So, this post is about the little bathroom that was the bane of my existence for about 7 months of my life. I demo'ed it partially before my hysterectomy last December. The plan was that I would be recovering for a few weeks and probably be able to start back up the first week of January.
The universe (or whatever system of order you believe in) had other plans. The first week of January, I was in the hospital trying not to die from sepsis. Which meant that I didn't get back over to the house until late March. My sister, her boyfriend, his dad, and my dad all worked diligently to get the rest of this demo done. This bathroom was going down to the studs.
The good news is that by the time I started working on this little room, I had already started this blog. So I have LOTS of pictures. The bad news is that this little room, that took so long to build, is so small it is impossible to get a photo of the whole room at once. Such is life.
The very first day I went into the house, this room, to me, was the worst. Yes, it was dirty, so was the rest of the house. Yes, it had Marguerite's stuff in it, so did the rest of the house. The thing that bothered me about it was how sad it was to me that when she was still living there, this was her bathroom, and her family let her use it in this condition as a disabled person.
This bathroom is TINY. Like, 3.5 feet x 7 feet tiny. Literally half of the bathroom is the shower stall. I knew that I couldn't change the footprint of it, but I knew I would gain a couple of inches by removing that awful tile (with the mortar behind it). So, the first step was the demo.
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| Right wall - receptacle wall |
The photo above is of the wall directly to the right looking into the bathroom. This was the only demo I had completed before I got sick. The following photos are of the demo that the rest of my helpers did.
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| Wall that backs up to the laundry room - light switch wall |
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| Front of shower coming out - window is above where the toilet was |
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| This is the light switch wall inside the shower after demo |
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| Down to the bare bones |
After everything was demo'ed out, I worked on the mudroom/laundry area first. I knew I would lay the floor in this bathroom at the same time as the laundry room floor (which was 95% of the square footage) so we completed that part first. While I was working in the mudroom, I took out some cabinets that were on the other side of this demo'ed bathroom wall. I discovered that one of the studs in this wall was set crooked and we would need to remove the sheetrock (facing the mudroom area) to fix it.
This presented me with an opportunity to expand the bathroom, even if only by a few square feet. I knew I didn't want to try to move the whole wall, but I could bump out the framing into the mudroom to give me about a one foot strip of space that would be the void inside the wall. I could use this to build a bench in the shower, which would make it seem larger without changing the footprint of the shower pan. I could also put in some storage shelves in the bathroom (which had zero storage space with the removal of the medicine cabinet).
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| This is taken from inside the mudroom, through the removed wall between the two spaces |
First, I had a plumber demo this shower pan, pour a new one and install a new drain. Then, my mom, step-dad and I framed everything out on the laundry room side and installed bead board on that side of the wall. Within the bathroom, we built the shelves and installed the bead board.
Originally, I thought this room would look awesome if it was floor to ceiling subway tile. And I probably would have done it that way if I hadn't gotten sick. But tiling is a big job. Tiling a whole room is pretty huge. I knew the bead board would go up fast and would match the mudroom. The only problem was getting a 4 ft x 8 ft piece of bead board into a room that is 3.5 ft x 7 ft. That was comical at best. My sister helped me do this. There was a lot of two girls and bead board shimmying that day.
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| Receptacle wall |
Bead board goes up pretty easily. The hardest part is cutting holes (like the picture above) for receptacles, pipes, light fixtures, etc... and making sure that the lines are vertically level (don't want cock eyed stripes). We installed this with the nail gun and compressor just like we did in the mudroom.
You only have to add the corner trim, crown moulding and base boards, then putty the nail holes, sand, caulk, prime, and paint to finish this out.
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| Window above toilet - note one of the brand new windows from Window World |
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| Receptacle wall is to the right in this photo |
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| Receptacle wall is to the left, this is the light switch wall, doorway to the mudroom, and the brand new shelves |
My step-dad helped me frame out and build shelves to go in the void of the wall we bumped out into the mudroom. It is approximately 12 inches deep and 60 inches tall. Since this room only had a medicine cabinet (that I removed because it wasn't centered over the sink due to the framing in the wall), adding these shelves provided some much needed storage space in this room.
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| Before the trim work |
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| We also relocated one receptacle into these shelves from the mudroom on the opposite side of this wall |
Once everything was finished in this space I turned my attention to the shower. We framed in a shower seat within the bump out (you can see part of that in the picture above as well).
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| Shower seat to the left, dark green color is the sealer we used over the cement backer board |
Tiling a shower is a process that is several steps long before you ever get to the tiling part. Basically, I had a plumber pour a new pan and put in a new vinyl lining (waterproof barrier). Then, you put cement backer board on all of the walls just like you would put up sheetrock. After that, you tape off and seal all of screw holes as well as the seams (inside corners, outside corners, and places were two pieces of backer board come together) using mortar like you would mud/spackling with sheetrock. Finally, you paint on a waterproof barrier that sort of dries to the consistency of rubber.
After all of that is done, you can actually start tiling. I opted to do the base of the shower first, and then grout it, before starting on the rest. You can see in this photo that I also did the shower seat in an accent tile that is blue, white, gray and silver. It is the same tile I used as an accent around the vanity in the main bathroom in this house. This photo shows the tile laid, but without grout.
After I had grouted the floor and waited for it to cure, I started on the walls. I essentially started from the bottom up, making sure that my first line was level and working up from there. This was a several day project. Since I was (and still am) not really working at 100%, I went at the pace I could handle. Since this bathroom is so small, there really isn't room to have more than one person working in it (particularly in the shower) at a time.
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| Back wall and the front of the shower seat to the left |
Once I completed tiling everything, we grouted, sealed the grout, painted the walls, installed the toilet, sink, faucet, light fixture, and mirror.
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| Shower seat - I built a couple of nooks for shampoo, etc and used accent tile there as well (left side) |
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| Fixing the receptacle - I could probably be an electrician apprentice at this point |
I opted to paint this little room a bright aqua color. Everything in the house is gray, white, and black with the exception of this little room. I thought of painting it green in homage to Marguerite since that was obviously her favorite color. But I used the same accent tile in this bathroom that I used in the main bath, so I decided to go with something to bring out the blue instead. Somehow, I think Marguerite wouldn't mind, considering.
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| Dark gray grout for the base, white elsewhere. I thought gray grout would be too busy for the walls of this shower. |
In the end, I don't think it looks like a horror movie anymore. Considering how long this project took, and how much effort it took from me when I didn't have a whole lot of energy, I am really proud of this before and after. My husband and I both thought this room was by far the one thing that sort of gave the house bad juju. In the years before Marguerite left this home, this was her main bath, and one of the three rooms in which she spent all of her time. Finishing this room is like the cherry on top of this happy house sundae.
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