A Lovely Bathroom
(Or, Our Journey to the Bathroom of our Dreams.)
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum as Mr. Sondheim so famously penned. In composing this post, I seemed to write as much about our contractor as about our renovation so there are now two posts and I hope you enjoy reading them.
Five weeks ago today, demolition work began in our ensuite bathroom. Today, except for the installation of the glass, work is complete. We’ve still a month or so to wait for the glass, ‘though that won’t stop us from using our new shower - with the quick and easy addition of a temporary pressure rod and shower curtain. It is the bathroom of our dreams but, oh, what a journey it’s been.
It all began with a much too low shower head and a very tiny shower stall, further cramped by a built-in bench. We both dreaded showering in there. The shower curtain made it feel even more squished and much darker. Trust me, there’s no greater motivation to renovate a bathroom than a dysfunctional or uncomfortable shower. Ours was both. The catalyst:
Another consideration was the vanity, complete with its 1990's mauve/dusty-rose/blue countertop and bone-coloured, janky sinks. The soap dish (indentation) on both sinks was damaged and the two faucets were different. But the vanity itself, we love. We're oak people in this house and, 'though oak has fallen very far out of favour, we wanted to keep it if it was possible, with a new top, new sinks and matching faucets.
Prior to demo day, there was a lot of unseen work to be done getting ourselves ready to live in makeshift accommodations through an estimated six weeks of construction. In our case, this included relocating the toilet into the living room - grunge décor? Jealous?
Planning a bathroom renovation is complex at best, frustrating at worst and is further complicated by any budgetary constraints. Getting the design right is vital. This is an intensely personal space that has to be functional and practical but also a wee bit posh. The term “spa-like retreat” is often bandied about during bathroom renovation discussions. For us, after so many years of making-do, we wanted to get this room exactly right for us.
There are myriad options to be considered and choices to be made. Rather than being inspiring, it can be overwhelming. For such a small space (ours is about 9 square metres), the number of decisions is quite remarkable. We began with a list of must haves:
- A niche (no more fighting for space on those always-too-small corner shelves).
- A glass wall/door (no more fighting with curtains).
- A pony wall to strongly support a grab bar, in close proximity to the door, for if and when it is needed.
- A bench, for if and when it is needed.
- A really good shower head and a sprayer.
- Tiles everywhere (no more pre-formed or fibreglass, puhleeze!).
- A seamless counter and sinks (integrated) - doctor’s orders - to prevent as much bacterial collection as possible.
- A new tile floor. ‘Though it was in mint condition, that cushion floor was oh-so-slippery when wet. Ask me how I know this…
The biggest expense (other than Vince) was the tile purchase. This was also the hardest decision. We shopped around, examined everything (local) on offer and I decided that I really wanted Carrara marble. Really, really! Beautiful but, unfortunately, not on budget. I finally chose white tiles with grey veining (for 1/3 of the price). It felt a little like settling whilst we were in the shop viewing the Carrara and porcelain laid out side by each, but now they’re set, I’m 100% happy with the choice and the look. I knew I did NOT want subway tiles but, beyond that, I’d no idea what I did want in terms of shape/size. Guided by Vince, we chose 12” x 24” tiles, and chose the same colour/pattern/size, from the same company, for both the walls of the shower and the bathroom floor. The wall tiles are glossy but the floor tiles are matte (non-skid, remember?). Then we had to choose an accent tile for the niche and the shower floor and the vanity backsplash. ‘Though it is common to use three different tiles for those areas, I chose a hexagon tile for all three spaces. No regrets! We chose Dove Grey grout.
Our four key cost-savings measures (besides abandoning the Carrara): We kept the original light fixtures, mirror, faucets and the oak vanity, which we think is gorgeous. Although having dual mirrors and dual light sconces over the sinks is more on trend, we do not have a window in our bathroom and our huge mirror reflects so much light that keeping it was, in the end, an easy decision.
Phew! And that was the fun bit!
Vince, bless his little cotton socks, took the greatest care of our home beginning with laying down a cardboard runway from the front door all the way through the house to the bathroom:
At the end of every work day, Vince fastidiously cleaned and tidied up, but dust. So. Much. Dust. “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”* We’re there, Moses, no “return” necessary. Living in our home the past month has been like playing in a sandbox. Demolition dust, cement dust, drywall dust, porcelain dust. It’s like very fine sand, or maybe talcum powder. I’ve spent my Saturdays cleaning up the construction dust — especially from our bedroom and living room — so we can have two “clean” days before work resumes on Monday mornings. This is not your basic, brainless, insensible, dust-bunny type dust. Renovation dust is smart, wily, conniving. It resists the Swiffer fibres and hides in the most unlikely places as well as all the obvious ones. It settles everywhere. Everywhere! It is procreative, seeming to double in volume every hour, on the hour. It travels. It adheres. We’ve no idea what may be lurking in those mounds of sleeping dust.
“Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: a walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist,”**
Dust swirls as we walk through our home and we are, indeed, lifting a thin layer as high as our waists. Coping with the dust just may have been the most difficult frustrating part of the project. It has reached the point where little mountains of dust have grown in every corner and along the tops of the baseboards and quarter round. Next up, we will be tearing the house apart to clean - every nook and cranny, beneath and behind every piece of furniture, all the light fixtures, all the surfaces…. But oh, is it ever worth it!
Floor tiles set and grouted.
All new plumbing.
Bench
‘Though I wrote that the work is finished, you’ve probably noticed from the pictures that there’s one job still to be done — painting. Our home is white. Everywhere - upstairs and down. Tiny problem: There are vaulted ceilings throughout. The peak is 18 feet high and runs through our living room and ensuite. Our Bedroom, den, dining room and the main bathroom all have 14+ foot ceilings. That’s much too high for Cam so we’ll have to engage a painter at some point. Before that happens, we want to make sure all the “projects” are complete so that we don’t need to get the painters back for touch-ups. We’ll be living with white walls for the time being (which simply gives me more time to pore over paint colour chips!).
’Til next time, y’all…
*Moses. Probably. Possibly. Genesis 3:19 (NIV).
**John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 1, Page 7.