Orange bathroom update

It's been just over four years since I painted the downstairs bathroom orange so that I finally had a truly orange bathroom instead of one with a lot of orange stuff in it. Since then I got rid of a lot of that stuff for a less cluttered look, and I changed the shower curtain out twice. This is the most recent one that I put up a few weeks ago. It matches the curtains in my office.



But it wouldn't remain up for long. We recently had an inspection done to make sure nothing was urgently wrong with the house, and to help prioritize what the next project should be. He said to do the downstairs bathroom, and gut it completely.

Thankfully, we didn't have a hard time finding a contractor. The guy who did our main bathroom renovation as well as our fence told us he's only doing glass now, but he referred us to someone he works with. And he's actually eager to do the job! He was here within a couple of days to look over everything and we had a cool idea to take the cabinet in the bathroom along with the cabinet in the main living space downstairs and the closet in my office and add all that space to the bathroom. That way we could have a tub and a walk-in shower.

We weren't too sad about the concept of losing the closet in my office because the inspector said it's not a legal bedroom because the window is smaller than the legal limit for egress. I'm really curious if the code changed in the last eight years because it was sold to us as a 3-bedroom. Not that it's a great size for that. It'd be possible to dig into the ground around the window, cut into the wall, and make a sunken egress window. But we don't need to; everyone sleeps upstairs.

But the project was not meant to be, because it was just too expensive. About 2.5 times what we set aside in cash. So we asked him to do another estimate where we just make the bathroom all brand new, with a walk-in shower where the tub is. That came in $2,000 below our budget, but not really. He can't estimate materials like tile and fixtures because you can buy cheap stuff or nice stuff. $2,000 isn't enough for all that, but we can handle the difference. We said yes Tuesday night and he came Thursday to get started.



He had great news for us. The moisture the inspector was worried about in the wall must have just been in the air inside the space behind the tile, because the metal and wood you see in the photo were perfectly fine. The pipes are already copper, so he doesn't have to replace them. And the closet in my office doesn't go all the way to the end of where the tub was on the right, so we'll be able to make it even longer and add a nice seat in that spot. He's bringing help today to complete the demo, and I have to find my tile and fixtures. I did say "my" because Garrett decided to let me manage this project since it's basically my bathroom. We'll both use it when we're watching TV downstairs, but it's where I shower and I use it all day.

I had to move my desk and start working upstairs. The view is nice, but after working in my office for 8.5 years it's a big, jarring change. The hardest part is not having a door to close. Thankfully I usually only have one meeting each week.

I'm keeping it an orange bathroom, and since there aren't many orange toilets out there, it'll be orange with a white vanity and toilet, and other parts that need to not be orange will be white as well. Like the bottom of the shower. He mentioned that orange grout is an option in case I want to use any white tile, and I definitely know I'll take him up on that in at least one spot. No sense having the white vanity and toilet floating all by themselves in a sea of orange. They get a couple of lifelines.

Orange bathroom update

It's been just over four years since I painted the downstairs bathroom orange so that I finally had a truly orange bathroom instead of one with a lot of orange stuff in it. Since then I got rid of a lot of that stuff for a less cluttered look, and I changed the shower curtain out twice. This is the most recent one that I put up a few weeks ago. It matches the curtains in my office.



But it wouldn't remain up for long. We recently had an inspection done to make sure nothing was urgently wrong with the house, and to help prioritize what the next project should be. He said to do the downstairs bathroom, and gut it completely.

Thankfully, we didn't have a hard time finding a contractor. The guy who did our main bathroom renovation as well as our fence told us he's only doing glass now, but he referred us to someone he works with. And he's actually eager to do the job! He was here within a couple of days to look over everything and we had a cool idea to take the cabinet in the bathroom along with the cabinet in the main living space downstairs and the closet in my office and add all that space to the bathroom. That way we could have a tub and a walk-in shower.

We weren't too sad about the concept of losing the closet in my office because the inspector said it's not a legal bedroom because the window is smaller than the legal limit for egress. I'm really curious if the code changed in the last eight years because it was sold to us as a 3-bedroom. Not that it's a great size for that. It'd be possible to dig into the ground around the window, cut into the wall, and make a sunken egress window. But we don't need to; everyone sleeps upstairs.

But the project was not meant to be, because it was just too expensive. About 2.5 times what we set aside in cash. So we asked him to do another estimate where we just make the bathroom all brand new, with a walk-in shower where the tub is. That came in $2,000 below our budget, but not really. He can't estimate materials like tile and fixtures because you can buy cheap stuff or nice stuff. $2,000 isn't enough for all that, but we can handle the difference. We said yes Tuesday night and he came Thursday to get started.



He had great news for us. The moisture the inspector was worried about in the wall must have just been in the air inside the space behind the tile, because the metal and wood you see in the photo were perfectly fine. The pipes are already copper, so he doesn't have to replace them. And the closet in my office doesn't go all the way to the end of where the tub was on the right, so we'll be able to make it even longer and add a nice seat in that spot. He's bringing help today to complete the demo, and I have to find my tile and fixtures. I did say "my" because Garrett decided to let me manage this project since it's basically my bathroom. We'll both use it when we're watching TV downstairs, but it's where I shower and I use it all day.

I had to move my desk and start working upstairs. The view is nice, but after working in my office for 8.5 years it's a big, jarring change. The hardest part is not having a door to close. Thankfully I usually only have one meeting each week.

I'm keeping it an orange bathroom, and since there aren't many orange toilets out there, it'll be orange with a white vanity and toilet, and other parts that need to not be orange will be white as well. Like the bottom of the shower. He mentioned that orange grout is an option in case I want to use any white tile, and I definitely know I'll take him up on that in at least one spot. No sense having the white vanity and toilet floating all by themselves in a sea of orange. They get a couple of lifelines.