173 Days Later, The Remodeling Wild Ride Ends

/ Ally Bean

Surprised?

Yep, that’s how long it took from our first meeting in early March with the remodeling company planner guy to the last day in late August with the finisher guys making it all look perfect.

Kind of makes you think that HGTV shows might not be telling you the truth about how remodeling projects in the real world get done, doesn’t it?

But I digress…

Here are some photos* of how everything [finally] looks now that we have a new master bathroom, laundry room, and updated TV room fireplace.  We love the results, and couldn’t be happier that we took this wild ride– despite all the difficulties and absurdities along the way.

[Click HERE for the whole story.]

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Fancy decorative tile, lost then found in route from California, here at last.

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Double vanity with lots of drawers, meaning no more storing towels in buckets in the tub for us.

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New tub, very sleek, and no longer in my parking place in the garage where it’s spent the last two months.

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Shower doors installed on second custom frame, because why do things right the first time?

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In the laundry room, pretty decorative tiles + a small granite counter created from a slab found on the remnant pile.

• • •

Stackable washer and dryer, effective, but seem large after years of using small side-by-side ones.

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Shiny natural granite with a simple white mantle against a wall painted the correct neutral color. 

• • •

* I warned you, my gentle readers, in my first post about this remodeling wild ride that I’ve never learned how to take good interior design photos. These pics don’t do our projects justice, but they’re the best I can do.

78 thoughts on “173 Days Later, The Remodeling Wild Ride Ends”

    • Kate, the flooring is actually tile that is 23.5″ x 12″ and placed in what they called a third pattern. It’s a neutral shade and IS NOT SLIPPERY when you walk on it because it’s textured like wood grain. [I cannot over emphasize how nice it is to not slip on your bathroom floor.]

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  2. Ah! Relief! What’s it like, waking up with the house in order again? Dreamy? I love the new vanity drawers, as I personally am a very drawer-oriented person. Fab, fab, fab tubby! 😀 I adore the laundry room tile! Well done and congratulations on your grace in getting through it! 🙂

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    • joey, I feel so relieved to have all of this finished. Dreamy is a perfect word for it. I’m all about drawers, too– so lots of them make me happy and organized… which makes me thrilled. The laundry room tile is funky and hand-painted so it’s not perfect, which I think makes it fun. And heaven knows that bit of fun while doing laundry is a good thing! 🙂

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  6. Congratulations on finally getting it all done. Hard to believe it took more than a week (extreme remodeling shows) or at most 6 weeks (property brothers type shows) but it turned out lovely. I like your tile choices and love the non-slip bathroom tiles. Did you do under floor heating there? I’m also curious about the stacking laundry and whether it’s difficult to reach into that tall dryer.

    Also, gratz on getting your car’s parking spot back before winter.

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    • Zazzy, made me laugh on this one. Yes, in real life projects take much longer than good old HGTV would have you believe. WHO KNEW? [Oh wait, that’d be me.]

      There’s no heating under the tile but it was available… for a price. And as for the stackable laundry, I have no trouble reaching into the dryer, BUT find it necessary to lean way over to make sure that all the wet clothes are out of the washer. Some of them stick to the top of the rotating drum like they’re glued in there.

      Yes, thank goodness my sweet car is back inside the garage. Considering how much trouble she got into while parked on the street in summer, I can only imagine what’d happen in winter.

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    • Donna, thank you. I’d add that one needs a bit of insanity to take on projects like these, but vision and patience make it all sound so much classier. 😊

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    • Allie P, I am beyond relieved! This wasn’t my first remodeling rodeo, but it was one of the longest ones. I like all the tile, too– especially considering how difficult it was to get it… even though we intentionally picked what we were told would be readily available. 🙄

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  12. I think the pics look great! Congrats on being finished! So exciting for you. So beautiful and modern. ” because why do things right the first time?”–LOL! What about the great microwave debate? How did that turn out?

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    • Betsy, I’m so glad for this all to be over. It was a good thing to do, but an even better thing to have done.

      About the microwave: in the end one of the remodeling company’s kitchen planners knew how to have one of the carpenter’s cut out a back piece in our cabinetry so that a small KitchenAid microwave [with its stock, not custom, metal venting surround thingie] would fit into the existing space, thereby giving Z-D the custom built-in look that he wanted and me a working microwave at a reasonable price. But talk about a stupid problem… *sigh*

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    • Lynn, I like how you think! This has been one of those drawn-out situations that reminds me why people sometimes don’t try to remodel the house they’re in. However, now that it’s done, there’s a 🛁 and 🍷 waiting for me.

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    • Janis, thanks. The updated look is in keeping with the style of this house and the newer homes on this street, so I like it for lots of reasons. By all means update your bathroom, I’d love to read all about someone else doing this. 😉

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    • Maggie, I hear ‘ya. This was a big investment in time and emotion, but now that I get to use all these new spaces I’m pleased. Of course, finished in three days would have been magical…

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  16. Love your fireplace and want one. Can you have an actual fire in it? Would it have been possible to get side-by-side washer and dryer and put the cabinets all above? I might have gone for that since I am short and would have trouble reaching the dryer I think. Love the shower. Do you have flow restrictions? We had to get a low flow shower faucet to pass inspection but I just made my hubby get a new shower head so now I get almost a powerful blast. Your pictures are great, don’t sell yourself short. Congrats on making it through this one alive 🙂

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    • Janet, our fireplace can have a real fire in it OR if we choose to have a gas insert installed, there is a gas line to it. I like the candles in the fireplace, so that may be all we ever do.

      We took out the side-by-side washer and dryer because new ones are too deep for our shallow space. Our laundry room is more like an advanced closet than a modern airy room. We only had 26″ depth to work with in the laundry room and machines are much deeper now. In fact the old machines that we got rid of, stuck out 2″ into the doorway between the laundry room and the kitchen. We got used to walking around them, but with this new configuration we can walk through the doorway unimpeded.

      We don’t have flow restrictions here, so that wasn’t an issue.

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  17. YAY! Phew! Thank goodness that’s over.

    The one photo of the granite counter in the laundry (the one without the washer/dryer) looks like the drawers are sleeping… the handles are their eyes closed. It’s tired, too. 🙂

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    • Thanks, Lori. I’m hoping to do just that. Relaxing and enjoying sound good to me. I’m happy that we did this, but now I’ll be happy to not be doing all of this! 😉

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  19. Love, love, love it all! Especially the “remnant” granite top in your laundry room! I also love the separate framed mirrors in your bathroom. A gorgeous job all around. It has to feel like a new home😊

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    • Beth, thanks! I think that laundry room counter is cool, too. I’d have picked that granite even if it hadn’t been deeply discounted. The framed mirrors are one of those upgrades that make a huge difference for a small price. You’re right, this does seem like a whole new place, which is kind of fun.

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  21. It all looks so pretty! What a relief it must be to be done. You probably feel like you can finally breathe. We’ll probably start our updates in October. Not as many as you, but we need some repainting, maybe wallpapering, and a new carpet for one of the rooms. The introvert in me is trying to psyche herself up for the strangers-in-the-home thing. 😁

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  22. Your tile in your bathroom is very similar to mine, thus I love it! I bet you are delighted to have the whole job finished and looking so new and beautiful. I need to start on the remodeling projects, but I can’t even find anyone to re-stain my cedar or fix my siding. People come, promise to call me back, and never do. It’s discouraging.

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    • Margaret, I hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right about the similarities between your bathroom tile and ours. I copied you, don’t you know?! I understand about how difficult it is to get anyone to fix anything, let alone do it well. We have some [minor] exterior repairs that need to be done, but no one is interested in doing them… so what can you do? Keep calling, I guess.

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    • Akilah, the tub is a nice size and shape. Not the biggest one available but fits the space, so what’s not to love? And yes, the painters came back on a Saturday even to re-paint the walls the proper color. They’re not a bad bunch of painters, they just made a mistake. It happens.

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  24. I am crazy in love with your new bathroom. Wow!

    As to the time all of your remodeling took, well, experience with all that makes me jaded and Not Surprised. It’s Pure Hell, basically, as you know/knew. That you were able to withstand it all with so much Grace and Aplomb is terrific.

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    • nance, I love our new bathroom, too. It’s been a theoretical project for so long that to see it completed doesn’t seem real to me yet. And yes, Pure Hell is accurate. I’ve lived through other remodeling projects, so I knew what to expect– and that it’d take longer than advertised. I attribute my Grace and Aplomb to my mother who showed us the way when I was a child while our house was being remodeled– and built onto– and hit by lightening…

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    • evilsquirrel13, Fuzzy’s kin don’t seem to be coming close to the house like he did. But if one of them in the forest can throw an acorn that reaches the window, then I shall be honored to be the target.

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    • Thanks, Elen Grey. I like how all of it turned out, too. We have yet to pop a bottle of champagne– but are planning on doing so this weekend when we can sit back & bask in the newness of it all.

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  27. I must say, your end results make me yearn to go ahead with my wish list and update my laundry room and add a fireplace! We recently remodeled our upstairs bathroom, and we had to make a few adjustments along the way for unforeseen issues. I think that’s part of the deal, but I’m happy with the outcome and glad we went through with the project–even when it did mean we were without bathing facilities for a week … yeah. Not fun.

    You must be so happy to have this project behind you! Congrats and enjoy!

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    • Kate, you suffered more than we did! We still had our guest bathroom to use while the master one was in process. I’m glad that we did all of these projects and plan on enjoying the results for years to come, but it was quite a way to spend my summer, dealing with people and chaos in our house for close to three months. If you choose to go forward, I’ll enjoy reading about your experiences to see what happens to you along the way.

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