Our Half Bathroom Renovation

Dear Diary,

Do you want to know where we lived during the Labor Day holiday weekend?…

Yes, four times to Home Depot in three days. (And two times to Walmart.) This is what happens on Labor Day weekend when you’re a renovating homeowner. =]

This past weekend we FINALLY decided to start on one of our home projects. (We moved into our home in March of 2011 so it’s about time!) We have some family living with us for a few more weeks, but we decided we could at least tackle the small half bathroom downstairs.

Here are some pictures of what it looked like before.

The walls are primed already in this picture. The color before was a teal-ish blue/green color before. The previous homeowners had the home decorated very beach-like with the color scheme and their assortment of lighthouse statues. If you look at the mirror in the picture you can see where I painted test swatches onto the wall. =] We went with the lighter of the two.

(To be honest, we had bought six gallons of the darker color thinking we would like it – we didn’t buy the samples first – and when we started this bathroom the first time, we realized we didn’t like the color at all. It really did not match the paint sample on the top of the can AT ALL. It took me about a year for Home Depot to refund my purchase and give me a new paint color. Persistance! =])

Here is the horrid brass light fixture. AH! Don’t worry though – it’s getting replaced!

So we made our first trip to Home Depot on Saturday to get all of our updated accessories. We got…

A new faucet in oil rubbed bronze (about $100), a new oil rubbed bronze light fixture (about $30) and a new oil rubbed bronze towel bar (about $30).

Luckily we already had all the paint we needed, as mentioned above. We got home buying happy when we first moved in and got all of the paint we wanted. We just never got around to actually painting. (On a side note – when we moved into the house back in 2011 we were also planning a wedding, so all the home stuff we wanted to do kind of got pushed back.)

I decided that I didn’t want the wall mounted toilet paper holder so we took that down along with the mirror that was up. I wanted to get a mirror that was nice and framed.

We put putty in the all the holes (from the TP holder and the mirror) and then sanded them down to make for an even surface.

Here is my hubby sanding down the TP holder holes that I spackled. I think I put a little too much on.. oops. Sorry babe!

Then we painted – wonderful new bathroom pictures to come later!

Then on Sunday after church, my Hubby and I went for a lunch date and then headed for our second trip to Home Depot to get some samples of crown moulding, caulk and to look  at nail guns so we could put the crown moulding up ourselves. We also went over to Kirkland’s and got a new mirror. It’s framed with an oil rubbed bronze finish and was on sale for $20! Then we went next door to TJ Maxx and got an oil rubbed bronze free-standing TP holder for $15.

Later that night, after we treated ourselves to YoPop Frozen Yogurt, we headed to Walmart to get wall anchors for the new mirror that we were putting up.

Unfortunately, we ran into some hiccups along the way. It couldn’t be just plain and simple could it?! Paint, change the faucet, change the light fixture, hang a mirror and put up the towel bar. Nooooooooo.

So Monday we had to go back to Home Depot to get a new valve and supply line for the toilet because we forgot to do that before.

First hiccup -
Sink was leaking.
Got new valves and supply lines (around $20).
Got the new valves on, cool.
Couldn’t get the sink drain thing off the sink.
Had to pull the sink off the wall which means we have to re-caulk and re-paint that area.
Couldn’t get the new sink drain back on.
Insert wonderful father in law.
Got the drain, stopper/plug and faucet on.
Put the sink back up to the wall.
Realized that the J-looking pipe that goes into sink is what’s leaking.
To be continued because we have to get a new pipe/washers.

Second hiccup -
Toilet is leaking.
Drain the toilet tank. Take off tank.
Replace valves.
Have the wrong size supply line.
Go back to Home Depot for fourth trip to get shorter supply line.
Install.
Put tank back on with new washers. (The washers that go underneath the screws that attach the tank to the bowl – on the inside bottom of the tank.)
Toilet leaking from the supply line into the tank.
Go to Walmart (again) to get a whole new universal toilet pump with new washers for the supply line area.
Install.
All fixed! Woo! =]

Ahhh the joys of home ownership! We just have a few more things to do. Change the pipe and washers for the sink, re-caulk and touch up the paint around the sink, hang the mirror and clean up our mess.

I will post pictures of our bathroom renovation as soon as it’s done, but here’s a sneak peek…

New wall color and faucet. Ain’t it pretty?!?! =]

UPDATE: The half bathroom renovation is DONE! (Almost.) Check it out here!

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