Current State of Affairs: The Bathroom Renovation

Ahh the joys of a good ol’ DIY project! It’s kind of like giving birth don’t you think? We challenged ourselves to gut our bathroom and have it put back together just in time for Thanksgiving company.

Then our child came down with pneumonia, a towel got sucked into our toilet drain {fun times!} and the sink we ordered didn’t work with our new vanity.

So. Did we finish in time for Thanksgiving? Um. No.

When we decided to renovate this bathroom, the only thing we planned on keeping was this light fixture (tutorial on this DIY coming soon!), the new faucet – which I showed you how to install here, and our tub surround – only because I couldn’t afford to rip that bad boy out. Yet.

I’m pretty excited about our new, unconventional vanity and the sink we finally found to fit it perfectly.

What is up with these stock cabinets being all stuck to the wall anyway?

Our new vanity will look much more like furniture and I’ll be sharing that DIY with you right here on the 15th! Seriously, it’s a good one. Don’t miss it!

And then there are those pet peevish things you can’t really explain to anyone, like husbands.

‘I’m taking out the towel bar. I don’t want just a plain ole towel bar.’
‘What’s wrong with a plain ole towel bar? ‘
‘Well. For starters, it’s plain!’

And at the risk of offending someone, I have to tell you, I loathe (said in my best impersonation of Jim Carrey as The Grinch) linoleum. Hate. hate. hate.

As the mother of two boys and a husband, all of whom suffer from aim and splash disorders related to using the toilet, I never feel like it gets clean. And everyone objects when I try to soak it in 2″ of bleach.

{Notice how I completely avoid discussing the ring around the tub here and then forget all about it. M’kay? Thanks!}

Here’s another, what you might call, pet peeve. I figure if we’re re doing the bathroom we might as well change all the things that we can {did I mention I would’ve ripped out that tub surround?} and that included the toilet.

It was a perfectly good toilet, I suppose. Though if you’d been here when we moved in you might’ve tossed it then. What I did was change ALL of the toilet seats in the entire house. But I got serious during this bathroom remodel and tossed the whole thing. I can’t wait to show you the new one. Is it weird that I’m excited about a toilet? Well. I am.

I’m not big on “themes” in general, because I am always afraid it will look overdone and be outgrown quickly. Though I do like to have a certain direction to go in when redecorating.

In here, I’m thinking nautical. I’d love to figure out how to make this window above our shower look like the portholes on a ship without blocking out too much light. Pondering it…

So there it is. An update on a not quite finished DIY Bathroom Renovation. At least the sink AND the toilet aren’t still in the tub….

But it looks much better already, no?

Join me for tutorials, reviews on the products we used and for the final reveal in the coming weeks.

And pray that no one else gets sick or I’m going to have to start washing the toddler in the kitchen sink.

Don’t forget to Follow Me on Facebook for sneak peeks and updates.

Jamie Lott

Comments

Heather says

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How soon will you be posting the “how to” on the shower curtain? I’ve been eyeing the West Elm curtain as well, but would love to make my own!

- jamie says
  
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  Hi Heather,
  
  I am actually in the process of doing some painted curtains (using the same method as the shower curtain) so as soon as I finish those up I am posting the tutorial. I wanted to include how to do painted curtains on various fabrics in my tutorial. In other words, I’ll have it up in a couple of weeks. Feel free to subscribe to my email list so you don’t miss it. Thank you!
  
Ashley says

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Can you tell me the process which you did the look of the wainscoting? Also materials needed? Thank you!

- jamie says
  
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  Hi Ashley,
  We really only did some decorative molding about a quarter of the way down the wall, no actual wainscoting. It’s just an upside-down baseboard with a 1×2 on the top and a piece of decorative molding in between where the two meet. But if you’re looking for a more traditional, yet-faux, wainscoting, I have a post on that here: https://www.southernrevivals.com/diy-accent-wall/
  
- jamie says
  
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  And another version of faux wainscoting here: https://www.southernrevivals.com/diy-board-batten/