When we bought this house we loved almost everything about it, but Brian was worried about sharing one bathroom with our two adorable but filthy kids for the rest of our lives. The idea of them being teenagers and us all fighting over the privacy at 7:30am didn’t excite me, but I was less worried because I grew up sharing one bathroom with 3-4 siblings. You’d be absolutely shocked with what this lady can overlook and pretend to not see (or clean).
Bathrooms have never been a place of luxury for me, so why start now? But, we figured we’d ask our architect what the possibilities were as we were doing some renovations to the floor plan and he indeed came up with an option to make our lives a bit easier in the bathroom department.
As a reminder here is a drawing of the upstairs floor plan when we bought it:
As you can see – three bedrooms and one bath. Here was our proposed plan to change:
Bedroom 1 would be a suite and we’d steal from bedroom 2 and 3 to create a Jack and Jill bathroom for the two kids. Like so:
Here’s how it looked in real life. We would steal from Charlie’s room, like so:
And Birdie’s room would be stolen from as well making it pretty awkward but still so adorable since she has a wall of windows (which we are now realizing will turn that room into a sauna most of the year).
Here is how that really turned out to affect the look of the rooms. These are both the same angles as in the above pictures, but show how we bumped into Charlie and Elliot’s room a bit for the bathroom they will share.
Every single person that sees it is shocked how we managed fit it into the floor plan and how it looks like it has always been there. Birdie’s room is awkwardly shaped – but it was before, and in Charlie’s room the cut-out looks completely normal and created a lovely little niche with a closet. We’ll take photos with the doors open, I promise, but hopefully that gives you a sense of where things are.
I created a design plan. It was to be the whimsical, fun, playful version of the rest of the house – Modern English country, but for toddlers. The room has no windows and barely room for a mirror – so we got creative with materials and finishes. It needed to have a specific design direction (wallpaper) to make sure it didn’t fall quickly into boring-land. Kids hate boring-land. Thus our nightly new obsession with creating an obstacle course over LAVA throughout the entire first floor. The days of quietly sorting shapes are gone and instead we are crawling on our stomachs under the sofa on the way to the blocks that have to be carefully walked on, heading towards the finish line. Kids like excitement and clearly so do we. So this bathroom couldn’t be boring …
And yet it needed to fit the rest of the house and not be a loud jolt of energy between their two already really energetic bedrooms. Now that I think of it, happy energy + relaxing is really my MO anyway, and that is what I tried to bring to this little jack and jill.
The first mood board was this, above: Wallpaper | Shower and Tub Combination | Floor Tile | Faucet | Beadboard Paint
It was a good start but as things progressed so did the design plan:
Here is the updated mood board:
Shower Tile: We chose a handmade subway from Fireclay that has texture but is super simple. It is so pretty in person and I love the way that it turned out in that little area. Lucky for you they also have a HUGE giveaway going on right now with our friends at Rejuvenation to help you make over a room in your house. All the details HERE, but be sure to head over and check it out. Shower tile: $900 + Shipping. They gifted that tile, so I’m very happy that someone else will be the recipient of that special simplicity.
Shower and Tub Combination: We chose a polished brass with a living finish that is so lovely (and yes, we got our water softened to make sure it doesn’t corrode … amazing on our skin/hair and our purified water is so delicious I had forgotten what water tasted like). Shower and Tub Hardware: $578.20 c/o E-faucets. It’s what we have in our kitchen, too and it’s a high maintenance beauty but worth the extra effort to clean.
Tub: A tub that was affordable, in-stock and simple (I love George’s plumbing in Pasadena, by the by). Tub: $795 (not-gifted)
Floor Tile: A porcelain herringbone that added a lovely reflection and was pretty affordable (and always in stock). Floor tile: $492.86 (32 sq. feet + 20% overage) c/o Floor & Decor.
Vanity: We fell in love with this vanity when we did the vanity roundup because of its special traditional style and its (DID YOU SEE THIS???) built-in step ladder. My kids are so obsessed with it even though they still can’t see the mirror, nor do they know why they would want to. We had extra marble from our island so we topped it off with that. We are going to change out the hardware to brass but it is SO CUTE and totally functional for little kids who need the extra step. Vanity: $701.70 c/o Wayfair.
Faucet: The patina is already so pretty. The shape is perfect. I love these delicate ladies. Faucet: $615.30 c/o E-faucets.
Beadboard: Do you know what is the simplest thing you can do to make you house feel more high-end? Add moldings, pretty doors, and paneling. It’s relatively inexpensive (materials are cheap, labor can add up), so timeless and such a crowd pleaser. That beadboard was $240 (12 pieces. Each piece is sold in 16′. $1.25 per linear foot) + labor.
Beadboard Paint: We chose the white from the wallpaper and man it’s just seamless (yes… pun … intended). Paint: $50 (one gallon).
Toilet: A classic shaped toilet – a crowd pleaser. Toilet: $915 c/o E-faucets.
Ceiling Light: I LOVE this semi-flushmount. It’s simple but with some whimsy and the perfect scale for a smaller space. Light: $496 c/o Circa Lighting.
Wallpaper: The cutest, most whimsical and yet fitting wallpaper ever. It’s an english countryside toile, but in a really soft colorway… WITH SHEEP!!! I’m obsessed with this I can’t imagine the bathroom without it. Wallpaper c/o Farrow and Ball: $460 (installation was around $150 – $200 – all three bathrooms were $500 to install).
So there is a sneak peek and obviously we are shooting the reveal soon (waiting on the brass cleaner/wax and the styling). Meanwhile …
A lot of you really responded to the transparency of the exterior post RE the dolla dolla bills….Y’alls.
I don’t need to go too far into this ugly subject to get to the point – talking about money publicly is just as uncomfortable to me as it is to any of you. HOWEVER, I know that as a reader I would want to know the totals of a project like this because as a reader I’m wondering if I, too, could put in an extra bathroom. So as a blogger (and general person) who values transparency it’s my uncomfortable job to give said totals. The bathroom was part of a much larger renovation that will cost $180K (thank God for loans and credit cards and sponsors). My contractor said that he figured adding this bathroom would have been $27k on its own (NOT including materials). If you add up all those materials ($6500) on top of that figure it is indeed a lot for a tiny bathroom for tinier people who don’t know how to even wipe their own cracks…. They owe us.
Renovating a house costs a lot of money, it just does, because paying for proper labor in an expertise that requires experience is expensive. Hold on …. “Expertise That Requires Experience is Expensive” might need to be on a t-shirt or bumper sticker …. which I’ll sell … to pay for this bathroom. We don’t live in TV-renovation land, despite how fast we finished (I paid for overtime and weekend labor to meet our sponsor deadlines). We do get gifted a lot of materials because companies find value in the work that we do both in product placement on the blog/instagram/twitter/FB (with tagging/crediting) as well as the photos which they can use on their own social channels afterwards. I choose what companies/pieces are in my home, not the other way around (aka I LOVE all of these finishes and materials and would have bought them even if I didn’t have this option). HOWEVER, we will also be giving you a more budget friendly version of every room (in the future as well as this one) for the final reveal and will continue to do outside projects that are indeed budget friendly (I’m doing a flip soon where the budget is TIGHT and FAST – thats-what-he-said). This is also why we do pro-bono projects and will continue to use our media power for good in both makeover takeover and charity projects like we’ve done in the past.
Meanwhile, we are bathing those two toddlers in this bathroom and it is as amazing as bathing two toddlers can be – a total s*&@ show, but one that is way more fun in their own space. I didn’t live in the house with only one bathroom but I think it’s safe to say that Brian was probably right and that eventually we would have wanted them to have their own in which to smear poop on the walls. Plus now we run laps around the second story of the house – through the two bedrooms/hallway and new bathroom while wearing bathrobes (CAPES!!!). I think a new upstairs obstacle course is in our future….
Questions? Let er’ rip … (I’m shooting all day so I may not get back to them til’ tonight but I will after the kids are down).
I completely understand that how much you choose to spend on your own house is totally none of my business, but it is SO useful to know how much the work cost, and I really value that you disclose it.
I really don’t think that the commenters should judge… Heck, you are in design. Of course your own house is going to be on the pricey side! Just like a dentist probably spends more than average on looking after their teeth!
Agreed, knowing how much you spend on things is amazing because it gives me an idea of what things may cost when doing my own renovations. Obviously I’m not choosing the same finishes you are but I still want to know a ballpark so I’m not getting totally ripped off by people!!!
one of my favorite things about this blog is your honesty– whether that’s about how much something costs or what a pain in the ass some things can be. being transparent about these things shifts the conversation for people who are in the midst of making decisions like this or maybe want to plan out so they know what to expect (or dream about some day being able to do!). and you totally should make that bumper sticker– the value of experience is lost on so many of us when we somehow expect to get things for cheaper and cheaper while not considering that the inherent cost of the goods sold or the people whose lives are funded by the work they produce– whether that’s a tangible object or a service. in short, you’re great! please keep sharing this type of information!
YES!! This.
Oh, this is gorgeous!
RE: Cost: I think there’s a difference between judgement and comparison. 😉 Absolutely no judgement on what you’re spending – your money, your priorities, you do you, etc. But for the cost… all I can say is wow, I’m glad I don’t live in LA! We’d be looking at about 1/5 that amount, where we are. It’s SERIOUSLY location-dependant.
Exactly what Ros said – so location-dependent! Being in another high-priced area, it is SO helpful to see what labor costs are in LA because it is really hard to find comparisons when you’re a few standard deviations above the average cost to, say, install wallpaper. That said, I was really pleasantly surprised that that only cost $500 🙂
Whoa, where the heck do you live? You could put in a 100% new bathroom where none existed before including labor and materials for $7000? I am SO moving wherever you live!! Spill the deets please!
I like in North Carolina and I’d say a small bathroom like this would run around 10k for labor. We gutted ours and it was considerably less than that, but the plumbing costs were lumped in with the cost of re-plumbing our entire house, so it would be hard to guess how much of that was allocated to the bathroom.
live**
Nope, it was materials only for $6500 on top of adding the bathroom for $27,000. For a total of $33,500 (at least that’s how I’m reading it). Love that Emily is transparent with figures. We run a building company (contractors) and people get such a skewed idea of costs from TV and magazines where they don’t include things like, oh, the labour!!
Exactly. Prices are even higher in San Francisco (for lower quality work, no less). Your transparency on costs is so helpful for all of the reasons others have mentioned, and especially to me in California, where I know we aren’t going to get “Fixer Upper prices”. HUGE THANKS!
“figure it is indeed a lot for a tiny bathroom for tinier people who don’t know how to even wipe their own cracks….” LOL! You’re hilarious.
No questions from me but i have so much appreciation for the level of info you provide in your blog ($$ figures and all!)
I am curious how you are going to hang a shower curtain with the shower having a slanted wall. I ask, because that is exactly how my bathtub/shower is and we haven’t found a solution! Currently it’s being resolved with suctions cups and clips…not pretty.
Have you considered a combination of screw in hooks, shower curtain clips and a curtain tie to hold it back? You’d probably want to use a shower curtain that doesn’t have holes (or hem the top to remove them) but it would match the shape of the space and allow you flexibility in your curtain choices.
What a great idea! I hate the look of shower curtain rods, but prefer shower curtains over doors/glass panels. I may need to try this out.
I had the same question! Look forward to finding out on the final reveal! XO, Amanda @ lifeonlinton.com
Me too! Our shower is in a beautiful room with skylights in the canted ceiling, but the shower curtain situation is bad. We have an awkward clips-and-suction-cups solution from the previous owner and it’s terrible. I’d love any input on solutions!
Ditto!
We had this same scenario in our kids’ bathroom some 20 years ago. We found the best solution was to tape a white velcro strip the length of the sloped ceiling and a corresponding one to a shower curtain. The curtain we had the dry-cleaner modify, so that the top edge angled with the ceiling slope and the bottom (and pattern) hung straight. When our children were small they rarely had showers, we rinsed their hair when necessary with the hand-held shower attachment on the bathtub taps. So the curtain mostly lay folded on a bathroom shelf, out of the way. As they got older and wanted a shower, it took seconds to unfold it secure it with the velcro. They are all now too tall to fit under that shower and mostly use a different bathroom to bathe, but that velcro is still going strong (and isn’t grubby) even though the bathroom has been repainted a few times. It’s barely visible.
We recently added a kids’ bathroom in our 100-year old bungalow, and many of the features are similar to Emily’s picks. (But, we stuck with a double-sink vanity because we have three kids and knew one sink wouldn’t cut it!) Our tub is installed with one slanted wall, as well, and the shower curtain dilemma was real, people. After weeks of searching, our contractor found the most gorgeous shower ring that he hung from the ceiling on one end, and then drilled into the tile/wall on the other end. So, it is hanging and mounted, if that makes sense? We thought it might not hold up without an additional hanging piece, but it’s been several years, and it is still perfect. It was definitely the hardest thing to source in our project, but so worthwhile! I’m doing a crummy job explaining how it was hung, but hopefully you can visualize it?
We have the same slanted ceiling in our bathroom at the end of the tub (opposite faucet). We put a plain glass “wall” in at the slanted end of the tub, hung the shower curtain from the flat ceiling. Also had a 6 inch glass ‘wall’ at the faucet end to visually tie the glass together. Works well.
We had a similar shower in our upstairs bath with a very slanted ceiling. My husband solved the problem by installing a triangle shaped wooden block he screwed into the sloped ceiling just outside the tile (we did not want to screw into the tile of the shower). Then we were able to put a traditional shower curtain tension rod from the wall to the block. It wasn’t entirely closed in – more like the open showers that are popular now – but it worked.
This is so lovely, Emily. Thanks for the transparency on cost. I’m sure it is uncomfortable, but it’s so helpful as a reader to have a general idea of what these beautiful rooms cost in real money. I’m so over the HGTV budgets – they are obviously fake!
I’m curious about the marble and unlacquered faucets. They both seem like delicate surfaces for a kid’s bathroom. How do you intend to keep them looking great?
It’s beautiful! I love it. And as someone who is sharing our only bathroom in the house, one that is the same size as the one you just added (smaller than my cubical!) with my husband, my 13 year old daughter (agh! agh! She spends sooooooo long in the shower and will empty a new canister of shaving cream in one go – and doesn’t tell anyone so I’m stuck in the shower without it. And the hair! The long hair everywhere! And the huge globs of toothpaste! And the huge mess from the waterpik for her braces! And the sitting on the barely attached to the wall marble sink to stare at herself in the mirror for hours! And the makeup everwhere – most of it mine, that she shatters! And the expensive creams she’s been told not to touch but smears all over!), and my 10 year old developmentally disabled son (that, against all the experts’ opinions, was able to potty train at 5, but is like an old man, spending 40 minutes on the toilet every late afternoon, and – like even ‘typical’ boys – gets pee everywhere)…. Anyway. All that is to say, Brian was right… Read more »
Cris S. you cracked me up with those stories!! I am sure you are a fabulous mom, with a sense of humor like that. Thanks for brightening my day!
I don’t think you need to feel guilty or defensive for how much money you’re putting in to your home, especially your forever home where you will raise your family. You don’t owe us readers anything though it is fun to have those figures just for curiosity’s sake. And also, I don’t think badly for using gifted materials from sponsors. That is awesome and something all of us wish we had a successful blog to be able to do! You work hard for us greedy, eye-candy hungry readers so whatever you gotta do to keep pumping out the great content, donit girl. Mad props.
Well said Katy!! This is the best sponsored content in my opinion- you are choosing to live with these products long term and have shown us how to mix and match various sponsored items. I think we all love you Emily even more now for your budget transparency!!!! This blog just keeps getting better. This is a spectacular space. Love that wallpaper with the little ones…it’s an endless conversation starter 🙂
This is such a great use of space and I love the design plan! Re: Elliot’s room being a sauna due to sunlight…I would love to know what window coverings you went with to combat that issue, and also whether you considered (or are considering) an awning on the outside of the house over her bedroom windows. We have a similar issue with our house (also built in the early 1900s, like yours) and while I think awnings can sometimes look tacky, I also think they could be done well. I would love to get your thoughts, thanks!
I wonder if the same film Emily used on her large windows in the old living room would help take out some of the glare / heat?
Yeah I was wondering the same thing!
I think you did a fantastic job with the bathroom! I also appreciate the fact you give us the costs up front. It really does help others try to plan when remodeling their homes. Fabulous job!!
Such a lovely little bathroom! So smart to get it done now while the house was already under construction. We are renting a victorian house in Scotland (we’re American) and there is only one full bath in the house and then upstairs is a tiny room with only a toilet. It’s been fine sharing with our 3 children and I certainly like having less to clean but there are definitely times when another full bath upstairs would be lovely. Our tub also has wooden headboard in front of it. It looks lovely but since our kids at times get a bit over enthusiastic with the water it can get the wood all wet and start to get moldy and I could see it trying to rot over time. We’ve not thought it was the smartest thing to put wood where there is water…or cover the room in carpet where our boys pee. So, all that to say, you’ve probably already done it but if not, it’d be smart to seal it really well. Thanks for sharing so much with us. Your house is gorgeous and I’m enjoying every bit of the journey with you.
Just here to say thank you for continuing to provide such great content and transparency to the process & financials!! I take it from the tone of your post that some commenters on your post RE: $$ were not pleased?? Which is crazy to me because not being able to talk openly about stuff is why people get so divided! So thank you for being so open with that information. It is SOOOO helpful. I might not spend the same way, but it certainly gives me a great baseline to work from. It helps me see that certain renovations are more do-able than I previously thought or that I need to let my dream of xyz die because it’s actually *more* than I thought 😛 hehe. I have only respect for doing all that you do with such grace.
I love it and can’t wait to see the reveal! Thanks, as always, for your transparency. It is always appreciated.
I know you are mostly bathing toddlers right now, but what is your plan when they start showering? Will you do a glass encasement? Seems like a traditional rod and curtain might leave a few gaps 🙂
I love it! It does look like it was always meant to be there. Excited for the full reveal and to see what happens with Charlie’s closet situation, too.
Any explanation for the mirror? The clips holding it in place are the only thing in the room distracting me — could you do a regular, thinner rectangular mirror (white frame? gold frame?) and hang it on its side?
It’s looks like a vintage mirror. So it’ll be thick bevelled mirror and the clips will be metal clips screwed to the wood backing to keep the mirror attached to the wood.
I love that sort although they are very heavy to hang. Can pick them up in charity shops for about £20 in the U.K., although equally you can find more unusual shapes for £400 in antique stores!
Emily, please do a post about cleaning, polishing, and caring for unlacquered brass. I love the look but am a little scared of the maintenance.
Thank you for your transparency on cost – it is SO helpful to help get an idea on cost before dragging out a contractor for them to say its over what we can spend and then we waste everyones time! Keep it coming, and ignore those haters!
Amanda @ lifeonlinton,com
Emily, THANK YOU for all this transparency about cost, and for the beautiful design inspiration. What we choose to spend on our homes is such a personal decision, so you’ll get no judgment from me. 🙂 Also, if anyone out there is wondering if it’s possible to do this more cheaply, I’ll just note that if you have the patience and aptitude for doing the labor yourself, it’s possible to save a bunch on labor costs. I’ve been lucky to have people in my life who could teach me to tile, lay hardwood floors, etc. etc. etc., and a husband who’s pretty good at plumbing & electrical. Together we gutted & renovated a bathroom for around $7K, including beautiful marble hex floors with in-floor heating. And it took us a FULL YEAR to do it because we both have full-time jobs and were doing the work on evenings and weekends while trying to occasionally do something (anything!) else on an occasional weekend to stay sane. 🙂 I would have loved to be able to throw $$ at it and get it done in a month! But we all make the choices that work best for us, and Emily I LOVE… Read more »
I realized too that renovating an existing bathroom and putting in a new bathroom are two very different jobs. One is bound to cost much more that the other.
Yes! Laying tile is something that sounds really scary, but (depending on the location and type of tile) it can be pretty easy. We put down some gorgeous marble hex tile in our bathroom recently, and it really wasn’t too bad and saved us about $1500 in labor.
I just wanted to thank you for the amount of information you include in your posts. I don’t usually like to talk money, but am currently going through similar renovations in my home and find it very helpful to see that our costs are not out of line. Your house is looking amazing!
Just chiming in to say: I really appreciate the transparency!! I didn’t read comments on the exterior post, but I thought that information was fascinating. I learn from the $$ info, and it helps me keep my envy in check (ie, my bathroom looks much worse, but it was undoubtedly also much cheaper!). It just makes you much more real. I also think it’s great for blog content to be aspirational, at least for some of us! Anyway, thanks.
Absolutely beautiful, as always!
Gorgeous! That wallpaper is so sweet.
We had a similar lap-running setup as kids in our house with a jack and jill bathroom. Definitely get rugs with grips on the back in the bathroom; my sister slipped on a rug while running through and split her lip on the toilet seat. Then the ER didn’t believe such a wild toilet/lip story and questioned her several times to make sure she wasn’t actually hit by my dad! LOL. It’s a great story now but I’m sure had I been the parent handling that, it would have been less fun.
Yes, I appreciate the transparency and echo what other commenters have said. But…what really stood out to me is that your kids are getting a Jack and Jill bath just like Brandon and Brenda on 90210 aka WHAT TEEN ME ALWAYS DREAMED OF. I hope they now how lucky they are!
Don’t apologize for putting something on your blog that you feel strongly about. I am interested in getting an idea on how much things cost in your neck of the woods compared to my renovation in the Midwest. Also, this brutal honesty and extra information separates you from all the other design blogs that seem to focus on cutesy pictures and useless product plugs.
Love the wallpaper in the bathroom, did you find the mirror as is or did you design the shape of it?
Emily – you are amazing! I love your transparency, honesty, and humor. Everything about you, in fact. So relatable. Keep at it girl! (I could go on and on, but at the risk of sounding really creepy, I won’t… lol).
Love that wallpaper. Toile sheep are something I never knew I always wanted. You carved out a very pretty, very practical space for Charlie and Birdie and will probably save heaps of your own sanity in the future.
Re: funds transparency… I’m in the midst of making my childhood home (a 30s Cape Cod) my own, which thus far has involved undoing the modern Asian taste my parents injected (I love them, but why?) and bringing the house back to its roots. I think we’ve gotten used to watching renovation magic happen on TV, but after refinishing the original floors, taking the kitchen down the studs, and knocking down a wall to make the master bathroom a space that makes sense, the overarching lesson I’ve learned is that reality is EXPENSIVE. Long story short, as uncomfortable as it may be, I greatly appreciate you sharing the price tag on your brand of pretty. It keeps us from unrealistic expectations. 🙂
Wow, wonderful progress…I am loving how you adapt your style to the soul of the house. And thank you for including cost…adds a nice dose of reality when envisioning my next project.
I loved this sneak peek and look forward to the full reveal! Thanks a million for the $$ figures. It’s a reality check for those that are considering remodeling our own homes, it’s not cheap and shouldn’t be for expert work. Yours is my favorite blog and I’m so glad to see your business grow and with it, quality online content for us readers.
Good for you!! You’re killing it gurllll and I love seeing a girl boss using her talents not only for profit, but for helping others. Love seeing your space come together and appreciate the transparency on pricing. Nice work!
Even though the amount of money might make *my* stomach hurt, it’s not my money 😉 I appreciate seeing the costs breakdowns even though I could never in a million years afford to spend that.
Love your Jack n’ Jill! We ran out of money in our move-in reno and a few years later when the boys were getting gangly and two full bathrooms were becoming a must, we decided to do both bathrooms at once, turning one from half to full. We actually moved out for one week b/c it was so inconvenient. Anyway, to finance the project we borrowed half from our 401K and asked my mother to loan us the other half. When she sent the check, enclosed was a little note: “I’m happy to loan you this money for your bathrooms…but just for perspective, it is more than our first house cost.”
Just for anyone else considering the risky idea of borrowing from your 401k: you must repay pretax contributions with aftertax money, you lose investment returns on the borrowed amount, if you are laid off/quit/get fired you generally MUST repay the entire loan within 60 days or pay all taxes/penalties.
Thanks, KD, for reminding folks of this. I’d hate for anyone to think this was the perfect solution without knowing all the ramifications. Fortunately for us, our risk paid off as we were able to repay our loan to ourselves in a couple of years.
The bathroom looks adorable and definitely worth it. It also adds value to the house that I bet is equal or even more than the cost. I’ve renovated a house in an expensive area of California and none of your costs surprise me (they actually seem pretty good). That includes 2.5 bathrooms, that gorgeous kitchen, new floors, moving walls, paint, window updates, and I’m guessing electrical, plumbing and probably HVAC? Not bad at all. When I did mine, I used the percentages guide to feel better about the whole process. Kitchens should cost 5-10% of home value, baths 5%, etc. Because a price that would seem insane in an area where houses average $150k make a lot more sense when the houses are worth $1m or more, which is the reality of many neighborhoods in California.
I really appreciate the budget transparency, and disclosing how much was gifted. Thanks for putting yourself out there! Q – do you reach out to companies whose product you want to use, or do you screen offers for the “yes this is beautiful and I want it” products?
Love these renovation posts! We just did a whole house renovation on a 1926 house in Burbank and, oh man, “Expertise That Requires Experience is Expensive” is very very true. Unfortunately for us, we’ll be paying to repair mistakes that our contractor made. Also, is it just our house or do old houses in general tend to have crooked walls? As always, thanks for sharing!
Not just you. We’ve remodeled 3 100+ year old houses now and nothing is ever plumb or square!
OMG NEVER!!!!! It drives me mad, but I also kind of love it because I’m bizarrely screwed up that way 😉
This bathroom is adorable and beautiful – incredible considering its size! Thank you for your transparency on costs/sponsors/gifted items. It makes me trust your writing SO much more than other bloggers and is the reason I never click away from your posts. And I also love that you source budget-friendly alternatives for those of us who want to mix high/low or just add inexpensive pretty things to our homes 🙂
Oh it’s so pretty! Also:
1) You dropped a “that’s what he said,” which makes me love you guys even more;
2) Does anyone have thoughts on kids and tubs and shower curtains versus doors versus half-glass-panels? I am thinking about replacing a shower with a tub for purposes of eventual children, and a shower curtain seems 100 times more practical for getting-at-children-to-bathe-them? But it seems like so many bathroom redos now have those half-glass-walls on tubs (instead of doors or curtains), but…doesn’t that make kid-bath-time more complicated? People with children, I’m so curious what you think! Emily seems comfortable with shower curtain, so maybe it’s okay after all 😀
Mom of three kiddos: almost 6, 4 and 2. We just redid all our bathrooms and tub/showers surrounds with glass, except for the kids. For us, bathtime would be soooo much more difficult if there was a glass panel and door instead of a shower curtain. We figure we’ll add the glass once the kids start taking more showers, maybe around 8 yrs or so. For now, the curtains make it easy; not prettiest, but definitely the most comfortable.
Always had shower curtains over the bath. Renting now with glass screen…absolutely hopeless! You have to be max 5’4″ or the height of the shower head causes the water to go everywhere. Would be so much worse with children I imagine
That makes so much sense — curtain now, glass later. I keep thinking that renovations have to be all in one go. Probably because the thought of renovating terrifies me 🙂 Thank you so much!
After having our daughter we took the shower door off our tub and it has made bathing her so much easier. The only problem is the tub had been refinished at some point and on the edge of the tub where the shower door was you can see that the tub was originally grey and not white. So we have to get that refinished.
I love, love, love that you share so much detail! We just did a similar reno on a 100 yr. old house. Knocking down walls, adding a bath, total kitchen gut & re-do, etc. $125,000 total here in VA, but some of that savings was some DIY, especially demo. It’s just expensive and hiding that wouldn’t be helpful. My question: is that $180,000 the cost including or without the sponsor gifts?
“If you add up all those materials ($6500) on top of that figure it is indeed a lot for a tiny bathroom for tinier people who don’t know how to even wipe their own cracks…. They owe us.”
I’m dying, This is hilarious.
Me too! I giggled out loud.
As a long-term reader of the blog, I had to comment to say two things. First, this renovation is going so fast and the results are so spectacular! Only a super-competent designer could pull this off in this amount of time. You have the world at your fingertips. Second, THANK you for being transparent about prices. Yes, if you live in a cheaper area of the country you go through a sticker shock. But those of us who live in high-priced areas have to make really complicated financial decisions, taking huge bets on renovation projects that we don’t know whether they’re going to pan out. I mean, going deep into debt only so that you can HOPE to sell your home is nerve-wracking. And believe me, buyers in these areas do not want to see cookie-cutter bathrooms with cheap materials. At least, you need to know that your real estate agent is giving you the right advice and your designer/constructor is not ripping you off. And that’s where Emily’s numbers come handy. So please, let her tell us!
You mentioned that you were going to salvage the closet doors in both kids rooms. In the final “reveal” I noticed the bathroom doors were more modern and today’s standard size with a beadboard inset. Did you decide not to use the closet doors for the bathrooms? Was it a code issue or are they perhaps the closet doors that are (for now) not shown? Also, i’m wondering why you didn’t consider using black T-hinges similar to the ones on the windows on the new doors for a more cohesive look. All in all it looks amazing! BRAVO!!!
Sadly since it was new construction we had to widen the doors for code, so we wanted them all to match. The doors into the bedrooms are still original (since they aren’t new construction) and we had one custom door made to replicate the old one (into the new master suite). But sadly we couldn’t use those smaller doors (they were only 24″ wide). xx
You’ve inspired me to put some wallpaper up! I’ve been toying with the idea for a long time. We have a big wall in our kitchen that I don’t want to try and cover with frames, and think pretty wallpaper might be the perfect solution. I live in LA, can you refer who installed yours? What’s the process like to remove it when/if that times comes years down the line?
Please share the source of the double vanity in the first mod board. Thank you!
The Jack and Jill came out lovely. I appreciate seeing realistic costs associated with your projects. It drives me crazy how much they mislead people on HGTV.
It’s from Devol in England and it was just an inspiration shot that we planned on using to do something custom, but then I found that other vanity and was like ‘SOLD’ – because of that adorable step stool.
I love this. So pretty and what a great creative solution to adding a 2nd bathroom. I’m wondering though, can an adult see themselves in the mirror? Not that it would matter for kids, but maybe teenagers. As a 5’10” person this was my first thought, ha.
The bathroom is really cute. My favourite element is the floor. Are you happy with the lighting situation with no windows and one ceiling fixture?
I like the colour scheme of Charlie’s room and the plaster treatment is very pleasing. If it was my space, I’d want to tweak a couple of things to reduce the contrast between the green lower wall and the details. I would use black electrical receptacles and plates (http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server3900/wlejmk/products/636/images/9919/black_electrical_outlet_15a_psl_3232_bk__28688.1403811864.160.160.jpg?c=2). I would also paint the baseboards to match the green lower wall – to my eye the white stripe doesn’t add anything, and the green against the floor would be really pleasing.
My husband and I built our permanent home in 2012, without having a general contractor. It took 13 months to move in, and we’ve been chipping away at projects (large and small) ever since. We spent $200k more than we originally wanted just to move in. Likely more, because I stopped counting. The whole process wasn’t fast or cheap. Construction is expensive. It just is. Thanks for your transparency.
Wow, I am loving the transformation to your home! That bathroom is money hard-earned and well spent. You and Brian work so hard and deserve to reap the benefits. It’s gracious of you to share the costs and so helpful to your readers. Thank you!
Love the bathroom (I DREAMED of a Jack and Jill bathroom when I was little, never happened!) and I will always be a fan of your transparency and honesty. I feel like we could be friends having coffee-talk. Thank you!
I really do appreciate you sharing budget and cost info. I think that a lot of people forget that labor and the price of things in California are so much higher than most of the country. I see reno budgets of places on HGTV and laugh my head off. (Your whole house budget would do a bathroom here tv world) It’s nice to see how much, realistically, things cost in this part of the country.
Please keep the transparency coming! It’s so helpful for perspective. I know if my San Diego prices are more than your LA prices, there’s a problem. Not enough can be said for the value of hiring an architect to help with tricky situations; costly, yes, but the years of training abs experience can be invaluable. The kids bathroom looks beautiful and I can’t wait to see the rest.
It’s an investment. Investing money in your house is always a win.
I haven’t taken the time to read through other comments on the $$ posts, so i don’t know what other people have said, but I LOVE your whole take on this issue. You spend lots of $$ so I can live vicariously through you and look at pretty after photos, but you’re also super real about it in a way that doesn’t make me hate you. How do you pull that off?? It’s like the best of both worlds. Thanks for your transparency and your down-to-earth attitude about it all.
This is a great kids bathroom and so appropriate for your house. I also so appreciate your transparency because it is such a good guide for first timer’s. We just completed a massive renovation on our house and although I’m in the Midwest your pricing is right in line with what I expected when you first showed the plans. I know exactly how you feel in disclosing the money so bravo to you for breaking the ice.
Gorgeous! Also, *thank you* for being so transparent with pricing — even if it’s out of reach, it’s so, so helpful to get a realistic idea of what costs what.