let the home renovations begin

For months and months (if not the nearly two years we’ve been in the house), Daniel and I have been plotting the renovation of our two bathrooms. While clearly the master bathroom is the one with the most potential (from both size and resale value perspectives), we decided to begin with the guest/hallway bathroom — perhaps most importantly because it’s the one *other* people see when they come over and also because it’s much smaller and should, in theory, be the cheaper renovation project.

The impetus for us to get off our duffs is my imminent trip to England for summer school; I leave in a smidge less than two weeks, and I am adamant that all work must be done when I return (two days before I fly home, classes begin at UTD). I’m going to have a full fall semester, and Daniel is planning to take three (count ’em!) classes, so it will simply not do for us to have lingering home improvement tasks hanging over our heads once classes begin.

So, Friday night, in lieu of going to visit my parents and cousin Tracy & family for the weekend in Arkansas, we began demolition work in the bathroom. We also found this totally amazing (read: excessively cheap) source for tile, and bought enough tile for the hallway and bathroom for a way-cheap price of $96. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill cheap tile, either; it’s quite high-quality porcelain tile with a *lot* of color variation in the pattern (which, apparently, ups the price). We were told by the guy at the place that these tiles typically run $2.50-$3.00 per square foot, and we got it at 79 cents a tile (they are 13″ tiles). It was, in short, a bargain, even if the guy was exaggerating on the typical retail price, and my inclination — having now spent several days scoping out tile hither and yon — is that he was pretty accurate in his appraisal.

By Saturday afternoon, everything that made the bathroom a bathroom was removed, including the bath tub, which was a chore, I assure you. We went back and forth on whether to replace the tub, but the thing is, the one that was in there was total crap, and we could get a far nicer tub for about $230 at Lowe’s and put tile in the surround instead of those cheap and ugly plastic surrounds that you so often see. From a resale perspective, a tub with a tile surround is infinitely more attractive, and so with a fairly reasonable investment of funds, we can significantly up the value of that bathroom. We went back to the amazing tile place today, and got enough tile to do the surround PLUS create a backsplash/sidesplash for the vanity, all of which cost us a mere $50. AMAZING PLACE, I tell ya. It’s just a shame they don’t also sell fixtures, vanities, etc. 😉

Anyway, as I type this, Daniel and his dad are “sweating” pipe fixtures in the hollow shell of what was once the bathroom, in preparation for moving the new tub into the bathroom. It will be a tight squeeze, but once it’s in, it’s going to look SO MUCH BETTER.

We’ve already procured an extremely well-priced vanity and countertop (we’d previously picked one out that was roughly $200, but found Friday night that it was marked down for clearance, saving us $50) and the faucets/water fixtures (whole bathroom less than $270, a bargain for a full set of fixtures).

Still have to get the toilet and figure out the mirror and light fixtures, but on the whole, we’re in really good shape.

A few unexpecteds have come up, but I think we’ll be right around our target budget of $1,000, maybe just a squidge over, but not by much, thanks to the fantastic bargains we’ve been lucky to find.

And with any luck, the investment of $1,000-1,200 in this bathroom (plus the new tile in the hallway, replacing the dirty gray carpet) is going to significantly up the value of our house — and I sincerely believe it will. A bonus, all around!

I mentioned England, and it’s starting to set in that I leave in two weeks. I cannot believe it! The group going from UTD includes some of my favorite people in our program, so that’s a bonus, and we’re all starting to plot our weekend in London between the two weeks of classes. We had originally hoped to go to Paris, but the $300+ in travel costs proved to be prohibitive, considering we also want to spend several afternoons/evenings in London. In lieu of Paris, we’re going to spend a couple of nights in London and scoot down after class a few exta days. I don’t have a clue what I want to do/see in London (I’m way open to suggestion on that front!), but no matter what, I know it’s going to be a smashing good time.

Now, for packing… ugh. I am hoping to keep myself in one suitcase plus a backpack (which will hold the laptop), and I’m going to be disappointed in myself if I’m not able to do so. I remember with much loathing how awful it was lugging bags to and from airports and train stations in Europe last summer, and I just don’t want to do that to myself. So, I’m planning to do lots of laundry while there and packing a minimal amount of clothes. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I’m able to do so!!!