Starting from dirt, literally! A basement bath DIY Adventure - Reveal!
Here's the before: (actually there is a before the before - but it's somewhere on actual print photos - I'll post it if I ever find them.)
Three years of on and off DIY, plus several side projects and family events - and it is FINALLY DONE!
For those of you who haven't been playing along and have way too much time on your hands - here are the two threads that cover this adventure!
Starting from dirt- literally! A basement bath DIY Adventure
Starting from dirt- literally! A basement bath DIY Adventure pt2
First part mostly covers our Slightly Imperfect Powder Room, which was intertwined with this project.
Second part is the actual finish of the Starting from Dirt Basement Bathroom.
Comments (24)
Hunzi
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoHere it is! Three years, three weeks in the making! Starting from Dirt Basement Bathroom:
The goal was to make a bathroom that no one would question had been here since the 30's/40's in our windowless basement. So simple, tried to avoid trends.
All DIY: total budget was $15K but that included this bathroom & laundry room, a full replumb of all supply lines & DWV for the whole house (from 1920s galvanized - in an 1884 farm house), a new water softener, concrete floor in the bathroom, a new main floor powder room from scratch in a closet, a kitchen flooring update, a pantry update - plus a few extras here and there.
Tub - salvaged from the Mr.G's 1950s Bathroom from Hell
Toilet: 1949 American Standard Compact from the ReStore - with new insides/gaskets
Sink: 1939 American Standard Shelfback from the ReStore - rechromed faucets, legs from Palmer
Medicine Cabinet - salvaged from the Mr.G's 1950s Bathroom from Hell
Over the MC Light - vintage from a local salvage shop
Makeup Mirror - Seattle Luxe
The Storage cubbie - built in the negative space under a bulkhead, between a few pipes
Floor tile - Daltile Keystone 1in Hex , white & black
Underfloor heat - ThermoSoft
Shower tile - American Olean from Lowes - the basic .22 white stuff
Grout - Spectraloc Pro Premium - Silver Shadow
Paint - Benjamin Moore Aura - Coral Gables
Accessories - tp holder & robe hook - Ginger Chelsea
- the important hidden extras - concrete, floor leveler, kerdi, noble cis floor decoupler.
Shower & tub fixtures - Hansgrohe Rain S Showerhead & handshower
Hansgrohe S Thermostatic Trim with Volume Control and Diverter (tub to shower)
Kohler HydroRail Shower Column and Diverter (showerhead to hand shower)
Hansgrohe Metris S tub filler
Mirrored Pocket Door - local salvage (still waiting for the hardware to arrive)
Light/Fan/Heater/Nightlight - NuTone
Double shower rod, so I could have a clear liner and shower curtain (Pottery Barn) open separately.
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The view from the front door
Comments (15)This has been a source of many sleepless nights for me. At first, I wanted a very grand entrance. 2 story foyer, grand staircase with curved balconies(to the tune of $17k) then looking directly through to the 2 story great room, and right out the back deck to the new pond and field where we keep our horses. Then in researching online, I learned of the stair alignment with the door, how it isnt a good feng shui thing. I ended up getting a feng shui consultant, who taught me of the front door-back door alignment, how it isnt good for your flow of energy, door or window even. I turned my stairs (only $7k) and added a fountain in the foyer and I was finally at a place where I was feeling happy about my foyer and I was able to get some rest at night. It was literally keeping me awake, thinking about it all. So I was content, but as the house plans progressed, and I was shopping for this and that, I began to realize that I really didn't need to impress anyone else. Initially, I really wanted to go for the big "WOW" when you walked in. So then, I began to think of how we will use the space, once the visitors who may have been wowed at the front door are gone. So I decided to close in the 2 story great room, and make that a 2nd floor great room instead. Which allowed me to remove some dormers I had bummed out in the FROG. I was also going to make a wall and do some stone work and live plants on the foyer/stair side, but this would also give more privacy to the great room. I figured with my kids and their friends coming and going all the time. Either in and out the door, or in and out of the kitchen... I just wanted more privacy and I thought it would also help more with furniture placement. So I have been pretty content. I hadn't changed my floor plan in weeks. Been busy with excavation and foundation. So just this week I thought I was ready to really tackle my kitchen layout and talk to a designer since I finally knew what that space would be, which got me starring at my foyer again. It was just such a sizable space, and while I really liked it, just seemed like it could be laid out better. So I moved the fountain, straightened the stairs, worked the space to give me more space on the back side in the great room and on the side for the kitchen. Both rooms that we will be living in when visitors are long gone, or even when they stay and move on through the house, it just seems like a better use of the space. I may still have some feng shui no-nos, I am still working on it, but as it is now, you walk in with a fountain to the left. My staircase is on the right side. It will be open stairs to balcony above, and it will be open stairs to the finished basement. I will still have a 2 story foyer, with some balcony space on above. As you pass on through the foyer, straight ahead is the great room which you will see the fireplace on the back wall. This will add about 4+ feet all the way across my great room. I am able to add a nice size pantry, and coffee center in the kitchen which will keep it all together and out of the main traffic, and then I am going to do something probably non-traditional in my kitchen but that is a differen thread ha. So while I havent worked out all the kinks and the whole feng shui energy flow, I am coming to the conclusion that I don't need to impress anyone. I just want a warm and welcoming entrance, a foyer that wraps it's arms around you and hugs you as soon as you walk in the door. The tranquil fountain with balcony above should be awesome, and even though it is going to be much smaller, I think the simplicity will be beautiful and I can use the extra space that was part of my "wow" factor, in other areas of the house for friends and family to actually use and enjoy. The money I am saving on the staircase alone, is making me rethink the swimming pool that we would all really enjoy :-) Then everyone will skip the front door anyways, and head straight to the pool :-))...See Moreanother newbie - hello!
Comments (17)Hi Casey, It was hard to tell if it was picture molding or a bad installation of a chintzy ceiling molding, since it's stuck right up tight to the ceiling in many places and has a big ole gap in others. I admit to a temptation to take it down and put up a proper crown (although nothing ostentatious at all), since we plan to put some up in the poor denuded dining room. It just looks so pitiful in comparison to that studly baseboard. Yes, I have some Bradbury paper in my current house, but just borders (from the Woodland roomset in Aesthetic Green). That's pretty much the cheapest way to eke it out. Do you have any idea how hard it is to match Bradbury printing colors in paint?? :-) A "the whole shebang" Bradbury room would cost many thousands so it wouldn't happen unless I won the lottery! (I would be replacing those [expletive deleted] windows before I spent that much on wallpaper, they're just SO wrong. I know I'm going to appreciate them come winter but aesthetically they make me grind my teeth.) It's a pretty modest house so I think full roomsets would overpower it, but partial ones OTOH... Now if someone gave me a big fat Bradbury gift card that I couldn't cash out and sent me a paperhanger for several weeks, I would be ordering the Marigolds fill in Jasper Green for the kitchen/dining room, Raspberry Bramble in Aesthetic Green for the hallway/stairway, Alise fill and Glasgow frieze in Natural for the upstairs bath, Claire's Willow in Aesthetic Green for the master to go with the ton of Blossom and Block and Aster border I have left over from this house. I'm more of a Morris girl, but purist of any stripe I am not. There aren't any papers from Bradbury that I'd use for the living room; the dominant color in my LR stuff, and my favorite color, is plum/eggplant and I'm not happy with anything offered there with it. The A&C Forest Green line is too dark and I don't want my entire house green...! (I have a stack of Bradbury samples about an inch thick. LOL) And then DH would strangle me and bury me in the dirt basement... he's OKed three partially-papered rooms, and when we can afford it a totally tongue-in-cheek "High Victorian From Hell" for the hallway/stair. (Although if I came into a real pot of money I'd get Trustworth's "Whoot" for the hall, as it never fails to make me smile. But at $7/sf, yeeeowch.) We also hope to put "tin ceiling" (very likely the embossed-wallpaper version for cost reasons) throughout the first floor. If I wallpapered every room he would be a very unhappy camper, and what I'm already getting is a very big compromise....See MoreNew Show HGTV'd....leather floors?
Comments (61)House Hunters International, yes, I love seeing the ones that are not tropical. We are amazed at how much you can get a house for in a tiny little town in Italy... we're like "We could afford that!!" Course the ones we could afford need major work, LOL. Agree with everyone on Color Splash Miami... if I could call him on the phone, I'd beg him to go back to San Francisco. I love David Bromstad, but can't stand his show anymore. His helpers have zero personality. While I think it's cool that his design assistant is someone who I think just got her degree, so she's kind of an intern, I really miss Ian and Danielle. The two women on this show don't do anything that requires skill, all they do is shop and answer cell phone calls that say stuff is not coming/going to be late. And the two men who actually have skill have no personality and rarely talk to the camera....See MoreIt's March, 2016. How is your build progressing?
Comments (96)Letters sent out today to neighbors on each side of our lake property with new house on the lot and our intentions. they have ten days to protest. We are in the setbacks, so I don't see any issues. Old house coming down April 15th. Sunny...you are moving along....See MoreHunzi
8 years ago
daisychain Zn3b
8 years agoHunzi
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoHunzi
8 years agoThis is the solution for hiding the hot water heater and water softener - a sliding wall. It slides in front of the tub when we need to get into it.
enduring
8 years ago
cece673
8 years agoHunzi
8 years agocece673
8 years agoMongoCT
8 years agoHunzi
8 years agoMongo!
yay! You were such a huge help to us!!! Thank you! The Nobel CIS worked great!
I actually reused the medicine cabinet - although I don't think we'll be using the razor slot much.
Here it is, still mounted in the 1950s Bathroom From Hell - probably before our razor blade shower (when we opened the wall behind - which is a stairwell) - Yes, the 1950s Bathroom from Hell, also served as a pantry!
Hunzi
8 years agoHunzi
8 years agoYay! MrHunzi put the hardware on the door. This means that the Starting From Dirt Basement Bathroom is 100% done!!! If you knew us, you'd know this is a BIG deal! (Let's just say many projects get to 98% and then someone gets distracted.)
enduring
7 years agolotteryticket
7 years ago
Nothing Left to Say