Bathroom - GO TIME

Ok, so there may be things dumber (too harsh?) than starting a bathroom reno on the only bathroom in one's home when you're 35.5 weeks pregnant. Maybe. But alas, we have found ourselves in this position, and we're going for it.

We brought in a bunch of contractors to take a look at the job and got quotes from 4. They ranged from (in our opinion) outlandish to preposterous ($12 - $16k WITHOUT materials!).  Guys, we're talking about a room that is a little over 6' x 8' at its very widest/largest points. Yes, it's a gut job (going down to the studs), but seriously?

We talked with Rush's parents, who recently re-did every bathroom in their home, and Rush's dad completely agreed that we were being quoted some ridiculous #s.  His handyman is proficient in all things bathroom, so we hatched a plan to actually bring Rush's dad and Pat the Handyman out to complete the bathroom.  Again, probably dumb, but we couldn't figure a way around it.

Now for the "before" photos.  Ugh, it's kind of embarrassing.  Nothing about this bathroom is what we want, but it's been passable for the past 5 years.  The house is 60 years old and still has the original plaster walls in the bathroom, so that sort of necessitates gutting the room and starting at the studs.  There's some water damage from before we replaced the roof, and the ceiling was not prepped carefully and probably suffered due to the super cheap (and 'jet taking off' noise level) fan.

Barely big enough to even take a photo

Cheapo vanity that I hit my head on whenever getting something from below

Water damage in the plaster

Ceiling damage due to condensation and bad prep

So what are we going for with the remodeled bath? So glad you asked. I have Pinterested the hell out of this bathroom project.  

Original inspo photo:

Via

Revised inspo:

Via

So we're doing a white subway tile (oh-so-original, I know) with a darker grout and a herringbone tile in a dark wood/slate pattern.  We're going to do a wainscot around the bath and all new fixtures with a more modern look.  Again, nothing is going to get us featured in a design mag, but it'll be a really nice update. We will likely be selling the house within 6 months and feel like the changes will give us an edge when we do.

So that's the news for now. I'll post some updates when we get underway (Monday, 11/3).  Can't wait!!!

Knob Reveal (Hob Knob Update)

I'm sure you've been on tenterhooks waiting to find out what knobs I chose.  I'm sure.  Anyway, I chose option number 5...

Brainerd 1-inch Bedford Nickel Rectangular Cabinet Knob

My choice was part style, part price, and part laziness.  These (and the matching handles were in stock at Lowes (a mile from my house).

Once home with all my goodies, I set to work installing.  MAJOR ERROR on the first try.  You know how they say, "test in an inconspicuous place" about all sorts of home improvement DIY type things?  Do that.  There's a reason.  I chose to drill my first hole in a very obvious place and my placement didn't work.  Little tidbit - do NOT try to put your hardware on the joint where two pieces of trim come together (red circle) below.

 
I know a little about woodworking and thought there might be a biscuit (a small piece of wood that serves as a sort of puzzle piece to hold the two trim pieces together).  Never did I imagine that the biscuit would be metal and impossible to drill thru.  So nevertheless, I got to do some patching and staining of my hole.  Rarg.

Once I figured out an alternate location, I decided to make an easy to follow template for the single hole knobs.  I'm no genius but it worked just fine.  I took a piece note card, matched it to the two edges of the trim and marked the spot where I wanted the knob.  I then cut it and marked a single dot (with a metallic sharpie) of where to drill.  Voila:

Because my knobs had only one hole, things went along pretty swimmingly.  I got a little flummoxed when it came to starting on the matching handles which required two holes.  I had seen, on Pinterest, the idea of photocopying the item to be hung and using the copy as a template and decided to give it a try.  I practiced on a piece of scrap first, and it seemed to work as long as I was very precise.

Photocopies

I marked the middle of the handle template (the little plus sign below) and marked to the middle of the drawer front.  Then, I used a level to make sure that I was pretty close to perfect and taped the template to the drawer.  I then marked the hole and set about to drilling.

One thing to note: because my drawers were a little wonky (not very high quality - somewhat misaligned), I did the first drawer and realized that I needed to actually NOT use the middle of the drawer but instead needed to just line all the handles with the first one.  I used a big ruler and the level to make sure they were aligned, and it worked.  They're not all 100% centered, but they're in line with one another, and I think that's a better visual. 

We're pretty thrilled now that we have handles and knobs.  I have absolutely no idea why we waited so long.  We got out of this for about $100, and it makes the kitchen more comfortable to use.  Project success!

Hob Knob

When we bought our house, the flippers had installed (kind of sloppily, I might add) some kitchen cabinets that I DO NOT love.  I'm 4'10" small (that's 58" for those of you that don't like math), and they intalled the counters at 37.5".  That's not even normal!  So if you do that math (ok, I'll do it), my head hovers a mere, 20.5" above the counter top.  Take into consideration that my shoulders are lower than the top of my head and you start to get the picture.  I want them replaced not only because they were sloppily stained/installed but because it's actually uncomfortable for me to work in the kitchen.  And I do 99.9% of the cooking.

Anyway, I've been living with it because we've had other money-sucking projects like a new main line (unexpected but necessary) and a new roof.  However, and this is where it gets embarrassing, the flippers didn't install knobs on the cabinets, and we've just been living with it.  Annoying.

So with no kitchen reno in sight, I think it's time I bite the bullet and get some knobs.  Even if they're just temporary until we do fix the kitchen.

Here's a little knob round-up:

 L - R 

1                   2                   3                   4                   5                   6       

Gripe

Normally, I wouldn't use this space to complain about something, but I'm hoping maybe there's someone out there who can explain this to me...

WHY IS LIGHTING SO EXPENSIVE?

I have been dying to replace our tacky ceiling lights in the two extra bedrooms, the hall, and the entryway.  I look and I look and I look, and I come up with options that are just way to expensive for what they are, in my opinion.  I just want something semi-plain and not tacky at a good price - something under $50 would be nice since I have so many to replace.  I mean, it's a few wires and a little glass or metal?  Why so pricey?

Because our ceilings are regular height and these are for high traffic areas (versus over the dining table), I need flush mount, semi-flush mount or something that has a very adjustable pendant length and won't look too stupid hung close to the ceiling.

This isn't awful, but it doesn't have very good reviews, and it's a little traditional for our taste:

This is okay, but it's larger than I want, and I feel like it just needs the edison bulb, and I would prefer to use the long-lasting CFLs...

Ohmigosh.

Searching the home improvement and lighting sites is just depressing - there's so many awful options and they're so expensive that I feel like I should stand in the lighting section and just warn people off.

"Stop - that is horribly tacky!  Don't do it! Don't waste your hard-earned money on something that no one under the age of 92 would think looks good!"

The DIY Not Taken (yet)...

I'm embarrassingly overeager when it comes to DIY.  I like big, splashy projects.  That said, I panic when it comes to accomplishing them.  Even little DIY projects sometimes take me forever to finish.

So here's a little project I think could be undertaken without multiple trips to the store, fist-shaking, or tears:

It's a lovely wood framed mirror hung by a chain from Anthropologie.  At the bargain price of $224 on sale.  Yeesh.  

How about this instead:

Home Depot mirror set (you could make multiple!): $14.96

A couple screws: $.50

Two feet of chain:  $4.98

Total cost: $20.46

Lighting

Our house has fairly pitiful outdoor lighting.  There's just one in front and one on the side in the back.  The one in the front is made more pitiful by the fact that it's has a sort of yellow, cloudy glass shrouding the light, so it's very dim.  The plan for this afternoon (early holiday release from work!  yay!) is to replace the outdoor lights with this one:

I like the aesthetic and I think it will be much lighter/brighter because it's seeded glass, instead of yellow/antique.  Plus, it's a good deal at about $33/fixture.  More to report once the project is finished.