Master Bathroom Remodel Week 2 Update

Welcome back to our master bathroom remodel project. We are in week 2 of the One Room Challenge; 4 weeks to go until the final reveal. This week we tackled demo, rough carpentry, electrical. The room looks so different already.

If you are interested in catching up, you can read last week’s post here: Master Bathroom Week 1 | The Design Plan

THE BEFORE

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The room was certainly not going to win any awards. We tried a little update on the room about a two years ago and it didn’t go well. We abandoned the project, and the room, and decided to wait for professional help.

DEMO

Demo for this project was loud and took a few days. I was surprised at how long it actually took to get everything out of the room. The contractors were slightly delayed at times because of me. If I had project calls in my office downstairs, they had to wait to use the jackhammer.

This is a view of where the tub once was. We are moving the plumbing from the left side of the shower to the right. This will allow us to replace the once full wall with a pony wall (half wall for those of you that are picturing a tiny horse).

We talked about the possibility of having to replace the sub floor. I was emotionally prepared for what crazy mold or otherwise water related destruction we were going to find once we opened everything up. The craziest thing we found was that were was zero barrier between my townhouse unit and my neighbor’s townhouse unit. This totally blew my mind. Our closing documents stated that there was brick between the units. We looked really close and didn’t see any brick. Maybe the bricks are clear?

What we decided we would put up sound insulating board (not pictured here) to create an additional sound barrier. We checked for issues with the carpentry; no issues existed. Then we closed up the wall. I also let the neighbors know so they don’t ever go pounding through the wall to find themselves in my bathroom. Can you just imagine?

This is a view of where the sink was. We are adding additional lighting and a switch to go with said lighting. Because of the pony wall in the shower, we wanted to make sure that the wainscoting went up to the same height, as to create additional symmetry. That also meant not installing the light switch and the electrical outlet too low.

ROUGH CARPENTRY

Rough carpentry, though not sexy, is highly essential in a project like this one. The pony wall and curb has been built. You can see the new insulation in the wall to the right; This is the wall that will be behind the toilet.

The cement shower base and the Hardy Board was installed. We have set a great foundation for the rest of the shower portion of the project. We even roughed in the electrical for the new lighting; You can see this with the wires hanging down. Don’t be concerned. The electricity to the room is currently off.

We are using the pony wall to hold the shower niche. I felt like this was clever because it will hide all of our shower products, keep the shower products from getting grimy from use because they won’t be hit with water every time we use the shower, and the niche is low enough to also provide a place for me to put my leg up when shaving.

Unfortunately, the space is too small for a shower bench. We went back and forth on whether or not to add one. We decided to nix the idea because could make the shower feel cramped. It is a smallish space that we are trying to make feel larger with a glass surround. Adding a bench would be counter productive. We will put one in our next house.

SHOPPING

We have most items for this project already onsite. This is going to be great for keeping things moving. This is a huge deal because most of the items we needed took 2 or 3 weeks to be available for delivery or pick-up. I highly recommend not waiting until the last minute to buy items for a project, especially if you are paying someone to do any part of the installation.

Here is a photo I took of the display at the store of the floor tile we purchased. It took a couple of weeks to come in. The color scheme is light. This is going to help that small bathroom feel larger.

One thing we don’t have onsite is the stone for the countertop. We are planning to purchase a remnant because the amount we need is actually quite small. We need a piece for the countertop as well as the top of the pony wall.

Here are some shots from our shopping trip. We are leaning torward the Carrara Statuario, but the Bianco Gioia was beautiful, too.

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ONE ROOM CHALLENGE™ FEATURED DESIGNERS

Interested in others that are participating in this challenge?

It’s Week 2 – let’s go see how their projects are progressing.

Albie Knows | Ana Claudia Design | At Home With Joseph | Barbour Spangle Design

Dwell by Cheryl | Eneia White Interiors | Gray Space Interiors | Haneen’s Haven | Hommeboys 

Interiors by Design | Jana Donohoe Designs | Laura Hodges Studio | Lauren Nicole Designs

Nicole White Designs | Nikole Starr Interiors | Nile Johnson Interior Design | Prudence Home + Design

Thou Swell | Traders Haven Design | Whitney J Decor | HPMKT

You can see the other guest participants here.

Thank you for coming along with me this week on my little journey. I hope you come back next weekend to see more!