Things are moving along quickly with the Big Box Bathroom remodel…so far, my rockstar-contractor has done most of the actual work, while I squeal and take pictures. It’s not every day we remodel a bathroom, so I’m trying to document the work by day, so you can follow along with the steps and progress. Today is all about Day One…the demolition!
It’s funny how once I stripped the little guest/kids bath of any accessories, it looked like it was beat with the homely stick. Seriously, shield your eyes because these pictures might burn your retina. #exaggerator
Since we’re planking part of the walls (see the design board here), I painted over most of the stripes so the color wouldn’t show through the cracks between boards.
That is one bad-looking floor, right?! You thought I was kidding about the whole Brittany Spears/gas station/barefoot thing! But awful Before shots, make for dramatic Afters…so enjoy!
When we pulled the toilet out, we discovered why it never sat level with the floor…the opening was about an inch taller than the tile! #doh
Once we had the room prepped, my rockstar-contractor came in and ripped out the floors, shower tile, vanity, and mirror. No turning back now!
In order for the new toilet to sit properly, he had to jackhammer the concrete so the base could be lower. This was the first of many times to come I was grateful we admitted our DIY limitations for this project!
Next they pulled out the wet board from around the shower. The previous tile hadn’t been installed properly, so there was some water damage. The tub is the only thing we salvaged, so it’s covered for protection from flying concrete and tile.
The hot and cold water knobs in the shower didn’t work properly, and continually leaked, so we decided to convert them to a single valve. Reason #2 I’m grateful for professional help….blow torches!
Finally, we sketched out the vanity and mirror location so we’d know where the sconces needed to be wired. Normally you can wait for this step until the vanity is in place, but because of the planking, we had to make the cuts in the sheetrock first. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt.
I think my favorite part of Day 1 was discovering this old wallpaper behind the toilet. It makes me wonder who lived here before us, and what their stories and lives were like. I can almost picture a woman excitedly watching this paper go up, and being grateful for her new home. It’s funny to think one day a future homeowner will be laughing at our design choices.
I’d say Day 1 was productive!! And the next best thing to having the rockstar-contractor do all that hard work, was having him haul the debris away! That’s certainly something to think about when planning a remodel…trips to the dump! You can follow along for more real-time updates on InstaGram. And rest assured Day 2 gets prettier!
Classic Kitchens & Baths (214-349-5999) enough (for the DFW area)! But be patient,
affordable greatness like theirs books up fast! ***
This is going to be so great… I can't wait to see more!
I'm so excited! right now I'm living vicariously thru yall! our toilet in our half bath does the same. we've tried to do fix it but to no avail. I wish I could find a rockstar contractor like urs!
A person shouldn't be as excited as I am about your bathroom remodel ;). I'm totally obsessed with it!
I cannot wait to see more!!!
wow things are moving so fast! i cant wait to see how things turn out! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
Woohoo!! How exciting!
aw yes! my hubby is a contractor in the metro Atlanta area and he does this all the time! I'm like yawning over all the pics he takes haha, i'm like, okay so now can we do OURS?? #thecontractorswifehasnonewbathroom 🙂 good stuff, can't wait to see day #2!
LOVE the progress and the mood board so I cannot wait to see how it turns out. I love your comment about the wallpaper. My husband thought I was nuts but when we were house hunting this past Spring, we looked at one house, which he absolutely loved but I said NO because only two rooms of the 4200 square foot home didn't have wallpaper. I was so intrigued by their wallpaper, knickknacks and their kitchen (the kitchen had TWO stovetops, one electric and the other gas and then TWO ovens, one electric and two gas wall ovens). I did some sleuthing to find out that they were the original homeowners and both had immigrated from Poland after WWII. Someone did finally buy the house so it will be interesting to see what they do with it as we just live down the street from them now so I'm sure we'll see some activity.
Love the progress! We actually used Classic Kitchens this year for our kitchen remodel and loved them! My next project is our second bath as well, so its fun to see what you have done (esp with the contractor we will use again!).
Holy cow!!! I can't wait!!!
This is so fun to see…can't wait for more!
So exciting Cassie! Fun to see your progress! We're in the same boat over here. We're in the midst of a remodel. Things are still pretty gutted here. We did uncover 3 lovely layers of wallpaper, one a foil floral. Oh my!
Holy smokes!!! I thought we did some major stuff in our guest bath by adding a new mirror, faucet and lighting! Ha! You got me beat! You are one brave women! Can't wait to see the final reveal!
When they took the wetboard out of the shower, did they cut it around the edges? Or just rip it out? I am going to have to do this also, as we have some water damage too. Thanks!
Hi Rebecca…they took the entire board out…is that what you're asking??? It came out in pretty much a single piece. I hope this helps! Good luck with your reno!!
So eager to see how this turns out. Already, it's giving me great ideas for the day I decide to tackle something like this. Very exciting 🙂
It's nice to see the step-by-step progress of your bathroom operation. I hope that you are able to bring forth better and more functional sinks and drains at the end of that, which is usually where a proper bathroom comes down to, along with working and unerring faucets and stuff. Good luck!
Levi Eslinger @ Capital Plumbing & Heating