what I learned from redoing my bathroom

So a couple of weekends ago, Matt went on a little trucker's vacay. That's right, he and some buddies when to the national farm show in Louisville. He left on a Friday morning. When I got up I looked up in my bathroom and wondered, "What do you think is up under there?"

If you've ever been a guest at my home and needed to use my bathroom, you probably regretted that decision. I told Matt when we were moving in that we should rip it out. But he was so anxious to get moved in he told me to forget about it.

This is what I had been living with for the last seven years.

This was the only bathroom in our house when we moved in. We did put a bathroom in the basement a couple of years ago. It's all together with the laundry. It works out pretty nicely when the boys are dirty. And since we had that bathroom downstairs and no closets upstairs, the vacuum resided in the shower. uh huh...

There were no doors on the vanity, a nasty nasty floor, a drop ceiling and the previous owners smoked in it. They also put the exhaust fan in with no exhaust except the foot of space between the drop ceiling and the real ceiling. So if you left the fan going for a long time, the room smell like cigarettes...seven years after anyone had ever even lit up in there!

Oh yeah, and they covered up a window! I didn't remove the shower stall. I knew I couldn't do that on my own. But the window, I was a little  lot sad about. It's completely covered up on the outside with siding too. So no window:(

First thing, I tore all the nasty paneling out and took out everything but the shower. I ended up putting paneling back up. I don't think I could've handled the drywall and all of that on my own.

Mom came by and helped me pick out the stuff at Menards. I did buy the least expensive of everything. I wanted to just basically clean it all up. I didn't really care that it's not exactly what I want right now. I just wanted a decent bathroom!

This is a shot when I was getting closer to done. My brother Jake, came by and helped me hook up the light and figure out some of that stuff. I put all the new paneling in myself. Measured and cut it myself...thank you very much. I added all the trim myself...I need a little practice with the miter box but hey, I'm pretty proud of those facts. I did get a smashed thumb out of all of it.

Dad helped me get all the stuff I needed for my sink. I had no idea on how to do that. But I think I could do it this time. Matt did end up getting home before I got it all done. He helped me move in the sink and hook it up.

The floor is peel and stick. $25 and about an hour installation. Better than a two day (at least) tile job.

Oh, but it's worth it! It's the "girls bathroom". Works out pretty well, since I'm the only girl in the house ;)

The towels are from Bed Bath and Beyond. They are an Amy Butler pattern. I love the coral and the aqua together. The shower curtain is from Urban Outfitters. But it is the worst quality ever. The holes for the rings are not even across the top so it hangs lop-sided.

 

So what I learned: 

1) It's not quite as hard as I thought it would have been.

2) I needed Matt to be gone about one more day and a half. 

3) Trust your gut. I made a few mistakes that I double guessed myself on. 

4) You'll be tired afterwards. (like for the next week) 

5) Everything takes way longer to do than the time you think it will.
6) Get your thumb out of the way when you start swinging the hammer!

PS ~ Also you'll notice that the light fixture up top was not upgraded. Well, I couldn't get it down! I don't have any idea how it is even up there. It doesn't work either. So I need some ideas on how to cover it up so it's less noticeable.