Since we couldn't do anything for days due to the fact that we were waiting for the availability of the plumber, my husband and daughter started to pre-cut the tiles that we will use on the floor. My daughter did all the measuring and my husband cut them. Measuring stuff is not my cup of tea so I was out on this part of the renovation. These two on the other hand love to do the precise measuring and cutting.
My husband taught my daughter how to use the tile cutter.
We opted for a bigger tile to make an illusion of a bigger space. Our master suite (or not) is very small so I wanted to make it look bigger and brighter so white tiles with a little bit of gray streak was the best option.
Our daughter laid the tiles on the floor by herself. My husband helped her with the mudding but she did a great job. There are some that were not leveled because she walked on it before the mortar sets in.
I am so proud of my daughter, shes the most hardworking 15 year old that I know. When she put her mind into something, she will not stop until it is done. She is always willing to help us in our home projects. She never hesitates to help.
Our son helped with the sealing of the grout that his Dad applied in between the tiles.
After the floor tiles has been grouted and sealed, hubby installed the new toilet. Yay, no more green toilet in the bathroom! We bought this toilet back in December of last year as it went on sale but we didn't install it right away since we were going to gut the whole bathroom out anyway so we waited. The only thing I don't like about this toilet is that the tank is a bit smaller than the old one and the way it is designed, there was a gap in between the tank and the wall so we had to prop it up to make sure that the tank won't wobble. There were also some imperfection inside this toilet but it was okay.
Hubby was not very fond of this tile when it was time to use it on the wall. He said it was hard sticking it on the wall as the weight tends to pull down and even mashed the small spacers that we were using. As per recommendation by the experts, he didn't start from the very bottom but instead on the second layer and propped it with a piece of wood.
It took him two days to lay the tiles on the walls. He got a lot of exercise going up and down as he cut each piece of the tiles and laid them.
I was my husband assistant doing the cleaning of debris, wiping messes, handing tools, and helping him carry heavy stuff upstairs. Although I wanted to help with the tiles as I like doing that job (I helped him laid tiles at our first home when we renovated the basement), I let them do all that in this bathroom. Maybe on the bigger bathroom that we are going to renovate next, I will be able to do the tiling.
When my husband got done with the tiling, I did the painting of the walls. Again, we opted for white paint to make an illusion of a bigger space. The color of this bathroom when we bought it was green just like the fixtures in it (bathtub, toilet and vanity).
I am sure that it was the trend back then and it looks nice when it was new but it was outdated when we bought it.
When the paint dried up, my husband and I put the vanity in place. We bought two vanities from Lowe's and have it delivered since they were really heavy. We chose the Scott Living Durham 36-in White Oak Single Sink Bathroom Vanity with Carrara natural marble top because the marble top looks similar to the tiles that we used. I love the fact that it has soft closing drawers as well.
These vanities was designed by Drew and Jonathan Scott to enhance and modernize any bathroom. I like the natural Italian Carrara marble top backsplash and rectangular undermount ceramic.
We opted for the Delta Flynn brand for the faucet, shower head, towel rack, tissue holder, and hooks.
Here are some of the short videos that I recorded of my daughter's hardwork.
We decided to get rid of the tub since we don't really take bath but shower. We bought this shower door online since there was none at the store that we like. It was heavy as heck when we picked it up from the store. Their delivery fee cost almost a hundred so we picking it up with our CRV was the best option.
This MAAX Duel shower door has 74-in height and 56-in to 59-in width frameless bypass sliding brushed nickel clear glass doors. I like the fact that both doors slides. The glasses are so heavy and it was hard carrying it upstairs going on a narrow stairs that we have.
This shower door took a long time to install. My husband thought that frameless would be a lot easier but he was dead wrong lol. The shower door that he installed at our old house has a frame but he installed it alone without my help. With this frameless one, even with my help it was hard.
Drilling holes on the tile was nerve wracking as well as it might crack but luckily, none of it did.
There were parts included that we couldn't figure out the use for. The booklet instruction was confusing. We had to watch some videos on youtube because the manual sucks.
We installed this shower door on a day before Father's Day and we worked on it till ten o'clock in the evening. I felt so bad for my husband, he looked like he was so beaten down and exhausted lol.
The towel rack that we used to have is old so we bought this Exquisite bathroom organizer set which includes 3-shelf over the toilet organizer, 4 hook over the door hanger, and spare toilet paper holder. It has a satin finish that goes with the colors of the fixture we chose so it was perfect.
When it comes to manual, I hate reading it. I'd rather figure out the assembly by looking at the illustration rather than reading it step by step. This organizer has a lot of pieces but they were labeled correctly and the illustration was simple and easy to follow.
We also replaced our old mirror with an
Allen Roth mirror brushed stainless steel finish. I like our old one but it was too big and it was not proportioned with the size of our new vanity which is a lot smaller than the old one.
This project took us 8 weeks to finish but that's because hubby is working and we could only work on it fully during the weekends. I am so proud of this guy, he is my "John" of all trade. He did an awesome job with this renovation. I was just his side kick to cheer him on when he was getting frustrated with the job. The last part of my renovation post will be the reveal.
You may see the first part here.