My current remodel project

The struggles and joys of remodeling this mid-century home. Built in 1953 there are many charming mid-century features that Im excited to work with. With the good comes the bad, the mid-century style involves many bright colors! Here is a view of what I have to work with in the 1st bathroom…

While online searching I found many others who are having a love/hate relationship with their bright mid century bathroom. They also are having a hard time deciding what to rip out and what to keep.

Thank goodness I didn’t have to debate for too long because I later realized the teal tiles on the wall were actually a paneling! Hallelujah. If the teal tiles were actual tile I would not feel good about demoing good tiles. I ended up ripping out all of the teal paneling – it wasn’t easy and left a thick layer of glue all over the walls. Im hoping that the painters will be able to sand it down and paint over it.

I’d love to add some fire clay tiles all over this bathroom except I found out their tiles cost $45 a sq. ft. Thats out!

Right now nothing matches in this bathroom. Teal Tile walls, even brighter teal on the cabinets, blue formica countertops, brownish congoleum floors, and a pink tiled shower. Can you see the color clashing already?

The goal

The overall goal for this bathroom is to tone it down and make the pink shower the only bright piece. While keeping the classic mid-century vibe wish a splash of modern.

Photos – The 1st Bathroom

I love/hate the retro mirror with the light fixtures. Bright colored teal tiles on the wall.

Counter tops are a blue formica – Im not excited about that. The blue stainless steal finishes are a nice touch and match the other bathroom and kitchen. — The drawer with the holes/lines making a circle is actually a built in hamper.

I love that there is a lot of cabinet & counter space. Here Im showing in the hall way there are douglas fir wooden floors.

There is one window in the bathroom and the toilet is hidden right behind the shower & surrounded by the teal tile.

The shower is tiled pink and maroon!! With an old shower door.

And After! This bathroom feels so much cleaner.

Future idea’s for renovations:

When renovating a home its never a 100% guaranty that its possible easily create a vision. Right now I am dealing with a lot of unknowns. Here are some of my current renovation plans:

Walls:

Demo the existing teal tile – Check!

Painting the walls & cabinets white – I am praying that the transition will look natural and all the glue can be sanded off. Im having Advanced Coating Kauai paint the interior and so far the owner Tyson has been great to work with.

Flooring:

I got this idea from Michele Dillberg a home designer on Kauai she gave me a bunch of tips and things to think about before I remodel. Her advise to me was go with a very subtle/plain flooring like the original hard wood floors that go through out the hallway and bedrooms. I loved that idea!

I checked and the hard wood floors are under the brown congoleum floors!! Yay! Im having S&M Hardwood Floors Kauai LLC sand and refinish the original douglas fir wood. I have great confidence that they can fix up my floors, if not I dont have a plan b yet.

Shower:

This pink shower is a Ofuro soaking tub/shower! This is a Japanese style tub and shower in one. What makes it an Ofuro style is to get inside someone has to step down into the tub vs. an American shower/tubs are normally above ground.

The original owners of this home were Japanese so it makes sense that they would install an Ofuro.

Taking off shower door – Im going to replace with a white shower curtain the shower door is icky and hard to clean.

Re-grouting where needed and sealing the tile in shower – I think I can do this on my own?

Countertops:

As of now I plan on keeping the blue formica countertops that are plated in the silver. The main reason is that Im considering the budget I have to prioritize with. Right now Im still not 100% sure what I would want as the countertops even if the budget didn’t matter.

Some ideas are: gray/white quarts, concrete (this is probably really heavy and expensive, I just like the rustic look), a solid color corian ? I even thought of a stainless steal although I want to avoid the hospital look.

Backsplash – My Dad who is a retired contractor is telling me I should put in a 3 inch backsplash to protect the wood from getting wet. Thats a little hard when I dont know the future of my countertops!

Misc:

Fixtures – I want to replace the fixtures on the sink and shower. I’m considering changing it to black instead of silver.

I have to keep in mind what ever I install has to work with my future plans. Overall Im not a silver/stainless fan Im more of a brass, gold and rustic fan. At the same time the plated silver is really reminiscent of the mid-century era.

The sink is white – yay one thing in this bathroom is white. I like the sink and plan on keeping it.

Mirror – Another debate Im having is if I should keep the retro light mirror on wall. There seems to be electricity going to the mirror Im not sure how it must be coming from behind the single wall.

Id prefer to do a circle mirror plated in black or gold (would the gold clash with the silver?) then a drop down light bulb from the ceiling.

Window – Im going to keep the window I know most people are not a fan of jalousies. I like jalousies because they let in more air and it will be good for the bathroom to keep the mold away.

Let me know your thoughts or if you are facing a remodeling struggle

I wish I could allow comments to hear everyones feed back, due to the amount of spammers it wont be worth it. Feel free to email or text me any of your idea’s, thoughts or recommendations. Feel free to comment on my Instagram @kela_cas

Stay tuned as I will post a new blog once I am done with the renovations!