Before and After - the bathroom

I thought that it would be fun to post some before pictures of the bathroom. Just so everyone can see what a huge step up it is for us.

The old bathroom was a tiny room right at the top of the stairs. It was only about 40 square feet - incredibly small for a family of four. But just the right size for a laundry room for said family, which is what we changed it into.

The plans for the building permits (that I did myself to save many thousands of dollars - and they all passed inspection for the permit process!) show the old and new layouts for these two rooms. We didn't make any other changes to the second floor.

The bedroom right next to the old bathroom was Matthew's. I spent a lot of time at the end of last year convincing him how cool it would be to have his bedroom up on the third floor. Initially he wasn't keen on moving up, but a little paint and some new carpet (and secretly moving everything he owned up there while he was at school one day) made him see the light. And he's been happily ensconced up there in his cozy new room ever since.

The next floor plan shows the current layout. The old bathroom is now the laundry room and the new bathroom was the adjacent bedroom. In the picture below, the bathtub along the short wall next to the closet is actually the walk in shower. I couldn't figure out how to make Floorplanner put in a shower, so I used the closest thing I could find and the building department didn't seem to mind.

The linen closet next to the walk in shower is also the same depth as the shower, not narrower as pictured here, and the laundry and bathroom doors are pocket doors, so there's no swing. 

The view from the hallway into the old bathroom shows how tight it was. You can see the shower curtain for the tub hanging to the left of the door. I made the vanity from an antique dresser and a vessel sink as I had a really hard time finding a decent vanity small enough to fit into the space.

 I did love that vanity, even if the taps were always loose.

I guess the one advantage of the old bathroom was that you could take care of all of your business at once. Sit on the toilet and wash your hands, brush your teeth, etc., all from a seated position. And yes, it really was as tight as it looks.  

I was frequently bruised on my left bicep from ramming my arm into the moulding halfway up the wall on the corner by the toilet. And I only had myself to blame because I was the genius who installed it. It looked pretty, but packed a killer punch.

And a look back from the vanity towards the door reinforces how tiny the space was (and how pointy the killer corner was). You can imagine how difficult it was to get two kids and two adults ready in the morning. 

When you compare the old bath to this

you can imagine how happy I am.