When we moved into our very outdated and falling apart 34 year old house, the main bathroom was the room in the best condition. It would be the last room we would renovate. Looking back, that was a mistake. You spend a lot of time in a bathroom and when it is gross, it’s just GROSS. But that’s what we decided, so that’s what we did.

When we bought the house, the bathroom had wind chimes hanging in it that the owners so kindly left for us. The light fixtures were beyond disgusting, there was mold growing on the ceiling, the vanity was cracked and permenantly stained, the tub surround was loose, had mold growing on it, and the lino on the floor had cut marks all over it and the vanity had drawer faces missing that we could not replace. We checked every hardware store. To have them custom made was more expensive than buying a new vanity. And yes, it was the room with the least worries.

I took down the wind chimes, we got a new vanity mirror and light, I treated the molding ceiling, painted it and the walls with leftover paint we had from another room and I fought with the mold issue in the tub…for four years.  But that’s how it goes when you are renovating.

The bathroom is now done (except that the brand new toilet has to be returned. It is a lemon).

Here are the before pictures:

Having a bathroom that looks like this means that the tub was out of service for a few months.

I also love the new tap. So fun.

We had one towel rack before. Now there’s enough space for us to all hang our towels.

The tile job in the tub surround. LOVE it. We got the 12×12 tile as a steal a few years ago and just stocked up, thinking we would dress it up with some more expensive accent tiles. This is the final result. We went with vertical instead of horizontal to try and make the bathroom look bigger than it is.  Not sure if it worked, but I like the look.

Once again, we are renovating on a limited budget, so the vanity and mirror came together as a steal from a Home Depot sale. I love it!! I love that there isn’t a medicine cabinet. I can’t stand medicine cabinets. Somehow they look tacky to me.  I think we got the lights on sale at Lowes.

The toilet was a mistake. We wanted to go all eco friendly and get the low flow, dual flush toilet and it had to be a one piece toilet. I love one piece toilets. So easy to clean. The low flow, dual flush was just our attempt at being a bit more environmentally friendly with water usage. Well, we have three dual flush low flow toilets and I dislike them all. We are forever having issues with them ‘running’ which totally defeats the purpose of them. Last month are water bill was $25 more than usual. Blech. Not very environmentally friendly. Let’s just say that toilet is shut off until we find a solution. I do love the sleek look of it though.

I framed a picture we took on a trip to South America.

The storage space in the vanity is awesome!!

Another look at the bathroom.

The tile work up close. Didn’t Jason do a fantabulous job? I am so proud of him.

We went with lino. I can’t stand cold tile on my feet.  This is so simple to install. It was one of those floating lino rolls that you see at Home Depot for $30. You cut it to your space and put up your trim etc and it just stays there. No glue. Nothing. Fantastic.

Jason has two ‘musts’ in a bathroom: #1 a clock (he tends to be late) and #2 enough storage in the bathtub so that nothing is sitting on the edge of the tub. Not sure if you saw the pressure fitted storage rack in the corner of the tub? That would be for him.

I am not a fan of ‘boob lights’, but if you go to the bathroom fan section of any hardware store, most fans are plastic and ugly. Then we found this one. It looks like a ‘boob light’ and really defies our rule of ‘no boob lights allowed in our house’, but it’s a FAN. Isn’t that just great? Love that it’s not plastic and ugly.

And of course, the storage in the vanity. Love it!

So, that’s it. Our main bathroom is done!! So glad.

And those who wonder if our bathroom always looks like this? Uhm, NO!!
 Normally the vanity looks like this:

And there is a potty out for Mikail. The books are also stacked up beside the potty at times:

 And the counter has toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream and whatever else we left lying around on it and there would never be a white towel hanging in this bathroom (ha):

But I had to share the ‘perfect’ looking bathroom just to prove to myself that it can look somewhat magazine worthy.