It's about time

One idea was to chronicle my home improvement projects up here. So, I'll start with the most recent: the half-bath on the main floor. When I moved in in September 2004 it looked like this:



It was outdated but functional so the kitchen took priority until early Spring 2006, when this bathroom's time had come. First the tear out, which happened over a weekend.



Sweet old wallpaper surprise. Everything came out. Tiles off the wall, the sink, light, mirror, cabinet, floor, toilet, wallpaper. Everything. Two weeks later I was able to spend another weekend on it and I rebuilt the cabinet. I had left the skeleton of the cabinet in place and just built on all new fascia, doors and drawers.

No turning back, now!

I built everything flush for a sleek, modern look. The design phase was obviously well under way, but I was still not sure exactly how the counter top, sink, faucet would come out. So I created a very simple line drawing on which to sketch some ideas.



Keeping with the modern theme I designed a curving countertop that extended all the way across the wall with a built-in shelf. By this time I had also decided to get a counter-top bowl sink and cool faucet. After a little searching I found both on eBay for super cheap, saving $250 off similar items from Lowe's and hundreds more compared to Restoration hardware and other designer shops. After a weekend with lots of help from the family (and an accidental plumbing error/emergency repair), it looked like this:

Thanks guys!

I used countertop laminate glued to cement board for the lower walls in a marble color and oak veneer hardwood floor. New toilet, too. Over the next couple weekends I cut the particle board for the counter top using a router for the curved parts. The counter top is laminate green marble. After installation of the counter top, I installed a 30-inch mirror and a 3-globe hanging light, and began searching for tile to use as border trim along the wall laminate. It had to work with both the cream marble and the green - NOT easy to find as it turns out. After lots of hours of online searching and probably 125 miles of driving I found it! That was the final element and I'm very happy with the result: