This bathroom has been through a lot in its 21 years. When we first moved in, it was just a white bathroom, white walls, white cabinets, etc. So the first thing I did was paint it a bright green, the color of the frogs that I found on a shower curtain. It was perfect for my young children. As those children grew, it was time for a change again, and the easiest way to get that was with paint to again. I picked a shower certain that I liked and started painting.
The goal was to make it more of a teenage bathroom, and it was great until it wasn't anymore. As my kids grew, the counter seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. Yes, my kids are tall, but when I got a tape measure out, it was a full 6 inches shorter than the cabinets in our bathroom. This was leading to water damage from the water running down the counter as they were washing their faces and brushing their teeth.
It was time to do a full bathroom makeover; paint wasn't going to make this bathroom better. I knew that we needed taller cabinets, which meant that I was going to have to take the old ones out. This was the fun part; it's always fun to take things apart. But what I found when I removed the cabinets was BIG holes that the builder had just left because they were covering them with a cabinet. This led to a week of patching and sanding the walls so that I could texture them before paint could even happen.
To start, I had to remove the mirror, which I think was the only part I was nervous about. I knew it was glued to the wall, but I had no idea how to remove it safely. That's where your YouTube university came in handy; there are so many videos on how to do it. After watching a few off to the hardware store, I went to get the supplies and I got started. The key is to take it slow, and it will come off.
The next big step was removing the old floor. Which took forever, but had to be done. It's fast to remove the top layer of linoleum, but the paper backing is another story. I sat on the floor with water and a scraper for two days getting the paper backing off the floor, but if I wanted my new floor installed correctly, so it wouldn't lift or break, it needed to be done.
From here, I painted everything a nice white color, and I mean everything, the walls and the ceiling, with two coats of paint. This time, we were going for the adult bathroom, so no more fun colors. Once the walls were painted, it was time to start putting it back together. For the cabinet, we went to a local cabinet store and got a 60-inch grey cabinet that was taller than the last one and a new countertop in white. The cabinet went in very easily, and with a few screws into the stud, and it wasn't going anywhere. The top we used a chalking glue to glue it down to the cabinet, and then installed new faucets and plumbing. Now, because we got a taller cabinet, we also got a new mirror for the bathroom that lights up, so I had hired an electrician to install a plug in the middle of the wall, and then I picked a nice tile that matched the grey cabinet. The tiles for the wall are thin tiles with a sticky back on them, making the installation very easy.
It took a few days to get it done, but I really loved how it came out in the end. After that, it was time for the floors to get finished. We started by laying a pink underlayment. Because we are laying tile on a second-floor bathroom and on a plywood subfloor, we need the layer to protect the tile from movement so that it doesn't break. It's pretty easy to install; you cut it to fit the area with scissors, and then glue it down with the same mortar you use to lay tile. It does take 12 hours to dry before you can start tiling.
The next day, we started laying the tile. Now this isn't a very big room, so it didn't take long to lay it, but there were a ton of cuts because of the tile that I had picked. It's best to dry fit all the tiles, getting all the cuts done first that way all you have to do is mix and lay, because the motor only has so long in its working life before it starts to dry.
Once all the tile is laid, we waited for 24 hours, and then I got down on the floor and started to fill in the grout. We like to use the premixed grout that has the sealant in it already. I chose a light grey grout to go with the cabinet and the wall tile. Also, for this bathroom, instead of doing wood baseboards, I used a 2-inch white tile on the wall for a baseboard. I used the two-sided tile tape to place the tiles on the wall and then grouted them the same as the floor. Once it was all dry again, I used chalk everywhere there was a change in plain. So from wall to floor, tub to floor, etc.
I did get the bathtub reglazed professionally. There are some projects it's better to hire someone for, and that was one of them. To do the standard tub/shower combo, it ran me $800, and that was the best money ever spent. I loved how the bathroom came together once I put in all the extra details, and my kids love not having the short sinks anymore. The total cost to totally redo this bathroom came in at $2800.
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