Extreme Makeover - Bathroom Edition

[Blue_In_AK]

Many of you know HullBoss and I have been remodeling our guest bathroom (which involved completely gutting the room, plus taking up a piece of the slab to fix a leak) since about the middle of August. I'm happy to report that we finished TODAY, just in time for my mother-in-law's arrival tomorrow from Texas. :woohoo:

I neglected to take a picture of the bathroom before we started demolishing, but here are a couple from early in the process. Yuck...





And here it is, new and improved. The color isn't exactly true - the flash makes it black and white and no flash kind of mutes it, but you can get the idea. The sink is white, the towels and rugs are dark sage and the wainscoating is taupe, if that helps.





HullBoss's great tile work in the shower


Self-portrait from inside the shower.


I can't tell you how glad we are to have this done. Now when you guys come to visit us, you'll have a classy little private bath, and I won't have to be embarrassed to death. :)

[xiamiam]

1. nice self portrait...and i have the same sink....can i come in the summer?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Any time...

We'll just have to coordinate with InTheFlow and UsedToBeSick who are tentatively planning to come up in June. We just have one guest bedroom. :)

[jhain]

2. What a awesome job

I adore that mirror- where did you find that? and I love the way you hung it, too, Blue.
And, that light bar is perfect for it all. You certainly did a 180 on the wallpaper. It is all so wonderful...I think you should go into interior design.

The word SLAB made me shudder. In Real Life we own a plumbing company. ( well, dh plumbs and I answer the phone- that is the 'company' ) and I KNOW what SLAB/Plumbing entails. You had your work cut out for you there!

It is VERY pretty. Very calming.....

[Blue_In_AK]

3. The mirror was from Home Depot

$34, and it came with the chain and decorative hanging knob thingy. It was the best deal of the whole project. :)

[JeffR]

4. Excellent work

And it gets the NanceGreggs Seal of Decorating Approval, too.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Thanks, Nance and Jeff...

This bathroom in its previous life was about the most hideous thing you could imagine. The walls were covered with some kind of blue and white melamine stuff. I had covered a couple of them with the sunflower shelf liner about 10 years ago just to brighten things up a bit because at the time I couldn't afford much else. A few years ago my ex huaband had moved the toilet from upstairs to this bathroom when we got new fixtures up there, and it didn't fit the hole in the very ugly and stained lineoleum so there was a big gap there showing previous layers of ugly linoleum. The concrete shower floor was chipped and the paint was wearing off. Several years ago we had lined the shower with some kind of panel stuff which worked fine for a while, but it was starting to chip and wear out, too. I'm totally serious when I say this bathroom would have qualified for WORST BATHROOM EVER.

Aforesaid ex husband had improperly installed the toilet (maybe on purpose, since this was toward the end of our supremely stormy marriage), and had failed to notice (or ignored) the hole in the drain line from the toilet, so over the years a lot of the sand under the slab had eroded away. So HullBoss had to cut that hole in the slab and repair the line going over to the shower, then refill it with buckets of sand from our crawl space. It was a major, major job.

We've been doing a lot of remodeling around here, but this room has to be the best job yet. I'm so proud of us. The only outside help we had was my ex son-in-law plumber who came over to do a little of the piping work.

[Blue_in_CA]

7. Wow!

Being the daughter of Blue in AK I can attest that this bathroom was most definitely the worst bathroom on the planet! It looks so great now! Can't wait to see it in person.

P.S. I have almost that exact same mirror, except I got mine at Pottery Barn and paid 3 times as much! (ARGH!!)

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Hey, did you remember writing on the wall in the shower

before we had put that other stuff up years ago. If you look closely at the second demo picture, you'll see your own personal graffiti. :)

[Blue_in_CA]

10. I saw that!

And no, I don't remember doing that at all! Funny.

[JeffR]

8. We know too well what hell renovation can be

You should be very proud of this project. Hope your MIL appreciates it. Make sure you show here the work-in-progress pix!

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. As an Interior Designer, there's only one thing I can say or do about this

[F.Gordon]

12. Taupe and Sage?

That's so...... 2005.
:rofl:

2006 is Blacks and Golds. B-)

Better you than me. The two of ya' did a fantastic job. Oh... I did hang the towel bars when we re-did our bathroom. :P Handyman... I am not, but Ms. F' is. She just bought some new tools yesterday... she's going to build something for our transom windows... not sure what it is but I figure I'll find out in the next few days. I do know it involves some kinda' frame and punched tin. I'll snap it when she's finished.

I always looove :eyes: when we get the annual bulletins from the big German show telling us what the colors for the new year are going to be. Still love using taupe and sage. Nice color combo.

Very nice job.
:thumbsup:

[Blue_In_AK]

15. I HAD to go with the taupe

It matched the wallpaper. And you wouldn't believe what a job it was finding towels that even remotely matched. (No Bed, Bath & Beyond here yet, although we're supposed to get one in the next couple of years.) I guess they threw out all the matching towels last year when taupe went out of style. :rofl:

Anyway, I don't care if if it's so 2005. I really don't see myself changing it annually to keep up with the current year's fashionable colors.

(I know you're just kidding).

[CC]

13. Wow!

Looks great. I know you both have got to be so happy it is finished. Can you send Hullboss down here for a while now? We are still slogging away at the kitchen though it does have floors down now and a cook top hooked up. Its the damn only two days a week for Ter to do his part that slows everything down. It is starting to look like a kitchen though and I have Ter terrified as I threatened to use his saw. He had his them all from me.:rofl: What is it about men and their tools anyway. :crazy: I have my own drill, hammer etc because he doesn't want me touching his. This from the guy that never puts them away properly and has to use mine when he can't find his. :rofl:

So what did Blue CA write on the shower wall?

[Blue_In_AK]

14. I believe it said something like "Goodbye Grime"

and it was signed by Blue_in_CA, my ex's sister Anita who was living with us at the time, and even Melissa, I think. There was all kinds of stuff scribbled back there. HullBoss told me he wrote "Jim loves Linda" on the new wall under the tile, so that will be for some other demolition party to find. I doubt it'll be us. :) I hope.

[CC]

16. Awww that was sweet

of him.

Give taupe and sage a few years and they will be the hot colors again. My mom says I am always a head of the fad color wise. Stayed with the red in the kitchen this time because I can finally find stuff for it without having to hunt odd shops. Plus she got me a red waechtersbach teapot after I found it a couple years ago for xmas. I had been searching for a plain usable teapot and really did want red. Then she and Ter added dinnerware and extras for xmas and my b day.

[babylonsister]

17. Just beautiful, Blue, and I'll bet you don't miss those sunflowers

at all! :thumbsup:

[TahitiNut]

18. Hey! I like sunflowers!

You got sumpin' against Vincent? :P

:silly:

A neighbor, two doors to the east, has a huge tiered planter taking up about half his front lawn. The centerpiece was once a perfectly-shaped maple tree about 40' tall ... which died. :cry: He planted it with sunflowers. Huge by July. Glorius! (The birdies go bonkers.) The rest of the neighborhood, in a typically anal suburban fashion, sneers at them big flowers. I love 'em!

[babylonsister]

19. Hey, I do, too!

But like the calla lillies on the paper in my bathroom, there can be too much of a good thing. I'm thinking paint works well for when I get a do-over.
OT: And how 'bout them Dixie Chicks? Have you warmed to them at all?

[TahitiNut]

20. I like their politics more than their music ... but it's not bad for C&W.

If I were a man lucky enough to be married to Natalie Mains, I'd give thanks every day. She's awesome. I really like strong, assertive, intelligent, and conscientious ... especially in such nice packaging.

[madmax]

21. Excellent make over.

As a veteran of 3 fixer uppers my hat is off to you. Very, very nice job. :toast:

[intheflow]

22. Very nice indeed.

Although don't you miss that yellow flower wallpaper? :rofl: Nice bathroom, I love the leafy wallpaper! I like the stand alone sink, too It's got some nice detail on it. Now I'll look even more forward to my visit to you! :hi:

[Eurobabe]

23. Aw, now you ditched the sunflower wallpaper?

Just kidding.

Nice job! Love the beadboard. We had that in our master bath that we designed in our last house (which we sold boo-hoo). It was very practical, and cozy.

[TahitiNut]

24. I wonder if I'm the only male who loves soaking in the tub with vanilla candles.

I miss my house from when I lived in eastern Washington with the huge (necessary for a 6'2", 240# fella) Jacuzzi in the master bathroom. There's something very healing about 6-8 candles glowing and soaking (with bubble bath). Does that make me a girlie-man? (Sigh.)

[Eurobabe]

26. Well, if that makes you a girlie man, then my hubby is too....

Many times he's in the bath with the candles, without me! :D

[TahitiNut]

27. In all seriousness, I think we males get culturally brainwashed ...

... and all too often fail to appreciate the sensual ... mistakenly equating it to 'sexual.' I know I missed a lot in life by only learning that later. It seems to be something missing in the American 'culture' ... far too few hugs, maybe.

I went through one of those "touchy-feelie" encounter seminars once upon a time (about 15 years ago). I won't go into how that came about, but I didn't really know what I was getting into before I went. If I had, I would've probably passed on it - but I didn't. When it became clearer, I mentally shrugged and said "Oh well, let's see how this goes. It's not going to kill me." Little did I know how powerful the (inner!) experience could be. One of the exercises was standing still with eyes closed while others did "respectful touching." It damned near blew my mind. Other males had the same reaction - far more pronounced than the females. I guess it sounds strange ... and perhaps a bit kinky. It wasn't. The whole context and dynamic was VERY genuinely respectful. I guess someone would have to have done it to understand it. Some close friends and family later did the same kind of seminar - even after being somewhat stand-offish about it - and were equally stunned (profoundly) at how powerful the experience was.

I often think we're almost starved for sensual contact - hugs and warm human contact. It's a shame. It spills over and we tend to even deprive ourselves of such simple things as 'aromatherapy' baths. Pity.

[Eurobabe]

28. Just sent you a PM. You've got mail!

[Blue_In_AK]

25. Very nice

I wish we had had room for a nice big tub like that. Unfortunately, the bathroom is very tiny. We even had to switch out the door so it would open to the outside to give us the extra room inside.