i shared a photo of the work in progress on the sunshiney bathroom:

but i realize it’s not completely fair to take a very terrible photo and use it as a “before” photo for a make-over. so i went digging and found a photo of the bathroom from when we were first walking through this house before we bought it. it’s probably a more fair representation of the bathroom…

as you can tell from the very first photo above, we removed the toilet, rails, countertop and cabinet doors (the doors were builder grade plywood that — i want to say “had seen better days” but i’m not so sure they had. i think the builders used the cheapest stuff they could find and hinged them higgledy-piggledy and called it a day). we kept the frame of the cabinet/sink unit and worked with that. the main reason we kept the frame is that the tiling was only done up to the frame. so we would have either had to find identical tiling (i couldn’t) and tile it (i don’t yet know how), or we had to rip it all out and put in new flooring, which seemed like a colossal waste. if i were to choose a tile for the flooring, it wouldn’t be the one that is there right now, but i’m fine with it because it is in good condition and it’s not horribly offensive.

so while it sounded like a good idea to keep the frame and build on it, it turned out to be a little bit tricky. like most older homes with parts built to suit, none of the measurements were standard. we finally found some cabinet doors that would work but we (he) had to jig some extra wood in place to make it all fit evenly. anyway, that aside, and with a new countertop cut and made to fit, i’m very happy with how it all turned out…

these photos are a bit grainy and it was hard to capture the room because it’s very small. but it’s finished, clean, and uncluttered.

the tile backsplash was a bit of a cheat. i said that i don’t know how to tile, but that is something i want to learn. the cheat was that these tiles are peel and stick (where’s the paper bag for my head? :-)). and while they are convenient and they look very similar to the real thing unless you look very closely, they don’t work out to much less in price than actual glass tiles per square footage. they are roughly the same price, though with actual tiles, you need to buy the setting compound, grout and oh yeah — have the skills to do it right. i want to take a tiling course in the new year, i think our local hardware store offers them and it would be a worthwhile skill. tile looks great, is functional and washes well.

i’ve shared the cupboard knob details already. i found these 3 black with white inset knobs for $5 at a local winners’ store. it was in the clearance bin and kicked off my inspiration for the room.

and that ikea cabinet that gave me a bit of grief? well, it’s all better now…

like i said, we kept much of the existing parts, including the faucet. i love the old style white handles. they’re missing the little inserts so that’s my next mission, to try and find replacements for that. so far no luck, but i have yet to contact the manufacturer.

all in all, i’m very happy with the look of it and how it all came together in the end.

another note: the new toilet is a low-flush, low profile one. we can finally open that farthest cabinet door more than a quarter of the way.

whew. now to tackle the bedroom… it’s the same orangey-yellow colour. while i’m not averse to bright colours, i do like the bedroom to be a calm and relaxing space. we’ll see how it goes.