Final Final First Floor Bathroom Reveal.

Hey!  Hey hey!  Finally!!

Seriously, people.  I cannot believe this bathroom is done.  Still.  Like done.  Like, no more work in that room.  None.  I think I've been wandering aimlessly in shock for a while now.  Either that or standing motionless, staring blankly off into the distance....

This is a big deal.  I finished something, heh.

Although.  Now that we've reached this point, Mike asked me to frame a handful of concert photos he took, hang them up in there.  He calls it the rock n' roll bathroom, "so it should have some rock n' roll."  So, heh, guess I'm not as done as I thought.

But it's done enough to show off to you, my patient ones.

What were some of the wrap-up niblets after the schwanky cabinets went in?  Well.....

The baseboard and quarter round nose.  Eons ago I had picked some up (which is stellar as it appears no one sells this 5 1/4" base anymore), all I had to do was toss it in there.

I had this dilemma so I set the large cabinet away from the wall, ran the baseboard all the way back, the quarter round ends at the cabinet base.

Granted the baseboard piece behind the sink and toilet was uh, eh, a struggle to weasel in there especially as I was absolutely not removing either fixture ever again.  And I snapped the quarter round but luckily and thankfully that break is well hidden behind the toilet.

Tacked it on with my deluxe finish nailer, gooped up the holes and gaps and edges with wood putty* and caulk, slathered on a coat of white satin paint and bam, ta-da!, baseboard.

I did debate, white caulk or black caulk.  Went white.  Used that spiffy tape trick.

Repainted the door trim in and out while I was at it too.  Done!  And it felt sooooo good.  Not sure what it was particularly but so good.  I may have high-fived myself.

Next, in an effort to have the middle cabinet door prop up and stay open by itself, I tried one of those folding supports.*  Tried.  The directions....I don't even....just not working for me.

I mean, they're not unclear but in a way they are.  Or maybe I have an instructions mental block.

Mainly I couldn't measure from the hinge center like it shows because my hinges were different than what was depicted.  I figured hey, what's the whoop, shouldn't matter, right?  I dunno, maybe it did.

Well but huh, isn't it supposed to be 90°?  No?  That's what the directions showed measurement-wise.

Why won't it shut?  What am I doing wrong here?

Ugh soooo stupidly frustrating.  After searching online for clues, which all I could find was "follow the directions," I remembered I have that DIYZ app (now defunct).  Not only does it have instructions for projects, but ah ha, you can get instant live help.  Live.  Instant.  Yessss.

Dropped everything, dialed up straight away.  A friendly guy named Vince answered the line instantaneously and understood exactly was I was trying to accomplish.  I couldn't find a way to spin the camera around so it was on the project rather than my frazzled face; maybe I need to look harder.  That made it tricky to show him what was going on.

Regardless, he concluded I needed to move the part attached to the cabinet inside up a distance.  He, like I, was unsure of how far but he suggested an inch and a half.  Ok cool, thanks!  Click.

More holes.

After trying that and finding that nope, that won't work, I gave up.  Too frustrated I was.  Clearly one must belong to the Folding Support Secret Society of Ways to Install.

Now I have a bunch more holes and a scrape on the inside.  Sigh.

Nope.  Nope nope nope worse.  Rats.

It's ok though.  I'll just use my head to prop the door open, screw it, whatever.

Point of the story really?  It was very cool and very comforting to get instant help, I'll tell ya.  If I get cornered again in the future, I will definitely ring up that app.

Too, added two shelves inside the largest cabinet which freed up oodles of space in the middle cabinet.  Thumbs up for that.

Of course something easy that should have taken a mere twenty minutes at best turned fiasco, an hour.  Sigh, heh.  Ahhh me.  My luck has been for sh*t lately.

But moving on....

Mike, my cell phone photographer extraordinaire as we well know, asked if instead of installing a second shelf on the cabinets, if I would frame a photo of his.  Well duh, yeah of course babe!

He sent me this cool shot of a banner down near my grad school alma mater that he snapped I think on my birthday.  We were out to eat at Eleven City Diner which omg, if you're in Chicago, you must must eat there.

He doctored the photo a little and I hemmed and hawed about how best to display it.  How best?  A floating frame.*

I had ridiculously grandiose ideas about building my own but found one at Joann* for less than the headache/heartache/hassle/monetary drain it would have cost me.  Mike wasn't sold on my theory but he did suggest the frame match the insides of the cabinets, gold.

After a minor runaround with the photo printing, it was time to assemble and hang.

Oooooh, what a bad photo, sorry.

Gleefully there is a strip of wood way up top between the bricks so I packed a nail in there, strung some superfine wire through the frame and we were good to go.

And then it's like extra floaty 'cuz ya can't see the wire!  Ah ha!

Spiffy, right?  Good job Mike!

Remember I said my words would bite me in the butt?  Yeah well, on a separate visit to HomeGoods I found two interesting bottle-ish things to dress up the top of the large cabinet.

Now.  Before you point and laugh at me all judge-y, in all honesty I purchased them because I was entering the bathroom into a design contest and thought it a requirement that I should accessorize.  Soooo, yeah, that's my excuse.

The round gold thing on the shelf by the concrete tissue box cover which you'll see below came from Joann Fabrics and of course it's no longer available.  The Hudson 43 Large Metal Decor Ball.  Their stuff changes over so fast.  I thought it was nifty, something that I'd like for years to come, that could land in various locations with ease.

The spikey wall things?  Again, you'll spot them below.  Thought those were darn cool too.

Originally I passed them up but then they plagued me for a week.  When something plagues me like that, a rarity, I gotta get it.  Target.  Gold Sea Urchin Wall Decor.  

Once up on the wall they suddenly seemed so much smaller than I anticipated but as I sank three screws into the wall through the wallpaper, I uh, yeah, can't move them now.  Unless that's where I put Mike's concert pictures, hm.

I kept the toilet paper holder* because hey, I still think it's peachy keen.

If you missed prior ramblings about anything in the bathroom and you're just a'dyin' over there to know more, click the links peppered throughout above but also check these:

How the brick came to be exposed, you can read here.

Here's the tile floor installation saga, complete with a rant about tools.

Bathroom Update! is jam-packed with oodles of info including the wallpaper, the ceiling light fixture, etc., etc.

For the other nifty things, events, ups and downs, grab a seat, cuddle up with a nice cup of something and click the "main bath" label here.  It's been nearly four years of work in one way, shape, or form so get comfy.

If I missed anything at all, the handy search bars, of which I believe heh there may be two, should be able to help you.

So.  Are you ready?  Really really ready?

Let us not forget the overly-staged before.  Have your vomit bucket handy.

I can't even......We bought this house?!

Okayyyyy, here we go!!

Dunh duhnuh dun duh-nunuuhhhhhh, the finished first floor bathroom!  You scroll, I'm passing out.

I did some camera learning so the following pictures should be better than usual.  Yay!

Heh, I didn't intend for the toilet, the only thing that did not change, to be the focal point of this shot but ah well.

Done.  Wow.

And how much did this cost, oh queen of all things budget?, you inquire.  Under one thousand bucks.  Granted $1000 seems like a hefty sum but in the grand scheme, it's far less than the $3-5000 one might normally spend.  And really, that's heh, like $250/year at my completion speed so pffffttt, nothin'!

My dad, heh, he was funny.

"What are you going to do if you finish the house?," he asked, "Start over?," a flash of a glimmer in his eye.

"Start over.  Or sell."  He smirked, "sell?"  Ok he's right, "Start over."

Love my dad.

Hey, would ya spot me a favor?  Come vote once-per-email-address for me over in the Amara Interior Blog Awards!  Flipping the Flip is up for Best DIY & Home Blog!  That'd be awesome and I'd so appreciate it!  Please feel free to share too, I need all the votes I can get.  Thank you!

*The wood putty, folding supports, floating frames, and wall mount magazine basket toilet paper holder are Amazon affiliate links.  The float frame I purchased is a Joann Fabrics affiliate link.    Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.