The big reveal – our story so far…

Today is the DAY! It is REVEAL day for the one room challenge sponsored by apartment therapy! This is our first guest participation challenge and we are BEYOND EXCITED to show you what we have been working on.

Romie and I have been working hard on this basement bathroom. It was definitely a labor of love. This was the first time that we wallpapered, installed board and batten, installed tile, and installed a new faucet. We definitely had some fights along the way. Why is this?

Which difficulties did we overcome?

However, this was also the first time that Romie has completed any sort of DIY, and what were his thoughts? He would definitely do it again, but I noticed he did got frustrated frequently. In other words, I also realized that we are very DIFFERENT people.

What do I mean by this?

I am someone who is more of a DOER – meaning I do not need an instruction manual to get started, I don’t need to watch a youtube video, and I just try and intuitively figure it out on my own. For example, I’d rather something be done, rather than perfect. I’m not very detail-oriented. (Tell me in the comments if this resonates with you).

HOWEVER, my husband is the opposite, meaning he needs you to walk him through every step before he can do it. He is definitely detail-oriented, and needs to read the instruction manual prior to starting. And that’s completely fine, it just leads us to butt heads sometimes. Maybe it’s the libra in Romie, but it’s called balance, right?

From builder grade to CUSTOM MADE

This post is lengthy. We did a ton of things in the bathroom to get it ready for the reveal.

Remember we wanted to go from BUILDER GRADE to CUSTOM MADE. Caution – this may not fit your style, so please refrain from posting any mean or hateful comments.

That said, I really wanted my husband, Romie, to have a large influence in the design. This was his first time designing a space (with my help), and the basement is his space for gaming, etc. Eventually we will build a guest bedroom down there and we really wanted basement, boutique hotel vibes.

Punch list

This is the punch list we needed to install prior to the reveal:

• Toilet paper roll holder
• Faucet
• Hooks on board and batten
• Shower curtain rail and curtains
• Paint shower hardware
• Shower head
• Marble countertop
• Mirror
• Light
• Knobs on cabinet
• Toilet seat

Did we meet our budget?

Firstly, Prior to showing you the big reveal, let’s talk numbers. In the first post I said I wanted to keep this bathroom under $1000. Due to rising inflation we did not have an accurate representation of what things cost, and we didn’t have a ton of tools in our work space, so this wasn’t kept in mind while creating the budget. So remember our budget for this project was $1000. Did we go over? Let’s have a look:

• Tile + materials – $294.48
• Board and batten materials – $176.56
• Hooks for board and batten – $12.00
• Prints – $30.00
• Wallpaper – $260.44
• Frames – $30.00
• Countertop – $229
• Faucet – $149.00
• Light – $64.31
• Toilet seat – Gifted from Bemis
• Spray paint for shower hardware – $10.96
• Showerhead – $37.07
• Paint for trim – $23.98
• Paint for walls – $45.38
• Decorators varnish to protect wallpaper – $39.21
• Drapery rings – $11.65
• Shower curtains – $30.68
• Toilet roll holder – $13.20
• Knobs – $10.79

Grand total: $1468.71

Of course, since this was our first time doing a lot of these things, we had to buy a lot more tools than we initially thought. We purposely did not do the wall tile in the shower to save on costs as well. I hope this transparency helps you as you are planning your next project. In conclusion, I still think it is much more affordable than hiring a third party to complete this project for us.

BEFORE and AFTER

Check out the before and after. What do you think?

This is the Benton, Mayfair by Bemis toilet seat. It is slow close and really great to eliminate that loud toilet seat sound.

We also chose to paint our shower hardware because new hardware was out of our budget. I followed this tutorial by blesserhouse – see here

Product source list

• Tile
• Wallpaper
• Mirror – Homesense
• Light in brass/black
• Knobs
• Velvet curtains
• Toilet paper holder
• Spray paint primer
• Spray paint – black matte
• Shower head
• Decorator’s varnish to protect the wallpaper

@oneroomchallenge | @apartmenttherapy #oneroomchallenge #ORCAT

Follow me at @rococo_realestate_design on instagram to follow along on our progress!

Check out the www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog for all of the participants in this spring’s challenge