our bathroom

**Photo heavy warning

Our bathroom.  Our one bathroom.  She was so so sad.  Our one bathroom measures 6 feet by 8 feet.  You can cry for me.  Mark and I often ask ourselves what we saw in this house when we desided to buy it.  Let's just say, for the record, that the bathroom was not a strong selling feature.  After having put the house on the market twice, with no luck, we knew we had to do something about the bathroom.  The foundation work sealed the deal.  The tile in the shower began to crack and mold was beginning to form on the floor, under the tile.  Nothing like some mold to stir you into action, huh?! 

Our bidding process was short.  4 bids and only one contractor that I liked.  Our neighbor uses him so we thought it would be a good idea to try him out.  If he did a horrible job, he would lose two customers.  A week after he bid the job, we started the work. 

Our bathroom before.

Please note the size of the shower in relation to the overall space.  A previous owner, well intentioned, decided that he didn't want a bathtub for his family anymore.  They had three small children when he did this.  All by himself.  So, he took out a tub and put this monstrosity in.  The blow-up duck you see in the corner was how I bathed Nolan.  The twins had something similar.  It was not fun.  That sink you see... well it was about 6 inches too short for an adult.  I don't know where it was purchased but I couldn't find one that short when I was shopping.  I just wanted to use it for size comparison.  We lived with this bathroom for over 5 years!

We couldn't even put things on the sink because it was so little.  Do you see the dark lines in the grout of the floor of the shower?  That was where the foundation worked cracked the grout and started the mold party.  They toys, you ask.  Well, at about 20 months old, the twins started taking showers.  It was the week that Mark went to Germany for his grandfather's funeral and I was left alone with the kids.  I didn't know that I was pregnant with Nolan and I was tired and cranky and I had had enough.  I made it a party and put the twins in the shower and we never looked back!

The long, floor to ceiling cabinet is original to the house and kind of cool.  It is great storage.  It was the only thing that stayed.

We moved down to my mom's house for the week and crossed our fingers.  I don't have much confidence in contractors so I was a nervous wreck.  I don't like leaving my house and knowing that strangers are in there.  Especially when they are destroying my one and only bathroom.

Day one.  Everything was taken out and a bathtub was put in.

Man, our house was a mess.  The dust and dirt that was in our kitchen and living room was nuts!  We closed the doors to the twins room and to our's and Nolan's room so there was very little dust in there.  That black stuff on the wall is the moisture block paper that goes up to protect the wood.  We got a look at the bones of our house and we are so happy to see how well built she it.  The framing still looks so good.  There was only a trace of mold where the shower had been damaged.

Day two and day three.  I was not happy to see that this was the only progress made in two days.  I was told that we were on schedule in the morning of day two and off schedule the afternoon of day three.  Not happy.  So.......

One of the workers stayed late to get the floor tiled and get us back on schedule.  I was so happy to see that the tile we had chosen looked like I had imagined. 

Day four was awesome!!!  The beautiful subway tile went up around the tub.  The transformation was amazing!

We were able to get back in the house on Saturday morning.  There was just a bit of finish work to be done on Monday but we were so happy with the end results.  I didn't have the contractor paint the walls because i'm still trying to decide exactly what I want.  There is a lot of white in there so i'm trying to figure out a good contrasting color.  The faucets are chrome finished.  Any ideas?

The kids are in love with the new tub. 

This project was pretty short as far as renovations go.  I think that after this, though, we are finished for a while.  The foundation work, drainage work and new bathroom set us back quite a bit.  We are going to spruce up some things but we are done with the big stuff for a while.  I dream of the day that we can have a second bathroom.  When I get overwhelmed with the size of my house I try to think of Mrs. Roeder.  She and her husband built this house and raised three boys in it. 

I'll post more pictures once I get some paint on the walls.