Our haphazard master bathroom reno

After

We had been wanting to renovate our master bathroom since we moved in four years ago. The main issue was the bathtub. It was one of those huge ones with the jets, and the jets didn't work when we did the house inspection. We had a plumber come in before we bought the house to see how much it would cost to fix the jets. The plumber couldn't find the box that controls the jets, so he figured it was behind drywall. He said it would cost LOTS to fix it. But we wanted the house, so we had the seller knock $1000 off the price and figured we would deal with it later. 

The first quote we got was $50K, which is insane. Our house is small. This bathroom is small. Our home is a rowhouse, so the likelihood of getting back that kind of an investment when selling was not going to happen. Looking back, I blame myself for that insane quote. The designer who we had come in and look had made a bunch of suggestions, and I had said yes to everything. Jon and I just didn't really care or have major visions for this bathroom. So the designer had included things like all marble floors, a marble walk in shower with fancy glass inclosure, and a custom marble counter. Marble, marble, marble. I was so disgusted with that quote, that we put the master bathroom on the backburner for another year or two. 

The second quote we got was way more reasonable at $14K. This was from the local hardware store that also does full installs of bathrooms and kitchens. We were really excited to work with them. The catch: they weren't able to order any double sink vanity except the exact one we already had. The one we had was totally fine, but I was hoping for something with legs or floating. I couldn't wrap my head around getting thing big renovation but still being stuck with the same vanity. 

So we went with the third option, which was a contractor who had done a lot of work for a friend of ours. He told me what to order, and then he came in and installed. So I ordered the vanity from wayfair, the tub from the local hardware store, the faucets from ikea. What I liked about doing it this way was that I bought things little by little, and the contractor/handman gave me a bill for the hours he worked each week. So financially, it felt way more do-able compared to having to write one huge cheque at the beginning. 

Before

Jon and I just don't care that much about the details. Like, the contractor wanted us to go to the tile store to choose tile. We were like, please, just choose whatever you think. And really, we are so happy with the tile he chose. And then we had our painter come in and paint. He asked us what colour we wanted. We just didn't care. White, I guess? So he said he had a pewter colour he had just used on another home and it looked good. So we went with that. And I love it! 

After

These pictures are obviously not styled, but they show the changes. We are really so happy with our new bathroom. What I love the most is that the ceiling of the tub area was raised a foot. It makes the tub feel so much more spacious. I also love the open shelves instead of the huge cabinet that was built into the wall.

Before