A Few Bathroom Reno Glitches :S

I can look at all of the "after" photos and pretend that this bathroom reno went off without a hitch but then I'd be living in la la land. This renovation wasn't without its glitches and challenges. I thought I'd share a few of them just to keep the whole reno-thing realistic.

Glitch #1

First, we couldn't find a (cute) pedestal sink that had a shallow enough depth to allow the door to open and close. We searched and searched at local stores, online Canadian stores, and finally ended up searching some online stores from the States. Finally, as mentioned previously, we found a sink at Vintage Tub and Bath that was only 19 inches wide and 15 inches deep. So tiny! Well of course I wanted it. We were so very nervous about getting the sink and toilet shipped to Ontario all the way from Pennsylvania. Where the heck is that? I still have no idea! Apparently when you ship items across the border you need a broker or something? Alex sorted it all out but there were a few days when he was pretty stressed out. When our sink/toilet/faucet arrived we opened them nervously hoping that none had been chipped, dented, cracked, or smashed to smithereens. They were perfect!

The sink all shiny and in perfect condition.

Glitch #2

I We knew that we had to have beadboard in the bathroom for a few reasons. First, it's classic. Second, it would do a marvelous job covering up the walls that Alex had to chop up and patch in order to fix the plumbing and electrical issues. We wanted the beadboard to come up higher than the sink, however the bottom window trim ended up being too close to the top of the beadboard ledge. It just looked wierd. So, we decided to remove the bottom of the window trim and install the beadboard and moulding all the way up to the bottom of the window ledge. I really like how it turned out but I'm still sad that we had to remove some of the original trim.

Beadboard & ledge all the way up to the window ledge.

Glitch #3

When the previous owners installed their beautiful cabinet, they cut a piece of the doorway trim to make it fit in the tiny room. When Alex ripped out the vanity/cabinet, the doorway trim had a big chunk cut right out of the middle. We searched and searched for matching trim to replace the original with, but could only find one that was slightly wider than the original. It looks really good but again, I get sad when we have to replace some of the home's original features.

Similar trim but a bit wider than the original.

Glitch #4

Sometimes I'm so picky that I wonder how Alex can even stand to be around me! In this case, I was so, so, so picky when it came time to choose the flooring. When deciding what kind of tile to use, we had to keep in mind that the powder room is right off of the kitchen hallway. When standing in front of the powder room, you can see the kitchen, living room, and entranceway flooring. This was stressing me out. I really like when flooring is consistent and I didn't want 5 different kinds of flooring on the main floor. I also didn't want one kind of bathroom flooring right next to a different kitchen flooring. Bah!!! I also find that some ceramic tiles look really trendy. So we eventually (after ten thousand trips to various flooring stores and endless online photo searching) we decided to go with 1x1 slate tiles in the bathroom and the same slate tiles, but 8x8, in the entranceway. Something that helped our decision process was that one of our neighbours on our street ripped out all of their original birch flooring on their 2nd floor and gave it to us to use when we redo our kitchen (it matches the hardwood we have in the rest of our home). SCORE! Living room, dining room, sun room, breakfast room, kitchen: hardwood. Entrance way and powder room: slate tiles. That means only 2 kinds of flooring on the main floor. Flooring crisis averted!

1 x 1 slate tiles for tiny bathroom floor.

Glitch #5

Alex and I were at Home Depot one night and decided at the last second to pick up some paint to finish off the walls. Not a good idea. Rather than choosing a paint colour that I actually liked, I picked out that I "thought" would go with the flooring. HUGE MISTAKE! Even when the bathroom was done (minus accessories) the ugly paint colour was haunting me. Haunting me!!!! I hated it. I also hated the idea of wasting money and time so we left it as is until this summer when finally I couldn't take it anymore. Now it is the loveliest shade of green and we are both so happy about that!

Glitch #6

As mentioned in my previous post, we had a really hard time finding a mirror that would fit in the tiny space between the beadboard ledge and the light fixture. Good luck finding a 15x15 or 14x14 mirror anywhere! For the last few months, we had a DIY mirror that Alex fashioned out of leftover trim, however it was painted the same colour as the beadboard and kind of looked washed out. Finally, I went to a cheap home decor store, found a picture with a wood-look frame on clearance, and swapped the print for a mirror tile. As I said before, it will do for now but really I'm still dreaming of the vintage-ceiling-tile mirror that I found on my last shopping trip that was way too expensive for me to buy. Sigh.

Oogly wall colour and tiny space between beadboard and light fixture.

Glitch #7

The window is so tiny that bamboo blinds (or any other type of window treatment) won't fit. Eventually I will sew/make some type of fabric roll-up shade but for now I can't even find a brushed nickel curtain rod anywhere that is tiny enough!

Tiny window with no window treatment.


See, isn't renovating fun? Have you had any similar challenges with your renos? Do tell!