9.13.18

The bathroom is almost completely empty, has holes in the walls, and is a mess. :)

Dig the old wallpaper behind the vanity.

Towel bar removed

medicine cabinet removed

But there's new insulation and plastic over it:

The first layer of the shower pan has been poured.

9.12.18

More demo, including removing the toilet and the pink bathtub:

And framing the niche:

And the frame to poor the shower basin:

And general prep for the new insulation around the shower:

9.11.18

Demo on the first floor bathroom begins!

A bit about the plan:
When we bought the house in 2001, it had one full bathroom (this one) and a toilet and sink in the basement. We put on an upstairs addition in 2007, which added a second bathroom, but we did the remodel on the cheap, and got talked into a modular shower thing that I never liked, and over the last few years have come to HATE. When we put the master suite upstairs, we lost a closet in the existing upstairs bedroom, so it became an office. Although our kids were older by then, I always thought it would be a nice nursery--attached to the master bedroom through the master bath. Anyway, that's a long way of saying that the master plan for the bathroom remodels includes changing the first floor tub into a shower, and putting a tub in the upstairs where there's currently just a shower.

We weren't looking for a full demolition to the studs and re-build, but it seems that that's all contractors want to do in Whitefish Bay. So after obtaining four outrageous remodel-to-the-studs bids, we found someone to do just what we want--swap tubs for showers, and a lot of tile work on the showers and floors. And since we refinanced our house for the two previous remodels, we're doing this one (I hope...) with just our savings.

Of course not going with a full-service kind of contractor meant we had to do a lot of choosing, purchasing, and hauling materials. I find doing things like picking paint colors stressful, so something more permanent like tile has really caused angst. I hope I haven't goofed up.

We're doing the same tile (white subway) for both bathrooms, but with light gray grout on the first floor and white grout on the second.

The floor of the shower will be small dark gray squares with the same light gray grout. (The marble slabs are for the shower base):

And the floor of both bathrooms will be wood-look gray tile

There are many more choices that had to be made (which tub, what niches, what vanities...) but I'll get to those as the project moves along.

I'm still trying to choose accent pieces for both bathrooms, though. I bought three possibilities, but only need two. Open to suggestions. Each one would be cut into about 4 strips to make a skinny strip of accent. Remember the first floor will have grey shower floor and grout and the upstairs will be white tub and white tile and grout.

Choice A--most reasonably-priced; leaning toward first floor so as not to add too much extra, but could be upstairs with all the white

Choice B--could go either one. Might be a nice burst of interest in the all-white upstairs bathroom, but might look cooler with gray grout downstairs (p.s. it's marble and glass)

Choice C: the only one I liked at all at the tile shop (that wasn't $50 a square). It's stone and glass and different sizes, so adds interest there. But I'm not in love with it (and it was the most expensive

And today demo began:

9.10.18

We're starting another remodeling project--this time the first and second floor bathrooms. Rather than start a new blog for these remodels, I will post the updates here. After all, it will be the removal of the last pink item in our house—the bathtub on the first floor.

 We're starting with the first floor bathroom. I’ll post the before pictures here.

This is how it used to be decorated:


Truly, this flamingo shower curtain was the only thing holding the bathroom together.

Dark green walls, red towels, pinkish tan floor, 

White toilet, marbled brown sink, light wood tone vanity and medicine cabinet and lights

Here are some photos of the empty bathroom the night before demo began, so you can see the mishmash of colors and patterns and general yuck:

Impressed at how well the off-white tile has held up. Keeping the glass block window, as it's in fine condition, too.

But that bathtub! omg. The hideous peachy pink, and the scratched, stained bottom that had been scoured so many times it couldn't be cleaned. And plumbing that's a tight J-trap and probably completely blocked with who-knows-what.

 We put in that vinyl--over very pink tile to try to tone down the pinkness.

I really think that photos don't do it justice. Fingers crossed that the things we picked out will look okay together. :)

11.21.16

We did have one small project that we wanted to do in the kitchen, but we kind of ran out of money before we could do it:  installing a tile backsplash.  (It's pretty pricey and the installation is really expensive) Several friends said it was easy to do, and when one of them (Margaret) even offered to help and to loan us her tools, we decided to give it a try.  No time like the week before Thanksgiving to rip apart your kitchen, right?  :)


Before pics:

During pics:

After pics:

I absolutely love it!

All told, it took about 21 man-hours and cost just over $200.  Totally worth it.  :)

6.25.16

And we're done!

I guess we were officially done on 6/8/16 (almost exactly 4 months after we started the remodel), but this has been my first chance to post the final before-after pics.


I'm a little disappointed in the "before" pics I took as I realized I didn't capture all the things that were bad about the house before (like the whole back side with peeling paint and warped siding), and didn't take pictures of the living room/entryway either.  Oh, well.  Take my word for it--what we have now is definitely an improvement.  :)

But here are the side-by-side before and after pictures I put together.

Siding and windows and soffits/gutters/downspouts

Siding and windows and soffits/gutters/downspouts

windows, patio door, siding--this one shows the most accurate colors (pink to brown)

patio! the before shot is actually after they'd put in the patio door, so ignore that ;)

Door and window and stoop and sidewalk removed--replaced with flowers; siding replaced

window, door, stoop and sidewalk; new siding on front and side

siding replaced; trim and garage door painted

Doorway widened; door removed; paint; cabinets

cabinets and countertop, paint, floor, appliances, window taken out

stove, floor, cabinets and countertops, window gone, sink and faucet, dishwasher

sink, paint, cabinets and countertops, window/patio door, floor

cabinets and countertops, floor, paint

cabinets and countertops, window/patio door, paint

cabinets and countertops, floor, paint

Cabinets and countertops, paint, floor

carpet, paint, curtains (and furniture rearranged)