Transformation

I have mentioned before that when we bought this house 3 years ago we felt like we got a good deal of space for the money, but the house was plain jane - only basic features (except for the upgraded corian countertop in the kitchen which I love). This year we have tried to upgrade some other features. We put in tile in the kitchen to replace the linoleum. We had a patio poured out back. My brother in law, Brock, came in late February to put up our tile backsplash. Isn't it fabulous?The deco tile strip we did special order but the larger squares are just 4x4 tumbled marble that you buy by the box at Home Depot.

On his working vacation in February Brock also remodeled our master bathroom. For the size and price range of our home - the master bath and closet are on the small side. If we ever sell this house I wanted the buyer to feel that the bathroom was luxurious and forget that it was small. And we all know that kitchens and bathrooms sell homes.

Here are the before pictures:
We had linoleum floors. The lights were the cheapest bulb on a plate you can find. (Notice half the bulbs are out - we knew we were replacing the lights soon so we didn't buy new bulbs). The sinks were a white one piece double bowl made of ceramic or hard plastic.

The shower was a once piece plastic insert.

The walls were all white and above the tub was your basic shiny white 4 x 4 bathroom tile.

I want you understand that there is nothing wrong with this bathroom. Everything was very functional and relatively new, only 3 years old but it was very basic... very plain. If you ever need to sell a home especially in a soft market (such as the one we are in) you want to have something that stands out... something that says "this house is different (in a good way), this house is special. So we are trying to upgrade our house for ourselves, because yes we like nice things, but also for resale value.

Here are a couple in process pictures: He ripped out the plastic shower and shiny tile above the tub and put up new backer board (dry wall) then coated it with a water proofing substance (Red Guard).

He also put in a sub floor to make a more durable surface for laying the tile.
Brock has been done his part for almost 3 months now but I didn't want to post pictures til we were done painting... We still have a few things to do like up grade the cabinetry hardware, towel bar and plumbing fixtures to match, dress the window and perhaps replace the mirror. But that will come in time. We did however finish painting yesterday and I am really pleased.

In order to pick the paint color - I found a shower curtain that I absolutely LOVED. Then I found a paint color that matched the curtain exactly and then I looked on the card and chose the color two shades lighter. I think it was a pretty good match.

We kept our same vanity and upgraded the countertop to granite. We replaced the faucets and the lights.

We ordered ivory travertine from the special order boards at Home Depot. I was surprised that it didn't really cost much more than basic ceramic tile and nothing beats the feeling of bare feet on REAL stone. We used the travertine on the floor, shower walls and around the tub. We ordered a deco tile for a border, also from Home Depot.

The shower floor is the same "in stock" tumbled marble we used for the kitchen backsplash.


Brock even built a corner shelf and corner seat. The little seat is the kids favorite and they always ask if they can shower in there and sit on the seat. Don't they know the seat is really just a place to put your foot while shaving your legs?

I think Brock did a fabulous job and I feel like I'm in a spa every day when I take a shower. We felt like we changed it a lot without spending BIG bucks with major renovations like moving walls and replacing expensive items like bathtubs and vanities. What do you think? Is it luxurious enough to forget that it's rather small? Would YOU chose luxury over size?