It looks like bathroom renovations are making the rounds. I’ve recently seen these other bathroom renovations from other bloggers (here and here). Ugly bathrooms everywhere beware!
A couple weekends ago Jeff and I made a trip to Lowes to investigate this Board and Batten business I’ve been day dreaming about. We played around in the isles with different boards and trim to see what we’d like. We even came home with some boards.
Here is a secret about me, which anyone reading this blog could probably tell; I am not the biggest detail person when it comes to home design. I am more of a big picture kind of gal. I’m not too worried if what I’m doing is the correct way or will stand the test of time, as long as I get the overall look I’m after then I’m usually happy. (I am totally the opposite at work- perfectionist with everything. It’s weird.)
This drives Jeff NUTS! He doesn’t like to do the work necessarily, but he likes things done the right way and to perfection. If something isn’t straight or isn’t smooth with one of my home projects it eats at him until he has to fix it. He is my detail man.
Well, with the Board and Batten, I had chosen to follow this tutorial and use polyboard so the boards would be thin enough that I wouldn’t have to buy new base boards. When we tested it out in the isle of Lowes however, we realized that our cheap builder grade base boards were still a little too thin for the polyboards. Jeff knew the boards not sitting flush would drive him crazy.
Then we tried it with the baseboards we are replacing the downstairs with after the flood. They fit much better. After some discussion we decided this was the way to go. We’d just have to replace the baseboards anyways and suck up the cost. And if we were replacing the baseboards then we really ought to just tackle the floors at the same time. And if we were going to do all this work then we’d better do it the right way and start from the ground up instead of working from top to bottom. Oh, and we’d better do it for both upstairs bathrooms.
That’s right; we are just getting too far into it. I guess we both are annoyed by the bathrooms enough that I think my priming adventure is going to turn into two bathroom renovations or face lifts. What have I done? I’m still kind of hesitant to start with bathroom renovations when we have other priorities in our lives that should be taking precedent. Jeff’s answer to my hesitation was to just use what we’ve got. I always like this answer. So what have we got that we can use to fund these bathroom reno’s?
(Pic found here.)
We are going to just use what we have in our change piles around the house (all over the house), which is usually the change in Jeff’s pockets and the tips he gets at work. It may just take us forever, but at least we will be working towards more beautiful bathrooms and not dipping into any savings.
Trying desperately to bridal myself, I have come up with the following plan for the guest bathroom:
I need to plan this whole thing out in the beginning because it may take a very long time to get this all done using change from around the house! Here's the details (mostly so I remember).1) Paint and accessories: I want to somehow use the dark gray and bright olive green that are on the shower curtain to inspire the paint color and the accessories that go into the room.
2) Lighting: This will probably be the last thing we put in the room, if even. The lighting that is in there works fine, but hollywood lights bug me, so if I can find a good deal I'll switch the lights out. (This fixture can be found here.)
3) Paint Cabinets: I plan to paint our vanity white (using the tutorial from here). The cabinet already has a lot of paint spills on it from the previous owners and the wood veneer itself doesn't seem to be standing up very well. A fresh coat of paint would do the vanity good.
4) Board & Batten: Hurray for installing some molding interest!
5) Cork Tiles: We want to lay down some cork tiles down in both bathrooms. Cork is a classic material used in bathrooms in other parts of the world and can stand up to moisture when properly treated. Plus another great bonus is that Jeff and I can do the labor ourselves, which we would not be able to do with installing tile in a second story bathroom with slanted floors. We like a medium toned brown, found this one at Lowes, but we'll shop around for the best price.
6) Change Shower Curtain: This is the current shower curtain in our master bathroom (it is olive green and gray, just a bad phone picture). I've always planned on moving it to the guest bath, which will one day be the kids bathroom. I love that it is really fun and kind of reminds me of bubbles but it doesn't scream KIDS BATHROOM!
This isn't really that much work, but knowing us and working with a pretty much non-existent budget, even this much work will probably take us a long time. Like, a really long time knowing us, but I refuse to lose hope. The bathrooms in this house are going to get better!
Of course this isn't everything on my wish list. I'd love to start from scratch, or at least change out the tub/showers and all the hardware, but I can deal with builder grade faucets and laminate counter tops in this house. That money will be better spent when we've settled into our forever home and not our home for right now.
1 comment:
Ha Ha! Love your opening lines!!! Good luck with the reno.
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