The Bathroom: Plans

Oh the bathroom. In addition to the roof and the stucco, the bathroom was (is) a major sticking point. Aside from some superficial water damage (I got a mold inspection prior to purchase! It basically said: there was water damage in several places but there does not seem to be any mold; get your roof and stucco finished and you should be good.), the space is long and narrow and has a walk-in bathtub. Walk-in bathtubs are fantastic, for the small portion of the population who really needs them. For everyone else? They're terrible. 

As a reminder, here's the bathroom when I moved in. It's long and exactly bathtub width; the toilet is strangely close to the tub, and the green and cream are doing NOTHING for the space.

For November and December, this is what it looked like: we primed everything, took all non-essential hardware off the walls, and scrubbed things down. That view is correct: there is no shower curtain. I carefully hung a towel every time I showered to keep overspray down instead.

(Yes, that's my aunt and uncle's fancy camp chair serving as the all-purpose dumping ground space in my bathroom. It has since moved back to their house.)

And then in at the beginning of January I remembered that I have a shower curtain and a bath mat and things got more presentable: 

It's better - the walls have been primed and everything cleaned; the shower curtain adds some color. But better is a relative term and it's not great and honestly I hate it. (Also, yes - the fan is . . . falling off the ceiling. It's getting replaced and I just can't be bothered to make it stay up, apparently. It got shifted during the roof work - not a good sign for how well it was installed originally).

Enter Tom, Super-Uncle. (Sorry, other Uncle Tom, you are great, but you are not helping me renovate a bathroom, so. . . no superhero status for you!) Or, well, almost enter Super-Uncle. First let me go over what all will be happening, and in what stages.

FIRST: A NEW BATHTUB SHOWER COMBO MY DREAMS ARE COMING TRUEEEEE.

I purchased the Mauicast NexTile Bath and Shower Combo from Home Depot. This is what will be replacing the current setup. I cannot tell you how many times I measured my bathroom, and I think I quintuple checked the drain position. The tub is chilling in the back of my car, since it is way too heavy for one person to move, and the shower surround is (carefully placed) on the floor of the garage. It took two Home Depot trips to get it all home. This is one of two Super-Uncle Tom assisted projects. He will help me (teach me!) remove the current situation, and install the new bath/shower combo. This will involve plumbing and (maybe) drywall and I'm actually pretty excited about it!

Then we will be installing my Christmas Present:

Art by my dad. This is the style of decoration on every single Christmas present I have ever received from my parents, and it's not Christmas unless my siblings and I are making wilder and wilder interpretations of what my dad has drawn on our cards.

It's actually a Glacier Bay One-piece dual flush toilet. I had the *most helpful* guy at Home Depot come up to me while I was hauling this thing around the store trying to complete my shopping (home reno shopping in a pandemic is TERRIBLE because there are so many things I need to actually see to figure out what I need that I have to go into the store and I hate it) and tell me that Glacier Bay is terrible and he never buys it and I nodded and said, "It got great reviews on consumer reports" and kept going and didn't say, "sir your social skills are entirely lacking" and "did I ask for your input??" ANYWAY. New toilet will get installed; I never have to see that guy again.

And then I will be replacing the old, falling out of the ceiling fan with a new one!

I'll also be painting the walls and ceiling - this is the one room where the walls will not be painted matte, because matte paint and humidity are not best buds, I hear. I have a plan for the baseboards throughout the house and the bathroom is actually the first place I'll be testing it out, so that's going to be exciting. (Yes, a baseboards post is forthcoming; actual baseboards are not forthcoming. Except in the bathroom).

The final DIY bathroom project will be replacing the vanity. That project is like, 45% of the way there - I have a vanity hanging out in the garage that just needs a few final coats of paint and a sink and a faucet. (I don't have a sink and a faucet yet but I've narrowed down my options.) I'll replace the mirror with a much longer one (you can't see it in any of the photos but it's exactly the width of the current vanity, which is a one-sink vanity). I'll add in hardware - a towel bar! a toilet paper holder!!

And I'll replace the lights. This part of the project is the most up in the air - I cannot for the life of me find a light fixture I like. Well, I did find one I  liked but it was $899 and just no.  Part of the difficulty is that I can't quite decide what I want: milk-glass globes? and maybe black and brass? clear glass with the fancy bulbs?? all black with no brass? The vanity is a mustard yellow; will brass even work with it? Can I replace the mirror before I know what the light situation is?? Why is this particular decision so much harder than the others?! How long will I dither over this decision and live with a vanity fixture I really dislike?? (<-- the ultimate question. I suspect the answer will be "longer than I'd like to admit").

The final project for the bathroom is still in the bidding phase, and because it's tied into a separate project, is excluded from the bathroom budget, and I don't really think of it when I think "bathroom project complete means. . . ", even though it definitely is a bathroom project and if I can do it, will be really nice. That project is the "Windows and Doors" project: putting a window into the bathroom above the shower wall, replacing the sliding patio door in the kitchen that doesn't close properly, and putting in a new sliding door in my room. More info on that when I have it.