Bathroom Renovation - Part Three

Let me start this post with a laugh... ha ha ha!!!

I was just laughing at how I finished up Part Two of this bathroom renovation: "we should have three more days of work and be done with it", oh my! what planet did I think I was on?!?! That was back in November 2012 and now it's the end of February 2013 and I still can't say the bathroom is "completely" done.

But for the purpose of this blog, we will say IT IS DONE.  :)

All I'm missing is the saddle and the caulking of the floor after the saddle goes on.

So, let's look at some pictures, shall we?

We left off with just the tiles, and a tub.



We decided to tile the floor ourselves:

We didn't do bad, but not great either. The next day we pulled up some tiles I wasn't happy with (lippage) and we re-set them. Overall, a decent job. Not perfect, but decent.

In went the toilet (plumber did it).

And my Moen fixtures.

We debated about how to border the tiles with the accent tile.

Then went the vanity and the mirror (hubby did it!)

Moen fixtures on the sink as well (hubby again!)

And this is when the struggle for the wall color begun (you can read all about it on Houzz: Bathroom Wall Color Help!)

I couldn't make up my mind for the longest time, and I needed the input of 200 people to finally make up my mind!

I sampled colors from the accent tile, but I wasn't thrilled.

Then I tried with greens, but I didn't feel the greens at all. Some people suggested gray, and that didn't do it either.

Also, based on the suggestions from my friends from Houzz I knew I had to change a few things: 

1) The mirror had to be recessed. And had to have some kind of a border, because the one I had was too modern for the space and it just didn't look right.

2) The shower curtain color had to be different.

3) The outlet on the wall had to be hidden somehow.

4) Oh, and yes, I still had to pick a wall color!

After so much research, and the best advice on the Houzz forum (follow your heart), I picked the color I had already picked in my heart (I just didn't know it). 

What I wanted was something in the light beige family. I didn't want anything that would make the wall pop too much nor anything too dark. 

So I took one of the tiles from the bathroom (the wall tiles, not the accent tile) and grabbed my ever-growing Benjamin Moore color swatches and started my research. Pretty quickly I knew which color I was going to use: French White.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the result of 4 months of hard work!

I am very happy with the result! The new mirror is actually the mirror I had wanted from the beginning, but it was backordered in every store and website I went for the longest time. Until I decided that I was going to wait for it no matter how long it was going to take to receive it.

The towel rack helps disguise the outlet. If I ever want it completely covered, all I have to do is put a few hand towels in front of it.

The darker colored shower curtain looks so much better than the one I had before.

And the French White color on the walls, makes the whole space look clean, spa-like and it gives me such a sense of serenity that I love!

Overall, I think we've spent more than I thought we would, around $5,000, with almost $2,000 going to the plumber (the only labor we've paid for in this bathroom). But I hear we've saved more than $10,000 by doing it ourselves.  :)

PS. By the way, I tiled some of the accent tile, grouted the tiles, caulked where needed, and painted the walls myself!

So this is it for the bathroom (I can't believe it's done!). If you wish to read more, these are Part One and Part Two of the demo/reno journey.

On to the kitchen!