Bathroom Makeover

Thank you for bearing with me during my little blogging break.

I took a few more days off in between posts than I usually do. I've been enjoying the spring weather and finishing up the homeschool year with my first-grader.

I'm so happy to be back, and I'm back with another before and after from my old farmhouse!

Looking back at pictures, I was reminded that we tackled this bathroom in the fall of 2012.

It looks like this today:

                

This bathroom is tiny, and we did all the work ourselves, so don't expect magazine or Pinterest worthy photos, here. ;)

This is an old photo of the before:

               

Even though it's tiny, it at least has a window! I love windows in bathrooms! 

The wall with the window, before:

               

The wall with the window, after:

               

The opposite wall, before:

               

(If you happen to be a real observant person, you'll notice the shower curtain, shelf, and knobs are different in this picture compared to the first. The first before picture came from my album of all of the photos that I took on the night we closed on this house. This before picture must have been snapped right before we gutted it. There were a few years in between.)

The same view, after:

                 

Living in this house while renovating it, has given me an enormous appreciation for every room we complete! I don't take these rooms for granted! I think this is one of the reasons why I love being home so much! I have heart strings attached to every little thing here! Every doorknob... every faucet handle... has a place in my heart!

(Ok, that last line makes me sound like a crazy person, but it's true!!!)

Are you ready for some during shots?

Warning: This is not for the faint of heart...

With the exception of the tub, we gutted the room:

             

(I'm not sure why he's smiling, haha! What a headache!!!)

Roman was so little! He helped, too!

It's hard to tell, but this is the sink:

You never know what you are going to find in an old house. There was floral wallpaper under the beadboard:

This was the flooring before:

And a shot of Micah ripping it up:

(I was so happy to see it go!)

He should be wearing gloves and safety glasses! Yikes!!!

I had my heart absolutely set on white hexagon tile with dark grey grout. I thought it would look authentic.

 I really wanted to make design decisions that would honor our home's 100-year old history. It saddens me when I see modern design decisions being made for old homes! You know... When people buy an old, run-down house and begin to fix it up, except, they fix it up modern?! I always think, If you want a modern home, buy a new house! But for the love of Pete, don't steal the charm and character from these wonderful old homes!

(I need to watch my mouth. This is one of my soapboxes.)

This is the bathroom floor now:

              

You can also see the walls in this photo as well. They are authentic salvaged barn wood that we painted white. I really love white beadboard in old farmhouse bathrooms, but I have it in my other bathroom and wanted to try something different in here.

Here's another shot of it:

              

I love it because it isn't smooth and new looking, it's actually bumpy and cracked with some worm holes in a few places. To me these walls are perfect because I didn't want this bathroom to look brand new. I wanted it to have a look as if it has been here all along.

Another design decision that I had my heart set on was subway tile for the tub surround.

(This bathroom is right around the corner from our mud room and tends to be the bathroom everyone uses when they come in from outside. There was no way I was putting white grout anywhere in this bathroom! I figured white tile would be ok, but the floor and the tub surround all have dark grey grout. I've been happy with this decision.)

             

Oh man, I love subway tile! But I've got to tell you a funny story about this. 

When Micah gets to work on a project, he puts his headphones in, blocks out the world, dives into it, and gets lost in "project zone". So the Saturday morning that he got to work on the tile, I was busy doing my own thing with the kids and just left him alone to work on it. In the afternoon I decided to check in with him to see how it was going. 

I found this:

I stood in the doorway, floored and speechless! I was shocked! 

He had done an entire wall the wrong way!!!

It felt like my heart had hit the floor. Am I really seeing this?! I wondered, in disbelief.

When I was going through the photo album to prepare for this post, I found this:

Oops with a smiley face! Haha! 

Friends, I'm sharing this because sometimes people ask us, "How do you know how to do what you've done in your house?" Or sometimes we've heard, "I wouldn't be able to do what you guys are doing." That kind of makes us chuckle a bit, because we've made mistakes in our farmhouse renovation journey, as you can see here. The lesson is, when you've done something that doesn't turn out how you want, go back, start over, and allow yourself to learn from it!

Micah ripped it all out and redid it. Now it looks like this:

             

I'm glad we went through the hassle of starting over. It was an enormous pain at the time and we felt sick over it, but in the long run, it was the right decision.

Moving on... Here is a close-up of the sink:

Again, my heart was set on these faucet handles. Nothing else would do!

            

Micah built the cupboard that it sits on:

           

I've noticed that whenever Micah builds furniture, it's always chunky and manly, haha. Our farm table, our kitchen island, and this cupboard, are all big pieces of furniture. I just let him do it... And he lets me decorate. Our home is a mix of him and me. A blend of rustic wood and crystal chandeliers... Delicate antiques and deer antlers... Big, chunky furniture and dainty, hand-painted plates.

I'll show you some of the details of the bathroom, speaking of deer antlers...

          

And beneath it hangs an antique mirror:

          

The opposite wall looks like this:

          

A few close-up shots: (because, you all know how I love details!)

          

My grandma gave me this little brass piece. I have no idea what it is but it's solid old brass and it's heavy, so I love it!

          

I purchased a set of two vintage locker room baskets on Etsy. This one hangs on the wall to house a few extra supplies:

          

And the second one sits by my kitchen sink:

           

A couple of old-house details... Towel hooks:

           

           

           

and antique hardware:

          

And finally, I'll end with a few extra things that Micah made to make this bathroom unique and complete.

He made the brass toilet paper holder and the heat vent cover:

           

And he made the medicine cabinet:

          

Well friends, I hope you enjoyed the tour of my teeny tiny bathroom. 

         

I love getting your comments! It's so fun for me to hear from you! (I don't know who's reading otherwise;) You're welcome to pop into the comments and say hi!

Until next time,

~ Courtney