IN PROGRESS: The $1,000. (or so) Bathroom Makeover
The bathroom makeover is coming along nicely! In case you missed it, you can read the BEFORE story here. The majority of the work gets done on weekends, as you would imagine, but this was never destined to be a "one-weekend project". It has worked out fine because we are lucky enough to have a second full bathroom to use while the work goes on. The first weekend, we started by taking everything out. THAT is a great feeling. Credit goes to my husband for pretty much all of this prep work:


Sink be gone!
Patching the walls and repairing the baseboard.
The pipe gets primed and the new color starts around the edges.

While this is going on, we've been selecting the paint color and the fixtures.

We'll be using this sea glassy/robin's egg blue (also found on a couple of the walls in the bedroom) into the whole bathroom. It's tough to depict on screen, but check out other projects found online using this color:





For lighting, we didn't want to move the junction box or any wiring, so we are sticking with a horizontal light configuration in the same spot above the mirror. We bought this one on lumens.com:


Remember that horrible, bare mirror from the previous post? We're replacing that (of course) with a medicine cabinet. Mirror combined with storage: smart! We bought this GRUNDTAL mirror cabinet at IKEA. Honestly, we once paid a lot for the Spritz one from Restoration Hardware that rusted from the moisture.



We picked up one of the 2-drawer, 31"- wide configurations of the highly modular GODMORGON sink cabinet systems at IKEA in oak veneer. It mounts to the wall and hovers over the floor, which I like a lot. We are worried about the strength of the wall, so we bought the available metal support legs for the front. With different drawer configurations, widths and finishes, there are what seem like hundreds of combinations, so definitely take your time measuring and selecting at the store. We matched it up with the ODENSVIK sink and the GRUNDTAL faucet:




At the moment we are not going to do any built-in storage, so we opted for these MOLGER shelves from IKEA. I like how they have that teak sauna/spa feel to them. We wanted the third shelf closest to the sink to be one shelf shorter, so Christopher pulled an IKEA hack maneuver and sawed off one level of shelves and replaced the feet onto the bottom of the shortened legs!:











Stay tuned for more of the finishing touches! The painting is just about done. The ongoing saga of how to hide that big floor-to-ceiling pipe goes on—I decided against the birch tree effect, and boxing it in is more work and money, as well as covers any access to the pipe, so we are now thinking frosted room divider in metal tracks -- we'll see!

About Us


Christopher Scott and Jodi Vautrin are the husband and wife team behind Ourhaus, where they chronicle their adventures in home improvement, decorating and travel. After purchasing a unique loft space just a few miles north of Boston, they began photographing and writing about their projects and it blossomed into a creative outlet and platform.

When they’re not home improving, Jodi spends her days as a freelance creative director & designer with a focus on user interface and interactive design, and is an entrepreneur at heart. She serves on the board of AIGA Boston as Vice President of Emerging Ideas & Events.

In his professional life, Christopher is the Technology Director for a multi-service ad agency based in Harvard Square. In his private life, he enjoys tinkering in all its forms, whether it's rebuilding the Ourhaus home network (again), fooling himself into thinking he knows how to fix home appliances, or trying to unravel the mysteries of the guitar. He also flies planes, performs open heart surgery and sings at bar mitzvahs (though not all at the same time).

They share their “haus” with their adorable, highly food-motivated chocolate lab, Lucy.