An Old Home Project in Master Bath

A panoramic photo consisting of four images.  This was the only
way to get the entire vanity wall into the shot!  I refinished the
shelves, painted the walls, refinished the vanity,  installed
a new sink andfaucet, installed a tile backsplash and refinished
the countertop.

Sheila recently asked me what had happened to the photos of the first phase of our master bathroom renovation. She thought I had written about it in my blog but couldn't find it anywhere on this site. Later that evening, she explained that she was talking about our home renovations with her carpool friends and they wanted to see one aspect of our first phase of renovations in our master bathroom. So... here is a quick explanation of what we did in Phase 1 of the master bathroom renovations...

Basically, our main goal of this first phase of renovations was just to clean up the bathroom a little and to move in a direction toward our design style for the entire house. Here is a short list of the problems...

- Supply plumbing was bad and leaking in many areas of the house... I replaced the entire supply plumbing system.

- The bathroom was in need of a paint job. There were funky colors in pink hues as well as a faux painted texture with a mix of white, purple, and some other equally mismatched colors.

- The faucet was falling apart and leaking profusely.

- The vanity countertop was deeply scarred, stained and generally looking terrible.

- The vanity cabinet was chipped and in need of refinishing.

- The tub had sliding glass doors which were cracked, stained, and in need of replacement.

- The tub drain was leaking.

- The closet doors were falling apart, sagging and looking horrendous.

Refinished countertop... a faux granite finish using
paint and marine grade urethane...

There were more issues such as the ceiling, floor, tub, and toilet but these issues could wait until the second phase of renovation.

So, I replaced faucets, fixed leaks, replaced the entire supply plumbing in the house including the water heater, painted the bathroom one uniform color, refinished the vanity, refinished the shelves, rebuilt the closet and added some new shelves.

We removed the glass shower doors and installed a curved shower curtain bar and a new shower curtain. This helped the overall appearance of cleanliness immensely.

I refinished the shelves above the vanity making them appear more like fine furniture as opposed to utility shelves built out of 2x6's.

I refinished the vanity.

I applied a faux granite finish to the countertop using a spray paint kit and finished it with about seven coats of marine grade urethane.

I refinished the closet and built a new door matching our cottage/mission style throughout our house.  I also added a homemade shelf over the toilet which doubles as a towel bar.

These relatively small changes really cleaned up the bathroom enough so that it is no longer an embarrassment.  That being said, we are still looking forward to getting the ceiling and floor replaced...  a new custom vanity, top and new double sinks... and in this second phase of renovation we will add a new but inexpensive tub surround.  The third phase will include ripping out the floor, replacing the waste plumbing, moving the toilet, and replacing the old wornout tub with a full, large tiled shower.

Little by little, however, things are coming along...

A new sink, faucet and tile backsplash...

This wall is not quite finished yet...  missing trim and a clock and perhaps a few things on the shelf...
but here is a view of the custom closet door.  This is looking rather stark here...  I really need to get
the trim installed and add some decorative touches here...

Now that the closet is refinished, these shelves now house neatly folded
towels rather than all our supplies. It looks much cleaner with towels!
You can catch a glimpse of our new shower curtain in the mirror.