The Blueprint Dream
When we started drawing up the plans for this cabin, the bathroom was one room I was excited to design. Let’s just say our previous bathroom situation left a lot to be desired, so this new space was going to be my ultimate clean slate.
We had it perfectly mapped out on paper. The layout was simple and functional: a one-piece shower/tub unit, toilet, vanity, and enough room for a stackable washer and dryer. It was foolproof. (Or so we thought.) But as we quickly learned in Reno 101, paper doesn’t mean a single thing if the plumbers show up to the job site holding the wrong draft (or forget to look at it).
The Plot Twist (Or Just Another Day of “Shifting Geers”)
If you’re ever doing a new build, let me give you the most important piece of advice you will ever hear: destroy all outdated copies of your blueprints. Our plumbers followed an old draft (or the builders…not sure who did that), which left us with a right-side shower drain set permanently into radiant-heated concrete, and our washer/dryer hookups placed in what was going to be our bedroom closet.
But honestly? That was just a tiny hiccup. We just #ShiftedGeers, searched for and found a new one-piece shower unit to fit the drain (which, unfortunately was $600 more than the one we had selected), and turned the bathroom’s newly empty laundry nook into a custom closet to hide our water softener. Problem solved.
The Real Chaos: Mold and Missing Studs
Getting that new shower unit into the bathroom was a comedy routine all on its own. We literally had to cut 2x4s out of the framing just to wedge the massive unit through the walls. If you had told me a year ago I’d be sawing apart my own walls just to get a piece of fiberglass into a room, I wouldn’t have believed you. (Read about that here)
Of course, it couldn’t just be that easy. As if the concrete-locked plumbing wasn’t enough, the renovation gods decided to throw in a little surprise mold to keep us on our toes. (Read that story here)
The Finish Line is (Finally!) Here
But this is why we do it. Out of all that chaos, a genuinely lovely room is finally emerging.
We didn’t just survive the hiccups; we custom-built our way out of them. We finished the closet, and we are currently creating a beautiful custom nook to perfectly hide the quirky shower plumbing. The pink board and batten is officially up, the ceiling is completely finished, and the room is finally looking less like a construction zone and more like a clean, cheerful place to refresh! Final reveal will come as soon as we are 100% finished. Fingers crossed 🤞 that it will be this week!
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