Son’s Bathroom Remodel

Our son’s bathroom remodel has been a long time coming, and it’s the first of five I’ll be doing in this house. Let’s flush this thing!

You may recall the atrocious wall color that adorned nearly every wall of our Florida home when we bought it. In case you can’t remember, or if your brain has blocked the trauma, let’s revisit it. Here’s a realtor pic to jog your memory.

It was awful. It was hideous. And it was EVERYWHERE!

Over the first two years, I painted over all of it…except one little area.

Baris’s bathroom. Here’s how his bathroom looked on move-in day…

And here it is nearly three years later.

Poor kid. I should be tossed in jail for gross negligence!

Let’s see some more.

Everything about the place is off. From the frog vomit walls to the faux drapery vanity light, to the stained vanity that looks like chain-smoker’s teeth, to the orange-hued cabinet and the old-timey medicine cabinet – there’s not a thing about this setup that I like.

This bathroom needs an enema.

Fortunately, I’m just the guy to give it! So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!

Son’s Bathroom Remodel VIDEO

Watch our short and fun video below for an overview of our xxx before you read the detailed step-by-step tutorial.

Bathroom Demo

I started the demo process with one of my least favorite features of certain modern bathrooms: the mirrored medicine cabinet. Now, before I remove it, I’d like to explain why it bothers me so much. For the record, I have no issues with medicine cabinets in general. My issue is how they are used in houses like ours. Back in the long long ago, when everyone drank sarsaparilla, wore their britches up to their nipples, and chased dinosaurs for fun, you might find some bathrooms with a pedestal sink and a mirrored medicine cabinet hung on the wall in front of the sink.

This is all well and good, because the cabinet makes up for the lack vanity drawers and the mirror is useful because it’s right in front of the user.

But our bathrooms all have full-wall mirrors (1980 is calling on line 2). So why on earth would I need another mirror off to one side? Look, I’ll never turn up my nose to more storage space, but a simple shelf would suffice.

This is just another example of lazy and stupid contractors and developers who are so out of touch with humanity that it wouldn’t surprise me to learn some of them are still installing hitching posts and coal bins.

Goodbye medicine cabinet. You were not meant to exist in this century.

But I have plans for you, my pretty square hole.

The vanity light was even worse than I assumed. The faux drapery was an obvious crime against good taste, but I at least expected it to be made of glass. Nothing doing. Cheap, yellowing plastic hung limply from bright yellow brass-plated crapola. Yeesh, what thing. I can’t believe someone somewhere designed this travesty and that someone’s boss gave it the greenlight for mass production. Humanity never fails to bewilder me.

Next on the chopping block was the mirror – all 800 square miles of it.

Thinking it might break while I tried to pry it off the wall, I went overboard with the tape. Hey, better safe than sorry, amirite?

Well, I needn’t have worried. The damn thing came off with just a little prying from my fingers.

Look, I may not have a PhD in Advanced Mirrorography, but I’m pretty sure it would be wise to use more than 6 dinky dollops of adhesive to secure it to the wall.

With the mirror quickly and safely dispatched, I set to removing the vanity. As with the other elements of this bathroom, the backsplash popped right off…

the countertop lifted with ease…

and I was able to hoist the cabinet up and over the baseboard for a near-effortless demo.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain because it sure made my job easier, but Jeezum H Crow, nothing is built to last anymore! Having peered into the guts of so many houses by now, I look forward to my babes and I one day building our own – properly and solidly!

Call me kooky, but I’m thinking this bathroom looks better already!

Click here for part 2 in which I attempt to build and install this beautiful RTA cabinet!