Half Bathroom Renovation

Do you want to know where we lived during the Labor Day holiday weekend?…

Yup, Home Depot. Four times in three days. (And two times to Walmart.)
This is what happens on Labor Day weekend when you’re a renovating homeowner. =]

This past weekend we FINALLY decided to start on one of our home projects. (We moved into our home about a year and a half ago, so it’s about time!) We have some family living with us for a few more weeks, but we decided we could at least tackle the small half bathroom downstairs.

Here are some pictures of what it looked like before:

(The walls are already primed in the above picture.) The color before was a teal-ish blue/green color. The previous homeowners had decorated very beach-like. If you look at the mirror in the picture you can see where I painted test swatches onto the wall. =] We went with the lighter of the two.

(To be honest, we bought six gallons of the darker color thinking we would like it [we didn’t buy any sample pots first] and when we started this bathroom the first time, we realized we didn’t like the color at all. It really did not match the paint sample on the top of the can AT ALL. It took me about a year to get Home Depot to exchange my purchase for a new paint color. Persistence! =])

There is the horrid brass light fixture. AH! Don’t worry though – it’s getting replaced!

So, we made our first trip to Home Depot on Saturday to get all of our updated accessories. Here’s what we got:

A new oil rubbed bronze faucet (about $100), a new oil rubbed bronze light fixture (about $30), and a new oil rubbed bronze towel bar (about $30).

Luckily, we already had all the paint we needed (as mentioned above). We got “home buying happy” when we first moved in and got all of the paint… for the whole house. We just never got around to actually painting. (Side note – when we moved into the house back in 2011 we were also planning a wedding, so all of the home stuff we wanted to do kind of got pushed back.)

I decided that I didn’t want the wall mounted toilet paper holder so we took that down along with the old mirror. (I wanted to get a mirror that was nicer, and framed.)

We put putty in all the holes (from the toilet paper holder and the mirror) and then sanded them down to make an even surface.

Here is Hubs sanding down the toilet paper holder holes that I spackled. I think I put a little too much on… oops. Sorry babe! :]

Then we painted – wonderful new bathroom pictures to come later!

On Sunday after church, Hubs and I went for a lunch date and then headed for our second trip to Home Depot. We wanted to get some samples of crown molding, caulk, and to look at nail guns so we could put the crown molding up ourselves. We also went to Kirkland’s and got a new mirror. It’s framed with an oil rubbed bronze finish and was on sale for $20! Then we went next door to TJ Maxx and got an oil rubbed bronze free-standing toilet paper holder for $15.

Later that night, after we treated ourselves to YoPop Frozen Yogurt, we headed to Walmart to get wall anchors for the new mirror that we were putting up.

Unfortunately, we ran into some hiccups along the way. It couldn’t just be a simple reno, could it?! Paint, change the faucet, change the light fixture, hang a mirror, and put up the towel bar. But nooooooooo.

So, on Monday we had to go back to Home Depot to get a new valve and supply line for the toilet because we forgot to do that before.

The first set hiccups –
– The sink was leaking, so we got new valves and a new supply line (around $20).
– We couldn’t get the old sink drain off the sink. We ended up having to pull the sink off the wall (which means we have to re-caulk and re-paint that area).
– We couldn’t get the new sink drain back on.
– Insert wonderful father in law.
– We got the new drain, stopper/plug, and faucet on.
– When we put the sink back up to the wall, we realized that the J-looking pipe that goes into the sink was what was leaking.
To be continued because we have to get a new pipe/washers.

The second set of hiccups –
– The toilet was leaking so we drained the toilet tank and took it off.
– We replaced all of the valves. During that process though, we realized we had the wrong size supply line. So I went back to Home Depot (for the fourth time) to get a shorter supply line.
– We had to install new washers (the ones that go underneath the screws that attach the tank to the bowl – on the inside bottom of the tank).
– Figure out that the toilet is leaking from the supply line into the tank.
– I go to Walmart (for the second time) to get a whole new universal toilet pump with new washers for the supply line area.
Then it’s all fixed. Woo! =]

Ahhh the joys of home ownership! We just have a few more things to do – change the pipe and washers for the sink, re-caulk and touch up the paint around the sink, hang the mirror, and clean up our mess.

I’ll post pictures of our bathroom renovation as soon as it’s done, but here’s a sneak peek…

New wall color and faucet. Ain’t it pretty?!?! =]

UPDATE: The half bathroom renovation is DONE! (Almost.) Check it out here!