Bathroom Renovation, Part V: Done!

This past week Ruth and I finally acquired and installed the final pieces to the remodeled bathroom.  The hard work being behind us, its a relative joy to attach the final accouterments. Well, they’re not entirely aesthetic, obviously, as a bathroom ain’t quite complete until it has light and a mirror.

Finding the right light was a fairly easy process. The off-center electrical mount meant that we had to find a light with a wide base that could be installed several inches offset from the wires. We didn’t find anything that we liked at the warehouse stores like Home Depot so we were forced to order something. Not without some trepidation, too, as I feared the arrival of a fixture much uglier than that shown in the catalog. But I worried for no reason, as I am wont to do.

We must have looked at eight places for the right mirror before finding the one we liked the most at the absolute cheapest place we looked: TJ Maxx. It’s funny how shopping for home decorations can work; I had spent enough time searching for this stupid mirror that I was prepared to spend $500 for the right one. This one we picked up for $39.99.

The source of our difficulty was the oddly-placed electrical outlet that prohibited a rectangular mirror in a traditional vertical orientation. We couldn’t find a framed oval mirror that we liked and didn’t want a very slim rectangular one. But I’m happy with our final choice.

As I reflect on this job I have a great amount of satisfaction that we accomplished so much in just a few weeks with perhaps $2,000. I’ve talked with enough homeowners to know that this easily could have gone into five figures if I had used a contractor. But in addition to having lost a little more money, I would have been without the knowledge of the steps needed to do this job myself.

That being said, I’m certainly glad this is behind me. Next, the kitchen…