The Big Surprise {Small Bathroom Makeover}

Everyone knows how I love interior spaces, organization and furniture. I love spending time helping other people make their homes comfortable, clutter-free, and stylish. My mom’s house is a prime opportunity for this. With some rooms in need of an upgrade, I help her where possible to design her environment the way she wants it to be.

This year my mom decided to go away on vacation for about 6 days at the end of May. I know how stressed she gets when I try to help her organize the closets, so I can’t image how frazzled she might be if she had major renovation work done. My solution? Renovate her bathroom while she was away. Of course I wasn’t going to tell her about it, in fear she would say no, so… I planned it as a surprise! A real life, “While You Were Out”, “Extreme Home Makeover” bathroom renovation surprise.

I consider myself to be handy with the tools, but I can by no means do major work, drywall, plumbing, flooring. Well that was before last week. So I called for reinforcements, my uncles. One is a contractor by profession, the other has practically renovated his entire summer home himself, and the third, the world’s best assistant who can jump in and help with anything.

More about them later. To make a long story short I asked them if they would help redo the bathroom back in March and we’ve been planning in secret ever since. They talk to my mom often, as do their wives, so I made sure everyone knew it was a surprise. We discussed a few times over the phone, one even took measurements in secret at Easter diner at my mom’s, I got most of the materials, everyone converged on the house at about 9am Saturday after I took her to the airport and bam! We were off.

Now, the bathroom….. Before. Old 60’s tile at 4 feet up around the room and in the entire tub region. Carpet on the floor, some broken tiles, laminate counter top that didn’t match the vanity width, a mirror stuck on to cover a hole in the wall. It is certainly in need of help.

A close up of the old sink area.

The wall by the door.

Bad flooring and vanity.

I’ll certainly write about the makeover process but I don’t want to continue the suspense any longer. Now, the after!

New mirror, art, light fixture, molding and shower curtain.

Pictures of the before and during process.

By the doorway. A vase with beach rocks, towel hook, art, and botanicals.

Mom’s reaction? Actually I won the bet about what her first words were going to be. “What did you do?” she said. She just stood there and stared. Her next words “What did you do?” And then… “It’s gorgeous.” She cried, success! She loves it and said never in a million years would she have suspected we would do this.

Many thanks to the uncles, grandpa, Dan, Ang and all support staff for the help!