Our Bathroom Before & After

Wow. This bathroom. I honestly kind of forgot how bad it started until pulling pictures for this post. Ha! When we got the keys in March we decided the main bath would be the first project we would tackle. Our initial plan was to gut everything, shower, vanity, and floors. I’ve mentioned this before but we had 1 month from the time we got the keys until we had to be out of our apartment. Two days after we got possession Michigan announced the initial stay at home order and all supply stores closed. Then I was hospitalized with bleeding ulcers and was very sick for the remainder of our month. Needless to say, we had to go back to the drawing board and re-prioritize. This honestly ended up being a blessing because it stretched us to get creative and make better use of our budget. We chipped away at the rest of the bathroom slowly and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. I would still love to replace the floors someday, but all in good time!

And now, a walk down memory lane!

THE SHOWER

The shower was just plain ugly. We didn’t get a good picture of it before Dan started tearing into it haha! Dan replaced it with a beautiful tiled shower & tub. I was so impressed by his tiling skills! This was his first time doing something like this and I’m in love with how it turned out! I asked him to find the deepest bathtub that would fit and I love love love that thing. I also love the “hot” and “cold” detail on the faucet we chose.

THE VANITY

This vanity was in rough shape so I did not have high expectations for painting it. Painting it was originally supposed to be a temporary fix, but now I think we’ll keep it! I was honestly kind of shocked at how well it turned out. I started by painting the countertops. Yes, you heard me. I painted the countertops. I have become a total evangelist for Rustoleum products because apparently you can paint over anything. They feel just like countertops and wipe down easily. I’m not sure how long they’ll last but I figure if I need to repaint it in a couple years so be it!

I gutted, sanded, primed, and painted the vanity along with adding new hardware. I love this color (the last picture is the most accurate). It is gray with a little bit of a blue undertone. I used the same hardware we have in our kitchen.

We framed in the mirror using molding and glue, and added a new light fixture. (Links to everything at the bottom of the post)

THE CLOSET

I think we took the doors off this baby day one. We went through a couple different ideas and landed on open shelving. We went with simple inexpensive wood and I painted it white. We added a small piece of molding to the edge of the wood to finish it off and make the shelves appear thicker. The frame has a picture of Dan and I at senior prom which I originally put in there as a joke, but it makes us both happy so it’s staying! ◡̈ Shoutout to my dad for building these shelves!