With our impending arrival in summer 2020, we know our "project list" is going to be shorter this year. We are planning to make the most of our time before baby comes, and really focus on projects that will either
1) Improve the safety of our home for baby
2) Improve the function of our home for baby,
3) Be less disruptive if we get them done before trying to navigate nap schedules, etc.
So, we have a shorter to do list this year than last year, and we are A-Okay with that! To be honest, we both are feeling like we are almost "done" with this home. We have a couple wish-list items (like moving the laundry from our garage to a room upstairs, and turning our deck into a screen porch), but we want to adjust to life and a budget with our new baby before taking those on down the road.
So, without further ado, here is our project goal list for (the first half) of 2020!
1) Renovate the guest bathroom
The previous owners took out the only bathtub in our house and replaced it with a handicap accessible shower. It worked for them, but it doesn't work for us and was a big issue when they were trying to sell this home! We have been saving up for a while and are excited to share that this is our first project for 2020! The contractors came yesterday, we made our plans, and work should start in the next two weeks!
Here's our current situation, and our mood board for what we are envisioning it becoming:
We are going to be:
- Removing the shower surround and basin, and installing a bathtub. Thankfully, it looks as if we won't need to move any plumbing to accommodate this. Fingers crossed it stays that way! We will be using a really cool system called the Delta Upstile system. It's an acrylic surround that looks like subway tile (but is way easier to clean because no grout!), and even has an inlay where you can lay REAL tile! You can select any tile you want, and make it fully custom. We are making our selection for that this week and are super excited. We really loved the classic look of subway tile, but the cost (and upkeep!) of laying real tile vs. the acrylic surround made a huge difference. This surround & tub kit cost us $600 vs. about $3000 to lay real tile. I ain't mad about it!
- We will be replacing the toilet in this bathroom, as well. The toilet is original (35 years old) and we often have plumbing issues with it. We've already replaced the other two toilets in our home and have seen our water bill significantly decrease, so we are going to replace this one with the same low-flow model.
- Replacing the counter top and painting the cabinets, and likely will be adding a little second sink here, as well! This cabinet has the plumbing already there (just like our master bath did) so we know at some point there was a sink here but they took it out for some reason. We figure for guests, it will be nice to have a kid sink and a guest sink for them to use! We're big fans of white counter tops, so will be going for that look again. However, in this bathroom, we decided to go for a bit more color. This bathroom sits at the top of the stairs, so you can see it when you walk in our house. We want it to be really pretty when the door is open, and since it will primarily be used by our kiddo(s), we wanted it to be a bit whimsical and fun. Spenser calls it "luxe whimsy" which I'm really here for!
This photo is serving as my "inspiration" for the room, but we won't be doing a tile wall or wallpaper. We may try to find a really color shower curtain though to bring in a similar vibe!
- Painting the ceiling and walls, and removing the saloon cabinet. Our master bath and this one are mirror images, so everything we hated about our bathroom, we hate in this one, as well. We will likely do the same beadboard treatment to cover the medicine cabinet hole, and hang a new mirror. Because we have recessed mirrors on our side of the wall, we can't do medicine cabinets in here, but will likely find a pretty new mirror to hang as the one currently installed has a large crack down the side and isn't safe any longer.
Some folks have asked why we are "rushing" to do this before the baby comes, since our tiny human won't even use a bathtub for quite a while. Obviously the main motivation for this reno is putting in a bathtub for the baby to use at some point, but the reason we are doing it NOW is because we feel taking on a bathroom renovation with all the noise, dust, and expense that comes with, would not be smart when there's a tiny person trying to nap on the other side of the wall. It just makes sense to us to knock this out before there's someone else's needs to navigate around!
That was a long summary because we have actual plans in place, but here's the rest of our 2020 to do list:
2) Replace windows. Our windows are original to the home, the only remaining "old house" item that need to be updated. We've been having issues with our windows not opening/sealing shut, or when they are opened, the top sash crashing down and then we're unable to keep it up unless the window is locked and shut. On top of that, our bottom floor windows go pretty much to the floor. The screens are old fashioned and mounted on a single screw, and our cat has pushed her way out the window more than once, easily. Our fear is that a cruising toddler could easily push out of a window and would fall 4+ feet from the house (the front is elevated) and could be seriously hurt. This wasn't something we had planned to do, but with the energy efficiency improvements, functional improvements, and safety improvements it would provide, this feels like another project we want to fast track to avoid lots of noise and mess when baby arrives. We are currently getting price bids now and hope to do this mid-spring/early summer.
3) Add built ins around fireplace. We have wanted to do this for a while, but got sidetracked. This is something we plan to DIY, and will be adding built ins and a new fireplace mantle at the same time. I expect this to happen mid-late spring! We'll be following this tutorial to get it done!
4) Obviously complete our nursery! This is a given, but we will be focusing on getting Baby Rubin's nursery set up before our due date. Babykins will be sleeping in our room for a while, but we hope to enjoy this room as a place to change diapers, nurse, and read books together. We'll share more plans about this soon once we share baby's gender... which we already know!!!
So, those are our big plans for 2020! In summary:
1) Keep growing the tiny hooman
2) Renovate guest bath
3) Replace windows
4)Add fireplace built ins
5)Start/Finish nursery
Once little nugg arrives, we'll be focusing on adjusting to being parents for the rest of 2020. I don't expect us to get much else done on our house except maybe some landscaping here and there! TBD!
