Downstairs Bathroom Renovation

Okay, so Ashley is usually the one who does the blogging, but I decided to try my hand at it this time...
    
You all remember those candies called Warheads.  For some reason everyone has had them and for some reason you had a secret pride when you finally got past the horribly bitter, sour taste to that heavenly sweetness at the end. 

     That is the best metaphor for my feelings towards home projects.  I sometimes have a hard time getting motivated to come home from work to work.  Ash has to coax me through the sourness on occasion.  I enjoy projects for one simple reason.  The sweet satisfaction of having something that we can enjoy and be proud of.  Ashley has a way of sprucing things up and making them look 100 percent mo' betta. 

     The next few pictures show our original bathroom.  The bathroom is about a 45 square foot room with a bit of bling from the gold fixtures.  Standard builder grade vanity and sink which served their purpose, and linoleum flooring.





without the mirror and hardware



     After taking out the sink, toilet, molding and all the fixtures, this strikingly handsome, prematurely balding young man showed up to do some flooring work.  Our bathroom floor had just a bit of slope to it so I leveled it with some leveling compound.  The compound dried and I popped a few chalk lines to keep the tiles somewhat straight.

    I laid the tiles in a diamond pattern because it supposedly makes small rooms seem bigger.  I had to keep the mortar wet enough that it's easy to spread, but dry enough it keeps its shape.  Make sure to use the tile spacers so you leave room for some grout.
     So... the guy who recommended the diamond pattern must have had stock in ceramic tile because there was a lot of tile cutting invloved.  After finishing the tile, I let it sit for a day.

    Grouting was really simple.  (Yes that is a spoon from the kitchen and Yes I did regret using the "favortie mixing spoon")  Fill all the joints with the cement-like stuff.  After about fifteen minutes, wet a sponge and wipe it away.  The next day, I treated the floor with a waterproofer to make sure that water wouldn't seep through to the subfloor.

After a coat of paint, some molding, a new sink, a potty, and some simple plumbing...vwaalahh!  Ash does a tremendous job decorating.  If it were up to me, we would live in a psychiatric wardlike house with very bare walls and very little color.

hooray the finished product!

Lowes $450...Craiglist $75!

Total cost of bathroom makeover: $360 

Sink  $75

Tile and supplies  $170

Molding  $20

Mirror  $25

Plumbing supplies  $25

Paint  $30

Light fixture  $15

Happy wife = Happy life

God Bless,

Steven