my bathroom renovation adventure

After putting in new hardwood floors 2 years ago, I definitely wasn’t anxious for another renovation, but I finally bit the bullet and started planning my  new bathroom.  After I sorted out what I wanted to do, I reached out to my friend John Henderson of Apex Building & Restoration. He and his family recently moved to the Santa Barbara area and besides radon mitigation, he also does construction, plumbing, and electric.  He’s a very handy guy to know!

The bathroom is not large (just under 5′ x 10′), but I wanted to make better use of the space.  It currently had a large tub, which with the drought in California, is not something I ever use (we have 2 other bathtubs in our home). My priorities were a large walk in shower, a skylight, plank walls, and a large vanity with drawers for lots of storage.

Here is the bathroom before.  I loved the green mosaic tiles but wanted something simpler and brighter…

Demo day was just before Thanksgiving.  Not the best timing but hey, how bad could it be?

I knew the bathroom would be a mess, but my entire bedroom had to be moved into the garage.  I moved into another bedroom taking a few piles of clothes since my closets were sealed up to keep the dust and debris out.  The office became my closet with clothes strewn everywhere and my bathroom paraphernalia in cardboard boxes.

After 5 years with very little rain, the heavens finally opened up. It rained during most of the renovation which meant my bedroom became a tool storage shed and workshop.

One of the ways to gain a bit more space was to use a tankless wall mounted toilet from Toto.  The tank is installed in the wall!  Instead of the toilet jutting out 30″ (my previous toilet), it is (even with the vanity) 21″ deep.  Better yet, you can clean under it!  I’ll admit it…I’m in love with a toilet!

Our other two bathrooms have 1″ ceramic mosaic tiles covering the walls and tub enclosures.  In keeping with that theme, I used mosaics in the shower but this time with statuary marble from Tileco.  I wanted to keep the floor simple and went with warm gray 12″ x 24″ ceramic tiles.

I wanted shiplap looking walls but wanted them to look modern.  I used 7½” smooth planks, the same size as our hardwood floors.

Of course when it came time to install my beloved skylight, we couldn’t get a dry day to save our lives!  I kept telling myself how wonderful it was to get all of this rain, but jeez!  And then the Great Garage Flood of 2017 happened.  Now I will admit to being a bit of an OCD neat freak, but I was pretty darn proud of how well I was handling the delays and weather.  But the day I opened my garage door to see the contents of my bedroom sitting in 2-3″ of water was my breaking point.  The tears came as I tried desperately to rescue my bedroom things and move stuff into the office at the far end of the house.  The mattress became a giant two ton sponge that now resides at the dump. (As I write this, I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new mattress at last!)  I will share that in a future post.

The rain was the gift that kept on giving.  The drain in front of the garage was unclogged and the water receded, but a rather pungent aroma still remained days later.  It turns out the flood had tripped the circuit for the freezer and the entire smelly contents had to be thrown out.  Had it not started leaking, who knows how long it would have taken me to figure it out?  But I digress.

The skylight finally was installed when we had a few welcome dry days.

Then the painters arrived.  I had the entire bathroom painted in Benjamin Moore White Dove…semi-gloss on the ceiling and eggshell on the walls.  By this time my bedroom also needed a refresh, since it had been a workshop for two months,  and I went from the previous BM November Rain to White Dove. It feels so fresh!

At last it was time to install the shower glass, vanity, medicine cabinet and toilet!  And you better believe I was doing my happy dance.  I went with the RH Modern Monterey vanity because of it’s size and the fact that it had 3 large drawers.  I love the rustic modern look and the absence of hardware. I used the ash finish with the small sink and Caesarstone top in Pure White.

The lights seen in the photo above are the Sutton Double Sconces in brushed nickel also from RH.  Take it from someone who has had lights above the medicine cabinet casting scary shadows on her face, side lighting is much more flattering!

The fixtures in both the shower and sink are from California Faucets from their Tiburon line in brushed nickel.

I still have a few finishing details like pretty hand soap and containers for my shower niche.  One little detail I love are these simple Scandi hooks in white from Utology on Etsy.

This is a small detail that makes me so happy.  I’ve always hated (yes hated) the look of my electric toothbrush sitting on the sink, so I had John install an outlet inside the medicine cabinet. Love!

It’s my first full scale bath remodel in many years and with any remodel there are always delays and issues that arise, but I couldn’t be happier.  And a big thank you to my dear friend John Henderson, who knows me so well that when the painter used the wrong finish on the plank walls (too shiny) and I just wanted to be done with the project, he convinced me to have them do one more coat in the right finish, and I’m so happy I did!  The finished space looks organic,natural, and modern.  And fyi, it’s really hard to take pictures in a bathroom!!

 

And now my dear readers, my new mattress has arrived and I can finish putting my bedroom together at last!!  Thanks for following along. 🙂