The Bathroom Addition: our decision to move forward and 3 lessons we’ve already learned!
I don’t think I’m the first person to admit that most of the time home projects (big and small) do NOT go as planned!
When we bought the house, we decided to focus renovation efforts on the main floor where we do the most living. However, recent plumbing challenges made us re-visit the plans and decide to include a master bathroom addition. This decision did not come lightly mainly because it means spending more $$$ upfront and adding A LOT more design work to my plate. Despite these challenges, we’re excited to move forward and know that this decision is going to majorly pay off in the future. Scroll on for 3 lessons we’ve already learned on this renovation journey:
1.sometimes you have to spend money to save money
In the case of the bathroom, we have to spend a little more than we anticipated in order to save money (and time) in the future. Our architects and contractor explained that all the plumbing work they were doing for the main floor would need to be revisited whenever we decided to tackle the master bathroom. What did that mean exactly? It meant all the money going towards re-working the plumbing and repairing the downstairs would have to be RE-DONE whenever we decided to add an upstairs master bath. To avoid paying for this work to be done TWICE, going forward with the master bath will actually save us money in the long run.
2. expect (and prepare for ) the unexpected
I’m sure this may be the MOST common advice people will tell you when starting a renovation but I’m here to say it again: expect the unexpected! I’m a planner through and through — we knew what we were getting into when buying an old home but we wish we had spent more time preparing for potential issues. Take the time, DO the research and prepare for any unprecedented expenses to save yourself some stress in the future :)
3. patience is most definitely a virtue in renovations
We bought our home back in September with hopes to begin construction in December and Covid-19 has pushed back our timeline significantly. We could stay frustrated, and trust me we’ve felt all the frustrated feelings, but I’m actually super grateful for the extra time. The delays have forced me to research every design detail and make educated decision for every inch of the house - two things I would highly recommend doing to anyone tackling a renovation!
Now for the fun part. Ever since we’ve decided to move forward with the master bathroom, I’ve been spending way too much time on pinterest saving tons of inspiration photos. Scroll on through for a few images I’m using as inspiration for our bathroom design (including the bathtub of David’s dreams) :
