When Renovations Don’t Go As Planned

Two steps forward and two steps back.

This ear worm of a song has been on repeat in my head for days now. (Thanks Paula Abdul!)

That’s the theme for this week’s progress on our Master Bathroom Makeover, which is not much.

Or it’s not as far as I’d like to be.

As I shared last week, here was our plan:

Build a walk-in shower with tile all around

Tile the floor

Frame in a new area for the toilet

Shiplap the vanity area with a DIY vanity build

Plank the ceiling

Close off the entrance to the closet by repurposing the existing closet shelves

The problems began right after demolition.

The Shower

We had a few plumbers come out to quote us on moving the necessary plumbing, because if it can leak, burn or cause shock, we don’t mess with it. Ya know what I mean?

The first quote left us hyperventilating a bit, so we found a sweet young man, newly engaged and hungry to provide for his soon-to-be bride. He moonlights extra plumbing jobs on the nights and weekends from his regular plumbing gig.

We shared our plans with him to have a beautiful mosaic tile shower pan.  To save costs, he suggested we do some of the prep process to get that ready for him to do his work. And that overwhelmed us as well, so I found a solution.

Not wanting the typical fiberglass shower pan, I ditched that idea since I thought that was the only option. Not so, my friend!

There is a porcelain covered steel shower pan on the market. Just like the tub we destroyed last week, but formed in a shower pan!

The only problem – it won’t get here for another week, which means we can’t start tiling until it’s installed. I know we will be tiling right up to the eleventh hour to get this room ready for reveal day.

No worries – there’s plenty more to do! We’ll just move to the next item on the list.

Tile the Floor

We can’t do that until the shower pan is in place.

Sigh.

Next!

Frame in the Toilet Area

We framed that out last week. But that needed to be amended after the plumber shared that our original plan wouldn’t work due to a floor joist.

Guess you can’t put a drain pipe through a 12 inch floor support. (insert duh moment)

So we moved the framing ahead to avoid that floor joist.

Next…

DIY vanity with shiplapped walls

We ordered a laminate marble countertop for our DIY vanity, but when it arrived, we realized it wasn’t going to fit without a lot of geometry and cutting.  Our walls aren’t square and it was going to take work to get this counter to fit properly. Then I stumbled upon this:

Be still my heart!

And I’m not just talking about that Hunk in the mirror!

It’s a late 1800s washstand that has seen better days and I got it for a steal! Mainly because of it’s blemishes and mars.  It’s covered in mold in spots, which will need to be addressed since it is going in a humid environment.

Almost half of the left arm of the carved marble has broken off, so do I leave it, or try to fix it? Not sure quite yet.

And, there’s the floor under the vanity – our hardwoods we are saving stop where our old vanity was, so I’m going to have to find a creative solution to fill that flooring gap.

BUT – I am most excited about this piece!

Then, the walls need to be finished …

We moved on to the shiplap, but as we started, we realized we needed to frame in the doors first, so that took a bit of time. Then we realized that we should raise the light fixture as well. Plus all the cuts around the electrical and plumbing takes patience.

Plank the Ceiling

We can’t do this until the shiplap is finished.

Sigh number two.

Frame in the Built in Shelves

This is the easiest, right? We already have the shelves, and just pop them into the old door frame and we’re good to go.

Nope.

Kinda forgot that you still need to have a door to the closet. So while this is not part of the ORC, we had to stop and hang a new door for our closet.

See what I mean? Two steps forward, two steps back.

I wasn’t expecting hiccups in this One Room Challenge until next week – the cursed week four where everything seems to go wrong. If it gets worse from where we are now, there may be a tear shed.

I’m past the construction phase. I’m sleeping in a dust covered room, no matter how many times I vacuum it up, waking up with the scent of sawdust and drywall debris in my nose. I miss having the luxury of walking a few steps for that mid-sleep bathroom visit instead of having to traipse downstairs to our temporary bathroom only to find myself wide awake once I’m back in bed.

And to be completely honest, I’m a bit overwhelmed by it all.  We just went through a season of getting our house ready to sell, moving across state lines to a new home in a new city, and we’ve only been in this home six weeks.  A bit of a whirlwind to get all this started, don’t ya think?

But that’s how I do things – full steam ahead and about to putter out halfway thru. I eek my way to the end and rejoice and celebrate with the finished result, while dreaming of the next project on the list. And then it starts all over again.

And I’d have it no other way.

But this week’s lesson was that my organizing and planning self doesn’t function well flying by the seat of my pants.  I think I’d have been more prepared for the curve balls thrown our way this week if I knew the plan.

Here’s to hoping that next week is more productive!

What are the others up to this week? Head over to the One Room Challenge and check out the status of all the other amazing DIYers!

You can also check out the other rooms we’ve completed in previous challenges:

Vintage Inspired Mudroom Makeover

Master Bedroom and Closet Renovation

Vintage Farmhouse Powder Room

Industrial Teen Room