From Wet Bar to Half Bath

We've been slowly working on parts of our house and sometimes it is hard to see the progress until you start looking at before and after pictures. Today I'll be showing you my half bath that was previously an awesome 1970's wet bar.  For us the wet bar stored random bits of junk and a margarita machine. Our half bath was previously located adjacent to the breakfast area in our kitchen.  When we were looking at buying our house that was one of the very first things I wanted to change.  I think my husband thought I was kidding.  Here are the before pictures.  We took them right before demo.

 

Here is the picture that shows you the pass through that was in my living room.  
The formica that was used in there must have been popular because I know at least 2 houses on my block with this same counter tops.  There was also some wallpaper that had been painted over and once we removed the shelves we found some pretty interesting wall paper.  It's always fun to see what was previously there and what past homeowners have done.  Unfortunately, for anyone else there is no longer a wet bar in existence in this house. With lots of work it has turned into a half bath.  I'm not going to lie this was an enormous undertaking to take on as a DIY project.  I mean if this gives you any idea, the sewer line had to be rerouted so we could accommodate another bathroom.  All the work was done by us with help from my family.  Here are the after pictures.

The artwork in my bathroom are framed perfume labels. 

Another floor down

 Whew, I think we are almost through with the kitchen/ utility room tile.  Of course there are always a few things left to do, but we are so close to being finished.  I was actually really glad the kitchen had holes put in it from the foundation work because there was no love lost when this laminate flooring had to go.  Bye, Bye! It's just not my style.

 Before Picture

Now, I'm all for the great properties of laminate, but it really should have never been put in a kitchen.  Let's just say after having three water leaks in the kitchen, laminate buckles and separates with water.  Tile is really the only thing you'd want in areas that gets wet.

I found a great porcelain tile that has the color all the way through it.  This was an important to me because I've seen how my little guy can tear things up. In fact he tested the tile out yesterday with a red crayon.  Needless to say, I'm almost certain that someone will chip it at one point and having the color all the way through will make that chip less noticeable. Another great thing about this tile is it is a rectified tile, meaning you can have really small grout lines.  Hurray, for less grout to clean.  Do not ask my husband what he thought of the tile.  Haha.  According to him it is pretty difficult to lay the tile level when you have to lay them so close together.  So, I guess I didn't do him any favors by just picking one size of tile for this room.  I'm not sure what he thought was more difficult, the kitchen or the entry.  Oh, and ignore the base molding in the pictures.  We haven't put the quarter round back down so you can see the previous colors of paint people have painted the molding. Once everything gets put back into place I'll get you some prettier pictures where you can see my kitchen.  The best thing about the new tiles is that it has really made my kitchen look bigger and brighter. 

Entry Flooring Done

The floor is finished for the most part.  There are a few little things left like sealing the grout and painting the quarter round, but at least it looks done.  I promised my husband I wouldn't put him through laying two different sized tiles for the kitchen and I'm keeping my promise.  I think the two different sized tiles in the entry way look great and I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  Although, I'm sure anything would have been better than that wonderful 1970's tile and it couldn't get any uglier with the concrete patch from our foundation work.

 Before

 After

I can just imagine the next owner 30 years from now complaining about the tile from the 2010's.  Haha.  We will be moving on to the kitchen to do the flooring in there even though the entry way is far from finished.  We still have to go back and patch and paint walls, maybe put in some crown molding and definitely change out the light. 

Here's what I'm thinking for a light.  My mom found it and it's definitely one that looks like me.