operation bathroom demo

Greg and I have been talking about some renovations we want to make in his house in the near future (some prior to getting hitched, some to work on after we're both living together).  One of those was re-doing/fixing up both bathrooms in his house.  He has two full bathrooms...although I hate to call them fulls because they are the size of a tiny hall bath. But, nonetheless, they have all the amenities of a full bath.  They both need new sinks and toilets, and could probably use some tub resurfacing, along with a fresh coat of paint.  Well, about 2 weeks ago, Greg was in his bathroom and started pulling wallpaper off the wall.  Two weeks later....I get this picture sent to my phone.

This was a few days ago, on Friday.  That lovely floral wallpaper was under the top layer he started pulling off.  Lovely huh?  Can you imagine that covering the walls of this tiny little bathroom? It gives me a headache just thinking about it.  Another wall was lavender underneath, and that big hole above the sink had a medicine cabinet.

So of course on Saturday morning, we have to go pick out paint so he can get that done before installing a new sink and toilet.  Luckily I had been researching some bathroom renovations at work Wednesday and Thursday night, but I had no idea we were putting this all into action over the weekend. So, off to Lowe's we head, and I decided to go with a simple neutral paint color (since I hadn't really had THAT much time to think about it). It's called Antique White by Olympic, and it's one of those paint and primer in one kinds.  Although it's called white, it's actually a creamy tan color, and I thought with white trim and white sink and toilet it would look very clean and hopefully make the room seem bigger.  Here's some of my inspiration...

We priced out some sinks and toilets, but decided we wanted to check out the Habitat for Humanity store called ReStore in Irondale. Building contractors donate left over building supplies (including anything from flooring to windows, appliances, lighting, cabinets...they have quite a lot actually).  It's all pretty cheap, but it's hit or miss on what you'll find.  Some stuff also gets donated from individuals doing home renovations, so not everything is new.  ANYWAYS, we decided to take the risk and go with a new toilet from ReStore, which only cost us $85.  I'm sure it's not a high-efficiency water saver or anything, but for $85 it was worth a shot.  Lowe's has some reasonably priced square pedestal sinks that I like, so we'll probably go back there for that. And I would love to add some beadboard to the bathroom. I just love a good ole' cottage home :) But that will probably get added later.

So, as of Saturday evening we were down to the drywall. Greg re-spackled the walls (with some help from his good friend!), and the sink and toilet were completely removed.

On Sunday Greg sanded the walls and painted. It still ended up taking 2 coats of paint, so I can't vouch if the paint-and-primer-in-one is a flop or not, but my guess is even if we had done primer, we probably would have done 2 coats of color too. Does anyone really just do one coat of paint?  Greg also got the new toilet installed.  Still not sink yet.  We realized the sqaure sinks at Lowe's were too big, so although I would really love to find a square one, we may have to go round simply due to the oh. so. TINY. space! Then all that's left is finding a medicine cabinet, and hanging all the hardware back on the walls.  I bought some oil rubbed bronze hardware, but I'm thinking the brushed nickle color scheme might look better.  Although Greg found a dark wood medicine cabinet he likes, so who knows...bronze may win after all.  I'll be sure to update you on that big decision ;)  And final renovation photos will come soon!