Day One of the Guest Bath Remodel in Land Park

Guest Bath before remodel in Land Park

Because I don’t have enough stuff going on in my life as a Sacramento REALTOR at the moment, what, with all of my new listings and January purchase offers going into escrow, I have decided, like an idiot, to remodel our guest bath. There’s just no time like the present, is there? The cats hate me because they are sequestered to the family room, kitchen and sunroom, and there are strange noises they can’t explore and strange humans they can’t torment.

When we first moved into our home in Land Park, way back in 2002, we decided to make a few improvements to the guest bath. I guess you could say it was our first bath remodel. The first improvement we tackled was to be able to open the door. For some reason, the previous owners had installed a large vanity that blocked the door. How does something like that happen?

Outdated bath in Land Park

Him: Look, honey, the vanity is too big for the bathroom, whatever should we do? We could take it back to Home Depot and buy a smaller vanity or we could simply install it and get used to the fact that we can’t really open the door. What do you think we should do?

Her: Have another beer, Harry.

I removed the humongous vanity and dragged it to the street, where upon deposit it was promptly hauled away by passersby. Installed a small pedestal sink. Now we could open the door. Then, when my husband and I returned home from a trip to Italy, we discovered our oldest cat had taken an exception to our absence by repeatedly urinating on the carpeting in the bath. It brings up questions such as why did the previous sellers cement a stork to the glass block knee wall? How could our housesitters not notice a urine soaked floor? Who puts carpeting in a bath?

Shower and tub before bath remodel

Been down that road before in a bath remodel. That type of situation involves removing the carpeting, removing the subfloor, installing a new subfloor and tiling over it. But now that tile is outdated, and let’s face it, although the walls are covered in sheets of gray glass, the grout is diminishing, its integrity is cracking, and the gold-toned shower surround is dated in a not-so-nice way. We need a better mirror, a new LED light fixture, an exhaust fan. Well, my husband would tell you I am the one who needs it because he’s quite happy with the bath just the way it is. Even though the faucet drips.

Our permit sticker is secured to the window, and the construction workers have started the job today. This will be a huge change for that guest bath.

Before photographs of guest bath remodel in Land Park by Elizabeth Weintraub