Seriously, it's done. The house officially has an MLS listing (although I think it'll be 24-48 hours before it's up), the "For Sale" signs have been posted, and flyers have been made. Would you like to see? I'd love to hear your opinions! Download House flyer (word)
Now we just sit and wait. And wait. And keep the house really, really clean. Which in this family is no easy feat. Wiping a dirty fingerprint is like plucking a white hair: they aggressively reappear in dozens.
I think eventually I'll write a post about my experiences getting a house staged. It is a multi-step process for sure.
Actually, there are a few more things we need to do. Namely, paint the garage door a lighter color and paint the trim around it. And spray the tenacious weeds in the front yard with herbicide. But wouldn't you know it, we've had spotty on-and-off-again rain for two weeks now. The rain is great. But it's killing our painting and weed-killing schedule.
I did take a plethora of bathroom photos and I am finally ready to share them! All at once a load has been lifted from my shoulders.
Here was the bathroom when we first moved in:

In February, we took it to this:

Then came the drain pan built from shower liner and portland cement.


At this point, we ran out of time. Oberon hasn't been home but one weekend since then so we had to pay the tiler who set the drain pan to go ahead and tile the shower walls. (The marble tiles, not the ceramic, were set with just mastic, making this process easier than I had read online.)



Notice his interesting method of using nails as spacers for the wall tile. It's brilliant because the heavy tiles will not only be properly spaced, but their weight will rest on those nails, preventing sagging and lippage (where one side sticks out farther than the adjacent tiles' side) that can be common when setting wall tile.
Anyway, finally, a few days ago, I showed you what it looks like while waiting for the glass wall. (I thought it looked lovely and if the glass wall wasn't being fabricated, I would have canceled it completely.) You'll probably recognize the photo below from that previous post.

But now, it's all done and here is the final, final reveal.
No more teasing.
I mean it.
Ta da!

The glass wall does not have a door. It can be referred to as a European shower since they less commonly have doors. (Although that was definitely a stereotype.) I get lots of comments about all the splash that I should expect. But, I have to dispel the notion: there is barely any. Inconsequential I would say.
The vanities are the Allen+Roth Hartley from Lowe's, completely assembled. They're very nice for the price ($358, but I used a 10% moving discount) although I have since then seen these ones and wish I could have used them instead. The medicine cabinets are also from Lowe's. The light bar is from Home Depot.

Maybe you can't tell from the photo, but the fixture finishings don't match. The hard finishings are in chrome but I couldn't find chrome towel hooks that I liked at HD and ended up using polished nickel which I like better than chrome. It has a warmer, more yellowish finish. Hopefully the contrast is not too noticeable.
The main paint color is "China White" by Benjamin Moore (color-matched at Home Depot in Behr paint) and the blue-ish color behind the toilet wall is Martha Stewart's "Gabardine" from Home Depot (also color-matched in Behr paint). The woodwork is in Bitter Chocolate (satin finish) by Behr at HD.

I found a roll of non-sticky frosted vinyl-type covering for windows at Home Depot for $30. It's for privacy use but still allows plenty of soft, diffused, natural light.


I hope you don't mind if I shower you (nudge nudge, wink wink) with images of my favorite pieces.
I love the 1' tile accent border in the marble wall. Absolutely love it. (The big 24x12" ceramic tiles are by Ceramica Flaminia in the Trani Grigio while the accent trim is a linear brick in Seabrook. They are from a specialty tile store but we were given 25% contractor discount so the big tiles ended up being $2.40/sq.ft. and the trim was $11.14/sq.ft.)


I love the marble wall. It adds so much radiance to the bathroom in general. Its lustre literally lights up the bathroom. It was $5.50/sq.ft. from Home Depot but we had to buy 4x as much as we wanted and sort through the boxes to pull out the best pieces. And then we returned the leftovers. (An apology to any mad, Home-Depot-marble buyers in my area!)


The showerheads are amazing. The big 8" rain head that drops from my ceiling is my hands-down favorite. Showering has because a luxury these days and I can't wait or think of enough excuses to go and shower.
I love stretching my hands up into the shower and not feel anything but warm water flowing over me. If you'd like to come and try it out, let me know! I'm totally cool with that! (The ceiling showerhead is a Moen (~$60) while the hand-held is a fabulous Grohe piece (~$65). Both were purchased at Lowe's.)

Picking which showerhead to use is always a decision; they're both so nice! Here is a photo of the set up. The bottom handle has a big lever to control water pressure and a small lever to control temperature. The top handle let's you choose one of three settings: hand-held shower head, both showerheads, or ceiling shower head. It's called a diverter for anybody who wanted to know. (All trim is the Delta Leland collection in Chrome.)

I was really pleased to be able to find a mini-widespread faucet that fit the 4" centerset pre-drilled holes of our vanities. 4" centersets are usually less expensive and a little easier to put in. But I just don't like how they look. Luckily, faucet companies are starting to make more of the mini-widespreads. Now that we have them, I feel like the 8" windespreads result in too much dripping from your hands as you reach across the distance. 4" mini-widespreads are definitely the way to go! (These are from Delta's Victorian line in Chrome and cost about $150 each.)

I love the shower niches too. Home Depot sold foot-long marble bullnose pieces that worked out perfetly to frame the edges of the niches.

These medicine cabinets get rid of counter top clutter.

And one last look.

Now for the tricky part: budget, cost, and finances. If you're not interested, please read no further. It's embarassing to reveal this kind of information. Still, I wished I could have found a good description like this before I started our remodel.
Here is the general idea:
- tile: $660 (after being given a 25% off contractor discount for having been there so many times)
- marble tiles: $200
- shower faucet hardware and diverter (this includes the valves, fancy levers and trim): $750
- toilet: $120
- 2 sink faucets: $320
- other misc plumbing material: $80
- other misc shower & tiling material (backer boards, mastic, grout, etc.): $230
- lights, recessed and wall, and fan/heater/light: $500
- misc. electrical to add recessed lights: $60
- vanities: $650 (after 10% off coupon)
- medicine cabinets: $275
- window film covering: $30
- paint: $85 (because I did choose wrong the first time so we ate a gallon of paint essentially)
- glass wall (labor included in price): $499
And for the painful part:
- plumbing labor: $912 (that's with a "friend" discount)
- drain pan labor: $300
- tiling labor: $925
That puts this project at $4,455 in materials and $6,596 total with labor. Wow. That is a jaw-dropping amount for us. I'm sure there was an extra invisible $200 spent in random things like screws and buckets or whatever. All tallied and told, this was our most expensive renovation yet (even more than the kitchen with all-new appliances!), but I would say our most beautiful as well.
I would estimate that about $1,500 extra was spent going from just replacing the bathtub to converting it to a walk-in shower. Was it worth it? The answer isn't simple. To me, yes, it's worth it. The end result is so much more functional, aesthetic, and modern. But, given that the house is going to be sold soon, it wasn't a wise expenditure. sigh. My decisions never are.
All of these photos make me so grateful for the hard work, sleep-deprivation, injuries, and stress Oberon put into the project. He's not here (the common theme), but if he were, I would tell him just how special he is in my life. I always wanted to find a partner who would give me reason to pause and think, "How did this wonderful thing happen that I was lucky enough to be married to this man?" I don't have an answer to the question. But, since lightning rarely strikes twice, I'd better hold on to him and not make him do any more life-threatening home renovations!