Extreme Makeover: Bathroom Edition

When I purchased my condo in spring 2013, I took one look at the baby blue tile bathroom and thought, one day I'll fix you. one day...

Well, one day finally came. I had been talking about wanting to gut my bathroom for so long but the stars finally aligned this past month. A financial gift from the sale of my grandmother's house and a two week housesitting stint made it the perfect time to finally commit.

I was terrified of what lurked behind the walls, especially for an old house, and though the project did reveal a lot of (non-active) termite damage, we were able to repair the wood and keep the project moving. All in all, the eight day project took 17 days to complete. Gulp. I stayed at home the final five days and anxiously looked forward to the work being complete. Why did it take so much longer? The termite damage delayed us a couple days but more importantly that that, my bathroom is small. Like small. And only one thing could be done at a time. The electrician couldn't be here when the plumber was or the painter etc. etc. So the finishing touches took more time than the demo.

What I learned along the way?

• Home renovations take longer than expected.
• No matter how small the project is, when it involves demo a layer of dust covers EVERYTHING in your house.
• It's important to stay on budget (or at least try to)!
• It's OK to be open to changing your design idea. 
• Get a massage after it's all said and done (pending...)

I couldn't imagine renovating an entire house considering how much I stressed over the budget, the debris, and every. little. decision. to make sure I was happy with the final product. But it was all worth it. 

BEFORE & AFTER 

I opted to lose the tub (it wasn't standard size anyway) and replace it with a standing shower. We lucked out in finding a custom piece of glass that was discounted at Lowe's as a return from a customer and ditched our shower door for an open shower concept. It helped open up the tiny space. The baby blue tile was replaced with a grey carrera marble (I LOVE IT) and I decided not to do a decorative border in the shower because the marble had enough variety. It also saved me some money. And in lieu of doing marble for the shower floor, I went for black and grey stones.  

My favorite part of the bathroom (other than the shower) is my vanity. I was on the hunt for a vanity for so long and had some weird requirements - needing a right-side sink due to a window in the bathroom, specific dimensions for the width and depth, and wanting to maintain at much storage as possible. My contractor found the above piece - an early 20th century Louis XVIII chest - at an antique store in Metairie. It already had a white marble top that we cut into to add a vessel bowl sink. The vanity fits in well with the style of my condo and is a great contrast to the sleek, modern shower.

The old medicine cabinet mirror and vanity light were swapped for an oval mirror and a light fixture from Wayfair that I thought had a ton of character! The walls went from white to sea salt - a nice green. 

A new toilet and the carerra marble from the shower continuing onto the floor complete the space.

Only thing left to do is purchase new linens for the space. I'm leaning toward turkish towels that can hang on the hooks above the toilet and I need a new bath mat. But the renovation is complete and I couldn't be happier.