The bathroom has been completely finished for a while now, and I’m finally getting my butt in gear and posting the before’s and after’s. Let’s just all take a trip back several months to see how it looked when we first toured the house:
Just our style… And how about a few close-ups after we moved in. Ew. What pretty tiles. In case you can’t tell from the photo’s, they are faded, swirly-pink, plastic tiles that are glued to the walls. P-R-E-T-T-Y.
How about a close-up of the hideous pretty, pink, plastic tiles:
And the pretty cabinet with rubber baseboards (and a glimpse of Buddy’s butt):
Lets not forget the awesome floors (excuse the debris, this was from part-way through the demo). These were actually once much closer to white. There was one tile in the middle that had been replaced at some point, which was MUCH lighter in colour than the yellowed tile here. Even after washing them, they still smelled like pee. Ew.
And finally, the bathtub/shower. Disgusting. We had to buy a rubber mat to stand on because we couldn’t handle touching any part of the tub… The enamel had worn off the tub, so no matter how much scrubbing we did, it still looked filthy. The shower surround had been put up so badly that there was mold in the corners, the caulking had turned brown, and it was just gross. The previous owners had glued on extra trim pieces around the edges to try and make it less gross, but that made it worse. You’ll see:
And now for the fun part – the afters! We spent just over $1000 to redo the bathroom. A good chunk of the budget ($500) went to having the tub professionally re-glazed. I should have taken a before pic of a close-up of the tub, so you’ll just have to trust me with the amazing difference. I highly recommend the re-glazing process, and after all the research I did I’m glad that I didn’t attempt to do it myself. We could have done the whole bathroom for under $1000, but we ran into a few plumbing problems that we couldn’t fix on our own. When we took out the toilet, we discovered that the pipe was broken. There is an “easy” fix for it that was recommended to us at the hardware store – basically an extra piece that fits into the pipe, but it ended up making our toilet sit about two inches off the floor… Then, the sink drainpipe broke due to erosion right at/going into the wall, and we didn’t know how to fix it at that spot. Fortunately we have a great plumber (I found him when we had a leak in the basement) who is inexpensive and who taught Chris how to do everything along the way. He also made Chris do a lot of the hard work, which was great because it meant that our bill was smaller! Anyhow, here’s what our just-over-$1000 makeover looks like:
I will eventually make a seat cushion for the bench that matches the roman shade (I bought extra fabric and already have leftover foam from something else), but I have many other curtains and roman shades to make for the house first. In the next picture, you can catch a glimpse of the new light fixture. There was only one light near the door and no bathroom fan, so we added this light/fan combo to brighten up the bathroom and take care of the moisture. As for the wainscoting, I would have preferred for it to be a little shorter to help make the ceilings look taller, but we had to cover up all the glue left on the walls after we tore out the plastic tile. This was MUCH easier to do than to rip out all the plaster and drywall, and also much better on the budget. Plus, I think it looks great now!
Check out the pretty “new” tub and the expertly (meaning we did it ourselves 
) installed shower surround:
The sink and the mirror are the only surfaces left “untouched.” I say that in quotations because they were SERIOUSLY scrubbed down. They, like everything else in our house when we moved, in were FILTHY. I’m still contemplating spray painting the mirror frame white… Up close it’s pretty scratched.
We removed the old, broken fluorescent light from just above the mirror, and replaced the other light fixture which now coordinates with the light/fan combo across the bathroom.
This next picture shows my favourite part of the bathroom. I know, not super-exciting for most, but it is for me. We searched and searched for the right tile/marble/trim/whatever-would-work to fit this little ledge. The Depot had the right size marble, but wouldn’t cut it for us and I really didn’t want to re-rent a tile cutter (did that for the kitchen already) for one cut. Lowe’s would cut a tile for us, but didn’t have anything the correct width that would work. Then we tried “Best Tile,” and found the perfect fit, but they wouldn’t sell it by the piece, only by the case. We explained our situation and the saleswoman went right into the back and brought this piece out for us. It was leftover from a previous job, so we were only charged $2.16 to cut it. Woo! Almost-free marble!! Also, didn’t hubby Chri do a great job at installing the trim?
Here’s a shot of the budget floor. It’s peel-and-stick tile for $0.99 a square foot, but it’s groutable which makes it look a little better than the older style of this type of flooring. It’s the same flooring I used in the kitchen.
And how about one last shot:
