Posted by
Guest Blogger
Thursday, April 5, 2012 6:15 PM EDT
Real People, Renovating. Today we continue our seven-part series written by Katherine Scarrow, who decided to renovate an original condition 1940s bungalow with her boyfriend, Chris. “It didn’t seem like such a big fat scary deal to him,” she says, while she brought “abundant enthusiasm and profound naïveté” to the project. Why the difference in attitude? Chris was born into a family of builders and designers, while Katherine “grew up in a home where no one was even remotely deft with a hammer.”
Part 2: The Bathroom
The look:
Laid-back, bright and beachy.
The challenge:
To lighten up a dark space while maximizing square footage.
Approx. cost:
$800
Realistic time span of project:
One week.
The Before:
The After:
Biggest challenge:
Reinforcing and levelling the subfloor took much longer than expected.
We absolutely love:
We love the simplicity of the space, not to mention how much larger, cleaner and brighter it feels with the painted walls, wainscoting and MDF tongue-and-groove paneling.
What we would have done differently:
There’s a serious shortage of space in our bathroom, so we decided to build in three open shelves for cosmetics, soap, toilet paper, etc. The problem with the shelves is that, because they’re in full view, they always need to be neat and tidy (which isn’t always easy to maintain!). I wish we had opened up the entire wall for storage, and included doors that would allow us to hide away the mess quickly and easily if we needed to.
We strongly recommend:
Working with what’s already there, if you can. The bathtub and enclosure were always there, and were relatively new. Rather than install a prefabricated enclosure, we saved a lot of money and time by keeping it as is.
Potential for DIY Disaster?
On a scale of 1-5 Bryan Baeumler heads — 5 representing the highest potential for disaster — we give this project 3 BBs, simply because working with water can be hazardous.
Resources:
Tile: Factory Tile Depot in Mississauga
Building materials: Home Depot
Sink, toilet: LOWES
Paint: Benjamin Moore (Cloud white)
Next up — The Hallway and Front Door!
