This Guest Bath had had a remodel before the purchase of the house. My activities the day we close on the purchase include removing several oak wall mounted medicine cabinets 8′ deep, oak towel bars and towel ring holders in three baths. The toilets are the perfect style with comfort height as well as the replacement cabinets are higher.
Other projects after closing include the removal of vertical blinds on the major windows. Just mentioning this as an overview. Dog hair is on the top mount brackets 7 feet up. My sanity was teetering on the brink if I leave them up! Sheets are a wonderful window covering at times.
The Guest Bath Project really starts at day one of Closing.
So I will leave memory lane and get to the guest bath project. I had the entire house painted white inside except for the bathrooms. Knowing I’m going to paint those later with color. I did have the ceilings painted white and then the walls were ready when I am. Some plastic anchors were in the walls where the towel bars were. When you see these big wide plastic pieces with a Phillips head hole in it, then use a Phillips screw driver and get it out. Do not yank them out with pliers. Put some lightweight filler in and try to make look similar to the wall. Don’t use puddy knives on lightly textured walls. Now put spray texture on the wall before the paint (just like for paint-protect the surfaces!!). The guest bath and the master bath are painted the same white and pale grayish blue, as well as some tan in the guest to match some bath tiles.
I chose to put in a chrome hook on the wall near the bathtub for a towel. I’m not fond of towel bars and with a hook the installation is easy. I use 100 lb. plastic anchors for the hook and a towel ring near the sink. There is not a stud in this area. I also install a hook on the pine door for clothes. The painting is finished and I decide to live with our fresh clean guest bath.
Settling for Less in the Guest Bath.
The bath is all painted and a handy-man put in a recessed medicine cabinet for me. Yes, I can do it and so can you. I love the saying ‘choose your battle’. I do not want to level a heavy medicine cabinet and anchor it to studs, or cut a hole in sheetrock. Do make sure there is no electrical in the wall where you want to put one.
I want a shelf over the toilet now and get a nice glass one from online. I order two and do a bath in the basement as well. Now I find I like the basement bathroom better because of a white framed mirror. I notice it right away when we see the house for the first time. I try to live with the mirror in the guest bath and I just can’t settle for less with the project. This is no big deal but I want the look we have downstairs. I start looking at the home improvement stores near us for the mirrors available.
Probably after about six months I decide to part with my treasured $100 and get the mirror that caught my eye. This mirror is the perfect size and look for this project. The only glitch is that my painting is done before this mirror is part of the plan. Time to remove the builder grade mirror and get the paint job ready for the new one.
Back to the Bath Project after turning Discontentment into Motivation.
I get the mirror area ready but I find my slightly dyslexic challenges make it hard to figure out where to put the hanging gear. There are two metal loops on the back of the mirror near each upper side. I measure the bath counter’s width and the mirror width. Now I know I need the edge of the mirror about 2″ away from the left corner of the wall. The way for measuring for me is simple. I put the mirror on the floor up against the cabinet just like it will be on the wall. I tilt it slightly forward and measure from the wall to the center of the metal loop. Then I measure from the wall to the farthest loop and get that measurement.
I get the hanger hooks up and find I measured the height wrong!!! I want the mirror a certain height but then measure from the top of the backsplash and not from the countertop. So a few hole repairs and paint touch-up later the mirror is on the wall after having to lower it. There is a feeling this mirror gives the entire bathroom. It changes the room completely and I wonder what took me so long.
Joy for me is making arrangements with furniture or nick knacks. The glass shelf over the toilet gets some black items to match with the black accent tiles in the tub area. The bathroom counter is scrubbed and sanitary. I was standing on it in tennis shoes to hang the mirror. I didn’t want anything slippery on my feet while holding and hanging framed glass. There’s a slight coastal theme and now a small white cotton rug on the floor.
I Love our Guest Bath but…
Down the road we are going to replace all of the carpeting on main floor with wood flooring. During this time there will be a new kitchen going in. Once these are finished then the guest bath flooring will not work out. Since wood flooring will be in the hallway, the bath will be something else, and not a different wood like now. We will have to remove the bathroom cabinet and backsplash to install a tile floor. When this is done then the guest bath ‘another additional guest bath remodel’ will be truly complete. Thank you for reading!