It was the bathroom that did it!
If you've ever been in the market for a lake home in Minnesota - you know you will find a wide range of home/cabin styles, conditions and lakes. Lake sizes range from Mille Lacs Lake at 128,250 acres to Spoon Lake at 6 acres, and prices can range from $125,000 to $12.5M - or more - and the closer to the Twin Cities, the more likely you'll find something tiny, in dire need of updating, and way overpriced (hello Annandale?). We had been looking online using mostly Zillow for over a year. We took many day trips to scout the area including the location and distance from the cities, lake size, shape and access as well as the area vibe (code for 'is there a dive bar on the lake?').Which brings us to our house and the bathrooms. Actually just the lower bathroom. To be honest - the lower bathroom is one of the reasons I couldn't get this house out of my mind when we first saw it online. I'm kind of picky - and it is extremely rare for me to see a house online and say to myself, "wow, I really l like that". With the lower bath in our house - it was just that.
The good: Knotty pine had been installed on the ceiling. That's all I have to say about that.
I'm still thinking of adding more wall décor - those cute bathroom signs are calling me.
What do you think about making the bathrooms look the same? Do you have any 'cute' bathroom signs? Leave your comments below! Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.
Lower Bath Refresh
I've tried to compare the before (from the original listing) and after shots below...and as you can tell, we really had nothing to do. I don't have the same lens used in the listing, so the framing is a bit different, but I think you get the point.Other than painting the one exposed, non-pine, non-tile wall the same color (Sherwin Williams Mountain Air) as the rest of the house, no major changes here other than adding an outlet in one of the cubbies to hide our electric toothbrushes (seriously why are most bathrooms designed with only one ONE outlet???) I replaced the chrome knobs on the vanity for black ones, and the brass door knob for black. I found these Woven Decorative Baskets at Target, the vases were repurposed from our Savage home, the canisters I found online at Amazon (unavailable when I last looked) and the framed images above the toilet were curated for our first lake house over the years from craft sales.
Upper Bath Do Over
Now for the upper bath - I knew it would need work. I just didn't realize how much. Here is the original image from the listing. And yes, that is a window to the garage. Believe me, not the strangest thing I've seen in a home listing.
The good: Knotty pine had been installed on the ceiling. That's all I have to say about that.
The bad: At first I thought the glass shower door was good and could be saved. Not so much. The double sink vanity seems good (oh double sinks!) until you see that the space left over in the corner is basically useless. Not even going to say anything about the light fixture - although I just did (and yes it's missing a bulb). Then there's that window. We believe the garage was added after the original structure - so therefore a window. I knew the window had to go, and after the inspection, we found out that an uninsulated, non fire wall to the garage is not to code.
The first challenge is finding a contractor to take this on in our new home town. Luckily our realtor had a few referrals and we were able to get Nick to meet me at the house to discuss what I wanted; basically to copy the design of the lower bath in the yet to be renovated upper bath. During our first meeting we agreed to:
- find the same top, and custom make the vanity to match the lower bath, reducing it to a single sink
- replace the tub, with no glass door, making the tub more kid and dog bath friendly
- tile the shower surround and floor to look exactly the same as the lower bath complete with niches - and since we had some of the leftover tile (from Menards) this was pretty easy
- add an outlet on the wall adjacent to the linen closet (again with the one outlet?!)
We agreed I would shop for the lighting (found this on Lamps Plus) and plumbing fixtures while Nick focused on the tear down and construction. The process took quite a bit longer than expected - over two months. The first delay was when Nick found two layers of flooring under the vinyl flooring, as well as a rotting subfloor. That meant a bit more cost to replace the subfloor, but more importantly a lot more labor. The second delay was with the plumbers - when they came out to finish the fixture install, I had purchased a center-set faucet, and unfortunately the vanity already on site was a three hole design. Not a big deal to exchange the fixtures even within the same design family. However, the demand for plumbers in the area meant they couldn't get back to the house for weeks. Weeks.
Once it was finally finished, I was very happy with the results. The single sink vanity is still quite large, yet allows room for a small teak stool in the corner, which can be used to help children dry off, or it can be used in the shower if needed. The waffle weave shower curtain I found on Amazon, adding a different texture to this mostly wood interior. The curtain rod and hooks in matte black, as well as the shelf in cappuccino and black drawer pulls complete the minimalist look. The shelf allows me to display some new treasures like the three pigs, as well as old items such as the fish my son made when he was probably 7 or 8. And yes, the window was removed, sealed up and insulated both inside and in the garage.
I still don't have as much décor on the walls, although I spent at least a week searching on Pinterest for cute bathroom signs. I just couldn't commit...so I swung completely the other way, creating a PC and kid-friendly sign using vinyl and my Cricut. As with all the other doors in the house, the brass door and closet knobs were replaced with black.
I'm still thinking of adding more wall décor - those cute bathroom signs are calling me.
What do you think about making the bathrooms look the same? Do you have any 'cute' bathroom signs? Leave your comments below! Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.
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