Don't Lose Your Marble(s) - Bathroom Counter Top

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Other bathroom remodel posts:

Bye Bye Bye to 80s Tile - How To Remove Trim and Tile, Bathroom Renovation Part 1

She Only Wants Me For My Beadboard - Bathroom Renovation Part 2 

Trimming and Caulking and Painting, Oh My! - Bathroom Renovation Part 3 

Paint That Funky Mirror, White Girl - Bathroom Renovation Part 4

It's official: we are over the hump. The worst is over, the tub is back in place, and the walls are painted, beadboarded, and caulked.

But then there is that nasty countertop...

It actually looks inoffensive with the rest of the bathroom finished, but let me give you a reminder of what that baby looks like up close.

Have you ever tried to clean a tile-and-grout countertop? What about after putting on bronzer and blush powder, which unavoidably spills a bit and ends up - you guessed it - on the grout.

Bust out that toothbrush, my friend. You're gonna be scrubbing.

When we finished the rest of the bathroom, we decided to save the old vanity but replace the countertop with something that fit the room better and made it feel more upscale. 

We looked at marble composites, granite, solid surface, and regular marble. In the end, we liked a honed (i.e. not shiny) carrara marble that is white and gray, and pulls from the whites in the floor tile.

The first step in getting this bad boy in place was to remove the existing countertop. For the most part, this wasn't too difficult. Just a process of pounding upward until it broke free.

You may notice, however, that there are some gaps in the beadboard because we cut it to fit around the old counter. Thankfully, because the wall is beadboard behind and next to the sink, we knew we would be putting in a backsplash, which would cover the gap.

The counter top came pre-cut with the hole for the under-mount sink, which was separate. First, the countertop was glued onto the vanity, and then the back splashes were installed as well. We had free installation from Duca Tile, so they took care of gluing it down and caulking the corners.

They also used a two-part epoxy glue to mount the sink underneath the countertop.

Here is a close up of how the marble backsplash looks next to the beadboard we installed.

And here is a farther away shot that includes the sink along with the beadboard, trim, and mirror. 

And now for the fun part... before-and-afters! 

And another angle...

We still have a few tiny projects left - like replacing the beige outlets (we replaced the outlet plates, but the outlets themselves are still a darker color) and installing the hardware for the vanity. But, the big pieces of this bathroom are finally finished.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

• Would you use marble for a bathroom sink, or a different surface?
• Have you ever remodeled a bathroom? Where did you splurge vs save?

House Update - Meet The Project!

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As some of you know from reading this blog, my husband and I recently moved to Michigan to renovate and sell a house he has owned for 7-8 years. We stayed with my in-laws while we made the changes and then quickly listed the house. Things ended up moving faster than anticipated, so you may know from Instagram that the house is already sold.

We actually sold it at the end of February. So, we moved, updated, and sold the house within two months. We move fast, people. So fast that it was all over before I got a single blog post up. Bad blogger!

For now, here's a bit of an intro of how the house looked before we made changes:

My husband bought this house when he was pretty young. It's about 1,500 square feet, has three bedrooms, and 1.5 baths. Not too tiny (especially moving from the Chicago rental market!), but also not quite the amount of space we wanted for two people who work from home and need two offices.

The home is bungalow style, built in 1926. It has a few features that were considered 'upgrades' at the time, such as brick all the way around the home (lots of homes during that era of building skimped on costs by doing brick only on the front half of the home instead of all the way around).

It also has porches both on the front and back of the house. On the front of the home, there is a large, well-protected 3 season porch with a fabulous view of the park, which the house sits right across from.

The porch at the back of the home functions like a mud room, and allows for a large entry to the back from the garage.

Note: I took these images before our old renters moved out, so please excuse their furniture and clutter!

On the first floor, there was a large living room, small dining room, and kitchen, as well as a very small bath. We didn't alter the layout, but we did make some changes, such as exposing the gorgeous wood floors (coming soon!).

Note: I took these images before our old renters moved out, so please excuse their furniture and clutter!

There was also an appliance situation... I have no idea how old these are, but they were clearly not cutting it. We debated the Great Appliance Crisis of 2014: whether to really splurge on nice, stainless steel appliances, or to go for white appliances that were cheaper but simply way more updated than these.

Go ahead and wonder what we chose, cuz I ain't spilling the beans until its own blog post. :)

Note: I took these images before our old renters moved out, so please excuse their furniture and clutter!

Upstairs is a full bath and three bedrooms. There was beige carpeting through most of the upstairs, but the master bedroom had a pretty hideous shade of purple. This crap was a major headache to remove, but we'll get to that in another post!

And there you have it... the starting off point for our house. I'll be updating soon with some much more drool-worthy images of the final product that we sold. I will be sharing a few of the quick-and-easy updates we did to get that sucker sold...

• Removing carpeting and exposing natural wood floors
• Dealing with stubborn old brittle carpet
• What to do when you reveal floors only to find they are completely nail riddled
• Super cheap appliance swaps

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Have you ever done small changes to a house to sell it? What made the biggest difference?
• Have you ever done a home renovation? What gave you the biggest headaches?