the bathroom renovation

Remember how cute our bathroom was?

And by "cute" I really mean outdated. And dysfunctional. And lavender.

Our house only has one full bath on the main level, so it acts as the master bath and the guest bath. Because of that, I wanted it to be functional but still tidy and presentable. 

The old vanity didn't have any drawers and very little cabinet space. One of those cabinets is decoy - you opened it up to find a hole in the floor straight to the basement. A laundry chute! It was (sort of) nice to have, but it was only big enough to toss a towel or two down at a time, so we didn't use it that often.

The other cabinets were small and didn't have any shelves, so we found ourselves aching for more storage. Especially Andrew, who hateshateshates surface clutter. HATES.

We started researching vanities for the space and were quickly discouraged. The in-stock variety started at $700 and we didn't even really like any of the options. We could do a custom vanity, but that got pricey fast. And we're trying to save as much money as we can for the big kitchen remodel next year. 

Thankfully, I married an engineer. And gained an engineer father-in-law in the process. 

Don't let that face fool you, he was having so much fun. Maybe.

We walked the aisles of Lowes talking about what we wanted: white, shelves and/or drawers, beadboard. And we wanted it to be taller. The existing vanity and mirror were so low that we both had to slouch down to see into the mirror. Now you know why we called it the Hobbit Room.

Before long, we had a vision. And now it was time to execute! We started with this in-stock vanity from Lowes:

Then we picked out a new top, since we needed to span a space that was about a foot and a half wider than the vanity we bought. 

(We were able to pry off the top that came with the vanity and we put it on Craigslist. Money in my pocket, y'all!)

We decided that shelves on either side with baskets would be easier to construct than drawers and I liked the natural look of baskets anyway. I wanted the bathroom to keep with the subtle coastal feel of the rest of the house (we live on the shore, you know!) so that worked well.

The boys went off to get materials for that while my mother-in-law and I went off in search of the fun things like light fixtures and a faucet. The whole thing came together in just a few hours. I love it when that happens.

But you're probably tired of all the jabbering, aren't you? Let me just cut to the chase.

Those boys built the most beautiful vanity ever. It was exactly what I wanted, but couldn't find in the store. 

The paint is Valspar's Jekyll Cottage Green, which is a mossy green color. I've never been happier with a paint color than I am with this one. It's perfect, especially in contrast to the white vanity and trim. In some of these pictures, it's reading a little bit like a pea-green, but I promise it's not. It's mossy. MOSSY.

And as my birthday gift, my wonderful in-laws helped us outfit the room with all the accessories!

We found the baskets at The Christmas Tree Shops for $5 each. If you've ever shopped for baskets, you know that's a steal. The cabinet on the wall is from Lowes and is part of the same line as the vanity. It's nice to have that extra storage for things like toilet paper and extra soap.

I got that cute little clock at IKEA. I think it's so charming.

Not pictured: the beautiful, extra-long white shower curtain. I raised the shower curtain bar (a trick I learned here) and it's amazing how much taller the ceilings seem now. So faaaancy.

I got the mirror at HomeGoods on clearance for $30. Also a steal. Whyyyy are mirrors so expensive?

I ordered the light-fixture on Amazon. The junction box for the old light fixture wasn't centered over the vanity (womp womp) so we either had to move it (hellooo, scary electrical work) or find a light fixture that would cover it. Thankfully, we found one! Here's a close-up:

I like that the shades have a Nantucket feel to them. Is that an adjective that I just made up? Let's go with it.

I also got very acquainted with the floor when I got on my hands and knees to clean and whiten the grout. It was nasty, but I was amazed at what a difference it made to go over it all with one of those white grout pens.

And after all was said and done, we were able to do it all for about $800 - that includes the vanity, the accessories, the paint (for the walls, trim and ceiling) the new fixtures - even the materials and new tools that Andrew had to buy for the project.

An investment, I say!

 

Do you love it as much as I do?