Bathroom Update

Six weeks ago, I came home from a typical errand-running trip to this:

Tiles piling up on the floor, toilet in the living room...you know, typical Sunday-type stuff. Six weeks ago we began the process of renovation our downstairs bathroom to make it fresh, fun and open. Six weeks ago, we thought we'd have a brand-new bathroom, all sparkling and beautiful. Six weeks ago, we thought we'd have that four weeks ago.

But here we are, six weeks later with little to show for it.

Things got halted by trips out of town, a death in the family and busy lives. I laid some subway tile on the walls, Eric patched up some holes near the sink plumbing and that's about as far as we got. With more busy-times ahead of us, we finally accepted the fact that maybe, possibly if we wanted this project completed by summer, we should call in a pro. You know we love doing projects on our own, but this time we had to weigh the pros and cons (which I shared in detail over on Make, Do and Mend), and in the end we called over our trust handyman Jamie (remember him? He did our first-floor renovation and his partner was also the man behind the "Dusty" Mr. Pancakes video...).

Anyway, Jamie's been working on the bathroom this week, doing a much better job than the two of us buffoons could ever hope to (real, proper, smooth-as-glass subfloor! Expert trim work! The whole nine). Today he laid the floor tile and I am absolutely, completely, 100% smitten. LOOK AT THE PRETTY:

Well, it's not so pretty yet... but you certainly get the idea. I lovelovelove the black and white, vintage-style tile. It already makes such a statement when catching a glimpse from the living room. I'm pretty wild about it. You can also catch a glimpse of the initial tile work I did weeks ago...pretty....impressive? Anyway, it'll look lovely once finished.

We also scored a pretty incredible $25 sink from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore a couple of weeks ago. We wanted a wall-mount sink to open up more space in our tiny bathroom. And though it's not my beloved Brockway, it's definitely going to look beautiful in the space. We're aiming for a bit of a throwback look, and the sink will tie everything together.

Speaking of the sink, I wanted to share the faucet we purchased to install with it. Now, at first I had my eye on this gorgeous faucet, again from Kohler.

But....it would have set us back over $500. I tried to reason with Eric, saying how we saved so much on the sink, maybe we could splurge on the faucet a bit more, but we both agreed (or, should I say, he was very persuasive in talking me into agreeing) that $500 is just too much to spend on a faucet, especially when we've got two huge additions we're making to our home this summer.

So anyway, I conceded and Eric managed to find a brushed brass faucet set for just $90. To have an entire bathroom sink and faucet set come in at around $115 is pretty remarkable, in my ever-humble opinion.

Though I would have loved to share the step-by-step process of this entire project, including all the gaffs and swears that surely would have come with it if we would have done it ourselves, I know in the end we'll be happier with a more professional result.

And trust me, with those aforementioned additions coming up? I'll have plenty more blunders to share in the future.