How is it week three already, you guys? That’s HALF WAY through the challenge. I know the timeline is totally do-able, but to know we are half way through and the bathroom still isn’t even useable… it’s a bit stressful!
If you missed it, a couple weeks ago I announced that we’re joining in as a guest participant with the One Room Challenge. It’s a challenge to join with other bloggers and renovate a space in your home in 6 weeks, sharing updates each week. This is the third week and the first week that we’ve made any real progress! Last week, I shared that I’d just cleaned out the bathroom and we’d bought almost everything… but nothing had really been done. This week- I’ve got some real photos of progress for you! And it’s all the ugly stuff… not fancy tile, no paint… just drywall, plumbing and electrical.
You can read the other updates so far here:
Big thank you again to the sponsors for this project, Home Depot Canada and American Standard!
After I hit publish on last weeks’ post, we unwrapped the new vanity that was delivered (it’s sitting in our hallway, making it reaaaally fun for this pregnant lady to squeeze into the bedrooms- see that?) and measured the plumbing. Then, Shane went ahead and tore out the vanity and opened up the wall in there to get started. He had spectators most of the time. Emmitt actually set up a stool in there with a ‘cozy’ jacket on top for him to sit on. Once everything was opened up, it was time to rough in plumbing!
It turns out that vanities that are open on the bottom are a bit trickier to plumb than standard cabinet vanities that can hide all the plumbing. I talked a bit about that in my Instagram stories and a few of you replied back that you’d had similar experience and ended up cutting a bigger window in the back of the vanity to account for plumbing. We’re really lucky to have a friend who’s an awesome plumber so he and Shane did all the math on how to make the plumbing work in the wall to hide within that little space that the vanity covered. It totally works! I guess my tip here is ask an expert #sodiy. This meant moving the plumbing from the floor over to the wall. We also went from one sink to two so that took a bit more work as well.
Speaking of math, we also mapped out where those three wall sconces (they arrived yesterday! I have yet to open the boxes though- what is happening to me?) were going to go in reference to the plumbing, the walls, and the mirrors. I am terrible at math so we have lots of marker lines and measurements all over that wall. Shane then wired in the three lights (only one was in there previously) and patched up all the drywall. Today our drywall finisher is supposed to start today and that’s when things will really start to look like progress has been made!
Some fun things that we’ve learned this week? They make half inch light boxes! That means if you want a light directly on top of a stud… you can do that. Who woulda known? This one isn’t so fun BUT… different brands of fixtures (ex Moen vs American Standard) have completely different plumbing fixtures on behind your shower wall. That means to replace it, you need to cut open the wall from the back and replace the whole thing. I kind of wish we would have figured that one out before our drywall finisher started… *sigh*. But that’s a pretty small setback.
Lastly… TILE! You guys, you’ve given me about a 50-50% answer on if we should add heated underlay. I’m not going to lie- I was hoping for a 100% yes or no so that I wouldn’t have to think too hard on the decision! Can you tell I’m in survival mode- not opening boxes… not making decisions… not picking up the trains off the floor before I take progress photos for you…
Our plan is to sit back this week while the drywall finisher works his magic, then this weekend is a big push to get it all painted and get the flooring in- tile, grout, and that new toilet! If that goes well, we might be able to put the lights in this weekend too. Oh, and by the way… I totally mean Shane when I say ‘we’. This week I was given a big ‘you need to rest’ from my Midwife and my body is telling me the same. I’m sidelined on this one, you guys! Sitting still when there’s so much to get done is probably going to be my biggest challenge for the next few weeks!
I am excited to start working on some of the more fun stuff though. I need to finalize a paint colour- I was going to go with what we have in our whole living space, but want to bring home a few other cards just to make sure. I need to find some hooks, toilet paper holder, and we have decided this is the perfect excuse to get new towels. So wish me enough energy to go shopping at least ;)
I can’t wait to see what it looks like after this weekend! Next week should definitely be a big change and I can’t wait to see it! I’ve been sharing lots of BTS sneak peeks as we are working through the space over on Instagram and you can check out all the other One Room Challenge guest participant rooms over here.
Renovation Lessons I Should Have Known By Now: Modern Bathroom ORC Week 2
I feel like a room starts to come together once the drywall goes up. The 6 weeks IS going by so fast, but we can do it!
Yes! Drywall is such a big change.
Having heated floors really depends on where you live. We live in Northern California and we put them in but mostly so every box was checked when we decided to resale. We never intended this to be our forever home. It never gets that cold here and because it was a really big house that required double HVAC systems, I was really conscious about energy costs. We had wood floors in the bath and really fluffy rugs so I actually never used them. However I do have friends that live where it gets very cold in the winter and they say they wouldn’t want to live without theirs!
If this was a bigger house I think we definitely would have went for it! We just felt like for this size of house (doesn’t even have a garage) it wasn’t expected or needed. Next house ;)
Oh man! Renos are so hard! There are always so many unexpected changes and challenges! I’ll have to watch your IG stories more closely. I love seeing rooms come together!
You’re so much better at posting updates on your renovations than I am!
You got this! It’s going to be amazing in the end!
Thanks so much Libbie!
It is coming along, and it is very exciting to see the whole process! Can’t wait to see what you do!
Thanks so much Nicki!
Hi Colleen! Good luck on your bathroom renovation and don’t forget, each renovation is like the story of the ugly duckling. It doesnt’t look too promising at first, but when it’s done it will be all worth it!