In 2025, my house will be one hundred years old. When I first moved in twenty-four years ago, the main first-floor bathroom was in dire need of a makeover. It featured a brown vanity top with an orange sink and gold fixtures that screamed 1980s. The avocado tub surround had an accordion plastic door that one of my children eventually poked pin holes through in a mysterious pattern that I could never quite make out.

I hated that orange sink but over the years while I saved money for the remodel, it grew on me. By the time I had funds a few years ago, I almost liked the sink. It was retro, which was in, after all. But I still hated the rest of the bathroom.

Then I fell in love with a glass orange and red bowl/vessel sink that I happened to walk by at Menards. It was shaped like a leaf and was the perfect size for the vanity. I wasn’t ready to begin my remodeling project at that point, but I made a mental note of that gorgeous sink. Yes, it was still orange, but not an obnoxious orange.

The day came when I had gained confidence from watching enough home improvement shows that I felt ready for the remodel. The first thing I bought was that Menards sink. I consulted with a contractor and told him I wanted to design the new bathroom around that sink. I didn’t need to change to footprint of the room; it was plenty large. I just wanted to rip everything down to the studs and make everything new, from floor to ceiling.

So, that’s what we did. The contractor did most of the labor, but I did end up spending one Memorial Day Weekend cleaning up caulk on the shower wall tiles at the request of the tiler. I didn’t mind; I didn’t have anything else going on then. Plus, I needed to make all the design decisions. I spent many weekends strolling the aisles of Menards and Home Depot and other showrooms for ideas. This was my first remodel job, so I had a lot to learn, but the contractor was great to work with.

A large dumpster was parked in my driveway. On demo day, I was almost wistful when the orange sink made its way to the top of the heap of refuse inside the dumpster. We had another bathroom on the second floor that we could use during the three-week project, so were happily still able to bathe, etc.

I chose a black granite vanity top and was excited to get a remnant piece at a discount. The cherry cabinets had to be custom-made because vanities didn’t come in the size I needed. I also had two upper cabinets crafted to match. The contractor ripped out the annoying blinking florescent lights and installed can lights in the ceiling and a woodsy fixture that I chose over the new sink. Those lights reflect off the sink in a most appealing way.

For the wall behind the sink, I chose a stone tile to cover the whole thing. The contractor had never done that before but agreed it was a great idea (which I got from those aforementioned home improvement shows.)

Since I had a bathtub in my other bathroom, I no longer needed one in the new bathroom, so I turned it into a large walk-in tiled shower with a small seat carved into one corner. I worked with the tile guy on a design and picked out polished stone tile for the shower floor. The glass door was harder to clean than the old plastic one, but the installer gave me the advice of using Rain-X weekly to keep the minerals from building up, and that’s made things a lot easier.

Once it was done, I loved my new bathroom, plus I got to keep an orangish sink! I was so happy that I wanted to move my computer desk into the shower and spend all my time there. I did not do that, but I do probably spend a little extra time there every morning after my shower, just because.

Next up: a kitchen remodel!