I ♥ My Bathroom

Ironically, my bathroom was the first room in my house to stop being crappy. (Get it? Bathroom…? Crappy…? Oh, never mind.) It was fully renovated before I moved in and it didn’t cost me anything. I know! What??

I bought my house with the help of the Long Island Housing Partnership (or LIHP), a not-for-profit organization that aims to help young professionals afford to own their own homes on this criminally expensive Island called Long. I met with a counselor and qualified for a great program involving my (former) employer that helped me buy my house and get a grant for renovations. Sweet!

With my grant money, I was able to have some much needed improvements done on my crappy house that I could never have afforded to do otherwise; the most significant being a Brand. New. Bathroom. Here’s when it was the epitome of crappy:

I don’t think it had been acquainted with cleaning supplies for some time. It did not smell like fresh meadow… Also, it’s impossible to see in the photos, but that’s paint over wallpaper on those walls. Makes sense. A person who is too lazy to clean their bathroom is definitely a person that is too lazy to strip wallpaper.

I was able to design every aspect of my bathroom myself, from crown molding to hex tiles, but a stipulation of getting the grant money was that an approved contractor would do the work. I’m a control freak. If I can’t do it myself, I’m gonna make damned sure whoever does it does it right. (Because, you know, I have tons of experience remodeling bathrooms…) My contractor thought I was crazy when I gave him this 3D rendering, but I needed to make sure he shared my vision. (He just loved working with me…)

Please enjoy this independent film I made. It’s the story of an ugly bathroom that grows up to be a beautiful… um… bathroom.

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I know. My movie is missing a toilet. I do have one, of course. I never thought I would have an opinion on a toilet design, but doesn’t this one look perfect?

My contractor tried to tell me the one that I chose (this one) was too big and went ahead and installed a smaller, generic one. Unacceptable! I made him change it. I always get what I want. (Seriously. He loved working with me…)

Here’s how it all turned out. If you ask me, my contractor should have been happy I freed him from builder grade bathroom monotony…

I made this shower curtain myself. I wanted something sexy like lingerie that would still show off the tile in the tub area.

Who says you can’t put a chandelier in the bathroom? Well, my contractor did, actually, but what does he know? I made him install it anyway. (Did I mention he loved working with me?)

Ahh, my sexy bathroom! Sure, it’s a little bit girly, but I’m a girl, so… whatever. I answer to no one! Not even a know-it-all contractor…

(Who loved working with me, by the way…)

I made a terrible tutorial that barely teaches you to make your very own sexy shower curtain. See that here, as well as a few more bathroom pics…

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30 Comments

    • My Crappy House

      Thank you! I think the sconce over my sink would be bright enough if I upped the bulb wattage, but I’m lucky enough to have space for a vanity in my closet, so that’s where I apply my makeup. The chandelier is really for ambient light, as it casts a lot of shadows around the room, but when combined with the sconce it gives me a decent amount of light. I also have a south facing window in there, which helps too.

  • Sandy

    Love your bathroom transformation! This is my first visit here. A bloggy contact recommended it to me. I love your quirky sense of humor and am really impressed at your DIY skills. You do rock!

    • My Crappy House

      Thank you so much! I’m glad you stopped by. I hope you’ll visit again. I’ve got a lot more to post

    • My Crappy House

      Thank you! I bet Riverhead got very crowded once Tanger moved in… I hear Westchester is beautiful. Thanks for visiting! Happy Holidays

  • DeviantSole

    Crappy my ass! How SEXY is your bathroom!!! I think it seduced me. This is one of the absolute BEST bathroom makeovers I’ve ever seen in a while. I love the chandelier. And just so you know, I am completely going to STEAL that shower curtain. Like right now. Seriously, I’m walking into the fabric store as I type. Note to self, buy house, give contractor 3-D rendering, ignore crazy look.
    Oh, btw I know folk like to know how they were found, I followed your link from an Apt Therapy post.

    • My Crappy House

      lol thank you! Yes, I will agree – my bathroom is definitely NOT crappy (but the rest of the house… ugh). Here’s a tip for the shower curtain – buy cheap black sheers and modify them. I cut the tops off so they were the right length, then used the extra fabric as a casing, sewed that back onto the top and made button holes for the shower hooks. I used 3 curtains. I didn’t even sew them together at the sides. They just hang better that way. This was WAY cheaper than buying black fabric and the bottoms are already sewn perfectly. Cheating (a little), but whatever works

  • msorrelle

    Really like your bathroom makeover – I, too, have a rancher so seeing how the rancher bath can be glammed up is great! Question: what 3D software do you use?

    • My Crappy House

      Thank you! Yeah, I just ignore the fact that my house is a crappy ranch and I do what I like. I use 3D Studio Max for my renderings.

  • Bonnie

    Great job, but not necessarily done all by your self (“The contractor thought I was crazy when I gave him my 3D rendering, but I needed to make sure he shared my vision”)as you have promoted yourself and this fixer upper as.

    • My Crappy House

      Thanks! I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear that I had a contractor do my bathroom. I do most of the work myself, but not all and I always disclose when this is the case. There are just some things that are over my head and for those things, I do defer to the pros. I think it’s easy to tell when I’ve done a project all on my own, as I tend to brag about that fact. A lot.

      (*I’ve updated this post to better convey that I had a contractor do the work on this bathroom)

  • Bobbie

    Your bathroom is beautiful. I just started following your blog and love it. Keep up the good work. Who cares if you have a contractor or not, it’s gorgeous!

    • My Crappy House

      Thank you! I thought I was clear that I did *most* of the work myself at my crappy house. I really wasn’t trying to hide anything! Anyway, thank you so much for the compliment. I don’t take credit for the labor, but the design was 100% me

  • Heather

    This may sound weird, but I LOVE that toilet… Kohler, right? The shape is so nice. I had it in a rental apt. and if I ever buy a place that is the toilet I would put in! Beautiful job overall too, I love the bathroom!

    • My Crappy House

      Haha when I was shopping for toilets, I thought – meh, it’s a toilet. Who cares? And then I saw THIS one and yes… oh, yes, I cared! Funny story: I picked this toilet and the contractor told me it was too big to put in. I was very disappointed, but what could I do? So he put a plain old (well, new, but you know) generic toilet in – and it was literally 5 inches off the wall! Seriously, the tank was FIVE INCHES off the wall!! And he tried to tell me this was how it was supposed to look. Have you EVER seen a toilet that’s 5″ off the wall? Luckily, because this was done with grant money, it was also subject to inspection by the people who provided that grant money. I showed the inspector the toilet and he was like, WTF? He made the contractor send his plumber back who “magically” was able to fit the toilet I originally picked. THIS one. I swear, if I knew then what I know now, I would have had a VASTLY different relationship with my contractor. It might have involved my nail gun and his ass…

      Oh, and yes, it’s from the Kohler Memoirs line. Good eye!

    • My Crappy House

      Excalibur Gray by Benjamin Moore, though Sherwin Williams can also mix it perfectly for less money.

  • alicia

    Great transformation! Curious what program you used to do your 3d rendering, I’d like to make a few contractors mad myself!

    • My Crappy House

      Thank you! I’m a 3d artist professionally, so the software I use is very expensive and not exactly user friendly. You might try something like this program. I haven’t tried it, but the reviews on Amazon are good. It’s about 1/50th the price of the software I use. Good luck!

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