The Demolition

Yay! It's demolition time! Although it normally takes 2 to 3 weeks to order and receive a shower kit from http://www.americanbathfactory.com/, they just happened to have the one we wanted on hand (we knew it was meant to be). We have a guest bathroom so we're just going to take EVERYTHING out of the master bathroom at one time. They say we can install the shower in a weekend so we'll see if we can do it!  Time to grab the sledgehammer and don't forget to turn off the water!

This is where our vanity and wall mirror were.  Lesson number one...when removing the large bathroom mirror, be aware that they use mirror glue which leaves that lovely black residue you see in the picture.  It will need to be scraped off the wall and the wall will need to be retextured.  Lesson number two...when taking out a vanity that covers the floor and replacing it with a vanity that has legs, there WILL be bare floor!

Missing tiles after removing original vanity

Since we didn't have extra tiles from when the floor was originally put in (lesson number three...keep extra tiles) we had to find something close in color and texture. The up side is that they really won't show once the new vanity is put in so it doesn't have to be perfect. (Whew!)

The Shower

We had to run an electrical line for the steam shower (right side, behind the framework).  We ran it up into the attic (very small space since we have a two-story house but it was manageable) and over to the electrical box.  We used a 25' pvc pipe to pass it through the really tight areas which worked great!

Well, that's about it for the demolition, stay tuned!



The Chateau Collection

The Chateau Collection is SO beautiful...I want one of each! ☺

For the shower, we decided on the 36" x 60" Single Grand Package Shower System (#P20-2435E-SN) which bought us a few more inches in width since our previous shower was 34".  We also ordered the Recessed Shampoo Shelf (#P20-3312E) which beats setting our "stuff" on the floor or the window shelf.  We decided against the Shower Bench because I'm handicapped and I often need a shower chair with handles.  We didn't need both.  We chose the Exposed Shower System with Pan Shower Head and Hand Shower in brushed nickle (#F746E-PI-H-SN) because my husband likes the shower over his head while I prefer using a Hand Shower. This is an amazing shower system since we can use BOTH units at the same time (water conservation! ha!) and my favorite feature is that we set the temperature once and then just turn the shower and/or hand shower on and off individually.  We never have to mess with the temperature unless we change our mind on how hot or cold we want our water...very cool!

Now for the vanity...instead of getting a wall-to-wall vanity, we chose the Mahagony 63" vanity (#P12-1402E-H-SN) with the Sistine Stone and Back Splash in medium stone with a dark stone accent.  We preferred the Metal Raised Bowls (looks like Old World Bronze) and the Gooseneck Back Splash mounted faucets.

We both liked the look of the Apothecary (#P12-1612E) which will add some diminsion to the room since it's 76" tall. With the shorter vanity and the apothecary, it will make our sinks closer and more intimate and will give us more storage space.  Since we plan to place the apothecary on MY side, we chose the Medicine Cabinet (#P12-1608E) for my husband's side. In the toilet area we decided to get the Wall Cabinet (#P12-1606E) to hang above the toilet.

With everything on order our next step will be the demolition.

Getting Down to Specifics...

We looked all over the internet for ideas. We were already familiar with Sistine Stone (http://www.sistinestone.com/) which looks like real stone but isn't so costly. They have a showroom (http://www.americanbathfactory.com/) located right in our own backyard (okay, not literally in our backyard but in the same city)! We went to the showroom because we're both pretty visual and we knew they had displays set up. FYI, Sistine Stone looks like real stone but the similarities end there. It doesn't support the growth of fungi, mildew or bacteria which is a big plus in our book! It's also easy to care for and it's hypoallergenic, non-toxic and non-porous. Their shower kit is a real plus for us DIYers!

When we told them we were looking for a steam shower they brought out the catalog and we realized that we were at a 'one stop shop'! Yay! With the help of The friendly folks at the American Bath Factory we settled on the Amerec Steam Generator AK7 (http://www.amerec.com/) with Touch Control and Steamhead, ADK Series Automatic Drain Systems and Auto Drain Kit. We went ahead and ordered the steam unit and started looking at their showers in earnest.

We both agreed that we preferred the Chateau collection from their "high end showroom product line" Ahqua (http://www.ahqua.com/). It had the traditional lines and mahogany colors that we were looking for. We headed home, made some measurements, pulled up their website, and began to make our final decisions.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

I'd like to take a moment and explain to you that my husband and I decided to complete our project before I blogged about it.  We took lots of pictures and wrote plenty of notes to keep it fresh in our minds, so I will be blogging as if it's happening in real time.  Now that we're down to the final details, I'm ready to tell you all about our adventure and the things that we learned along the way.

I believe one of the most important questions should be "why did we decide to remodel our bathroom?" and "why now?"  Well, besides the obvious answer "because it's old and boring", if you look in the lower left corner of our shower you can see that the tiles are pushed out.  Whether it was from mold or mildew, we wanted it out!  We also found out last year that our upstairs shower only had dry wall behind the tiles and did not have the hardibacker board to protect it from moisture (and it passed inspection?!) so it was our assumption that this one didn't have it either.  We were correct.  FYI, the silver square on the bottom is duct tape where we removed and replaced tiles to see what was really behind them (very disappointing).

Our Shower "Before" Picture

The next step was what do we want?  My husband had always wanted a steam shower so this seemed the opportune time to get one.  We cut a hole in the false wall between the shower and the sink to confirm that it was hollow since it looked like the perfect place for the steam unit (and yes, we reattached the piece of wall with duct tape).  We didn't want a bathtub in this bathroom, that's for another bathroom and another blog.

Our Bathroom...In The Beginning

Greetings! This is my first blog ever so please excuse any errors that I might make (and feel free to advise).

White, white, everywhere I look it's white! Rather than looking at this negatively, I prefer to think of it as a blank canvas. We already had the flooring which we put in a few years ago. We used porcelain so that when we drop something (notice I said "when" and not "if") it's the same color through and through so no one would notice a chip.

The "Before" Picture

My husband and I are really excited about this DIY project (yes, I had to figure out "Do It Yourself" but it seems to be an accepted abbreviation)! We researched having it done professionally but the cost is astronomical in our humble opinions. We also like the idea of doing this in our time and in our way.

Another "Before" Picture

I hope you'll follow us on our merry adventures (and misadventures) as we renovate our bathroom.