We have had MUCH too much talk about bathrooms at our house lately.  Little did we know quite what redoing a bathroom could entail -- and we haven't even really started!  We're at different stages in two bathroom projects right now, and I just hope it doesn't end up that we lose both toilets at once!

The first and fairly simple of the projects is our common bathroom.  This is the only room that received any attention by our previous owners after it was built in 1965.  They upgraded the toilet, tub and counter top -- and although the cultured marble color isn't necessarily our first choice, it definitely suffices.  We are keeping the additional effort and cost to a minimal here.  We painted, replaced faucet and shower fixtures, replaced towel racks, replaced light fixtures and the bathroom fan.  That all seemed pretty easy in comparison to what's next -- the rotting sub-floor next to the tub.  This last Friday night we tore out the old vinyl and most of the rotting particle board (with the exception of around the toilet - I'm not tearing that up until we know it can go back in within 48 hours) and had a bit of a nasty surprise with what we discovered underneath.  Needless to say, Lee has his work cut out for him in figuring out how to improve the sub-floor before we can lay a new layer of plywood and then the laminate.  If we could wrap this up before Thanksgiving -- the front part of the house would be complete!  Wahoo!

The second and MONUMENTAL project is the master bath.  The current layout is ridiculous.  It's a tiny little room with a crazy deep sunken shower - we call it our baptismal font.  The vanity space is dark and crowded and there is lots of wasted space around the closet. After MONTHS of deliberation and brainstorming, we have FINALLY come up with a layout that will improve the bathroom substantially.  It requires some serious work - moving of walls, lifting up the shower, building of new walls, moving the plumbing and some electrical.  And although my incredible husband could do it all, he's drowning at Stanford these days and it would take us a year to get to where we want to go with this room.  So, we are going to outsource the "bare bones" of it all.  We'll do the installation of most everything - but get help with the demo, framing, sheet-rocking, plumbing and electrical.  I'm really excited with how much more quickly this could happen!  We still haven't nailed down all the final details, but we're REALLY close.  We've spent the last couple of weekends picking out vanities, showers, counter top, etc.  I think we're close!

Here are basic pictures of our current layout and where we think we're headed!