Tuesday, April 8, 2014

A new bathroom!


Our house was built in 1940, a four room cottage. Not an original farm house, but 1940 is venerable in house age in the township. The man who built the house, Mr. Amity, converted the attic into livable quarters, the Boyd’s, from whom we bought the house, added the studio wing that exceeds the size of the house—the reason we purchased. The original footprint of the house is unchanged, and my bathroom is still six by eight and a half feet. A galley bathroom!

The house was gutted and redone when we moved here; the first real upgrade since the sixties. I “enlarged” the bathroom then, by reducing the size of the vanity and substituting a shower enclosure for a tub. It’s an adequate bathroom, but oh, so eighties, and developing behind the walls and under the floor issues. Sounds like a new bathroom to me.

Jim, the man who builds it all, came round to take measurements the other day and see what I wanted. All the hours of Home and Garden TV notwithstanding, they will not write She Designed a Fantastic Bathroom on my tombstone. Not that they could; I will be tossed.

I only have two must halves for the new room: a higher toilet and a longer shower stall. That will leave fifteen inches for shelving along the shower wall. It will be open shelving; I’ll store a cupboard of stuff in neat wicker baskets, just like the designers do. Shelves over the toilet, more baskets, a new vanity, some grey paint on the walls, over and out. Jim suggested I go look in a big box store at fixtures and a vanity, and I was up for that.

Ninety minutes Sunday I walked the bathroom aisle at Lowes, eventually realizing there was no shower there I would step into and no vanity I could face in the morning. I came home determined to do a better job on line. I started with showers. There are mighty sharp shower enclosures out there, but I’m way over my head understanding them; that will wait for Jim to come back. I see I need toilet advice, too.

Well, perhaps I could pick a vanity. I found them either boring or ugly. On to the next. Then, look what I found:



Bead board. And that’s what I’ll do. Bead board wainscoting, light grey walls. A grey marble top for my bead board vanity, brushed nickel fixtures. I’m back to the internet for the perfect shower interior, and when I find it, Jim can figure it out.

That’s the plan. My two granddaughters can spend the summer removing eighties wallpaper, and gardening. I've planned the bathroom for late fall, so Jim and his crew have an indoor job.


33 comments:

  1. Sounds very nice to me...especially that higher toiet.

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  2. When in France we used to haunt the second hand sale rooms for items we could use...in Costa Rica the expats want to sell their tat for big prices and the locals are bury recycling their own stuff within the family...

    Now we are building a new house I can finally demand proper storage in the bathroom and dispose with the various boxes which contain toothpaste, etc...

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  3. Sounds like you know what you want and how to get it.... that's the biggest part of the battle. Hoping we see the results at a later date ;-)

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  4. Very nice. I did mine a couple years ago, and guess what? The thing I like the most now, is the shower head I got. The rest is fine, but a good shower head.....

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  5. That is a handsome vanity indeed. For myself, I prefer more space on either side to put the toothbrushes and soaps, but that's just me. I love bead board. (but not grey, mine would be cream)
    I hope it all turns out exactly as you want it, then you can enjoy it for many years. I have shelves above my toilet, it's where I store the spare toilet paper rolls.

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  6. When it's all said and done you'll have a very nice place to bathe :-) Our master bath is the next big house project, and I'm not looking forward to it.

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  7. It is so much fun planning a renovation. It i difficult living through one. It is wonderful when it is done and you love the result and know that it was all worth it.

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  8. Nice little vanity. I like that. I like breadboard. That's what we did here. Wainscoting. Not in the bathroom but in the dining area of the room and the hallway.

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  9. We're working on the walls of our tiny bathroom. It takes so long for the mud to dry that its a long process. We bought paint today and hope to be painting by Thursday. I started sanding on the vanity...we couldn't find anything decent at Home Depot or on line tht would it our small space, o decided to salvage our existing vanity. Next step...tile the shower. We bought a tile cutter yesterday. It wold have been easier to move, but who would have bought this house with that nasty old bathroom? Hope your pre planning pays off and your renovation oes faster than ours.

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  10. Oooh. We too need a new bathroom. Ours has a number of issues. And there is lip around the shower. Which I cannot always traverse with ease - or with safety. I like the sound of your revamp. Rather a lot.

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  11. Sounds like the remodeling will be a good one when it is all done and a good summer project for the girls to learn wall papering :)

    betty

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  12. we're redoing our small main bathroom and there isn't even room for a sink cabinet because the toilet was placed too close, perhaps you'd be better at designing it than I am, ha. Can't wait to see the reveal, will you have the shower tiled? by the way the garden web forum bathroom section is a good place to get input from amateurs and professionals alike.

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  13. It's going to be great & you deserve a lovely bathroom to relax in a hot bath x

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  14. How exciting! I can hardly wait to see photos of the finished room. Good luck with it and have fun!

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  15. Dear Joanne,
    that sounds nice and reasonable - and the vanity looks good! I am not in a craze for those elaborate bathrooms (if that is the right word - maybe "spas" might be more appropriate) they showed us when we looked for a flat in Berlin: in one they had converted a huge room into a bathroom, with two (hideous) high mosaic wall in the middle (reminded me of the lions-wall in the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, but that is beautiful). Good luck to your project!

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  16. Sometimes all it takes is one piece for inspiration. The toilet may take a small adjustment. Not sure of your height, but while the taller ones are certainly easier to "de-throne" from, while you're there you may fee a little like Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann, with you feet swinging in the air.

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  17. We are slowly renovating our house. Your'e hired!
    Jane x

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  18. The vanity is great. I share a pedestal sink and it's a joke.

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  19. Your new bathroom sounds great. I like beadboard wainscoting... have it in my kitchen. But I will tell you that the favorite thing about our bathroom shower is that there is a seat in it... the ceramic tile comes down to form a seat across the width of the shower (so if one is cold or just plain tired one can just sit there while the hot water steams around you - this is wonderful for tired old bones).

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  20. Hari OM
    Oh yes I would have that! The bathroom here was only a year old so am going to have to live with it for a while, but the toilet is low and clambering into the bath to get to the shower round a swing door that is hung in the opposite to practical direction ... well, beached whales have nothing on me... have bought the step stool, now for the safety rails. YAM xx

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  21. Our house is 1970s, and has most of the problems you described. What described is actually do-able for us, as our dinky master bath would be much better with your plan. Looking forward to the "all done" photos.

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  22. Oh, yes! Love that beadboard vanity! Go for the storage (pedestals are beautiful but impractical). Also, try to avoid sliding doors on your shower/tub. Those things are nothing but trouble :) Nice of you to save your indoor job for a slow time on your builder's calendar; well thought out.

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  23. Very attractive vanity. We could do with one of those here!

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  24. What a neat look for your wash basin. Didn't know they were making this kind of design. Gray is a nice neutral color so you'll have fun filling those baskets against that background. I like the basket idea. Hope you will show the results. -- barbara

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  25. I like beadboard. I hope the renos go well.

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  26. I hope we get to see the finished room? We've had a lot done to our house in the last 4-5 years (new bathroom, kitchen, heating system, electrics....) I don't think I could take having to make any more choices - colour schemes? doors? handles? fittings? wall tiles? cladding? paint? carpet or floor tiles? how many sockets?

    But you go for it, gel - and we'll be eager to see what you decide on! :-)

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  27. Oh, good for you!

    My house was built in 1904, and the bathroom last updated in the 70s. We spent October to the end of December having it remodeled, and almost all of my purchases were made online.

    Pearl

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  28. Our house was built in 1917. We have 5 bathrooms. All of them have been modernized except for the main floor one. We have kept it looking almost exactly as it was when it was built. The toilet is one of those ones with a box over it and you pull a chain to flush it. It is still the only toilet in the house that flushes with complete regularity. Or as Bing says, "You could flush a cat down there, no problem."

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  29. Toilets have so much power over us, and it increased 50% when we were mandated to one gallon flushes. I lost my two gallon toilet in that bathroom to a tragic accident I have rued these last fifteen years I've had to live with it. I would give much for a box on the wall.

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  30. The best bathrooms I've had have led directly to walk-in closets.

    Love,
    Janie

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  31. My bathroom is smaller than the shower in some houses :) But our house is small too. We do have an old house that we use as a creative space and a barn, so those help.
    R

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