We invited a few local contractors in to quote the job. While we liked both the Fabinex team and the Case's group, our timing requirements led us to choose Rob and the team at Case renovations. They suggested all the work could be done in about 2 weeks. We're now entering week 4, and are hopeful it will be wrapped up mid-week.
For background, our little house has 1 bathroom, on the second floor. It is surprisingly large, and appears to have been a bedroom at one time. During the demolition processed, we deduced that the bathroom was built out (providing full ceiling height rather than the angled roof line sometime in the mid 1930's. It might have been used as a bedroom at that time, since it had full built in closets and shelves. Here's the before shots:
Lucky for Jon, there was a chimney hidden behind the sink, running from the second floor up into the attic. Did he ever get dirty removing that thing, brick by brick!
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| From Reno Project - Bathroom |
Our plan is to make the room smaller by adding a wall where the closet cabinets had been, and making a bedroom and hall closet out of the extra space. During the demolition phase, we uncovered multiple layers of old linoleum, multiple layers of wallpaper, curious plumbing choices (over the baseboards?) and funky wiring. We even found a newspaper from 1936 in the walls. I feel for the Case guys (Kim and Mitchell) who had to remove 3 walls' worth of lathe & plaster.
Jon found a clawfoot bathtub online, that we then sanded, painted black on the outside, and re-glazed, so we've designed the space around it to look pretty old-fashioned. With black and white ceramic tile flooring, an older style pedestal sink and matching toilet, the only new piece in the room will be the separate shower. I think it'll be worth it, even if it doesn't quite match!
Check out these shots of the work in progress. Oh! I should mention that we're also changing the front bedroom during this project. We've knocked out the little half-height closet and the main wall, and added a door off the hall. Along with a fairly deep closet, this room will soon be our master bedroom. I can hardly wait to be posting the "After" pictures!
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| Reno Project - Bathroom |
