The BATHROOM

The kids bathroom... It is the one room in my house I rarely go into. Since the only way to get in is through one of the kids rooms, (and I avoid those) it is a rare occasion I have the guts to peek in and see where our standards are at. All four use it. We've replaced warped baseboards from energetic kids in the bath and those baseboards are up for another replacement. All four kids have a day in the week assigned to clean it- so I know it's getting somewhat cleaned four times each week. But, ya know...
It stared to weigh heavy on me- I just can't live my best life with this yucky bathroom. I can't be out and about, laughing and carefree, knowing I have this bathroom at home that is borderline scary.
It was time to tackle it. I had a rough idea of what I would do, but it took one day while I was home alone to just start ripping off those warped base boards and chisel at that toothpaste crusted tile. I just started it one day, and knew I was now at the point of no return. The bathroom was getting a makeover.

My feeble attempt at a new shower curtain a few months back and a stack of basket organizers didn't do it.

 

 I've never removed base boards before. It's easy peasy. I have memories of sitting on this freshly tiled floor and grouting with Mommy and Sadie while we chatted. They were so nice to come over and help! I had mixed the grout too thin but was out of the bag, so we were literally pouring the last of the grout from a paper cup into the grout lines. It's held up well! (Too well.)

 I painted red and cream stripes when the boys were babies. It looked so cute through Adren's periwinkle walled and red trimmed room. I think I was inspired from a Padington Bear book. Then I painted white over the red stripes years later to tone it down and match the tan and green rooms.
You know, I still really love stripes.

We can't even bother to change the light bulbs. We've completely given up.

 I'm not gonna lie~ this floor was a BEAST to rip up. A BEAST. Talk about back breaking work! Removing tile is no joke!

Paisley removing the very last tile.

These dark spots are from me putting on a floor leveler. I learned it wasn't the best choice for the job. But I learned!

We hammered, shoveled, scraped- then Jon took an entire Saturday grinding down all the high points. An entire day. The dust was out of control! He finally put up plastic and some fans sucking out the window to contain what he could but there was still 1/2 inch of dust over everything in the kids rooms. Sooo much dust! When you walked upstairs it was just a haze of dust. Awful. I think I took a few days to clean up from that.
Then came the shopping and deciding on what to put down. I went back and forth, back and forth!

I thought about putting down wood floor tiles. It seems the obvious choice in a bathroom~ and they are so pretty! But the thought of tiling that floor was exhausting! Mixing and lugging up buckets of thin set, all the cuts- I just wasn't feeling it. And after all that grinding the floor wasn't 100 level, so I worry of cracked tiles. I kept getting drawn to the floating floors with the tongue and groove click into place. I've never done that before and I wanted to try my hand. We found a pretty floor in luxury vinyl. It is 100% waterproof, clicks into place- and can be snapped after being scored with a razor for easy install. Perfect!

I still put down the foam barrier- mainly because it was more comfortable to kneel on and was less messy while I worked. It is also the final barrier we needed to get everything 100% level. Having that old floor covered up feels so much better already!

It was so exciting to see the look come together with each row! I love how wood warms the space. This isn't exactly a piece of cake, and being hunched over on your knees all day isn't the best- even with knee pads. It took me almost a week to complete this floor. I have other duties, you know.
Now that the floor is done I could move on to tile and Jon could start putting in the base boards.

I am so grateful to Shafer. After a conversation with him on tiling, I realized my using the small spacers was not necessary because the tile is self-spacing. Duh. The spacers kept falling out anyway because I got the smallest ones. He also told me how quickly the job goes if you have the score and snap tile cutter. Of course! No need to run outside to the messy saw when so many cuts are clean and can be done right in the bathroom! That is when things started going much faster.

I love the look of the light grey grout I chose. It does make my imperfections stand out a little more, but I don't mind. I appreciated Paisleys help with grouting~ and she learned a thing or two!
All while I worked on this side, Jon worked on the other side, putting up baseboards and starting the board and batten. I'm loving how it's all coming together!

The room took on a crisp, clean look after paint. I love the charcoal and white contrast and since this bathroom is quite large with a large window, it lets in plenty of light. But look what a difference a painted ceiling makes!

 I was most anxious to get the room cleaned up and cleared out so we could see what we had. I found a darling rug and shower curtain, and I love the light fixture I ordered! I was so tempted to get the brass one, but I knew Jon would favor the silver.

The ceiling just disappears up there and makes the room feel so tall!

Back to messes. Next we needed to install that April Fools toilet and get the vanity and sink hooked up.

 I thought Jon did a beautiful Job on the board and batten. It turned out exactly how I pictured it.

This "little" project proved to be not so little, and took a month longer than I thought it would. (I figured it would take month, it took a little over two.) We did have to pause for a week here and there for different things going on, but it was exciting to get back to it and see how the next project looked.

Now the kids have a space we can ALL feel proud of.