Pepper Design Blog

Building a Bathroom: Demo Time!

We’re turning three adjoining closets in the center of our house into a full bathroom – and we’ve broken ground! We’re building this bathroom from scratch, so the first thing on the list was to bring those walls down.

Here’s a look at the largest of the three closets. You can see the hallway that continues on to the living room on the right and Liv’s bedroom to the left. Behind me is our current bathroom. We have a new hallway now next to the new kitchen, so this hallway will add additional square footage to the new bath.

Remember when we received the best email ever? It’s so exciting to be on the move.

After a few hours of work the walls to the closet were down. Here’s a hazy peek through the plastic:

The worst part of tearing down three closets is losing three prime storage spaces. Our in-progress office is now filling up with brooms and mops and baskets of towels and coats… and everything else you keep in hallway closets .

And a better look from the other side of the new bath (looking in from the dining room):

A few things to keep in mind when demoing:

*Dust is a drag – staple gun plastic sheets (painter’s plastic) as make-shift walls when working, a spare 2×4 works excellently as a weight where the sheet meets the floor. Always wear protective eye/mouth gear and be extra cautious when working in an older home – asbestos, old/rotted wood and termites are real issues.
*Be sure to turn your breaker box off before you begin. If you’re removing old electrical work, don’t forget to properly cap off all wires.
*Salvage where you can – you might not need those old cabinets, doors and windows but Habitat for Humanity or a local charity might benefit from the donation.
*Have a truck bed empty and ready to fill. Moving your recently demoed pieces directly from the room into the bed saves time and your muscles from lifting and rearranging too many piles. As soon as the bed is full make your dump run. Trust me – you won’t be motivated to do it the next day.

An in-the-moment shot:

You can see the old closet outlines on the ceiling. I’d love to know what decade the walls were that mint green color, we’ve uncovered it in nearly every room!

Just to give a better idea of placement within the house, there’s the office on the right, the kitchen is behind me and that hallway there leads to Liv’s room and the master bedroom. You see what I mean how the broom closet has relocated to the office? Bummer.

Be back soon with more updates!

Building a Bathroom: Initial Inspiration

Our new guest bath design was originally inspired by the latest Decor & Trends project videos that were recently released by the Lowe’s PR team (not available on the website so be sure to check them out here). After hopping out to the Lowe’s website to explore additional how-to ideas (listed under Home Ideas and Projects on the site), I was surprised at how many great diy suggestions, articles and videos that they share online as well.

One particular video from the Decor & Trends section happened to feature a bathroom that rang very similar to what we had envisioned for our new guest bath and it was quickly added to the ‘inspiration folder’ on my desktop. Here’s a sneak peek:

What we loved about the bathroom decor was the simple integration of old-world style melded with modern furnishings and details. The white subway tile (a favorite of ours as we used a glass version in our kitchen remodel) brought in an original, traditional element that will stand the test of time, while the vanity, eco-friendly touches and rich colors keep the bathroom modern.

Having several visual images to work off of is so helpful for Kevin and me when remodeling – it helps to keep us on track with the overall look we’re trying to achieve (it’s easy to get distracted when you start shopping and there are so many choices out there) and since we’ve already decided on a plan it keeps us from mid-aisle disagreements about the shade of this paint over that. When the decisions get tough, we can pull out our handy inspirational images to see what color grout might be best or how various tile & paint colors work together in a final room.

The diy sections and videos are totally worth a look!

Building a Bathroom: PDB + Lowe’s = LOVE

A while back we received a surprise email from one of our favorite stores. Hint: it starts with ‘L’ and rhymes with ‘toes’.

And when I say we’re huge fans, I mean we’re huge fans.

Liv makes the cutest project cheerleader.

So here we are minding our remodeling business and working away on project after project when out of the blue we were offered a helping hand. As in, Lowe’s casually emailed, “would you like to review several Lowe’s products while building that future bathroom?” and we fell out of our chairs in speechless awe/excitement. Yes please!

Best email ever, no?

We are building this bath from scratch – the current location is three adjoining closets that sit plop in the middle of our hallway. The goal is to create a new full bathroom that compliments the Spanish style of the home all while being both eco-friendly and tastefully modern at the same time.

As you can see, access to the bath will be through our hallway (off of the kitchen) and through Liv’s room.

If we could throw any visual out there for what’s playing around in our minds, this might be closest:

Here’s a first look at the materials we have in mind for the space (we built this little inspiration board right on the Lowe’s shelf):

I was soooo excited that I offered a little sneak peek of the layout back in February, but we really weren’t ready to act on it until all of our research was complete, with the goal to begin slated for the end of March. And drumroll…. it’s nearly the end of March! I’ve been counting down the days.

Over the month of April we’ll be revealing all of the how-to’s on the design, tiling (heated floors, anyone?), installation and even our decision making process (on how to choose the best toilet, for example – you laugh, but there’s more to it than meets the eye ), all while covering the rest of the home that we’re slowing working on (such as the new guestroom/office, decorating the nursery and updating the living room).

Now back to pinching ourselves!