Bathroom Project

I started reading blogs about two or three years ago. I can't remember why I started or which blog I read first. Many of the blogs I read now are about home improvement, interior design, and decorating. I LOVE those things, but don't know how to do much at my own home. This is probably why I like seeing other people's homes so much.

I've never done a real renovation project before...until now.

When Mr L and I purchased our current home, we were able to pick out all the specifics: counter tops, cabinets, flooring, etc. It's a three level townhouse, so we have a finished basement on the bottom level. The model home also came with a full bathroom down there. The builders wanted a large amount of money to finish that bathroom...something like $3500. We were already at the top of our budget, so we said "No thank you, we'll finish it ourselves, for much cheaper. It will be our first home project!"

Flash forward over a year later and we finally decided to start planning the room. The builders had "roughed" the room in for us. The plumbing was all there, as well as the drywall and a light fixture. We realized very quickly that the room did not have an exhaust system, shut off valves, or even an electrical outlet. After a trip to Lowe's, we decided to let the professionals handle the tub/shower, exhaust system and electrical issues.

Now flash forward about two more weeks. Mr L gets put on a deployment (that we were not expecting) and now I have to handle the scheduling and finishing of this bathroom.

I thought that by letting a big company like Lowe's handle all the main stuff, it would be a super easy transition to the "fun" stuff (paint, flooring, etc). Unfortunately, my experience with Lowe's was TERRIBLE. The person in charge of scheduling gave me a confirmed date/time for the people to show up and it turns out he just made it up...he never called the contracting company, never told them anything about us, never told them about our room. It took a bunch of last minute calls, lots of stress and some not very nice attitude from me to have the construction begin.

We did not pay for the drywall to be fixed because were were assured that they would be able to do everything without destruction to the drywall that was in place.

The tub/shower after installation.

The ceiling we were assured would be left alone.

More of the ceiling that had already been in one piece.

My parents and I decided to fix the ceiling ourselves.

Just a note - fixing drywall on a ceiling is best left to professionals.

After it was over, I made another not-so-nice call to Lowe's. I COMPLETELY understand that the work they did required them to cut around the tub and pull half the ceiling down. However, this is not what I signed the contract for and it was not the work I agreed to. If they would have explained what the process involved (like I assumed they did when we paid for the work), this would not be a problem. But they did not. We had to leave the bathroom as it was while I wait for the company to schedule a time to fix all the drywall...

The two week project just turned into a nightmare.