Bathroom remodel!

I have been MIA this summer!  We've been gone a lot, and have so many things going on that I forgot I even have a blog!  I really want to remember this past week and our bathroom remodel though, so a blog post seemed like the perfect thing to document it.  Our bathroom has been a sore spot in our home for many many years.  When we first bought this house 16 years ago one of the first things I wanted to change was the bathroom.  It was awful.  It had a big window and ugly tiles with fish on them and the floors were ugly, the sink was rusted, the cabinets were rusted and really gross, the walls had multiple layers of paint that started peeling....it was by far my least favorite room in the house.  But as life goes, the bathroom took a back seat to the nursery, kitchen floors, living room floors, kids, more kids, even more kids.....you get the picture.  We finally took out the old window and put new tile in the bathtub area.  It was a huge messy project but I was so excited to see the change!!  I loved the new window and the dark tile.  I was so hopeful!  The project left holes in our ceiling around the edges where the plaster walls had crumbled, but I was sure that wouldn't last long.  Through the years we scraped off paint and took out a big shelf, but the walls were so gross and everything was in a constant state of waiting.  Even if I scrubbed and scrubbed everything still looked gross.  The walls were stained, the floor, the cabinets...it all was bad.  I hoped we could get the rest of the bathroom done soon after the shower project..........fast forward 8 years later.  8 YEARS!!!!!  I just could not look at those walls and nasty cabinets one more day.  My dad and brother in law, Clint came over and we began our bathroom.  My goal was to replace floors and walls and the ceiling, but it turned into so much more.

The first day was spent tearing out the nasty plaster walls.  The boys all had a blast doing this part.  Hit wall with hammer, scoop plaster into buckets, take outside, repeat.  It was so dirty, dusty, loud and HOT.  The night before our big bathroom project was to begin the blade on our air conditioner tore off.  It was 95 degrees outside and 91 degrees inside.  It was miserable!!  We managed to get the walls all torn out though.

It's funny because our bathroom is so tiny, but the mess was HUGE.

The next day was focused on walls and ceilings.  It sure helps to have a dad who made a living doing just that!!  We decided to just build a new ceiling on top of the old one instead of tearing it out.  We were worried about damaging the shower.  He hung boards and attached sheetrock to those.  My favorite part was watching my dad as he taught the boys about measuring, fitting and attaching sheetrock to the studs.  They loved it so much and had fun using the tools!!  Oh and our awesome AC repairman came by the night before with a new fan.  We were so happy to be nice and cool again!!!

Next my dad taped and textured the  new walls.  They looked heavenly!!!  I helped him paint after that.

Clint did tons of work on the bathroom and put in many late nights to finish installing the vanity, lights, fan, floors, toilet...he was amazing!!

New lights!!

New ceiling, fan and light over the shower.

I put up a table in our front room as a "work station" so we could keep track of all the tools and supplies.

Clint had to leave Sunday but we finished all the major things that had to be done.  My dad came over a few days this week to help finish up the rest.  Logan was his assistant and they hung the door, cut and installed the molding around the door, hung up the mirror cabinet, installed the toilet paper and towel holders.

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I can't even believe how many hours this entire project took!!  If something didn't go just right it would take so much more time to correct it.  We had many many hands helping, and even though I didn't do a lot of the work in the bathroom, I was very busy keeping a steady supply of home cooked meals and cold Mountain Dews on hand.  None of our workers ever felt hungry :)

Now for some before/after pictures.  (I warned you it was bad!!!)

This one shows the awful walls really well.

I can't even say how amazing the bathroom looks now!!!  I am beyond happy with it. We decided to just go for it and bought a new vanity, sink, toilet, mirrors, lights...pretty much everything.  We went to Lowes and Home Depot at least 20 times!!!  But now we won't have to wait years and years to finish.   All that's left is a few touches like a towel hook by the shower and some decorations!!!  Beth