Basement Reveal: the Bathroom
We're moving right along folks... time for the next big reveal in our basement reno series - the bathroom! Well, it's not big as far as square footage or big in what we really accomplished in here, but for a little bathroom, that took a big hit in the flood, it's looking FRESH. Before we get to it - how about a quick reminder of where we've been... Our "before" was taken when we discovered the basement flooded so it's a little squishy in here.
In the water mitigation and clean out, this room took a big hit. They took out everything including the shower in order to get to the drywall back behind it. It was that or risk future mold problems in the drywall and insulation. And it was a good choice because that drywall was wet in the same way the rest of the basement was.
Let's fast forward... you can read and see more about the drywall process and our big paint job, then here's what we last left you with when the trim got installed. We were ready for flooring at this point!
Bathroom Flooring
We hired out all the flooring down here and chose Royal Flooring for our contractor. They actually brought all kinds of flooring samples to our house to look at so we could see what it looked like in our lighting. They brought hard surface and carpet options so it really streamlined and sped things up so we could do everything at once.
For the bathroom, we went with a luxury vinyl tile with a pretty white marbled look. This vinyl flooring is 100% waterproof so we're doing everything we can to defend against future water issues. (See: mother of all sump pumps).
It only took the installer a whole 45 minutes to do the bathroom. Definitely looked like something we could have figured out how to DIY, but was glad to get it done quickly! We'll save that learning for another day.
Bathroom Vanity
Withe the flooring in, it was time to install the vanity. But we had a problem... the vanity we picked out was a furniture style vanity which is why we didn't install it like cabinetry before the trim and floor went in. To get the vanity flush against the wall though, we had to remove or cut through the trim where the legs are.
Uncle G to the rescue. Per usual. He figured it'd be easier to saw through the installed trim at the right spots than it would be to take the piece off, cut it into different pieces and reinstall. I'm sure he's not thrilled I'm putting this photo of him on the internet, but you gotta see it to believe it. ;)
With the vanity properly placed and to the wall, we added the 1/4 round "shoe" on the floor trim to finish that off. But then we had another problem. The backspash for the vanity overlapped with the old mirror on the wall. It was too tall. I had suggested we remove the mirror at one point but it didn't happen. My dad helped us wrap up some loose ends and I asked if he could figure out how to remove an old glued on mirror.
Amazingly, he was able to get it off in one piece without shattering it or ripping massive amounts of drywall!! Woot! Definitely should have done this before we repaired all the drywall because this gave us more patching and more painting to do. We should have just removed everything including the towel bar to get a nice clean new finish since I ended up replacing that at the very end, but that's hindsight.
Our plumber came back to install the toilet and faucet, and I added hardware to wrap it all up. Ok, NOW are you ready for the big reveal!?
Basement Bathroom Reveal
Sorry, one more before the reveal. How good does the new door look freshly painted?!
NOW it's time! Here it is!! Our fresh new basement bath.
I found a nice new big mirror to help cover up some of the crappy drywall patching I did for the old mirror glue spots.
And the best part is even tough this vanity is small at only 24" wide, it's super functional. The drawers aren't just decorative - they found a way to add some good storage even around the plumbing underneath.
To match the vanity drawer pulls, I found a black bathroom hardware set at Walmart to add towel bars and a toilet paper roll holder. Matched the new faucet too.
By the time we were wrapping this up, we realized we never told the plumber we wanted a shower door on the shower. Not sure how we missed that so we're going to use a shower curtain for now.
I actually prefer a curtain to a door visually, but after having water problems we're a little freaked out about people showering down here with just a curtain. Luckily, it's not often that happens so we're going to give it a go.
It's clean. It's simple. And it's DONE.
At least for now, because... say it with me... #housedonemandead.
Need a bathroom fix? Here's what we used:
24" Vanity in Weathered Tan Home Depot
Moen Bathroom Faucet in Matte Black Home Depot
24"x36" Black Framed Rounded Corner Bathroom Mirror affiliate
Black Tension Shower Curtain Rod affiliate
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