Little House on the Corner: October 2022

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Finishing the Basement Bathroom: Part I

She's baaa-aaack!

Well folks, it's been one year and ten months since my last blog post (cedar chest chalk paint makeover). That might be a new record lapse for me. Rest assured though, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I know everyone was worried.

Let me just get right to the big news around here lately. After more than 14 years in our little house on the corner, we finally got the bathroom in our basement finished! Let me clarify... we finally decided to hire someone to come do it for us. After the countless DIY renovations we've already done, this was a project we were willing to just fork over some (okay, a lot of) money and hire it out. After all, they'd have the bathroom done in two weeks when it would probably take us 6+ months. Also, the idea of us trying to do a fully tiled shower and backsplash wall with no tile experience? Hard pass.

BUT, before I get to the reveal (which I'm going to save until my next blog post, #sorrynotsorry)... here are some photos of what the bathroom looked like in the "before" stages. We did all the framing ourselves way back when we framed the rest of the basement. Luke also did most of the drywall, along with the electrical wiring and plumbing hook-ups.

Oh, and if you want to take a walk down memory lane with me, check out this post from 2011 about how we had to tear out the concrete floor to re-work the location of all the plumbing and drain pipes... That was such a ~~traumatizing~~ fun experience, I had almost forgotten all about it.

It's a very small bathroom, but the layout we designed accommodates a 36x42" shower, a 30" wide vanity cabinet, and of course a toilet. We also planned for a large niche in the shower and one in the wall next to the sink to help maximize functional space.

All the materials have gradually been purchased over the past year or two, with the exception of the vessel sink which we bought about 10 years ago (yes, seriously... back when we had the ambitious idea of finishing the bathroom ourselves). This bathroom was really our first experience with picking out all the materials for an unfinished space, rather than just figuring it out as we go, which has been the case with some of our other DIY renovations. That was a little overwhelming, just because decision-making in general is tough for me, along with trying to envision what it would all look like together.

The price of the sink was pretty reasonable, but some of the other fixtures (such as the Pfister Kenzo line of faucets and coordinating towel bars) were a bit of a splurge, considering our typical penny-pinching shopping behavior.