Your Bathroom Remodel Questions Answered
/If you forgot about my bathroom addition, I don’t blame you - I kinda did too! The project has been on hold with absolutely zero movement for two years. Until now. Since I haven’t talked a lot about it recently, I’m getting lots of questions about this mysterious room in the house.
A bathroom addition? Did you add square footage?
Nope! When we remodeled the kitchen, we also reconfigured the back of the house to include a second bathroom - an ensuite off of our primary bedroom.
Get the full scoop here.
How many bathrooms did you have before?
One. It’s served us well, but this second bathroom is coming at a good time. Actually, two years ago would have been a good time to have another bathroom, but better late than never. Our house is 1,400 square feet with three bedrooms and soon we’ll be able to say it has two bathrooms.
What was the space before?
It was mostly our primary bedroom closet, plus some of the kitchen. The closet door is now the door to the bathroom, so it feels in keeping with the layout of the house.
See the floorpan before and after here.
Why do you have a deadline to finish it?
We pulled permits for the kitchen remodel and bathroom addition and they’re expiring. We’ve exhausted all of the extensions we’re eligible to request, so the real deadline is approaching. If the permit expires, then we would need to pull permits all over again and it could cost us another $5,000 (that’s what we paid in permit fees originally).
Learn more about the permit process and the cost here.
Why did you get it permitted? I thought you only needed to get permits for square footage additions?
Permits are technically required for any remodel, but most people don’t pull them because it’s such a hassle (my experience has been a major headache). We followed the rules for several reasons, the main one being our home is historically designated and has Mills Act, which means we have a contract with the city to restore our home. That contract states we’re required to pull permits for projects on the property (inside and out)
Why did you wait until the permit expiration to finally finish the project?
We gutted our kitchen in early 2020 and then COVID hit a couple of weeks later. We lived through a big remodel during a challenging time (I wrote about it in April 2020 here). Then, a year later, I had a baby. I just wanted to hunker down at home and enjoy not doing projects. But I hunkered a little too long. I also was experiencing a lot of decision fatigue and overwhelm with exposure to so much good design out there. I struggled with color palettes and decided procrastinating would make it easier. (Spoiler, it didn’t)
How much does a bathroom addition cost?
I’m thinking it will be around $35k - way more than I initially anticipated. $20k of that was just to get the bathroom looking like it does in the photo above. Permitting, framing, electrical, and all that prep really ads up! Oof. I’ll share a full breakdown when the project is completed.
What are the dimensions?
The whole room is about 11’ long and 5’ wide. The shower is 3’x5’.
What are we going to see in this bathroom?
Color! Burgundy and pink floor tiles, pale blue shower walls, wallpaper, a warm oak vanity, a window to the backyard, polished nickel fixtures, marble, and the necessary toilet, too.
Any other questions? Leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them.
