Bathroom Remodel: Update

Well, we survived the weekend folks!

Here is the list of items that I hoped we would complete this weekend:

Pull out the old toilet

Demo the existing tile

Paint trim and door

Stain vanity

I am happy to report that we completed all of the items above except for one! I can’t believe it! I plan to paint the trim and door this afternoon. We will continue on with the progress one evening this week when my dad can stop by and show us how to use the tile saw. So all in all, we had a pretty progressive weekend!

However, we did run into a few snags along the way.

The old tile was set on top of concrete and it was ridiculously hard to get off! We ended up having to rent a special drill to get it off. We went to rent a demo drill and left with a “chipper drill”. This baby was intense!!! But it did the job! Luckily we went to rent it on Saturday and since the store is closed on Sundays, we got to keep the drill until Monday a.m. for the price of only one day!

Since we were having so much fun with it, we decided to go ahead and demo the tile in our master bath! So quickly this project will be going over budget since I hadn’t planned on starting the master bath at this time!

At least we saved money by not having to rent that tool again later on!

Then it was time for us to patch the sheetrock in the guest bath after we removed the old porcelain towel bar and toilet paper holder. We patched the sheetrock, applied the joint compound and paper tape and let it dry.

After Brian sanded everything down, he removed the hardware and doors off the vanity. Then I sanded it with steel wool and then washed it down with soapy water. After it was dry, I applied mineral spirits to clean and prep for the varnish/stain.

Instead of stripping the vanity and sanding it all away and then re-staining it, I decided to varnish it. So after waiting 20 minutes for the mineral spirits to do their work, I mixed some poly-urethane and stain together and applied it to the vanity cabinets.

3 hours later, the vanity and its pieces were dry. But, it wasn’t as dark as I would like. So I added more stain into the mixture and did a second coat. Now it looks perfect!!

Some lessons learned from the project so far:

Face masks are absolutely necessary for staining and tile removal.

Wear closed toed shoes during tile removal and thick gloves.

Patience is key!

The prep work is the hardest and most crucial part to this project.

Pure acetone nail polish remover easily removes varnish/stain from your skin!

I can't wait to share our finished project with you! Stay tuned!