Day 1: What were we thinking?!?!
Demolition of the master bathroom remodel official began today. What did we get ourselves into? Juan, our main remodel guy, arrived at 8:45 am with his brother-in-law, also named Juan. Kevin and I have nicknamed them Big Juan and Lil’ Juan. The main Juan is big and tall, a.k.a Big Juan. The other is small and short, a.k.a Lil’Juan. These two men worked their tails off today. The bathroom has been completely gutted: the tile floor is gone, the vanities and countertops are now on the back porch, and the former shower and two walls have been removed. WOW!
After lunch, Big Juan and Lil’Juan got settled into their routine and Kevin and I left on a spend-lots-of-money-mission. It was highly successful. Very. Successful. Have you purchased bath fixtures lately? Holy crap – and we got them at contractor’s price!!! I’m not complaining, just stating the facts.
Our first stop was to Fort Worth Lighting. It has a fabulous showroom with a huge selection of light fixtures in every size, shape, and finish. I must say, though, how excited I am about choosing brushed nickel because everybody and their cousin has oil-rubbed bronze. We had to go into the back room of the back section of FWL before finding the fixtures that suited our tastes. Go figure. Kevin and I found items we liked and purchased them in less than 45 minutes. Our salesman, Chris (who was excellent and very friendly), said a couple had been in the store for more than 4 hours. Somebody shoot me!
I have to say, I am not a very girlie-girl but when I saw the sconces that matched the light-bars we selected, I was feeling like one. I thought about it for a second and said, “yes!” and bought the pieces. The countertops will be light, the cabinets will be stained a dark walnut, and the wall color is a dark blue. With all the square corners, I wanted some curves (and femininity) and these sconces are just perfect – I love them, and frankly I don’t care if somebody disagrees. It’s our bathroom!
Light fixtures are purchased and we were able to bring home the 3-light and 4-light bars that will go above the vanity sinks. I will go to their warehouse tomorrow for the exhaust fan and recessed lighting canisters. The sconces will arrive next week.
Big Juan told us to purchase water fixtures at Winnelson, so we did. I had a collection style from Delta already in mind before we arrived, so it was fairly easy to get our items ordered. We were also able to get our tub, which is a Jetta model. We briefly considered the whirlpool option, but I’m pleased with the deep “soaker” model. The tub is a gigantic 6-feet-long, 3-feet-wide, and nearly 20-inches-deep. I might need to get a pair of arm floaties if I decide to “swim” in this thing. It also saved me about $400.00 – which I quickly spent on faucet fixtures!!! All in all, I am very pleased with our selection and I think our bathroom is going to look amazing when complete.
The picture above is actually from Delta’s mini catalog but it has the roman tub faucet we selected and very similar materials we are using in our bathroom. The tub will be white, the countertops will have a light granite, and the cabinets will be stained a dark walnut. I think the brushed nickel looks awesome!
Here’s a sneak peek at the demolition progress Big Juan and Lil’Juan made today – it’s quite impressive:
Enter the Remod-Zone
I am speechless - I cannot believe our bathroom has transformed this much in such a short time. The former shower was very small, but removing two walls makes space for a shower that's 6-feet-long.The toilet will be rotated and face the tub.
The previous tub was an eye-sore, as was the generic white tile. All of that is now gone. The new, larger soaking tub will be six-feet-long and centered in front of the picture window.
This area has received a major overhaul and I am anxious to see our custom cabinets from Mario. The cabinet height where the sinks are located will be higher than the counter where I will sit and put my makeup on. I especially like the sconces I chose to flank the built-in above the cosmetic area.
You want to know the crazy part of all of this…I am cool, calm, and collected. Even crazier is the fact we are hosting a New Year’s Eve party at our house this Friday evening. They will just have to excuse the mess, because I don’t feel bad about the carpet pad trail leading from the back porch to the master bedroom or the plastic drapes over the furniture in the bedroom. I’m feeding these people, if they want a bed there are two others to choose from!
Happy 2011 everyone – mine is getting off to a really great start. I am very, very blessed!!!
27 & Counting 