Much awaited guest bath reveal

By popular demand, the reveal of our guest bath. Ready for this - the whole thing, new ceiling, floor, we kept track down to the nail (well, screw) and caulk - less than $2500! There are still a couple open items: window covering, seal liner between tile wall and tub top, some accessory items (towel hook is purchased, needs to be hung, and need to get matching tub handle). I'm not 100% sold on the shower curtain either, but the price was right and it was in stock. Let me know what you think! We're very happy with the way it all turned out. We did most all of the work, and had our friend who is a plumber help with the water lines, tub install and tips and tools for a lot of the other projects. Our master bath is next on the reno list.

Shower curtain is actually from Walmart. We tried this one from BBB but it was too heavy and dry clean only! Ugh! I had wanted this one from BBB, but they were out of stock for several months. Now it's back in stock, but has chrome hooks which won't match our finishes. I found this light weight one at Walmart for $20. I love the see through fabric on top, bonus white hooks, double bonus, machine washable! Yes, I need to steam it to get the wrinkles out.

Tilt your head for this pic. After aches and pains with drilling the water holes in the tile, we decided on a tension shower rod rather than the curved rods that are drilled into the tile for now. This one works nicely, enough elbow room in there.

I'm really happy with the tile choice. It was DH's. I hated it in the store, but under our lights, love it! The wall color is a grey/tan Woodlawn Colonial Grey from Valspar color matched at Home Depot because I just love Behr paint. Toilet's American Standard Cadet 3. The little cabinet on the left is the one from BBB noted in a previous blog.

Here you can see a little of the heavy shower curtain we took back. For window coverings, I'm probably going to order woven wood bamboo shades from http://www.blinds.com/. They've done all of our other window coverings in this house. Great prices, fast shipping, great customer service.

The toilet paper holder is great. No extra reaching across for the paper. Before, it was mounted on the vanity, but since we shortened it from 48 to 36", that would be an extra reach too. Do you know how expensive bath trash cans are? $30+! We got this one from BBB as a 'just for now' can, but it's growing on me. The price grew on DH - $10 and then $5 coupon, so $5! I like how it's dark on the inside and brushed metal on the outside.

I would still like to put something between the can and the 'can' there for height. Maybe a 3 ft vase with bamboo or reeds in it. I've been checking out Ross, and will check out Home Good when they open at the Pavilion March 10!

The hardware is Moen Sage. We weren't going to replace the mirror, but after seeing the size relation to the new shortened vanity, we had to. Got a good deal at Lowe's on this one. Towels and bathmats are Laura Ashley Lifestyles Microcotton Bath Towels in Twine (always wait for a sale at Kohls!)

We were able to refinish the vanity. Took off (1) 12" pc, stained the front wood doors (very time consuming, clean, scuff, stain, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat!). The sides are laminate, so they didn't take the stain well. Ended up using a good spray paint in espresso. Looks great! New hardware for $10, new granite top, new faucet (with single handle and soap dispenser) and we saved a lot vs. purchasing a new vanity (which I tried to do, but couldn't find any I liked anyway!)

Thanks for following our adventure in our first big reno. Let me know if you have any questions on any reno money saving ideas, project how to's or product info.

Guest bathroom recap

Yes, I've been a total blog slacker. For a couple months our weekends were full of bathroom renos, then who knows what, Flu, Thanksgiving, then a few weekends in Orlando for mini-vacations and then Christmas and New Years and here we are.

Our guest bath was finished just before Thanksgiving which was at our house again this year. There are still a few open items like window covering (which I'm waiting to find exactly what I want since the glass is frosted and opens to the patio so privacy isn't an issue), tissue holder, trash can and a couple extra towel knobs. We were successful in our first tiling project. We called in the professionals when we started on the shower walls, but that was just our neighbor for a consult. He drew some lines and we were good to go. Cutting the holes for the water lines was a pain in the butt. So worth the $20 diamond crusted drill bit. Grouting - easy. Sealing - easy. Drywall and backer board - easy. Knockdown spray texture was terrible for me. It didn't affect DH's eyes at all, but mine were watering so much I couldn't see straight. I ended up putting on a mask and my snorkel goggles and that helped. DH did the electrical and our plumber friend did the moving of the pipes, install of the tub and final hookups. We are VERY happy with how it turned out.

Here are the reno highlights. I'll do a final reveal on the next blog. Along with a before and after.

Installed by DH - new from Lowe's Harbor Breeze Brushed Nickel fan with light (and bonus night light feature!)

Tub in. We went with the Kohler Archer tub with brushed nickel hardware. Drywall and Hardibacker board up.

Rufus the site supervisor. This was during the terrible texture spraying. We did a light coat on 1 wall and let it set. Rufus wasn't allowed in until the smell/eye watering chemical went away. Yes, he's always that jolly.

And the hole that finally cut nicely. We went through about 5 tiles before I went back to Home Depot to get the diamond drill bit.