It’s week 6 of the One Room Challenge and this week I’m sharing what we have left to do on our half bath reno checklist.
Missed a post from the prior week? Click on the links below to catch up on all the fun!
WE’RE FINALLY DOING IT | SPRING ONE ROOM CHALLENGE
WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5

What’s left on our to do list
With 3 weeks left in the One Room Challenge, we’re beginning to feel the time crunch on this project. We haven’t been able to get as much done during the week as we would have liked and therefore have been trying to cram in as much as we can on the weekends.
The plumbers came last week and moved our plumbing around and installed all new pipes. The ball is now back in our court to finish installing the last couple of pieces of drywall and put the new subfloor and cement board down. Once that’s done we can tile!
The original tile I picked for the bathroom came in a couple of weeks ago and it just wasn’t right. I had my heart set on a white and black marble basketweave tile and the one that arrived had a lot more yellow in it than what was pictured online. I knew there could be variations in the color but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
In a perfect world, I would have ordered a sample first. Or better yet, if it had been in stock I could have hand-picked the perfect pieces for the space. Since this wasn’t possible and because of our tight timeline, I just went with it and unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
I spent a full day running around checking out all my options at our local stores. I ended up going with my original second choice, and Mike’s favorite and ordered it on Memorial Day. Lowes had a sample of it in-store but they don’t carry it in stock for some reason. We are now anxiously awaiting its arrival but still have a few things to do like putting in the subfloor.
What we’ve accomplished so far
We’ve come a long way but it still feels like we have so much left to do. Here’s what we’ve been able to check off our list so far:
- Demoed the walls, ceiling, and floor
- Added new insulation
- Removed old pocket door
- Added all new drywall
- Updated and moved existing plumbing
- Built medicine cabinet
- Ordered about 90% of all items
- Installed new outlet receptacle
- Started painting the new pocket door
- Updated part of our HVAC ductwork to accommodate a floor register
- Installed a new window
- Started work on the new subfloor
- Picked out our paint color
We’ve had some pretty big accomplishments so far in the bathroom. Starting with the complete demo of the space. Adding in all new insulation and drywall, the room quickly started to take shape again.
Finding and scheduling a plumber was another huge accomplishment. The first two we reached out to didn’t have space in their schedules to accommodate us but thankfully ABC Plumbing came to our rescue!
A last-minute decision to update the existing window in our bathroom took the better part of 2 days to complete. We still have some work to do on the outside but we’re so happy we decided to add this to our project checklist.
We’ve also knocked out a few smaller projects during the week when we’ve had time. Painting the pocket door, building the medicine cabinet, and picking out and ordering our faucet.
What we have left to do in the half bath
We’ve done a ton of work in the bathroom but still have a lot of items we need to check off our list. Here’s what we need to do in these final few weeks:
- Mud and tape the drywall
- Paint medicine cabinet
- Install medicine cabinet and mirror
- Seal and install tile floor
- Add wall moulding, base, crown, and trim around door and window
- Paint
- Install toilet, sink, and faucet
- Order and install new floor register
- Finish painting the pocket door and add hardware and install
- Install the vanity and ceiling lights
- Add new light switch and covers
- Install accessories such as the toilet paper holder and towel hook
- Order and install window treatment
- Finalize accessories for the room
- Style and photograph the space
As you can see, we still have quite a bit left to do in the room. Most of it should move pretty quickly though except for two big things. Mudding and taping the walls and installing the floor.
These two items will take up the bulk of our remaining time and will be the most tedious projects to tackle. Once complete though it should be, fingers crossed, smooth sailing!
I was hoping by this point to have better progress shots of the room coming together. Looking prettier and more like a bathroom than it does now. But, such is life and we’ll just have to do what we can with the time that’s remaining!
Don’t forget to check out what the other designers are doing! For more inspiration and to cheer the featured and guest designers on, head to the One Room Challenge blog to follow along!


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