I had every intention of working on the front porch yesterday. I gathered my tools, headed outside, and started working on the porch. I fully intending to get the old, rotted fascia boards removed, get the new fascia boards installed, and then make some headway on the new porch skirting. But about 30 minutes into my work, it started sprinkling.
I’m not a “work in the rain” kind of person, so I gathered up my tools and headed inside. And then I sat at my desk for a few minutes and thought, “Well, what am I gonna work on now?” I had three options, as I shared yesterday. I could start clearing out the sunroom and getting it ready for its low budget makeover into our new (and hopefully temporary) home gym and sitting room combo. I could start working on the dining room. Or I could start working on the bathroom-to-storage room conversion.
I didn’t feel mentally prepared to tackle the sunroom just yet. That room, which is being used as a storage room (with zero organization to it) felt way too overwhelming to me right now. I need more time to get mentally prepared for that room. 😀 So I ruled that out. I haven’t come up with a decorating plan for the dining room, so I’m not prepared to work on that just yet. So, I headed to the hallway bathroom, hammer and pry bar in hand, and started on the demolition of that room.
I hadn’t planned on tackling this project just yet. I had really hoped to get some outdoor projects finished first before I start on this project. But if the weather isn’t going to cooperate, there’s not really a whole lot I can do about that. It looks like we have quite a bit of rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future. So with all other options off the table, it looks like the bathroom-to-storage room project is now underway.
We can officially say goodbye to this bathroom. I really loved this bathroom. It was only the second complete remodel I had ever done in my life. It was a true down-to-the-studs remodel, and when I remodeled this bathroom, I had only ever done one other down-to-the-studs remodel before, and that was the kitchen in our house. So I was very proud of this bathroom remodel when I finished the main remodel over ten years ago (in 2015).
And then I loved it even more when I gave it this colorful makeover several years later (in 2019).
But as they say, all good things must come to an end. And yesterday was the official end of this room as a bathroom.
As of yesterday, the room now looks like this…
I thought it might be at least a little bit emotional to me tearing out this room. I put a lot of hard work into this room, and other than the plumbing, I did everything else by myself — the drywall, the tiling, the walls and trim, and everything else.
But to the contrary, I felt no emotion about it other than excitement. This is the last area of our master bedroom suite that needs to be redone. And once this is done, we will have a complete bedroom suite that works for our specific needs.
I couldn’t be more excited about having a proper storage area where I can store Matt’s equipment (power wheelchair, shower wheelchair, and Hoyer lift) when they’re not in use. For the last 12.5 years, Matt’s Hoyer lift and power wheelchair have been permanent fixtures in the main areas of our house, visible and in the way, when he’s not using them. And his shower wheelchair lives in the corner of our shower. Thankfully, we have a huge shower with plenty of room for it, but I’d rather it not be a permanent fixture in the shower. So once this is done, we will finally have a storage room where all of those things can be tucked away, out of sight, and out of the main traffic areas of our house, when he doesn’t need to use them.
I was especially curious to remove the panel that I built on the side of the bathtub. I built this and added it to the side of our very inexpensive bathtub over ten years ago, and I built it using MDF. Over the years, I’ve had many people warn me that the water would ruin it, and it would be a total disaster over time.
Well, it’s in perfect condition. Because I sealed it really well where the panel met the bathtub, you can see that no water ever got between the bathtub and the panel. And this was our main bathroom for years until I finished our large, accessible bathroom in December of 2022. This was the only bathroom in our house that had a bathtub and shower, so it was in regular use from 2015 until 2022. And the bathtub panel held up perfectly during seven years of continual use.
You want to know the best thing about this project? Last night, when I was finished working for the day, I just closed the doors to hide the mess.
I’m going to do my very best to keep all of the demolition and construction mess inside the room so that each day, when I’m finished working, I can close the doors and keep our bedroom suite looking nice and tidy so that no one will ever know what lurks behind those doors.
While I was working, I was thinking through all of the options of how I was going to finish out this storage room. Matt’s equipment won’t take up the whole room, so there will be plenty of room for built-in storage for other household items. One thing I did decide yesterday is that I’m going to build the cabinets for this room from scratch. That’s the best way to get the most out of every square inch of space available. And here are my preliminary plans.
When standing in the doorway of the room, the wall to the left will be cabinets from one end to the other. That wall is 93 inches wide, so I think I’ll divide that into three equal sections. Each section will have drawers at the bottom, and then adjustable shelves on the top.
And then the wall on the right (where the bathtub is right now) will look something like this.
It will also have one narrower section with drawers at the bottom, but then the rest of the floor space will be left open. That open space will be where I can place Matt’s two wheelchairs along the wall. But then that leaves plenty of wall space above them for more shelf storage.
I didn’t leave wall space for the Hoyer lift for two reasons. First, there’s not enough space for all three items to fit along the wall. But also, the Hoyer lift is the one that Matt uses the most. It’s hard to explain without a visual, but Matt basically uses the Hoyer lift as a kind of hammock chair when he’s in bed. So he sits on the bed, but he leans back on the Hoyer lift sling. Since it’s adjustable, he can recline as much as he wants to, or he can sit up as much as he wants to. It’s very comfortable for him, it’s fully adjustable, and it’s the reason that we decided that we didn’t need our adjustable bed in the new bedroom. I never used the adjustable bed. When I want to sit up in bed, I just put pillows against the headboard. And he never used the adjustable bed since he has his adjustable Hoyer lift “hammock chair”.
So when he’s not using his Hoyer lift, I’ll just put it in the storage room right in the center of the room. It’s on wheels (obviously), so it’s very easy to push to one side or the other if I ever need to access the storage shelves or drawers while the Hoyer lift is in there. I think it’ll work out perfectly. And since the wall on the right isn’t long enough for all three items, and there’s not enough depth between the wall on the left and the doorway to fit the Hoyer lift without it covering over part of the doorway, it’s really the only option I have. I can work with that.
Anyway, it’s finally in progress! If we have a day of beautiful weather where I can get outside and work, I might steal time away from this project to finish up the fascia boards and skirting on the front porch. But for the foreseeable future, I’ll be focused mainly on this storage room until it’s finished. I’m really excited to finally have this project underway!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.