I must admit, I have been somewhat delinquent in my postings so this is my attempt to get you guys up to date on one of the projects that we have completed since the last full post. That project would be our half bath upgrade. This bathroom has been a pain in the but for quite some time and I was more than happy to get it up to speed with the rest of the house. We also had a realtor walk through and give us some insight on some things we should do to help the sale of the house once we get ready to sell. Improving the look of that bathroom was one thing she said would definitely be worth the money.
Unfortunately I do not have any before pictures, but there was wainscoting on the walls and a pedestal sink that was mounted to a 2X4 that was nailed to the wall. I am really not a big fan of wainscoting and the pedestal sink install was done so poorly it just made the bathroom look terrible. I think the pedestal sink was installed as a space saver and it would have been fine if the install had been handled a little better. The wainscoting was installed to hid some wall defects and whoever installed it did a fine job, but like I said before, I am just not a fan.
Removal of the wainscoting went ok except for the fact they had siliconed the top of it to the drywall. I ended up tearing the top layer of the drywall during removal of the wainscoting which I thought would be an easy fix with a little spackle and some sand paper. Boy was I wrong. I tried to get it smooth 4 times and my lovely wife painted it 4 times, but once the paint dried the imperfections were still there. So instead of going at for a 5th time, we decided to go with chair rail. I did not think the chair rail would look all that great, but after seeing it installed I realized it added a nice touch to the bathroom. Wainscoting down, fresh coat of paint and chair rail up, looking better already.
Removal of the pedestal sink showed me just how bad the install really was. The sink bowl was attached to a 2X4 that was only attached to the wainscoting which equals no support. The only support the bowl was getting was from the pedestal under the sink and the drain line. This is not the way the bowl should be supported and I am surprised we did not have problems with the sink prior to us taking it out. With the removal of the sink we had to find a vanity that would fit in the same spot since I did not want another pedestal sink. The space for the vanity was very shallow and we had to find one that would be less than 16 inches deep. We got lucky and found one at Home Depot that was a perfect fit. It was shallow enough to fit in the space and since it was a full vanity it gave us some under sink storage. I was also able to find matching faucet, towel holder and toilet paper holder. One really cool thing that I installed was a push button drain. It cost a little more than your standard drain, but it is does give the sink a neat clean look. I am really pleased with how this project turned out and here are the after pictures for your enjoyment….