We recently had a huge flood in our house, in the form our third floor bathwater flowing down the drain, bubbling out of the trap, and completely flooding our bathroom floor! Thankfully we were able to catch it and clean it up immediately, but fixing it is a decent sized plumbing job to remove the ancient trap and replace the piping with something more modern and up to code. In the process we also discovered that the linoleum floors (probably installed in the 60s or 70s) were laid directly over the hardwood floors and were not providing much protection from water. SO, we ripped it all up to fix it all up!
While we were at it, we also ripped up the carpeting on the stairs, which believe me, had seen way better days!
Here's the catch. Right now our house appraised at the very top of the market for our area, and there isn't much more room - if any - to really add significant value to our home for which we'd end up seeing a return on our investment. While we aren't going to skim on the quality of the plumbing work, obviously, we also want to do this project in as budget friendly manner as possible! We want to make it pretty and functional, but not break the bank. In some ways it is discouraging because I have a vision of this room in my mind where we go all out and make tons of changes to make it AMAZING! But that is not the version you will see here! This is more about getting bang for your buck!
So what is the plan?
- Fix all the plumbing issues
- Lay a water proof foundation above the wood floors, below the tile
- Tile the room
- Install a new toilet
- Install new plumbing fixtures
- Install new baseboard
- Install new carpeting on the stairs
- Refinish all of the doors
- Put in new light fixtures in the bathroom, hallway, and bedroom
In my DREAM renovation of this space we'd totally reconfigure the bathroom, get rid of the small sink and add a large vanity, add a shower, and add tons of beautiful moulding along the stairs. However, we priced what it would be to reconfigure the bathroom and it just doesn't make sense given the market we live in and the fact we don't see ourselves in this house forever. Boo. Oh well, we'll still make it awesome for what it is!
And did I mention we need to have this ALL 100% done in 9-weeks before the baby comes and my mom stays up here while she comes to help? Look for a lot of updates, SOON! :)
