Bathroom Remodel: Pics and Costs

We’ve wanted to remodel our bathroom for some time now. Well, actually, all we wanted to do was replace the vanity. When we bought the house, there were some mysterious orange-brown stains on the vanity top. The only thing I can think these are from is an adventure in home hair dying gone awry by the previous owner. It didn’t bother us too much, but it was always on the ever-growing list of things to replace and repair. Other than one coat of white paint and some stick-on vinyl floor tiles, we hadn’t really done any work to the bathroom. Then one day, Evan says let’s take the plunge and do some work on the house. Getting the bathroom re-done seemed like the most feasible project to take on. And of course, why just replace the vanity when you can get a complete, shiny, new bathroom. Millie is still bathed in the kitchen sink and we have a second bathroom with a shower that we could move into while the main one was remodeled. So, off we went.

We hired the same friend who tiled our kitchen floor to retile the bathroom shower, the floor, and the floor to the downstairs bathroom. We also “hired” our dads to help rip out the old vanity and to put the new one in. We retained our same toilet, but got a new seat. We kept our same tub, but replaced the faucet and hardware (just the decorative pieces, we didn’t change the plumbing). We also hired my sister-in-law to paint because we hate painting. The mirror also stayed and the light fixture we replaced a few years ago, so that also stayed.

We took down the shower door and discovered all sorts of disgusting muck underneath it. Then the walls of the shower came down, the vanity was removed, the toilet was uprooted, and the floor ripped out. At one point there was nothing in the bathroom, but the tub. Then, our friend got to do all the hard work.



Once the tile was in, it was our turn to put in the vanity. Naturally, nothing works like it’s supposed to. For whatever reason, the plumbing was not centered on the wall so the vanity drawer was hitting a pipe and wouldn’t close. So we had to cut a notch into the drawer so the vanity would fit. Then it was time to replace the towel bars, heat register, hang a new shower curtain and rod, and put all the pretty things in it. 



 

 

After all was said and done, it took about 10 days and 547,458,669 trips to Lowes to complete and here is the breakdown of the cost.

• Tile for floor and shower (Floor and Décor): $512.45
• Tile Pencil Liner/Trim and Soap Dish (Home Depot): $107.53
• Vanity (Home Depot): $435.76
• Tile Supplies (Lowes): $187.28
• Paint (Lowes): $26.97
• Misc. Supplies (toilet rings, toilet and sink supply lines, liquid nails, paint brushes, etc.): $201.94
• Decorative Supplies: $175.30
• Tile Labor: $900.00
• Paint Labor: $125.00
• I cashed in some credit card rewards: -$100.00

GRAND TOTAL: $2,572.23





BEFORE







AFTER





 

Two Months of Millie

In case you missed it, I had a baby! And now it’s been 9 weeks since she was born, so I figured it was about dang time for a blog post about her.

Millie was due on April 25^th, but of course that day came and went without her making an appearance. My blood pressure had been pretty normal and consistent until 38 weeks when it started to rise. It was still within the normal range, but the doctor started to worry about it. There were no other signs of pre-eclampsia so I wasn’t too concerned and did think that they were freaking out about nothing. I had to go in to the office twice a week for monitoring and they finally decided to induce. I REALLY wanted to go into labor on my own. In fact, it was the only thing I felt passionate about in regard to any type of “birth plan.” Since I had absolutely no signs of going into labor on my own, was so over being pregnant, and with the doctors getting antsy, I decided to agree to an induction.

On Sunday, April 28^th, we checked into the hospital to get the induction started. By the next morning the contractions were coming steadily – well actually right on top of one another. It suuuuuuucked. And it took all damn day to dilate to 3 cm. At that point I could have the epidural, so I ordered that sucker right away. It helped me go to sleep (well, if it wasn’t for the nurses coming in every hour. Grr), but it also slowed my contractions. The next morning they started Pitocin and the contractions started up again. By this point Millie was jammed up all on my left side and must have been lying on some nerve because there was excruciating pain on my left side that would not let up even after pushing the epidural button repeatedly.  The doctor came in to adjust the epidural and put some extra special kind of drug in there (clearly I knew exactly what was going on :) ). It would take the pain away for a little bit, but it didn’t last. I was really annoyed that the epidural wasn’t working fully.  The first time in my life doing drugs and they didn’t work! What a letdown.

Finally at about 3pm on Tuesday, April 30^th, I was able to start pushing. I was determined to get her out by 5pm. So I pushed for about an hour and at 4:41 pm I pushed out an 8 lbs. 14 oz, 22 inch long gooey, beautiful baby. To this day, I look at her and I think, “Holy hell. I pushed that out of my body. Weird.” But man, the feeling after giving birth, not being pregnant anymore, and still having some numbing drugs in your system is amazeballs. 

Now, 2 months later, I have a fabulous little girl whom I love to pieces. We’ve had many sleepless nights and days where all she does is nap. Times when she will suck down 2 bottles and still be hungry and others when she just can’t be bothered to eat. Too many diaper changes to count, and yes the occasional poopsplosion and pee fountain. Hours upon hours getting her to smile and coo, and even more spent rocking her to sleep.  She consumes all our time and we wouldn’t have it any other way. I look forward to hearing her laugh, learning how to roll over and crawl, and feeding her solid foods. I am also looking forward to going back to work in 2 weeks even though it means Millie will be in daycare full time.

It’s funny how a baby will turn your world upside down and crazy how soon it becomes the new normal. Millie is pretty awesome and it’s pretty awesome that I get to be her mom. It’s also pretty amazing that I get to have Evan as my baby daddy. He is pretty much the best dad in the whole world and Millie has no idea how much fun she is going to have with him. 

Nursery

Well, it's been about 7 months since my last post. Apparently nothing is going on. Oh, so you see that "nursery" is the title of this blog? Ok, so something has been going on. During the last 7 months I have been growing another human being inside my body. Sounds cool, right? It totally is, but it will be cooler once this little person comes flying out of my nether regions and is a real-live baby. So to prepare for our new roommate, Evan and I have been busy with all sorts of parenting classes, buying supplies, and of course, preparing the nursery. Even though the nursery won't be fully utilized for several months after the baby is born, we have it all set up and ready to go for your viewing pleasure.

It's actually been about 98% finished for some time now, but we just had our baby shower this weekend and now it is full with all sorts of fun stuff. Let the picture parade begin!

Here is the first view of the room from the door. Gray wall color with pink accents.

The next view is from another corner facing the closet and the rocking chair.  To toot my own horn, I sewed the rocking chair pads after I couldn't find anything I liked in the store/online. The rocking chair was a hand-me-down from Evan's parents.

 

Here is a close-up view of one of my favorite things about the room. The shelf above the closet is full of "vintage" toys. And by "vintage" I mean toys that my siblings and I used to play with when we were little. :) Basically a bunch of Fisher-Price toys from the 60s and 70s.  There are a few older pieces mixed in - the stacked blocks are part of a set my mom and perhaps even her mother used to play with as children. Some are falling apart and very fragile, but they have actually held up pretty well over the years.

The next pic is of our bookshelves which is an idea that I totally stole from Pinterest. These are actually $4 spice rack shelves from IKEA stained black. We don't have a lot of space in this room for more pieces of furniture, so we thought shelves on the wall would do the trick.

Here is our crib with a bunch of vintage Disneyland posters on the wall. We have all the different lands represented as well as Mainstreet and the Disneyland train route. 

 

Here is the view from the window of the dresser/changing table. Horn tooting again - I made the lamp shade because, once again, I couldn't find anything I liked. Above the dresser is a vintage Disneyland map. Oh, you can also see our baby spy-cam mounted above the picture. :)

Finally, because we received a mountain of the cutest baby clothes at our shower, here is picture of our closet.  6 weeks from her due date and her wardrobe is already exploding. 

Well that's it! We just need a little human and we are all set!!