I don't think I ever posted the photos of our first bathroom remodel. Both bathroom remodels were pandemic projects which made for a good time. Especially this first bathroom was such a long drawn out process because of spikes in cases of Covid.
Before
That is the baby-est vanity. No drawers. The empty toilet paper roll really adds to the scene.
We started the process over Thanksgiving break. We quickly learned that there is no way to remove tile from dry wall without removing the drywall. So here we are down the the studs. We didn't want to replace the tub (still feel great about that decision!) so the cardboard cover was absolutely essential.
We did learn that we should have changed some plumbing while we had it all open like that. After we had put the wall and tile together, there was seriously no way we were going to open it all up again.
John built this awesome, huge custom niche in the wall. It was epic. I am a big believer in having enough shelf space in showers. Unfortunately our new house definitely doesn't. Then we put in new cement board everywhere and did red guard. Way sturdier than it was before.
These were the best after photos that I took myself. The plumbing wasn't finished, and I can tell because the bottom drawer was still missing.
We learned a few things doing this bathroom. We learned more about doing wall tile. John is a pro at planning out tile placement these days. We learned about putting an edge on tile and not scratching marble. We learned about the different valves of plumbing and how we should have switched it. We learned that we should have taken out the subfloor so the flooring wasn't bumped up so high. But honestly we thing we did a pretty good job. It is about 1000x better.
The listing photo. So much better.
After that drawn out process (my parents came twice and didn't have a sink in there!), we had to take a breath before doing the master bath. We knew this one would be a lot more of a project. We wanted to change the shower and tub and vanity and flooring and lighting. Whew. The first bathroom only cost about $2000 but the master was around $13,000 which kind of blows my mind. We did so much of the work ourselves. I can't even imagine how much it would have been to hire out the whole thing.
This was our inspiration pic. But ours turned out better than theirs did. :)
This right here was the main reason we needed to do the bathroom. The shower door didn't open and close nicely and the corrosion was no bueno.
We started demo over Memorial Day weekend. We had to time it for bulk pick up. What we learned that day was that we shouldn't have put off this project so long. The corroded door had been leaking water underneath and it was making it through to the subfloor!! Thank heavens it had only gone part way through that layer and didn't reach the I beams. Phew!
We hired plumbers to come in and change the plumbing around, build the new shower base, change the vent pipe, and build a shower bench. It was about $2000 but they spent a couple of long days doing it.
We did take out the subfloor this time, which was a ton of work. John had also built a double niche, wahoo! Then we replaced all of the missing dry wall and subfloor with cement board. We had to wrap the curbing of the shower with cement board. My main goal in mudding the all those areas was to make it easier to tile. Nice and smooth. Also, we had to laugh at how hard it was to take up the subfloor. It was labor intensive. But it was *nothing* to what it would be like to try to take up the cement board that we put down. There are so, so many screws not just an occasional nail. Plus the cement board is tough! That's why we put it in as the base. Best wishes to whoever wants to replace that floor next!
The tub was delivered, and it's so pretty!
Flooring and vanity in, plus the redguard!
So much tile work! We had to get a little creative to keep the tiles about the niche from sagging.
By this time we had decided to move, which was a problem because we didn't have a functioning master bath! We were on a time crunch and needed to get this done. We about killed ourselves whipping it out, but we did it. We might have a little PTSD from the experience, but we made it. I still love that beautiful tile wall. We chose the same floor tile as in the other bathroom to make our lives easier, but we chose a different wall tile. Similar, but this one is smaller which a hint of a wavy movement to it. It's gorgeous.
Yep the bathtub is still in the bedroom.
I was reluctant to do this marble hex tile because it is so popular, but that is where we ended up landing, and I think it turned out gorgeous. You can also see how nicely the edging turned out. Also, check out that quartz bench top that John cut and laid himself. He is a rockstar!
Grout, sealing, plumbers installing the tub and filler! Wow, we can take baths in the bathroom now! It felt so luxurious! It was a little sad because the whole time in our minds we knew that we only got this bathroom for a few weeks.
Finishing touches like hardware, baseboards, lights, mirrors.
We also had to wait a bit for the shower glass. It was so expensive, another $2000, but the large shower was a must.
Before
After (Can you hear the angels singing?) :)
Honestly that bathtub is so pretty. And the beautiful big shower! It makes me a little bit sad because it was so much work, and it was only ours for such a short time. We are never going to own a bathroom that nice again. Our new house just doesn't have the same allotted square footage to make a bathroom like that. Oh well.
We are so proud of the hard work we put into this. Wow it was so, so much work in such a short time, but we think it really made the difference in selling our home. Instead of it being a big black mark on the house, it was a huge selling point. I still can't believe we did it. Looks like it came from a magazine and WE DID THAT! Just in time. :)
We had the sweetest little photo shoot for my big 18 month old. A year and a half! She is so sweet. She is an old pro at walking by now, which means of course that she is getting into mischief. We got out the little walker for her. Oh my heavens, she is adorable! Arms extended, bent over, bum, out, giant stumbling step, huge grin, and the cutest laugh! We couldn't get enough and neither could she.
It's getting harder to play board games while she is awake. One night John and I played Splendor, and Darcy couldn't get enough of the extra jewel tokens. She had to cart them all over to the dry bathtub.
Speaking of the bathroom, one time I was washing her bum in my bathroom sink (trying to help some diaper rash) and sure enough, she peed all over. I only noticed when I felt drops hit my feet.
I still love carrying her in the baby carrier when we go to the store. I love cuddling her. And when I accidentally tickle her feet, she gives the cutest little giggle! She gives the best cuddles sometimes, head resting on me, arms and legs wrapped around me. It is heart melting. I call it her monkey hug.
She is getting so big! She said her first words at 17 months old, and they were "Go, go go!" She tries to say other words too. Shortly after go, go, go she decided she could say other words. For example, Darcy loves bread. So much. She was so happy one day when she saw it at dinner: crinkly nose, squinty half moon eyes, and a big show all her teeth grin. But best of all she tried to mimic the word yummy.
Other early words were "baby, Jesus, kuku (like yucky)" I love when she does her eye brow raises and nods.
One of her favorite toys is some of the duplo lego figurines, specifically the pitchfork and a plastic spoon. She loved to carry them around with her baby doll.
Darcy has taken to blowing raspberries on my belly after she is done nursing. She slides her face down there, cuddles in close, blows out in short bursts and pop her face up to grin at me with a proud, giggly, juicy grin. So funny!
One day Darcy kept making the funniest motions. She knows how to sign "more" which really just mean food to her, and she can sign "all done" too. This day though she made several more motions so intently at me. For sure she had something she wanted to say.
One night Holland and Darcy were dancing together and it was the sweetest thing. Holland had a scarf she was twirling with, so Darcy went and go herself a cleaning rag to dance with (it was clean!). It was adorable.
Darcy loves helping me! She'll hand me silverware from the dishwasher and I put it in the drawer. I say thank you every time and pretty soon, she started handing it to me and saying thank you at the same time. It is adorable. She does this with laundry too.
When Darcy turned 18 months old, our family was going through its first real winter in Utah, and whoa, we all go so sick. I wrote in my journal, "Darcy tried so hard to kiss me after her nap today, but I didn't want to accidentally spread germs. I tried to get her to kiss my cheek, and she took that to mean put her cheek on my cheek, so she had todo that on both sides."
Darcy loves babies so much! She loves on her baby doll--patting it, kissing it (she never kisses us, and snuggling it. I love when she sees a real baby. It is adorable to see a big baby get so excited about seeing another baby that is almost as big as she is.
I love her little babbling. "Doo, da!" All day long.
One day Darcy found a bit of toilet paper on the bathroom floor and she clasped it with her tiny chubby little fist. She threw it away in the garbage can without prompting and made me "uh, uh" sound at me to get my attention. She indicated the garbage can, gave a big smile, and started clapping for herself.
One day Darcy loved putting on a toy back pack. It was so cute having her hunch her shoulders forward grunting at me to get attention.
As her vocabulary is expanding she has started yelling "Mom!" whenever she needs assistance. It lasted for a good month or two that she would just yell "Mom" whenever she needed something, even if she didn't necessarily want my help. Occasionally she would yell "Dad" too, but mainly "Mom."
She also reached the age where if she gets her feelings hurt, she needs to nurse immediately. She is so darling. I love her dancing. She is all about shimmying her shoulders and pumping her tiny fists in the air. I love when she does "eyebrows" and "close eyes." Her little raised eyebrows and squinty eyes delight our whole family.
Darcy has really loved scribbling with pencils. I was surprised to see her always choose her right hand and immediate start using pencils correctly. It also made me notice how many pens and pencils we have around. They are everywhere. Our house is definitely not as baby proofed as it used to be.
One day Darcy found a ball and kept tossing it and chasing it. Every time it bounced in a erratic direction, she'd giggle and toddle after it. Her little concerned face when it rolled under the couch melted my heart.
One of her favorite things is the shape ball. I am so impressed with how quickly she picked it up. She has started finding the shape slots all on her own and only needs help with the most tricky ones.
At Darcy's 18 month check up, she was 31.9 inches long which is the 45%. Her head circumference was 18 inches, which was the 32%. She weighed 20.72 pounds which was 21%.
I love Darcy so much. She lights up my life every single day. And even though she is growing up way too fast, I just love (almost) every minute. (Those middle of the night feedings can be a little rough.) She is such a joy, and we couldn't delight in her more. Love you forever baby girl!
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