery Barn to see if I could find it. I went back to the bath section, but none of the displays were the same and they clearly had new items. I was really disappointed, but decided to ask an employee about it. I explained what they looked like and where they’d been displayed. She remembered them, but said they’d been put on clearance a long time ago. She went to the back to look just in case, and about 5 minutes later came out with the very last tray! And lucky for me, it was marked down to $12.99.

Last but definitely not least, here’s a sneak peak of the biggest character-building piece in the bathroom: the mirror! I bought this mirror for $25 at Goodwill last year, not knowing what I was going to do with it. Turns out it’s a perfect fit for our bathroom, so I primed it, painted it an antique white, and now it’s hanging up! Unfortunately right now it’s hanging slightly crookedly, so we’re still trying to figure out how to fix that.

With a mirror this heavy, it needed to be mounted using a wire and it needed to be supported by studs and wall anchors. Of course there was no stud in the center of the wall. We did our best to get it mounted sturdily in the center, but I think we still need to add a screw on one side of the wire. It won’t really support much of the weight, but just help hold it level.

This phase has been the most fun part of the entire process. I’m so excited to see our vision come to life and to have one room in our house that finally reflects our taste!