Bathroom Remodel

It is a rare trip to the Midwest that we don't spend most of our time on a major remodelling project, and this trip was no exception! The task this time was the bathroom - the existing sink was small, and the mirror/medicine chest, attached to the wall, was sticking out so far you bumped your head to spit out your toothpaste... The "before" version is shown at left on our last trip to Illinois.

You can see part of the wall has already been done - Maj had worked extensively on the bathroom over the winter, but waited for us on that last wall to enjoy some of the fun with plumbing and electrical work!

We had gotten a pedestal sink a year or more in Iowa at a second hand store, but couldn't find a pedestal that fit it, so it was abandoned and a new set obtained.

By the time I returned from my RAGBRAI trip, the girls (Melinda and sister Maj), had already removed the mirror from the wall and ripped out the sink and vanity. I arrived just in time to help enlarge the hole in the wall to countersink the mirror/medicine chest, and install plumbing fixtures in the new sink. Melinda spent an evening replacing wiring in the wall and also installed new light fixtures over the sink.


The next work session involved installing new bead board siding, matching the efforts that Maj had completed up to the sink. It is always impressive watching sis-in-law Maj - always a whirlwind of activity. Best not to get in her way when she is wielding a nailgun! It was about all Melinda and I could do to keep up with her on the chop saw cutting trim...

Once the wall was finished and a coat of primer/sealer put on, we had to complete the tiling, which was missing where the old vanity stood. Fortunately we had a few squares of original tiles to fill in, though not enough to remove partials and install full tiles to match the floor pattern. So the tiles look a little funky under the new pedestal sink, but who notices those sorts of things?


And then it was time for the sink installation, which went just fine. The only issue was the waste line that seeped a little for a couple days, till we figured out that one of the clamp gaskets had been installed backwards and wasn't sealing properly. The last step was to install a little shelf to hold glasses or jewelry and finally the project was done...

The remodel went pretty quickly, but only after working hard on it for a week or so. The girls continued to be productive with sewing projects, and we spent an evening installing and running a coax through the house for a wall-mount TV in the bedroom, so our "vacation in the woods" had a relaxing second half enjoying the fruits of our labors!