Long post coming. We got started on the bathroom a couple of weeks ago. As a refresher, 5 years ago when we bought the house, we had the Jar Jar Binks bathroom

It was a hideous mish mash of wallpaper.

.

The giant mirror along two walls plus that bizarre cubby space which had no purpose:

Someone actually wanted this look, too.

We did a minor update on it with wallpaper removal (shudder at the memory) and paint, painting the countertop, and including painting over half the mirror to get a decent room:

.

Now is time for the big remodel. We had plan A and plan B depending on what happened when we opened up the wall to see what was going on. Plan A was to install a clawfoot tub tucked into the cubby with a smaller vanity to the side and have a walk-in shower. Plan B was to replace the tub/shower combo and put a linen closet where the cubby is. We just didn’t know what to expect as far as plumbing and all that. Both plans were to be done in two stages to reduce downtime for our shower.

The bathroom was enlarged in the 90s, and in this house – that meant removing a concrete wall between the bathroom and bedroom. Our house really only has 2 walls with framing and drywall, and those are the walls behind and to the left side of the vanity. I can’t imagine what it took to do that.

Anyway, we removed the vanity:

Then the tile. We were using a hammer and chisel first, but the tile was just coming up in bits and pieces. Very frustrating. Then John remembered the hammer drill he has:

Yay! It went much faster after that. The mirror came down, which was pretty amazing in that we got both pieces down without breaking them. However, we did (or John did) break them into pieces to remove them from the room. We didn’t want to try to maneuver a 6 foot sheet of glass down the stairway and through the house. It just didn’t seem like a good idea. So 7 years of bad luck it is!

Then we opened up the wall and floor to see the plumbing:

This is always the time in a project where you do this;

The good news was that we were going to be able to put a clawfoot tub in with a flat trap. The drain pipe was the right size (1.5 inches). I was happily looking at clawfoot tubs and trying to decide. It was going to have to be a shorter tub, around 53 inches so that we could get a 30 inch vanity along side it.

Then we got looking at the shower plumbing. A shower/tub combo will have a 1.5 inch drain and pipe to meet code. When you convert to a walk-in shower with no tub, you need a 2 inch drain and pipe. Well, the piping went into the floor and under concrete. There is no way we can replace the pipe without jackhammering the floor and then we aren’t really sure where it goes from there through the house. That is just too much for us to do and not even something we want to have pros come in and do. So, sadly, I do not get my clawfoot tub and we go with plan B. We are going to replace our tub and surround and then wall off the cubby to make a linen closet.

John moved some of the electrical around, including one outlet that we won’t need in the new space and putting it through the other side into our bedroom. Yay for more plugs in there! Plus he put some metal plates on the studs over any wire or plumbing. Code states this, but it wasn’t there from the previous job. Color me unsurprised.

This weekend was putting up new drywall.

Yes, a bit sloppy on the tape and mud. That’s me. I spent today putting a skim coat on the walls and getting the floor ready for tiling.

Our new vanity is being delivered Wednesday!

So, I’ll wrap this up. It’s a long post, so kudos to you if you made it all the way to the end! Just as an FYI, our shower is still intact, and after we removed the floor tile, we put the toilet back in place so that we can continue to use the bathroom fairly normally (washing our hands in the tub). All of the routine daily stuff like tooth brushing, contacts and such has moved down to the first floor powder room. That is a real pain, but necessary for a while.

We should make good progress this week.