I've remodeled lots of rooms in several houses (including my current home) - mostly on my own. When it came time to do the bathroom, though, I thought it was best to leave it to the pros. As you all know, it's been a process. As with all processes, I've learned a few things along the way. I hope that if you ever find yourself in a remodel these tips will help. Get A Schedule

Seems like a no-brainer, but one of the things I failed to do early on was get a schedule. Since I've always done things on my own it just wasn't something I thought about doing. It has probably caused 90% of my frustration because things aren't happening at the rate/speed I thought it would. Of course having a schedule doesn't mean everything will happen as it should, but at least you will have a guideline (a very, very loose guideline).

I haven't been on in a few days because I've been slammed at work, but really, not much has happened around here. Everything has arrived except the vanities (which are scheduled to deliver today). The most exciting delivery came yesterday - the bathtub! It is beautiful and I can't wait to have it installed. Speaking of which - the plumber just finished moving the drain and the water lines. Once the tile is installed he can come back and install the tub and tub filler. Woo hoo!!!!

Today has been a fun day (of course, it doesn't take much to excite me when it comes to home improvement). The first bit of good news came in the way of the beginning of my shower pan. The guy came out today to float the pan in preparation for the fiberglass pan.

Later in the afternoon I received my new sinks and floor mount tub filler for the freestanding tub. The tub filler is beautiful. I was a little nervous because I ordered it through Costco but it was worth the risk! Not only did it come in hundreds of dollars cheaper than the cheapest fillers I found, but it is well made and absolutely gorgeous. The only downer in the delivery was the sinks. Even though they were listed as above counter sinks, they were, in actuality, semi-recessed. It's not a huge deal - it just means that I'm going to lose the top drawers of my vanity to account for the part of the bowl that is reces

Believe it or not, the bathroom isn't the only project going on at the Rose house. I decided in December to finish up my entry way. I needed to paint the closet doors and put up some shades and then I could call it a day. Oh if only things were that easy. The problem is I've become obsessed with wainscoting. I've always loved it I just wasn't sure if I could make it work. I've toyed with the idea for about a year but finally decided to pull the trigger and do it. Here is how the entryway looked after a I painted it:

I'm happy to report that the sheetrock work has been completed - kind of. John came out and built up the wall and repaired the sheetrock. Later in the afternoon his texture guy came out and did his thing. By around 10 pm he was finished and I was glad it was over. I ran into the bathroom to check it out and saw this:

In a perfect remodeling world you make your choices, buy your materials and everything magically comes together. In the real world, not so much. My bathroom is demolished and it looks better already. The next step was to build up the shower, add a niche in the shower and to repair the sheetrock around the tub and vanities. My GC told me Friday it would probably be Monday. Saturday he told me it would probably be Tuesday and Monday... well he called Monday morning to let me know he was going to look into a few things and would get back with me. I haven't heard from him since (it's 4:oo pm Wednesday afternoon). I've left a couple of messages, sent a text and nothing. In a panic I took to Angie's List in search of a drywall pro. I found one that had great reviews and he will be out tomorrow to quote everything. Fingers crossed he works out because I cannot do anything until the sheetrock and shower is complete - especially the floors. Which brings me to....

Demo day - the most exciting and nerve wracking part of any home remodel. Luckily I've got a great general contractor whom I trust completely. The night before I moved everything out of the bathroom and closet into our bedroom (which now resembles the aftermath of a tornado). John (my GC) and his crew arrived around 11 and got to work. Everything pretty much went as expected. There were no big surprises (which was surprise in and of itself). After two days of demo, though, we were done. There was dust everywhere, but it only took an hour or two to clean up. So how's it look? Well I'm glad you asked!