We have been planning on a first floor renovation for many years now- when our architect and friend drew up plans for our dormer and porch additions, he also re laid out our first floor to take advantage of the space in the bedroom(s) we would no longer need. After “completing” the upstairs (still have trim work and in process built ins, but it’s mostly done!), we needed to take a breather (physically, mentally and financially!!!) so we’ve not worked on any of the updates that require layout or structural changes. That changes now, kind of! Very excited to be participating in the Fall 2023 One Room Challenge!
We are finally set to begin the transformation of a “catch all” room and a very small bathroom at the back of our home, into a proper mudroom/laundry room/powder bath space. Rough idea below:
This will be so much more functional for our family. The space was originally technically a bedroom, but when we did the upstairs project we opened up a wall to provide access to this space from our garage entry door, which has already increased the utility by a lot. The exterior door in this space (top right of the schematic) is currently our only access to the backyard from inside of our house, which will change in the next few years, but for now is a bummer. So- we are going to do our best to make this space cute and useful!
We have been discussing the logistics and plans for this project with more intention in the last several months, and on September 9th, Mike decided to begin demo of the bathroom, which will become a powder room in a slightly adjusted location (I thought he was just switching out the shower head in our other bathroom, was kind of a funny story). I started narrowing down washer/dryers, got a quote for cabinetry in the laundry and mudroom space, ordered some tile samples, and started laying out a schedule/task list which quickly became daunting.
We are pretty deadline oriented people, (i.e. in the absence of a suspense we might let a project linger on and on and on and on) so when I saw the fall One Room Challenge dates, I decided to sign up. I’ve loved following along with so many challenges in the past, I’ve found creators I really love in the process and have learned a lot. I’ve debated coming up with a project so that we could participate many times, so I’m really excited about this! In the spirit of this being a “one room” challenge, we have decided to focus on the powder room. Even just focusing on this small part of the space, having to start totally from scratch makes me nervous that we will be able to finish in 8 weeks. Picture of the current bathroom is below, my suspicion is that the previous owners squeezed a shower into what had been a powder bath to accomodate multi-generational living. It is TIGHT. We now have two full bathrooms on 2nd story in addition to main bath on the first floor, so reverting to a powder room makes more sense for our family. Picture of the current tight quarters below:
Our current rough plan:
Week 1: complete demo, submit permits, framing
Week 2: framing, begin plumbing work which includes moving the toilet and powder room sink, and adding a washer and sink hook up in the laundry space. We also have to add a dryer vent in the laundry space.
Week 3: complete plumbing
Week 4: complete electrical (lighting and outlets)
Week 7: Paint / wall treatments / trim in powder room
Week 8: Install fixtures and complete Powder room project
It’s obviously a very “success oriented” plan. So far, we’re almost done with demo, ordered the vanity, and decided on floor tile. We have a rough plan for framing, plumbing and electrical. This will be the 3rd bathroom Mike has built, and the other two were completely from scratch and included showers, a lot more tile work, etc, so hoping we can complete this project without a hitch! I will plan to share a more finalized mood board next week maybe, right now I am still playing around with a bunch of different ideas and color schemes to complement the neutral vanity and floor tile we selected.
I’m really hoping this “challenge” helps us move through this project a little more quickly than we have in the past. I can’t have my nephew coming over for the holidays and asking “Why is everything broken in this house?” again. I just can’t. I’m kidding. But seriously…
Here’s hoping this bathroom is up and running (and cute!!) by 11/19!
love and elbow grease 