Things have been b-to-the-izzay here at the Fischer house!! After living in our house for 13 years with a beyond sub-standard powder room, we have finally started the powder room renovation and I am super excited to share the process with you so that you can learn how to rock your own powder room renovation!
So let me just start at the very embarrassing beginning…
So, the important thing for you to know about me is that I do everything or I do nothing. I could have switched out the vanity and made other cosmetic changes a long time ago but I am a New England yankee and I will not spend money on what I see as a temporary fix. And, trust me it isn’t easy to wait for someone who loooooves renovations–especially kitchens and baths. But, for my own house, I would rather live with this hideousness until I can do it all and do it right.
As a result, my dear friend Dawn’s response to the news of us finally tackling the powder room renovation was, “Thank God!!” Haha!
This bathroom was created from a section of the original butler pantry by the previous owners (who were not awesome do-it-yourselfers). A few years ago, I updated the other side of the butler pantry:
As you can see, we were living in a tale of two cities in this little space. Last year when we renovated the kitchen, we thought we would do the powder room renovation at the same time but the kitchen reno was a much bigger financial commitment than we were thinking so we had to wait on the powder room renovation.
But, honestly, I am so glad that we did because I was able to get exactly what I wanted for the space. The poor thing had suffered as the ugly duckling for so long that I really wanted it to be over-the-top special once the renovation was done.
How To Start Planning A Powder Room Renovation
The first step for your powder room renovation and any renovation is not to schedule your contractor!
Before you even have a contractor come out to look at your project for an estimate, it is so helpful for you to know a general idea of how you want the space to look and feel. This will make your first meeting with your contractor so much more productive because they can advise as to the reality of what you want to accomplish.
You will also want to know your budget for the overall project. Don’t feel like you should hold that number back. We looooove to know an approximate budget when we start a project so that we can make selections that will help us come in at a budget where you are comfortable.
Step 1: Gather your inspiration
The first step is gathering inspriation images and saving them in one place. There are so many incredible websites for inspiration and one of my favorites is Decorpad.com. There are high end designs here that are inspirational and pinnable.
Now, why do I say pinnable? Because my favorite place to save my inspiration images is on Pinterest boards and here is why:
- It links to the resource so that you know where you found it (maybe it was a blog post that mentions the paint color or other information that will help you narrow selections)
- If you save products, you will know where you originally found it to reference dimensions, installation, etc (I have a horrendous memory for this kind of stuff)
- You can begin to see a pattern of what you like
- Once you start pinning images of products, you can start to see how all of the items will play with each other in the space.
- It is easily shareable with others, like your contractor
Step 2: meet with your contractor(s) to gather labor estimate(s)
I recommend meeting with your contractor after you have gathered your inspiration images because they will have a better understanding of how to price the job. Do you want wainscot? Do you want to try and relocate the toilet? Do you want glass doors on your tub vs shower curtain rod? Does the vanity you like work with plumbing codes? Do you want sconces on either side of your mirror or add overhead lighting?
Having a general understanding of what you want will make you so much more knowledgeable during that appointment and lead to a more productive meeting and successful renovation. Coming out of this meeting, you will receive a more accurate estimate for the labor too. This will help inform your budget for all of what we call in the business, “finishes”. That’s the toilet, sink, faucet, etc.
I knew before we met with our contractor that I wanted a console sink, similar to this (click image for product details):
Pro Tip: Our existing plumbing was coming out of the floor and for these sinks, the plumbing needs to come out of the wall. Check codes in your area–where I am you cannot plumb from the wall if it is an exterior wall.
I was able to share this sink idea with my contractor so that we could discuss if it was even possible to run the plumbing through the wall and he knew to add the change in plumbing to his estimate.
Step 3: Review of budget and sourcing finishes
Now that you have labor costs you can really dive into the fun stuff knowing exactly what your budget is for that. Once again, I use Pinterest to keep track of these items as well. Even if you go to a plumbing showroom or a tile showroom and are not planning to shop online, you should still find pinnable images of them so that all information is kept in one place.
I ended up having to design my own sink because our space was so small but it was so much fun! I will write about that process in the next post.
So here is the moodboard that I created with the images that I had pinned for my powder room renovation. You can see the actual Pinterest board here:
So that’s it for now! I literally cannot wait to show you the final product!! And if you need help with your powder room or any bathroom renovations, please schedule a call with me here or reach out to us at admin@rethinkhomeinteriors.com
xo,
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