Happenings at Jello's House: Bathroom Reno, Day Zero

Since we moved in 6 years ago, we have REALLY wanted to renovate our master bathroom, and rid the master bedroom of the carpet that was stained with years of the previous owner's dog pee. In January of this year, we said we were going to do it in 2017. In March, we set a plan to do it in June during the summer. In June, we committed to making it happen in August. On August 15th, we bought our first parts -- hardwood for the bedroom (which isn't really a part of a bathroom reno, but hey, it was a start).

Buying the hardwood in August kicked us into actual reno mode. We started to buy other stuff, from taps to a heated towel rack to cabinets to medicine cabinets to door handles to a toilet; and we picked tile for the walls and the floor.

We contacted our contractor, Bogdan. We love our Bogdan; he's awesome. We actually contacted him in March, and his input caused us to take a step back and regroup. We finally reconnected with him in late August (after we bought the hardwood) and said "we're ready to go". That started the buying frenzy of more parts, and a plan to start in late September.

A week later, Bogdan broke his elbow doing jumps in a mountain bike terrain park with his young son (these things happen where I live).

His fluoroscope. 2 screws, 2 pins and a knitting needle of wire

Bogdan is awesome; he texted that image to me on the way home from the hospital, noting "our project might be delayed a bit".

We continued to buy stuff while he continued to heal. We had spent from March to August looking for JUST the right bathtub. We picked it in June, and put it out of our minds. In our August meeting with Bogdan, we showed him our tub choice, and discussed how to build it in. He noted it would be a challenge.

We looked at local supply where we could. The quartz countertop for our cabinets was quoted by a local supplier at $2,200 plus delivery and installation. We sourced virtually the same countertop out of Calgary for $850 plus $220 for measuring, cutting and delivery. The cabinets themselves we found for $2,500 in town; we paid $825 for them in Calgary, plus the cost for Bogdan to assemble and install them. We bought our toilet, hardwood, floor and wall tile locally. We got our taps from national suppliers on-line. We got our sinks from Rona for 40% less that we could buy them in town. We bought Ikea medicine cabinets.

The cabinets were entertaining. We got them from Calgary Cabinets Depot. The fellow helping us was helpful and knowledgeable but very chatty. We ordered them (took 2 hrs to order 3 cabinets; did I mention he was chatty?) then found out a few weeks later the order was priced (and paid for) at vanity height and depth, but was ordered at kitchen height & depth (which is what we wanted). This caused a bit of a kerfuffle, and interestingly, the fellow who helped us is no longer with the company.

Calgary Cabinet Depot also had a "perfect" accent tile. We took pictures and got details. With that, we were trying to finalize our tile layout and design when Karen asked a simple question about measurements. This led to an agonizing few hours on the computer scale drawings, and resulted in the realization that...

THE BATHTUB WE SPENT MONTHS PICKING WOULDN'T FIT.

Yikes. This spawned a week of panic looking for alternatives. The bathtub we picked cost ~$1,000. We found one for $2,100 (plus delivery) that would have worked.

We met with Bogdan again, and based on his advice visited Calgary (again) a few weeks ago to look at bathtubs. We picked one that was close to what we wanted (but not quite) but only cost $890, and ordered it. Bogdan said he would start when the tub was a week away.

We found out last Wednesday that week is now; Bogdan comes tomorrow. Then, last Thurdsay, we picked up our cabinets and tried to order our "perfect" accent tile. And found out it's no longer made in 3"x12" (which is what we need), but only comes in 12"x12" sheets. Based on the tile's design, it's tough to cut well. Yikes. Now what? Karen is now looking at what alternatives we have; we need it in about 2 weeks.

So because Bogdan is here bright and early tomorrow, we spent all day today emptying the bathroom and the bedroom, moving stuff to the basement for temporary storage, moving ourselves into the spare bedroom, and re-arranging the furniture so Bogdan and his team would have space to come and go.