Originally posted February 2019

Every. Single. Room. in this house has needed a complete overhaul. Some have gone completely down to the studs others just cost us thousands to remove wallpaper — more on that later. So you can be expecting a lot of posts under this category. I decided to start us off with one of the more dramatic ones, our downstairs bathroom. Without further ado here she is in all her before glory!

You getting all those gross gym sauna vibes shes throwing out? I mean I don’t really know where to start. Our best guess is that this bathroom was added sometime in 50s/60s out of a closet and part of what was than a back porch. Then at some point in the 90s the black and white tiles got a heavy coat of garage floor epoxy and some Joanna Gaines, ahead of her time, shiplapped the heck out of it with cedar planks. Oh and did I mention there’s a window in the shower that — wait for it — looks out into the laundry room. The ceiling height is a really short 8’ especially in comparison to the 12’ ceilings throughout the rest of the house. Last but definitely not least is the exhaust fan/light combo that is literally hanging by a thread above the shower. Because you know it really gets your morning off to a good start wondering if today will be the day that you get electrocuted to death.

In my humble opinion nothing was worth saving so we got down to business with the sledgehammers. There weren’t a ton of surprises once we got everything out of there except the wood rot that covered the floor under the tub and toilet. After we rebuilt the floor joists and sub-floor, we were able to track down the hardwood flooring to match up to the original that we salvaged in half of the bathroom.

Looks prettty seamless right? And those 8′ ceilings, we moved some of the plumbing from the upstairs bathroom around and gained 2′ of extra head space, give me all those hallelujah hands!

Can you spot the floral wallpaper up there past the ceiling joists? Oh and the can light/exhaust fan that is secure up there so as to end all of my electrocution nightmares.

Alright now I’m going to give you what you really came for here she is showing off that after!

Oohhh yeah soo much better! I think we really packed a lot into the tiny 5′ x 8′ space we had. A claw foot tub was a must for me and we are not sure it will happen in the master so we threw a 4′ one in here and I am in love!

To keep it open we used the hand shower faucet from Signature Hardware, eliminating the need for a shower curtain plus its what would have been there had this bathroom been original to the house.

To keep the area waterproof we did a chair molding height herringbone tile from Floor and Decor, with a charcoal grout that really makes the pattern stand out.

We went with a narrower toilet so that the vanity didn’t feel crowded. The vintage brass mirror and rattan shelf paired with this modern gem from Wayfair and continues the mix of vintage and modern we have throughout the rest of the house!

I just love all of the contrast between the dark green walls with the pops of bright brass and the black vanity against the white tiles, it just makes me swoon every time I pop my head in here.

Whew I hope that was worth the wait! I’ll put together a source post so you can shop the bathroom if you want to. Feel free to ask any questions and let me know what you think in the comments!