Starting The Bathroom Remodel

We finally got started on the bathroom - it was our anniversary present to each other and I'm thrilled with the way it's coming along!

Bruce took the week off last week to get as much done as possible - the tub got demo-ed and the shower and floor tile went in. Ready to see the process? Here we go:

Bruce told me not to take pictures of him. oops, already did. :o)
But he's off to a good start!

Goodbye to the yucky tile surround

I can't help it; he's just so darn cute and working hard!

 There was a bit of mold but it all got torn out anyway.

The tile is gone, the tub is history!

Breaking out the first row of floor tile to put shower curb in - can you say messy?

Shower curb started and drain in

liner and cement board in

floor tile all out

 Fortunately, we didn't run into any surprises so it was just hard work with long days. And the back porch was all set up for relaxing in the evening plus Bruce had his hammock for taking a nap break.
                                                                              :o)

It's going to look great. The tile is just what I envisioned with the beautiful decorative accent.

decorative tile on left, shower tile on right

We are leaving the beadboard on the walls - have to add more where the old vanity was. Plus I'm going to paint the door and window sill white to match the rest of the trim - good-bye matches nothing stain.

The floor is just wow! I love how it looks like rustic wood planks.

And my beautiful buffet. She needed a bit of cleaning up and then I started putting the polyurethane on her:

Yikes! Disaster! By the 3rd coat, the poly turned the paint really yellow. Yellow clashes with my tile so off to the store to buy stripper. What a headache, because of course, the paint came off too. Ok, deep breath; find a store that sells chalk paint, drive 38 minutes to Tyler, buy paint, drive back, paint, and poly again. whee. But I have to say I love the new color even better than before. Here's a sneak peak of the drawer with the lion head handle:

ASCP "Coco" with white wash

A different brand of poly this time and she's ready to be made into a vanity and start her new life.

And that my friends, was the week of hard work. We are tired but happy with the progress we made. I'd like to give a big shout out to my MIL, Bonnie, who was there the first weekend and helped haul debris out (she's awesome!) AND to my brother-in-law, Michael, who was there the following Friday and Saturday and helped Bruce get the shower tiled. He saved me from having to cut the tile (I really dislike that job!).  My sister and I left them to work and ran to Canton for the day. haha! It was a nice break from the dust and noise.

We are taking a couple of weeks off to rest up but we Bruce will be grouting and getting the vanity in next. (I get to clean out grout lines where the mortar oozed through, paint the door, window sill and beadboard, and the fun part of decorating.) Yay! Can't wait!!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Cecilia