This is not a drill. The guest bathroom is finally finished, but before I launch in with the full reveal, I want to offer a heartfelt thank you to Milton & King for gifting the gorgeous fabric for the sink skirt and curtain. Last spring, Milton & King sent the material to me when I decided to try to finish the guest bath for the One Room Challenge. Unfortunately, I could not finish then, and I failed to finish the following fall. Throughout this whole debacle, they were so kind and understanding. So, I dedicate this post to them. If you need gorgeous, truly unique, print-to-order fabric or wallpaper, please take a look at what they offer.

A Timeline of Events

I’ve joked more than once that this project was cursed. Writing down the timeline of events did little to change my mind.

First Try

• September 13, 2021 – I write the first check to the contractor.
• November 2021 – Demo Begins – The contractor tells me he no longer has a plumber. I hire my own plumber and electrician because the contractor says he doesn’t know anyone else.
• November 2021 – New Electrical & Plumbing – There is a communication error, and the electrical has to be moved to accommodate the water lines–nobody is at fault.
• December 2021-February 2022 – The contractor moves slowly–showing up sporadically to work for 1-2 hours at a time. During this time,
  • He pours the shower pan incorrectly and has to redo it.
  • He attempts to level the floor several times, to no avail.
  • The drywall is installed, but he tells me he will caulk the seams. I tell him that I’ll finish it on my own. (Caulk drywall?!?)
  • I order more tile for the shower walls because he’s not sure how far up he’ll have to tile.
  • He tiles the shower floor incorrectly, tears it out, and agrees to order more tile and pay for it. He says he has found the tile and ordered it, but I eventually discover it is a lie. The tile is out of stock everywhere.
  • While he is “waiting for the new tile,” I ask him to tile the floor. His work is a complete disaster.
• March 1, 2022 – I tell the contractor that he doesn’t need to return. We’re done. I’ve spent thousands of dollars, and I have no bathroom and no floor tile.

• March – April 2022 – I’m depressed and angry. I need a break.

Second Try

• May – June 2022 – I decide I’m ready to finish the bathroom, and I sign up for the Spring One Room Challenge – Demo begins again. As I begin to peel back the layers, I find:
  • Chunks of Hardibacker stuck to the floor and gaps filled with thinset that is over an inch thick.
  • Missing Hardibacker
  • Gaps between the Hardibacker taped with duct tape
  • Black plastic sheeting used as waterproofing for the shower pan. Basically, it was just a trash bag.
  • Patchy floor leveler that has to be ground out to remove all of the screws in the subfloor
  • Many of the screws in the subfloor aren’t attached to the joists. They are screwed into the void between.
  • The entire floor pitches about an inch back towards the toilet.
  • The toilet I bought is broken. It’s a special size, and I have to buy another one at twice the price because the first toilet was discontinued.

During the spring One Room Challenge, I also buy new floor tile and Schluter Kerdi waterproofing materials. The demo takes the full eight weeks and one dumpster bag.

I manage to sew the sink skirt and curtain, and paint the walls. I also start to level the floor with 2X4s and 2X6s.

Once the challenge was over, the summer heat moved in, and it was too hot to work upstairs without air conditioning. So, I put the project on hold.

Third Time’s a Charm?

By the time fall rolled around, I was motivated to finally finish the bathroom. I’d saved up some money to recoup part of our losses, and I felt ready to work through the ups and downs of a time-consuming and complicated remodel. So, I signed up for the fall One Room Challenge to put all of my focus on completing the guest bath.

During the fall ORC:

• I finally finished leveling the floor, but that messed up the height of the toilet flange and the sink plumbing.
• The plumber came back to fix the plumbing issues, and he recommended his cousin to tile the bathroom.
• I hired his cousin, but I had to waterproof everything before he could start.
• I discovered that all of the shower walls were bowed. So, before I could install the waterproofing membrane, I had to remove all of the Hardibacker and level the walls with shims and drywall. At that point, the only thing left from the first contractor was two pieces of plywood and the drywall ceiling, which was, of course, totally unlevel.
• Andy came home, and we waterproofed the shower walls together.
• After he left, I completed the shower pan and waterproofed the floor on my own.
• The tiler finished, and he did a fantastic job.

We were in the home stretch when an act of god hit:

Five feet of snow hit our area, and none of the finishing touches arrived because of shipping delays.

Another One Room Challenge came and went, but we were so close!

I continued to work throughout November and December, plugging away at the little details.

The Reveal!

Many of you probably skipped right to this section, and I don’t blame you at all. After shots are always the best part of these types of posts.

There are still a few missing pieces, like the plinth blocks and paint, but for all intents and purposes, the guest bath is ready for its close-up.

The Shower

The shower is a quirky trapezoid shape, and I love it. The guest bath is barely 5′ X 8′, and there’s a window at one end. So, it took some creativity to come up with measurements that were large enough for an adult.

The shower sill is a piece of marble that I bought locally. The fabricator used a remnant from a larger job, and it’s one of my favorite things in the new bathroom. There’s just something about real honed marble.

You may have noticed that there is one section of tile in the shower that is a slightly brighter white. Remember how I said this project was cursed? Well, this was the final pin in the voodoo doll. The tiler, who is way more detail-oriented than I am, didn’t notice it, and I didn’t, either. I swear the difference didn’t show up until after he grouted everything. That piece was probably the tile I bought first as a sample. When I bought full boxes, the SKUs were the same, but that odd one worked its way into our stock.

The tiler was mortified, but I’m at peace with it. We’re keeping it. It’s just a reminder that some things are out of our control, and everything doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. It’s fine, and we’re all happy it wasn’t right in the middle of the floor or somewhere more noticeable.

Everything Else

The other side of the room is super cute. I am so glad that the plumber suggested rotating the toilet 90 degrees. It used to face the sink, crowding the floor space.

I reused the sink and the towel bar, but the wooden shelf is new, and I added taller baseboards. I also fully restored the window.

Before and After

Before and after shots are so satisfying, and I can’t resist sharing a few.

This is how the bathroom looked when we first moved into BHH. I know; It was adorable, and that green is so in fashion right now, but it was not functional for us. We needed a bathroom that guests of all ages could use, and clawfoot tubs are not practical or safe for everyone.

A few years later, I gave the guest bath a small facelift.

Before:

After:

Before:

I’m still planning to rewire the adorable ’30s light fixture and reinstall it. I’m using a placeholder until then.

After:

The empty hole in the switch plate is for the exhaust fan that will be finished in the spring.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Thank you so much for sticking with me during this fiasco. The amount of encouragement I received on Instagram was so heartwarming, and it got me through some of the hardest times. I’m going to link the sources below, and I’d love to hear what you think of the finished room. So, please let me know in the comments.

Sources

Paint – Rookwood Red by Sherwin-William and Whipped by Clare

Shower Wall Tile (Similar – The size I used is discontinued.) and Bullnose

Floor Tile

Swivel Mirror

Toilet Paper Holder (not pictured–It’s on order.)

Swivel Flanges for the Shower Rod

Marble Door Threshold

Linen Hand Towels

Shower Curtain

Marble Container, Soap, and Shampoo – TJ Maxx

Expandable floor-to-ceiling Shower Caddy

Teal Bath Mat

Sink Skirt Fabric and Coordinating Stripe Fabric