After thirty-three years the upstairs bathroom needs renovating to become more ADA (American with Disabilities Act) compliant, to replace worn out fixtures, and to add more French Country style. The first post published early this summer explained the overall design from the planning stage and the details about the new tile selection.
Today's post is a look at how the bathroom looks now, before the renovation.
F r e n c h Q u a r t e r
F i n e s s e
Bathroom Renovation
No. 3
Existing Layout - The Before
SINK AREA
The existing white wood baseboards are also already removed and set aside to be reinstalled after the contractor completes the remodel. Past experiences with having contractors remove baseboards taught me baseboards are sometimes damaged beyond repair.
The baseboards are similar to the visible moulding trim that divides the wallpapered walls from the bead board covered walls above 8'. Real wood baseboard moulding was expensive when we originally installed it, and we installed the baseboards one room at a time ourselves as our budget allowed. As long as the baseboard is not damaged there is no reason to replace it with new materials.
Toilet & Tub/Shower Area
Vaulted Ceiling Above One-Story Dividing Wall
The sink and tub/shower/toilet sections are divided by an 8' wall with a vaulted ceiling over both parts of the bathroom. Two skylights in the roof ceiling provide natural light to the two sections. The ceiling and structural cross beams/rafters are painted white.
Bead board wood covers the walls above 8', up to the ceiling. The bead board walls and the moulding at the top of the 8' dividing wall are painted a deep pink that coordinates with both the sink laminated countertop and the flowers in the wallpaper.
Planned Renovation
The bathroom renovation will occur in two phases.
Phase One changes are for three purposes.
- Make the bathroom more ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) compliant.
- Replace worn-out plumbing and fixtures.
- Add more French Country style with updated fixtures.
The second phase will be the decorating stage after the new fixtures/plumbing and tile floor are installed. More about Phase Two in future posts.
Phase One
Enlarge Opening Between Two Sections
There not be a door between the two bathroom sections. The left wall will be continuous, and the two bathroom sections will have their walls flush to one another. New wood trim will cover the sheetrock cut edges, but there not be any new exterior trim on the outside edges of the larger opening.
Remove Tub
The existing tub/shower combination, surrounding tile walls, faucets, and step will be removed back to studs and bare floor.
Plumbing is unique in the house since the house is post and beam construction with massive beams. The water lines and drains go around the beams, not through them. The step-up to the tub was created to accommodate the plumbing when the house was built. Some of the tub plumbing is below the bathroom floor into a fur-down in the master bedroom closet directly below the tub.
The step-up around the tub was L-shaped to cover a large exposed pipe near the toilet. Once the new toilet, shower, and tile floor are installed, a new wood cover will be built to cover this pipe.
New Floor-Level Shower
A new floor-level shower will be in the same space as the old tub/shower combination. Plumbing lines will be reworked to get the bottom of the shower as low as possible, but the shower base and bathroom floor cannot be the same level due to the plumbing. There will be a low curb along the shower base, but only 4-7" tall depending on the water lines and drain under the new shower.
Tile Floor
The existing flooring is one solid piece of pink and white checked vinyl that covers the pine plank floors. The vinyl flooring coordinates with the wallpaper, pink painted bead board walls, and the pink laminated sink countertop. The flooring is waterproof, easy to clean, and a pattern I really like. However, there are some paint stains in the tub area I cannot remove, and the decorating plan is to remove the pink countertop and to change the pink walls to white.
Now seems like the perfect time to also update the flooring with a white 1" hexagon tile with a blue ring pattern. I found tile in stock to recreate the beautiful tile floor in my inspiration print taken from a catalog ten years ago.
Sink Counter and Faucet
Since we are updating the tub/shower area and the flooring, we decided to do a complete make-over of the entire bathroom including the sink area.
The pink laminated countertop is still in good shape, but has always been a bit too pink for me. We are replacing the laminated top with a new white cultured marble countertop with an ogee edge.
The white porcelain sink will be reinstalled into the new countertop,
A new chrome French-style faucet will replace the old brass faucet that leaked around one of the handles. As much as I loved the brass sink and tub faucets when they were new, I will not install brass again. Some people love the look of old weathered brass, but I am not one of them. I will save this old faucet and the tub faucets/spout for possible future projects or to sell to someone who loves old brass with a patina.
All of the new fixtures for the renovation of the bathroom into a beautiful French Country style with French finesse have arrived.
- Kohler Shower Faucet System
- Kohler 16"-17" height toilet
- Pfister Sink Faucet
- Moen Grab Bars
- Hexagon Tile, white and blue
We are hiring a contractor to complete the renovation since the plumbing presents real challenges. We need a professional to oversee the job and to troubleshoot any issues that arise. Right now is a waiting game for the contractor to slot us into his schedule. He is extremely busy, which is what I hear is true for all contractors right now.
A ray of hope to get part of this renovation started right away is the pink wood walls are above the major demolition areas. So, Phase Two is starting before phase one. The painter comes this week to get started painting these pink walls with white paint!
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Want to see bathroom inspiration photos?
See what caught my eye for the past few years
and I pinned on my Pinterest boards about bathrooms.
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I would love for you to follow all my Pinterest boards.
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