The Bathroom... The first DIY experience.

"If you would one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day.  Yea, let there be daily renovation."  

~Confucian Analects

 As with any good renovation project, we have our before picture:

 Our demo pictures:

 The demo contractor: (aka my cute hubby Joe)

So this project had to be done first for many reasons, but the most important is we have a 3 year old and she enjoys her baths.  However, there was NO WAY I was letting her soak in either of the two bathtubs in the house in the condition they were in when we first moved in.  After some aggressive cleaning I was able to get them to a state that was acceptable for showering and even a bath or two.  Joe surprised me in April/May by demoing the whole bathroom, as well as re-wiring, and putting up new sheet rock while I was at my niece's wedding in Utah.  We than together taped and mudded the sheetrock together.  This was the state that the bathroom stayed at for the majority of the summer.  In June, with the help of my visiting mother as babysitter, I was able to finish the texturing of the walls and the painting. Joe and I than put up the bead board, tile board (a cheap temporary solution until we can afford the tile we really want), and the trim. In August I re-finished the bathtub with an epoxy refinishing kit which went very well. We finished the installation of fixtures, curtains, cabinet, and other little things here and there today on Labor Day which we thought was appropriate. LOL We still need to decide on what we are doing flooring wise, change some of the shower fixture parts, and I have some touch up painting to do. BUT for all intents and purposes our first reno project is complete and was a SUCCESS! 

Here is the After:

 

Our bathroom is a combination of new as well as refurbished items that are original to the house. We wanted a mix of old and new because we feel that is what fits our family's personality. Most of the material was either already here when we moved in or our friends and family donated. What we did buy new was on a budget.  Over all we spent less than $800 on the whole project and never had to spend more than $100 at any one time! Thank you to all those who contributed to this renovation! Larry (Joe's Dad), Phyllis (Britt's Mom), Steven, Melissa, and our kids! (Thanks Sam, Britt's Dad, for purchasing our bathtub refinishing kit.)