What To Do With Eight Inches?

In a previous post, in which I shared the first draft of the floor plan, I noted that there will be about 8 inches between the edge of the left edge of the sink and the shower wall.  What to do with eight inches?  Comments included suggestions to build shelves of some kind.  So what about this:  I can make the bathroom a bit larger, so that the space will be 12 inches instead of just 8.  I will fill the entire space with a wall, and then create built-in shelves above the sink, in which to store rolled towels, baskets, etc.?

Here is a sample picture I found online.  This picture was on a blog that described how to build built-in shelves and included lots of ideas.  You can find the page here.

What do you think?  (And no, I will not have the oval mirror or or the table-top sink.

Here is my only concern.  This is a very small bathroom- only 55 square feet, plus some closet space.  Plus, by necessity it will have low ceilings- 7 feet- due to the HVAC vents running over the room.  It will feel small, so everything in the design must help it to feel larger than it actually is, so that it will feel normal.  By building out the wall to accommodate built-in shelves, I will be losing/covering available cubit footage.

Maybe I will do some research into open shelving and present a few options in my next post.

Remodeling Is Expensive: Part 3 - the basement storage room doors

In this series of posts, I am attempting to show that remodeling is always more expensive than we think it will be.

No one wants to see this mess from their family room!

Our basement includes a huge storm shelter.  It has four concrete walls, a concrete floor, and a concrete ceiling that doubles as the stoop/slab on our front porch.  It runs the length of the house, so it is huge!  A framed wall separates it into 2 rooms.  While we are not seeking refuge from a tornado,  these two rooms store our camping supplies, hunting supplies, a boxed Christmas tree, and pretty much everything else.  The door of one room enters into our basement family room.  The other door enters into the kids' play room.  And in the winter, the uninsulated storm shelter pours cold air into the adjoining rooms.  The doors also show the unsightly mess in the storage rooms.

To help insulate the rooms, and to hide the mess in the rooms, I decided to install two doors.  How hard can it be right?  and how expensive can it be?  A couple of doors and we are done, right?  (Wrong!  Remember how we tend the grossly underestimate the expenses involved in remodeling projects?)

Last fall I discovered ReStore, a building materials donation and resale store operated by KC's Habitat For Humanity.  Check them out here.  I found two matching doors that were the right size for the doorways.  They were used and I couldn't beat the price- $10 each!  What a great deal!  I could put doors on the storage rooms for like $20!

New door for the family room!

For this project, I made the mistake of not putting my list of materials on paper.  I just kind of bought 2 doors and dove in!  (It's too late now, right?  These doors are non-refundable!)

I returned to ReStore one week later for 2 door strikers and 6 hinges.  Total cost: $6.50.

The doorways were rough-trimmed with 1 X 6 pine boards.  I needed more wood to make door jambs, as well as door casement trim.  One trip to Lowes:  $36

Oh yeah- door knobs.  As it turns out, the extra knobs I thought I had did not match at all any of the other knobs in the house.  So I bought 2 sets of round, polished brass knobs.  And weatherstripping the doors will do no good if there is a gap at the bottom creating drafts.  2 door sweeps needed. A trip to Home Depot:  $29

Oops.  I need more weatherstripping.  Yet another trip to Lowes: $6

In the end, a project that started with two $10 doors turned into a $78 project.  I know, that is not a lot of money.  But it will still take a long time to re-coup that in energy savings.  However, the doors look a lot nicer than the quilt that hung in that doorway!

New door for the playroom!

Lesson learned- projects never cost $20!  Sit down, think it through, and put it all on paper.

Apparently, underestimating the cost of a project is not something new.  Even Jesus talked about it.  Check it out:   

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’  (Luke 14:28-30)

Remodeling Is Expensive, Part 2 - The Bathroom Remodel

 We really love almost everything about our house.  Before we moved in we painted several rooms, and then of course, decorated and painted others within the first year.  But most rooms needed little more than a fresh coat of paint in a contemporary color.  The upstairs bathroom, however, needed more.  The floors featured a brown linoleum that was intended to look like parquet.  Unfortunately, vinyl just never looks like real wood.  The walls were a cloudy light blue, with a terrible boarder touching the ceiling.  Behind the door was what looked like a sad attempt at a linen closet, but with no doors, just really narrow open shelves.

Ugly Vinyl!

So, we decided to dive in!  A friend told me that installing tile was not hard.  I practiced with simple 12" X 12" square pattern in our master bathroom (the one guests never see).  And my friend was right- it was not too bad!  So for the main bathroom, I decided to try a pattern with multiple sizes of tiles. For a couple hundred dollars, we could have a new bathroom!

For this project, I really tried hard to budget correctly.  We kept the bathtub, planned for only a fresh application of stain and polyurethane on the existing vanity/sink, and used a white toilet that we had in our basement.  I made a full list of materials and priced them before we dove in.  We figured out how to pay for the project within our budget.  I estimated that it would cost at least $350 in materials.  So we gave ourselves $400.  Then we dove in!

The project went well.  I wasn't exactly sure how I would enclose the wannabe linen closet, but luckily I was able to enclose the bottom half and then install permanent open shelves in the top half- using mostly leftover materials from other projects.  (You see, we really will use that extra piece someday!)  The tile-setting went well, and I didn't break or mis-cut too many pieces, creating unnecessary waste.  However, as I began to mix the grout, I realized I had picked the wrong color.  Too late to return it, I had to buy another bag of grout.  Oops.  Setting the toilet turned out to be a challenge and required a few extra pieces.  Oops.  In the end, we were spent $535 on the materials.  $135 over budget.

Then came the decorating part.  Before starting the project, we purchased a large print of a couple of wooden boats on a beach.  We really liked it and decided to use it as the focal point for our decorating.  A great shower curtain, wood blinds a modest rug, and sink accessories added a little more to the cost.  And then there were the baskets.  The final pieces to complete linen closet 2.0.  Constrained by size, we found nice brown baskets, and just had to pay the price.  Total cost for the decorating items, not including the picture:  $175.

In the end, a little over $700 gave us a new bathroom.  I love the new bathroom!  The tile pattern looks good.  The colors look good.  Sure, there are a few things I could have done better, but most people would have to look closely to find them.  But in the end, it was pricey- at least for this cheapskate!  It was definitely not a couple hundred dollars!  No Way!  But hey- remodeling is expensive!

The final version includes a door on the bottom and baskets

 on the shelves.

Get Real: Remodeling Is Expensive! Part 1

As I written in the past, I am horrible when it comes to estimating the costs of home repair and remodel projects!  I mean well, and I don't mean to lie to myself, but when I know what something will truly cost, I won't do it!  I am just too cheap.  But when I am half-way through a project and already over budget, I am motivated to just pay for it because, well, no one wants to live inside a remodel project!

But this ready, aim-a-little-bit, fire, and aim-again process is stupid!  And expensive!  And marriage-straining!  And definitely not Dave-Ramsey-Approved!

Deep Thought:  why do we make excuses when we go $1,000 over budget, but we scream at a contractor who goes $10 over his bid?

I think there is something in us that kicks against the reality of what things cost.  I was surfing the web for bathroom layout and design ideas, and one page featured the samples and suggestions of one professional remodeling company.  The site claimed that $1,000 spent on your bathroom will get you no more than new paint, a new shower curtain and maybe a professional tile cleaning.  But any substantial improvement to your bathroom will cost well over a grand!  Are you serious?  Yes.

At that point I ask my, "what if I do all the work myself?  I could save a bunch of money, and yes, I will probably screw up a few things and have to go back and fix them.  But I will save a bunch of money!"

However, I need to remember this: I will still spend far more on materials than I first think I will.

In my next 2 posts, I will share with you the real costs of 2 of my recent projects:  a large main bathroom remodel, and a very small project of installing 2 doors to our basement storage area.