HOW TO RENOVATE A BATHROOM IN 42 WEEKS

I can't tell you how excited I am to be writing this blog post this morning.  When Ironman and I bought this fixer upper in June 2015, we guessed it would take only two years to complete the renovations.  Although we are clearly not on schedule, we really have done a lot of work (and spent a lot of money) already.  For me, having the washer and drier in the garage and having a terrible bathroom were the worst.  Though the laundry room isn't completed, Ironman did at least get the washer and drier inside the house...yay!  But let me say, he did an amazing job on the bathroom and I want to show it off.

The photo on the left was taken on the day that we moved in, June 19th, 2015.  The photo on the right was taken yesterday morning.  I'm shocked that's the same room.

Let me walk you through the process...

42 weeks ago, we decided it was time to get started!

The first thing to go was the vanity...and, of course, we found pink carpet left over underneath the pink tile.

Once the vanity and the toilet were both out, we started to tear the entire room apart.

The pink tub was just too cute, so I had to put it in my yard and use it as a flower bed.  Pinterest told me it was ok.

Ironman took out a bedroom closet in the room next-door (to the left, inside the door) to make more space in the bathroom.  He also took out the huge window and put a smaller one up near the ceiling (for natural light, but no creepers).  We got the walls down to the studs and then Ironman recovered them with plywood to get ready for the tile, wainscoting and sheetrock.

Houston, we have a tub!

We chose white subway tile for the shower.

And a gray tile with a design on the floor.  We decided since the subway tile was horizontal and the wainscoting was going to be vertical, we wanted to have the floor herringbone to break it all up.

Ta-da!

Ironman saved some wainscoting from a job, so that we could save money and add character to the bathroom.  It's so convenient that he works in construction so that we have the opportunity to do things like this!

He got the wainscoting up pretty quickly.  There was a small area behind the door that had space to put a built-in cabinet, so I was excited to have that little extra storage!

We were planning on ordering a custom made vanity, but decided again on the money saving and character building...so Ironman started to build our vanity, in hopes that we find a drop in sink and countertops that we like.

We went to look at countertops and compare them to the floor tile, but just didn't feel good about it or find anything that we loved.  Plus, it costs a fortune!  So, Ironman decided to build the countertop out of old wood.

The painters came to prime.  It looked so fresh and clean when everything in the entire room was white!

 Then, they painted the "gray" that I chose, which turned out to be more of a purple.  But, I happen to LOVE purple, so we kept it!

 The plumber came to install the toilet and hook up the shower head, tub faucet, etc.

At this point, we could use the toilet and shower, but didn't have a sink and vanity in place yet.

Then, we finally found the perfect sink...in my parents backyard (yep, backyard).

 We got the sink refinished.  Ironman painted the vanity he built and stained the countertops he added.  The sink was just the look we were going for and we were so excited!

Ironman found a faucet online that fit perfectly and we were in business!

In the kitchen, we had an enormous old water heater that was taken out and replaced with a tankless water heated and installed on the outside of the house.  We are loving that we don't run out of hot water!  Plus, it's nice to have that little extra space in the kitchen now.

We found the perfect mirror.

So, yesterday when our bathroom was officially complete, I took photos to document the "after"...

This is the completed vanity!  It's so cute.

Here is the built in behind the door.

You can see the built in to the left of the sink and the light fixture we chose to go over the mirror.

A painting that one of my friends did years ago matched the colors perfectly!

And the final product.  

 That entire process took 42 weeks.  Home renovations are no joke.  Especially when you are living in your home, while working on it.  So far, we have our bedroom completed and now this bathroom...only the rest of the house to go.  I'm so happy that I married such a handy man.  Ironman is so creative, talented and a hard worker...this bathroom would not be complete without him and the countless hours that he put into it.

So, one more thing checked off of our home renovations list.  Moving on to the next...kitchen!!!