alison chandra: Bathroom Reno: The Before

I thought it was about that time to post my first blog about some home renovation projects. My hubby and I are a tad bit addicted to DIY-ing our home. We love the satisfaction of looking at something and knowing we did it! There can be a lot of long hours and little sleep involved when we are working on a larger project - but for us it is all worth it in the end!

I grew up with a Dad who could build just about anything you ask him to and a Mom who is majorly crafty and an amazing seamstress ... so it's in my genes to be a DIY-er! After a long day at work, I would much rather pick up a paintbrush than lay on the couch and watch TV all night ... it is my way of relaxing and clearing my head! Thankfully my husband Jay is the same way so we make a great team!

We moved into our new house last spring. My sister-in-law thankfully sent me a Kijiji ad of the most beautiful character home (was also only a few blocks away from the house we were in at the time). I fell in love instantly and knew this house was meant to be ours. It was a hectic and very quick move but we are so happy we did it! We have always wanted a character home and this one was beyond perfect. It was on the market for a few months so maybe not perfect for everyone's tastes - but to us it was love at first sight. Since we love home renos (and we basically flipped our first house), we weren't scared of a little work ... but thankfully it didn't need a complete overhaul like our first home!

One of our major renovations planned was the main floor bathroom. It was outdated (but not in a good/character type of way) ... and just plain ugly. The shower was annoying because it was tiny, yet there was tons of space for a larger shower!! Our upstairs bathroom has a claw foot bath tub (*~~no big deal~~ ... just kidding, only my favorite part of the house!!) so we knew we wanted to rip out the old shower and build a larger stand up one. The cabinets were made out of a horrifically ugly melamine (I know ... I'm being overly dramatic) and one door was literally hanging by one hinge. It really is a miracle we still have our toes because when that door would get knocked, the melamine corner would hit the floor so hard! (yikes!!) The vanity sink and faucet were actually really nice ... granite and a Kohler faucet ... but we got rid of those because it just wasn't going to work with our new design ideas. Ripping this bathroom apart was so exciting!! It was just all kinds of wrong!

Here are a few before shots of the bathroom. We are done now (aside from decorating - I'm still working on that!) ... so I will share with you all of the ups and downs along the way and how it all came together in future blog posts!