THROWBACK THURSDAY: OUR KIDS' BATHROOM RENOVATION

Throwback Tuesday doesn't need be just another excuse to post an old before & after photo, or an old vacation photo (although there's NOTHING wrong with either and I'll have a post on THAT next week).  But there are other kinds of throwbacks and for this HGTV addict and architect by trade, I love nothing more than an interior design/architecture "Before & After".  So what better opportunity than today's "Throwback Thursday" to take it back to a couple of weeks ago when we, at long last, renovated our kids' bathroom.

Between my husband and I, we're lucky to both come from architecture and construction backgrounds so we're no strangers to a renovation (just call us the Latin Chip & Joanna Gaines). This is especially since our first home in NY was a foreclosure that we had to gut renovate ourselves WHILE we were planning our wedding (but that's another story for another day).  When we moved down to the South Florida area in 2016, we decided to land on the area of Miramar, due to proximity to family, good schools and also easy access to both Miami and Fort Lauderdale.  Like many areas of Florida (at least South Florida), Miramar is made of communities of homes (some gated, some not) and many of these housing communities are fairly young in age.  Since most of the construction here is relatively "new" construction (relatively speaking in comparison to the North East), the spatial layouts are typically the much sought after open floor plan with sizable kitchens, multiple bathrooms, etc.  

That being said, "New" construction in South Florida is still a good twenty years old and when we initially moved into our new home here in Miramar, this was definitely a LIVED IN home.  The previous tenants were, shall we say, big fans of COLOR and the home reflected that.  After a good deal of painting to tone down the home (interior & exterior), replacing all the carpeting with wood plank porcelain flooring, and finally replacing all the existing kitchen appliances, we were ready to move in.  The rest of the updates we figured we'd deal with at a later time.

Well, fast forward to almost 4 years later to present day and after receiving a sizable federal income tax refund after installing solar paneling for the house (again, another discussion for another day), we decided to REINVEST that money into the home by renovating the bathrooms, specifically the kids' bathroom.

The bathroom was alright.  Acceptable, I guess.  But pretty much your standard what we call, "builder's grade" finishes and components: standard white square tile, standard white vanity, standard white bathtub and toilet (you get the idea).  Nothing really to write home about.  Knowing that we were EVENTUALLY going to renovate that bathroom, as time went on, my husband and I started eyeing items that we felt would work great in that bathroom and started stock piling materials and components in our garage.  This included most of the wall tile courtesy of Costco, of all places.  A cool grey-beige horizontal tile with a very light striping that was very modern in style.

Folks, do not sleep on utilizing places like Costco (as well as I'm sure, places like BJ's, Sam's Club, etc) for potential resources for construction materials and/or your home improvement needs.  Stores like Costco often have "seasonal" items that are offered at very competitive rates and are not regularly kept in stock.  It's during times like these that you can find many items in relation to home improvement including wall and floor tile, hardware, lighting, toilets, not to mention items like furniture, rugs, etc.  

That being said, when we finally hired a trusted contractor (via Next Door recommendations) and we were ready to start the renovation, we ended up going BACK to Costco for a minimal frameless shower enclosure, a new Kohler toilet, a new gray distressed wood vanity with quartz countertop and a new lighting fixture.  The rest of the items, such as the wall mirror and faucet for the sink, were a mixture of Amazon and Home Depot.  The accent tile (a metallic penny tile lot) was from a local construction warehouse called Floor & Decor, very popular here in South Florida.  The metallic penny tile was used as an accent strip in the center of the shower and also as the shower floor finish.  On the surface (ha), we had concerns on whether the finish of the penny tile would be slippery in the shower but with all the grout that gets applied between each singular piece of tile, it allows for enough traction to prevent slippage concerns.  In regards to the general bathroom floor, we were tempted to keep the existing bathroom tile flooring but since we had enough leftover porcelain tile from when we updated all the bedrooms, we decided to just update the flooring with the same tile as well.  Because, hey, why not?

But let's talk about the shower enclosure because that was a HIGHLY contentious conversation between me and my husband.  On my husband's side, he was all for a sleek shower enclosure for resale value of the house and based on the idea that the kids will get older and utilize the shower more than a bathtub.  My perspective was more that a shower enclosure is not very kid friendly and too "adult" for a kids' bathroom NOW.  Ultimately, we ended up going with the shower enclosure and while I had a good deal of reservation throughout the build out of the bathroom (and I even ordered a large foldable bathtub from Amazon to have on hand), it turns out that the kids actually find taking a shower a FUN experience.  What likely helps is that hardware used for the shower head is actually a DOUBLE shower head: One stationary and one with a hose attachment that's not only great for, well, hosing the kids down but also for the kids to use when they play "Firefighters" in the shower.  

It's a win, win for everyone involved.  As long as it doesn't get too messy.

We also opted to lose the old school medicine cabinet by the sink and instead, had a custom niche built into the shower area.  The interior of the niche was finished with the same accent metallic penny tile and finished off with a metal trim all along the opening.  We were pleased with the result.

So after approximately 10-14 days (essentially a little less than 2 weeks), we had a completely updated "kids'" bathroom.  All in all, a very short amount of time to get a brand new, modern bathroom in place.  Not only is it a sleek and stylish collaboration between both my husband and I, but it's created a new fun "Shower Time" for the kids.  Again, just call us the Latin Chip & Joanna Gaines (minus the additional 3 kids, the additional animals, the farm, I mean, you get the idea).

But, in the meantime, check out some more of the Before & After photos of this fun bathroom renovation.  I'll likely post some of video of the work on our You Tube channel this weekend so I'll keep you posted on when that's all up and running!