Let's Talk Molding

So I've showed this 80's, built in medicine cabinet before:

BLAH. Let's talk about what I don't like.

1. The 80's shutter door. Yes, it's been painted white (I've seen photo's of homes in our neighborhood that still have it the original honey oak) so this is actually an improvement - yikes! But even in the 80's, I didn't like the country shutter door look.
2. The size. It's terrible. I have tall bottles that don't fit. I have small things that I have to stack because there's not enough space. To say this doesn't work for storage is an understatement. Wider and taller so that I can have a second shelf would be ideal.
3. That it's a traditional medicine cabinet. Which is weird, because as a rule, I like traditional decor. For this one though, I actually wanted an open concept shelving. I am not usually a fan of open concept. But maybe that's just in the kitchen. In this bathroom, in this spot, I wanted something pretty and open. 

This.  This is what I want. I love what this blogger did with this project. Well, for the most part. This looks pretty narrow in the photo. But the two shelves for tall items and the shelf for smaller items? Yep, totally envisioned that in my bathroom. The Builder liked it too, so it's a done deal. 

You may remember the opening when we took out the medicine cabinet, there was pink wallpaper from the original bathroom on back of the drywall.  We did decide to leave it there, but we used construction adhesive to adhere 1/4 wood to the back of the drywall. I wanted the shelved to be as deep as possible so I could have some decorative baskets to hold my miscellaneous junk.The blogger I got the inspiration for the built in used hers for nail polish. I love that I can customize this to make it something that will work for me. Ironically, the wall she built hers on is next to a diagonal wall as well. Go figure.

So here's what we have so far.

We started by making the cabinet wider. There was just a 2x4 in wall to hold in the medicine cabinet in place, so we opened it up all the way to the stud. That added about 2 inches. Not huge, put just a little wider. Ignore the switch, it won't be staying. It used to operate the incredibly noisy, leaking jets on the old tub. One day we might run a light fixture off of it, but the plan for now is that we'll cap it and close it up. The screws in the wall are wear we installed 2x4's to adhere the 1/4 inch MDF.  Where we gained the most space was in the height. Overall, we added 4 inches to the height. This will let me hold some of my taller bottles here instead of all crammed under the sink. Even when we're not sharing a single vanity, I never had enough storage for my makeup and toiletries.

Then we added a ledge to match the one at the window. This one is lower profile. The wall to the right is actually on a diagonal. I didn't want one of us to come around the corner and walk into a ledge that was jutting out too far. You can really see how out of plumb these walls are! A lot of this will be covered with the molding. We have to work with what we have. There was no way we were going to rip out and replace any more studs! The Builder is fussing about it still, but I think it will be fine. I'm completely over tearing out any more studs in bathrooms!

And here's where we are at the end of the weekend.

Already, you can see that the trim makes up for a lot of the edge not being plumb. We think the molding really adds height to the look of the cabinet. And now that switch looks really close! Clearly we have some more drywall work in the not to distant future. 

We still need to fill the back of the built in so there isn't a seam, as well as fill the nail holes on the molding. We still have 2-3 shelves that will need to be installed, as well as paint and primer. So a little more work still on this one. I really like how it mimics the window on the next wall:

OK, don't look out the window. It lets in beautiful natural light, but sadly, the fence seems even worse than it did when we started this project a few months ago.  The temperatures have finally cooled down for Houston, so I suspect here in another month or two, a new fence is in our future. Thankfully I have blinds! But you can see that the molding and the casing matches the built in as well. 

Again, we still have primer and paint to go, but we're down to what The Builder would refer to as "the punch list". The light at the end of tunnel!!  However, that means we're going to have to get started on the vanity next so we can say the entire project is done. We're so close to being done in here!

Back To The Tub

The front door is done.  It looks fantastic. But I don't have a good photo! It's been crazy around here and keep forgetting to grab a photo of it. My neighbors have commented that they love it, so that's got to be a good sign.  Photo's soon for the door.

Today we're talking about the tub again!  It's been awhile, but actually, The Builder we've done a lot of work.  Last I posted, it looked something like this:

The tile looked good. But there was no grout. Nothing was painted. The ugly medicine cabinet is still in the wall. There's no tub skirt or molding and none of the drywall repairs had been done. Basically, it's about as unfinished as it could possibly be. 

See that list above? It's all been completed!

So no, we didn't do it all this weekend. We've been working on it for a few weeks. Oops. Let's get caught up, shall we?

This is the molding we decided on. This is actually one of those happy accidents. I originally wanted this molding just to frame out the window and the medicine cabinet. You may recall my inspiration project here for my medicine cabinet. The Builder put the piece right under the bottom of the window too, and I realized I really liked it. So he grabbed an extra piece and we realized it butted up against the tile almost perfectly! We hadn't decided how we were going to finish the top of the tile or frame out the tub and skirt, so this was a happy discovery. Back to Home Depot we went to get enough trim for the entire project:

Total cost?  Right at $50. We had considered a 'pencil' carrera marble trim that would have been $9 for 10 inches. Significantly more in cost. And if I had really like it, I would have spent it. But I didn't. It was all wrong for our bathroom. I didn't even bother to bring home a sample. The Builder didn't like it any better than I did, so there was no point. We looked at a LOT of tile to trim it out, but nothing seemed right. So I'm very happy we discovered an affordable option that we think is perfect.

Nothing is painted yet. In fact, you can see the rounded edge of the window sill The Builder installed. We bought the trim pre-primered and this photo shows the nail holes filled. We didn't want to paint until it was all ready to be painted, and we still had the tub skirt to finish - which you can't see in this photo.

So this weekend, we worked on framing out the tub, the window, and the medicine cabinet. I thought it wouldn't take long. I was wrong. It took most of Saturday to get it all installed, and even then, we're waiting for the construction adhesive to set.

You may notice the walls have been painted as well. The walls have all been correctly textured and look so much better!! I can't wait to put artwork up on the wall. But that's still a ways off. Did I mention I love this trim?!

And last but not least, the tub skirt has been filled, primered, and trim added as well:

I'd love to get a shot of the entire tub, but the old vanity is still in the way. And since we haven't build a new vanity yet, it's going to stay there a bit longer. Again, this is just filled and primered. We still need to caulk the edge and then paint it all out. Still, it's really nice to see it not sitting in the wood frame.

Tomorrow I'll post the updates to what was the medicine cabinet!