April Showers

My husband has done a few renovations to our house since we moved in over a year and a half ago and I love everything he has done. One of the few things we did not love about this house when we bought it was that it only had one bathroom. With only three people living here, that may not seem so bad but I dreamed of having a second bathroom. So, my husband made it happen and I am very lucky to have such a hard working handyman! This is one of the first projects he started and originally it was to be finished in April of 2015. It took a few months longer than anticipated - not the project itself but time available to work on it was a challenge. I do believe that it was well worth the wait.

Our house is an early seventies ranch style house that had been renovated before we moved in. The kitchen and original bathroom had already been remodeled. Recessed lighting and crown molding was installed, etc. On one end of the house, behind the kitchen was a door that led to a laundry room. There was a small closet in this room that had room for the water heater, a mop and a broom but not much else. I liked the room because it has a window and a glass pane entry door which allows in so much natural light. But the positioning of the door and the narrow rectangle shape of the room made it hard to make use of  the square footage efficiently. Here are some before photos:

View from the kitchen/living room

That shelf was pitiful. 

My super fancy high tech washer and dryer...

We put a clothing rod on the wall opposite the washer and dryer when we moved in.  I did lose that in the renovation. However, my husband put a retractable clothes line on the porch for me and I love it. You can also see the closet where the big cylinder water heater was before the renovation. It took up most of the closet. 

You can see the attic access door in this picture as well as the light fixture. The attic door had to be turned 90° and the light fixture had to be moved.  

My husband and I thought it would be a great place to add a second small bathroom. I would lose laundry room space, but I really was not using that space anyway. It was mostly a wide walkway with a clothes hanging bar. I could not put any type of furniture on the opposite side of the washer unless it was very narrow and it had to clear the door.

Once we decided to make it a bathroom, my husband got to work. I am sure I will leave out many things but some of the things he did (not in order):

• Tore out closet and removed and relocated water heater. ( I like that the new tank-less water heaters  take up much less room than the big cylinder water heaters.) 
• Removed the tile on the portion of the floor that will be the bathroom (but left it where the washer and dryer will be)
• Moved the washer and dryer hookups
• Rotated the attic door
• Put new tile down on the bathroom floor 
• Plumbing - all that stuff needed to make it work properly, drains, etc for the sink, shower, and toilet
• Put up drywall to divide the new rooms and installed a pocket door
• Installed 8"x 10' bead board slats on vanity wall and painted it white
• Created a beautiful tile shower with a cool glass brick side, a shower seat, a shampoo niche, dual shower heads! (I love that part) and glass door
• Installed new light fixtures in the shower (water-proof led), on the wall on each side of the mirror, and in the new laundry room area
• Installed a toilet
• Made and installed a vanity/counter top 
• Installed the mirror, faucet, and super cool sink
• Painted the walls grey

While I would definitely prefer the convenience and privacy of having a master bathroom, it is not practical with the layout of our house. 

This bathroom makes a great mudroom as well. I can go straight into the shower instead of tracking dirt through the house on the way to the other bathroom. I've used it after cutting grass and it's awesome.  The dog can get her bath in here when she decides to roll in the mud. One of the shower heads is detachable and that makes it super easy to wash pets. Then I toss all the dirty and muddy clothes and towels straight into the washing machine.

New laundry area with cabinet and shelves for storage. 

A pocket door is just perfect for this space. 

I think the bead board turned out great.

shower seat and detachable shower head

from the outside looking in

Not only did we make our home more comfortable and convenient for ourselves and our guests, I think we've increased the value as well. I am extremely pleased with the results.