One Room Challenge: Powder Room / Mudroom Renovation (Week 5)

Ack!  It’s week five of the One Room Challenge, and things are getting real!  Catch up on this challenge here!  This past week we worked on fixing some of the issues that arose when our contractor came in and sort of half-did the carpentry work we discussed.  I’ve probably complained about that enough on Instagram this past week for any of you that have been following me over there, but just to be completely transparent about the situation, I honestly expected more from this company, based on reviews and our interview.  We met, discussed my plans, looked at example pictures, and even went over plenty of other possible jobs that I would want to hire out for in the future.  The entire interview took over an hour!  I was sold that my vision would come to life via their skills, but having had issues with contractors in the past, I wanted to check and double-check that things were in order before the job started.  We spoke a few time over the phone, and as things in my plan changed, such as ripping down the MDF for the faux shiplap, I discussed them with the contractor to make sure the process would fit into the timeline given for the job to be complete.  Each time I was assured it was fine, not to worry, things were going to be handled the way they needed to be, and materials would be provided unless otherwise noted before the job started.  Well, without going into too many details, things that were discussed, and that I had been reassured over and over would be handled were not, which resulted in a disappointing outcome.  I will say that all of the other work provided by this company was spot on.  The tile was installed beautifully, and the sink, faucet and light were installed with ease, and I’d probably hire them again for some of the more basic jobs, like painting, because honestly, I think they would do a wonderful job at stuff like that.  The biggest issues I found with this job, was that it was all done in haste.  They wanted to complete the project in two days and be done with it.  Sadly, that showed in the results of the carpentry work.  Even after an attempt by the business owner to “correct” the issues, which I quickly realized was another “get this done quick” job, we were left with work to correct.  Now to be fair, I’m a picky person to the core, but I’m not a confrontational person, unless I know you well, so on my end I should have discussed my issues with the work right then and there.  However, I always want to give people a chance to do things without my jumping in, especially if they are the professionals.  Lesson learned, and knowing as much as I do about building cabinets, adding trim, etc., I felt like this was the part of the job that my husband and I could do ourselves, and honestly, we should have.  This was not my husband’s plan though and I since he was willing to pay for it to be done, I went with it.  Especially since we have quite a few other projects to get done in the next couple of months!

So what did we do?  Well, this past week we tore the built-in apart, and realigned everything to be centered on the wall.  We found that the back of the seat had been set up against a nail that was causing it to be misaligned, so we took that out and put it back up.  That made a huge difference, and we were able to make the necessary corrections all around to make it look like a clean job.  We’re satisfied with how it has turned out, now that these corrections have been made.  We also added baseboards, and trim to the shiplap wall in the powder room, so it’s looking much better, and it sort of guides the eye away from the error made when they installed it.  You can see our work below.

Of course, what’s a blog post without pretty pictures?  Our decor, and fixtures are all pretty much in order, and I love how they all look together.

So now I’m off to paint these bad boys, so we can style and take pictures for the big reveal next week!  Be sure to check back in with us for that!  While you’re waiting, head over to Calling it Home to check in on the progress of the rest of the participants, and featured designers.  I’m always so excited to see what they’ve been up to!

Until next time!

-Iris