Bathroom: The Reveal

OH. EMMM. GEE.
You guys.
It's finally really, really REALLY done!

The past month I literally only left my house to go to work or home improvement stores.
I haven't seen or talked to friends or family since Halloween.
My mom called worried that I had fallen off the face of the earth.
I did kind of...or more like, down the sewage drain of our bathroom toilet (not really).

Anyways, I am FINALLY proud to say it's done and we are THRILLED.
Like, fill up the bath with champagne and slosh around thrilled.
Sit on the ground and stare at the sparky chandelier thrilled.
Walk past the room four hundred times a night and smile like a child on Christmas thrilled.
You get the idea.

Let's take a quick lil' walk down memory lane at the before, or, as I like to call it, the reason we almost didn't purchase the house because I cried like a baby and scared the realtor when we walked into this room:

DIS-GUS-TING

And this is the "look" we were headed in:

And THIS, my friends....is the final product....ENJOY!!

Progesterone

I wasn't sure I was going to keep giving updates constantly about my incessant lack of bebe, but here goes. Because, hey, if I feel the need to scour Google for hours trying to find answers or stories to relate to, then maybe someone will find this blog looking for the exact same thing.

So, progesterone.
We all know that my number is lower.

And we also know that I did three unsuccessful rounds of Clomid.
And that I switched doctors.
And with this new doctor came almost the same answers, although spoken more eloquently.
Words shot out of her mouth like IUI, and IVF, and fertility center, and a bunch of other fun ones.
But I'm not ready to take that leap yet.
I don't know if I ever will be.
In my gut, I just know that although Mark and I don't have stellar grades on any of our fertility report cards, at the same time, it's not impossible.

She suggested, and I agreed, to try a few more rounds of basic medication before even considering something more invasive.

Accidental nudie selfie

So you know when you are trying to show off your newly installed tile, after you may or may not had a tall glass of wine and are sitting in a tub of gloriously hot water when it's exactly 8 degrees outside?

And you say to yourself, "self, we should take a photo of this tile and upload that shit to Instagram."
So you take that photo and add a fun filter and upload it.
And then you also text that photo to your mom.
And you get a bunch of likes and all is right with the world.
Right?
Wrong.

Progress

I spoke too soon regarding the contractors flaking out on us.
Tuesday afternoon after I wrote all about how they decided last minute to show up and we got a new bidder in place, I got the reply text.
And, since both their quote and the second bid came in at exactly the same price, we chose to stick with the original contractors.

Wednesday night Mark and I finished some last minute layout items including vanity mirror placement, and sconce positioning.

Thursday morning I left for work while Mark stayed home to meet the guys.
By the time I came home, they were finishing up their last hour of work.
Granted, a few hours of Day 1 included buying cement board and other materials, so the progress isn't fabulous based on the photos, but I can assure you they made good strides.

A snag in the road + Updates

So, we hit a small-ish snag in the road.
As this post is being published I am standing in my bathroom with a new contractor to give pricing and availability for our bathroom renovation.
Yes, at 6:30am before work.
Monday morning started out with me texting our preferred contractor to confirm what time the team will be onsite this Thursday and how many men I should expect.
(he prefers texting as his English is.....off)
No response.
Ok, no big deal. He usually responds by the end of the same day so I'll just wait.
6pm rolls around and still no response.
Ok, I'll just email him.
By Tuesday at noon I still had no response from either outlet.

Shit.

Blank Slate

Another whirlwind weekend filled with non-stop partying and drinking.
Just kidding...this is what we did.

Friday Favorites

Let's turn our attention to something other than demo and destruction today, shall we?
In an effort to semi-hop on the "be thankful" train I compiled a list from my week that brought happiness, hilarity, and fun to my busy days.

1) Even though snow is right around the corner (and has already sprinkled down on Halloween!) I am still trying to appreciate how BRIGHT it is walking to work right now. Thank you Daylight Savings!

Demo Day 2: enter sand(wo)man

We got all this fun stuff accomplished on Day 1.
Day two brought a whole new set of challenges.
Specifically, sanding.
Mark had suggested I just take a scraper to the ENTIRE WALL and chip away at the white mortar.
Yes, it would make less of a mess...but it's all about efficiency at this point.
This is the enemy:

Demo Day 1: karate kick the commode

I can tell you this.
I WILL be booking my first ever hot stone massage immediately following this damn renovation.
if I have any money left after everything is said and done. sssh! don't tell mark!

So we hit the bathroom hard, literally.
Smashing and scraping and prying each and every damn tile off every wall.

But not before removing the medicine cabinet, sink, 6 mirror panels and nasty wallpaper.
The original plan was to (nicely) remove the toilet and salvage it.
Well, Mark got all pissed off that the bolts were rusted on and he karate kicked it into pieces.
It was the highlight of my weekend.

Saturday morning I went to Home Depot and purchased a couple of pry bars, a pair of goggles and face mask, and the odds and ends to add back to the bathroom after it's all pretty.
This included two mirrors; one for over the sink, a toilet roll holder, shower head and water valve, and fancy hand-held sprayer combo. 

Now, here are the steps in pictures to start chipping away (pun intended) at a bathroom.