Bathroom Renovation

We had our first major home renovation project this past winter.  It was actually more like the project started in the fall and ended around early winter.  When we bought the house, the previous homeowners inspection report indicated there was some water damage under the master bathroom, which had records to show the problem had been repaired.  What we had not noticed however, was that the shower pan that leaked was fixed, but the subfloor had not been repaired.  Our home inspector did not report any problems on the report and when Colin took a look after we bought the house, he noticed the water damage in the wood.

After an exhausting process with our home insurance company, which ultimately denied the case because it was "pre-existing" when we purchased the insurance, we decided we needed to get it fixed.  Since the entire shower area was going to be torn up, we decided to update a few extra things.

Our not-so-lovely 1987 shower in the forefront

White tile on the floors and around the garden tub before renovations

Our new, updated shower with a built-in seat

It's hard to see it, but we also have a built-in niche for shampoo and soap

The white tile looks like marble in the shower and around the tub

The floor is a slate color tile

We didn't update the vanity side of the shower, which is still in decent condition and we actually wanted to pain the walls a blue that was not quite so bright, but this is how it turned out.  On the day we went to paint, we found wallpaper under the very light green paint that was on the walls.  Since I'm type A and could not paint another layer knowing there was wallpaper underneath, it took  us about two additional weeks to get all the wallpaper removed, sand the walls, prime them, and then paint.  There are some areas where we didn't do the best job sanding, but it looks much better than it did.  At some point we will likely change the color to the blue we want, but it will remain like this for awhile.

Unfortunately, we didn't really want the master bathroom to be the first major renovation in the home.  We spend most of our time in the open living/dining area and really want to remove the carpet in the living room and the vinyl in the kitchen to put down laminate wood floors.  Since we had to address the damaged wood under the shower, our more desired projects have had to wait.  Now that it's been a few months since we finished the bathroom, we are planning the next phase and hope to get the floors done this spring.  It's a somewhat stressful process, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.  I've found one of the most challenging aspects to be finding laminate wood that both Colin and I like and that looks like real wood.  We'll likely have a professional put it down for us, but we are toying with the idea of doing the trim ourselves.

Can you suggest any laminate wood you love??

Do you suggest the home improvement staff at Lowes or Home Depot, or a local person?

If you've ever done the trim yourself, do you have any tips or would you talk us out of it?