This past week, a lot of changes have been going on in the hall bathroom and they have happened SO fast! What once was an empty shell of what’s supposed to be a bathroom is no longer! After what seems like a few, short days… voila! The tile is done, the bathtub is installed and so is the vanity. It’s beginning to look more like an actual, functioning bathroom. Oh how I love progress!

Some of you may be wondering why we didn’t decide to tackle the tile installation ourselves. Though we are anxious to get our hands dirty DIYing, neither of us had ever installed tile before, and since this is our first major renovation project, we decided it would be best to call in the professionals. Plus, when we chose to also tile the walls, the decision to hire a contractor seemed pretty obvious. In just three short days, the amazing team at MB Tile had the job done and done beautifully.

Another star of this hall bathroom renovation is the sparkling new bath tub! After we gutted the bathroom, we called in yet another professional to rough in the new fixtures which included the addition of the second sink. This made installing the new tub super easy.

We milled over a few different options when it came to the vanity: ordering it from one of the online vanity megastores, having one custom built by a local cabinet maker and we even toyed with the idea of building it ourselves (we were crazy). Ultimately, we decided to design one on paper and take it to our local Home Depot. Call us “newbies”, but we actually didn’t know we could do that until my dad mentioned it. So to the drawing table I went. This is what we came up with…

We thought it would be a fun change in pace to have some open shelving instead of ordinary drawers between the two sinks. We plan on finding a decorative basket of some sort to stash toiletries and using the bottom shelf for folded towels. If we get tired of it down the road, we can always order a couple of drawers.

A little under three weeks after taking our drawing to Home Depot, our custom vanity was ready to be picked up. The installation process was really easy. It came in three separate peaces and was installed with just a few screws here and there to hold it in place.

As you can see, at the moment the vanity isn’t 100% complete. There is a piece that goes on the very bottom (I’m not sure what it’s actually called, but I keep calling it a “kick plate”). We also need to add the hardware. Then comes the countertop, sinks, fixtures, etc. One day at a time, folks. One day at a time.

Last time, we mentioned that we removed one of the hall linen closets to make room for more vanity space and a wider doorway. We were happy about the decision then, but now that everything is coming together, we are absolutely ecstatic about the outcome. Cue happy dance.

What once seemed like a small, narrow bathroom is now shaping up to be more spacious and modern.

Btw, if you missed it, check out part one and part two of the big hall bathroom renovation project. Want to stay updated with the home renovation progress on Facebook? “Like” the 7th House on the Left Facebook page.