Mini Bathroom Makeover at the Mountain Cottage Part 1

 Hello friends!

The downstairs mini makeover in our downstairs bathroom at the mountain cottage is finished.  However, I'll be showing you how it looks a little different now, in a few days.

We really didn't want to reno this bathroom because we changed our plans to build a larger bathroom where the front porch is now and make this bathroom a laundry room.

But...the toilet was darn near falling through the floor...more on that later.

This post will not be pretty, but I promise the next one will be. I just didn't want to mix the two posts together. I'm sure you'll understand why when you see the pics.

Here's what the bathroom looked like when we bought the house. This is the MLS photo. It was a small, dysfunctional full bath.

Since this was a mini makeover and we plan to make this into a laundry room in a few years, we decided not to touch the tub/shower.

This is why the mini makeover was imperative:

When the house was built, the plumber cut the floor joist to allow the drain to go through the floor. Over time, the wax seal didn't seal and water was leaking into the floor joists and rotting them. Every time we sat on the toilet we felt like we were going to fall through the floor. We couldn't wait any longer to fix the bathroom.

Mr. DIY cut out the vinyl flooring and this is what he found.

Ewwwww

He cut out the floor joists and installed new ones. 

Then he added a new piece of solid sub floor.

The ridiculous sideways vanity was removed. 

We're thinking that the vanity was too large, so it was turned sideways to fit. Lots of things were wacky with this house. 

Old sink plumbing...

New sink plumbing...

After removing all the wallpaper, he installed new drywall on the lower half of the walls behind the plumbing.

Electrical was moved for the new light. Mr. DIY hooked up a temporary bulb.

Instead of spending more time and money on porcelain tile, he picked up some inexpensive vinyl planks.

A new vanity light was installed.

We found this vanity on Craigslist several years before and I was going to paint it a lighter color. However, I was really sick(for months) during the time he was working on the bathroom.(see my other blog for details on how I'm recovering). 

 I also wanted a lighter top, but I really didn't care at the time.

So, this is where we stood for a time until we found a mirror. 

Only, the mirror didn't make it better because the vanity was just plain awkward and not the right dimensions for the room. Plus, it was too dark for the look I wanted. 

Still, we were so happy to be able to use this bathroom! I believe this bathroom was finished in 2019 and cost us between $600 and $700. 

A few months ago, I saw a Lowe's ad for a cute vanity and it was on sale for $199. Mr. DIY really liked it and he said he didn't mind swapping the vanities out. We ordered it online and picked it up a few days later at the Lowe's near our mountain cottage.

This is the vanity...Isn't it so much cuter?

Next time I'll show you a proper before and after. I promise the new post will be so much prettier. Mr. DIY even installed some white floating shelves for some storage.

If you'd like to see PRETTY part 2 - The Reveal... click HERE

Pam

How To Store Your Stuff - Closet Edition

Hello Friends!

This is How To Store Your Stuff - Closet Edition

I have a simple solution to adding more space to your closet. 

The closet in our Mountain House downstairs bedroom is only 19" deep.. 

That's a problem because 24" is the depth space you need to hang clothes on a hanger. 

You may have minimal hanging space in your closet like we do and need  more space for clothing.

Mr. DIY added some super simple and relatively inexpensive shelving to add more storage space to our closet and you can too. 

Mr. DIY added something similar in the Master Closet at our previous house.

Link to this post will be at the end of this post. 

Several years ago, there were so many projects on the Mountain Cottage reno list, and we thought we would build a  custom closet at a later date, so we bought 2 bookcases from Ikea and set them in the middle of the closet. 

The problem was that they were too deep and blocked getting to the hanging items.

But, we lived with it for several years. 

Mr. DIY decided to make a platform for the bed in this room with them about 6 months ago and then we were left with no place to put folded items, since there isn't a dresser in the small room. 

We decided to save Mr. DIY's time and a little cash by foregoing the custom shelving and just installing simple shelves in the center.

They are awesome! We both couldn't believe how simple they were.

Why didn't we do this sooner?

Mr. DIY had already installed a few shelves and a closet rod for long items on the left side of the closet. I place the rod at 60" from the floor for long hang.

19" of long hang is plenty for a weekend home.

Here's you can see the shelf uprights and shelf standards in this photo.

We bought 11" deep shelves and brackets to fit.

On the right side of the closet, Mr. DIY installed 2 closet rods. The lower one is 40" from the floor and the higher one is 40" above that.

You can see that the 11" shelves make it easy to reach the hanging items.

If we had regular closet doors, instead of bifold doors, there would be even more space to reach in, but since we will be adding on a bathroom and proper closet in a few years, we won't be replacing them.

Now we just need some cute baskets to put socks, underwear and small items in.

Simple,  relatively inexpensive and functional.

A great way to add more space to your closet.

The cost for the 8 shelves was less than $200

2 - Shelf Upright - 72" each - $12.98 each = $25.96

2 - Shelf Brackets PER shelf - about $7 each -=$112

Shelf - 36" x 11.75" - about $7 each = $56

 

If you'd like to see how we added more storage space in the closet at ourlast house, you can see it by clicking HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam

Mountain Cottage - Projects In The Works

*this post contains affiliate links

Posts about the mountain cottage reno have been relatively few in the past year. 

That doesn't mean we're not working on things...and by we, I mean Mr. DIY. 

I'm not much help these days, and haven't been for a couple of years, which means Mr. DIY has been doing it all. 

And that means, things go much, much slower, but they're getting done. 

And Mr. DIY is doing a fantastic job. 

For those who'd like to know why I haven't been able to physically help the past couple of years, go to my other blog (you can find it on the right sidebar),  because I don't want to address it here. 

I shared about the view porch deck and stairs last time. It's 99.9% done and we're enjoying it immensely. Mr. DIY just has to finish the post caps and attach some edging on the front of the porch and it will be 100%. 

Our mountain view never gets old. 

You can see the blog post HERE if you missed it. 

THE DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM

Mr. DIY had to squeeze in a mini bathroom reno because every time we sat on the toilet, we felt like we were going to fall through the floor. 

It was very unsettling.

This is how the downstairs (and only bathroom) looked when we bought the house.

We really didn't want to reno this bathroom because we decided that we would add a new bathroom closer to the downstairs bedroom and turn the downstairs bathroom into a laundry room. 

The First Floor Plan:

Right now, the room labeled the bathroom is the entry porch and the laundry room is the current bathroom, the before picture is above.

...back to the changes in the bathroom...

There are only a few little projects left before I show you the whole mini reno.

But I can tell you, it looks and functions 100% better.

Mr. DIY had to remove wallpaper, rip out the floor and replace studs,  install new flooring, do some electrical and install a new toilet and vanity. 

Only the tub/shower was left untouched.

The subfloor beneath the toilet was totally rotted out in spots, which is why it rocked when you sat on down.

The floor joist were replaced because the original ones had been cut for the toilet drain pipe when the house was built.

The floor looks a little wonky in this pic, but it's not! See the pic below. 

I love the way the inexpensive vinyl planks look. 

I originally intended to paint the vanity, but since I'm not able and because it's only temporary, it's staying the way it is. 

The lighting is installed and this past weekend Mr. DIY installed a mirror above the vanity. 

The two projects that are left are some towel hooks (Mr. DIY will make) and some shelves above the toilet. 

THE UPSTAIRS BEDROOM WALL

We've been planning to build a false wall with space for long term storage for several years. 

Mr. DIY got tired of having to stack bunches of pillows so we  wouldn't bump our heads on the angled ceiling when we sat up in bed.

Here's a top view of what Mr. DIY is building:

Mr. DIY is building a vertical plank wall that is 52" high and about 12" deep. 

52" is about as high as the white line shown in this pic. 

Here you see the frame for the false wall. The black line shows the height for comparison with the previous pic. 

Mr. DIY made removable panels with vertical grooves so that it looks like vertical shiplap. The wall will be painted white. 

I can't wait until this wall is finished!

We're approaching Fall and with it comes Fall chores at the mountain cottage. 

They'll have to squeezed in between finishing up the several projects we're working on. 

Hope you'll come back to see our projects finished.

Pam

*this post contains affiliate links, which means I'll make a small commission should you purchase something through one of these links

Much Needed Stolen Space

Hello from the Mountain Cottage friends!

Every time we come up here, I'm grateful for little things. For one thing, a kitchen, still in the middle of a full reno, that has a faucet with running water. When you've had to walk to the other side of the house (which isn't that big) to get water from the laundry room, having a functioning sink and faucet is a BIG deal!
The bedroom and the world's smallest half bath upstairs are finished and I am grateful that it functions so well. We used every single inch of space that we could!

Mountain Cottage Reno - Kitchen Update

Renovating a kitchen takes a lot of time, especially if there are a lot of little projects in the design . That's definitely the case with our project. 

The kitchen at our Mountain Cottage has come a long way since it first look like this...

and the above photo was taken after work began! 

Mountain Cottage Before and Afters

I was looking through my photos of our Mountain Cottage and thought I'd put together a post with links to all of our projects. That way, if anyone would like to find a project, it will be easier to find.

All you need to do is click on the link in the caption below the photo. (No link for the view photo)

Have fun browsing!

Our most recent DIYs:

Floating Shelves

Mini Bathroom Reno

DIYs from the beginning:

Mountain Cottage Before Tour

Upstairs Attic Bedroom

              

World's Smallest Halfbath Reveal

Custom Storage In The Attic Bedroom

Building A Closet For The Upstairs Attic Bedroom 

Vintage Style Pantry In The Kitchen

                

Mountain Cottage Woodshed - Built In A Weekend

Storage Bed for the Upstairs Bedroom

Kitchen Dining Room Before and After

New Workshop Doors

Custom Range Hood

Finishing Touches: Cafe Curtains

Bench Cushions and Pillows for the Banquette

Open Shelves

Built In Banquette Seating

Plank Ceiling

Crawl Space Encapsulation 

Replacing The View Porch Deck