downstairs remodel -after

and finally, some after images. the new bathroom got a soft cork floor and of course a new pocket door (with sandblasted glass panel to let the light through) so no more swinging out into the hallway although the hallway is a bit wider, the walls were moved a bit.

the new curved walls of the shower are tiled with 2-inch tiles and the new toilet is sitting under the new area we took away from underneath some stairs (see angle of the wall above toilet). the mirror is from IKEA but we attached lights to its two sides.

there is a spacious new closet (compared to what it used to be) inside the bedroom, and the stairs are now moved over to the entrance; the "drop" is no longer between the hallway and the bedroom.
what a difference!
thank you cj and tj for the beautiful work here!

downstairs remodel -before and during...

here is a good "before" image of the downstairs bedroom with its closet and some stairs. the closet was so awkward and tiny that it is a mystery why the builders left half of its area totally unused. (only the area right behind the door was actually the closet space.)

this image shows the subfloor opened up and the earth exposed. we needed to lower the ground here by removing some dirt so we could lower the hallway above and do away with those stairs between the room and the hallway.

the old closet during demolition. one can see on the ceiling on this image that only a small portion was actually a usable closet; the rest was an enclosed empty area. we divided this space between the new closet and the shower.

the hallway used to be so narrow and so low that larger people had to draw their arms closer, and taller ones had to bend down so not to hit their head into the ceiling. when the bathroom door swung out, it hit the glass part of the light fixture across the hallway! there was a small door here across the bathroom door as well, it led to the utility room. this door was removed and today the heater and the likes are accessed from the outside of the house.

next to the old toilet one can see a small opening which used to be a doorway to the crawlspace. across the room from the toilet this room had a kitchen sink, but no shower.

downstairs remodel

a widened hallway, with its brand new wall moved outward
(on the left).

the remodel of the downstairs area has so far been the biggest challenge in my opinion. it took a very long time to conclude and included jobs like opening up the subfloor and digging / flattening some dirt to prepare for an even floor, widening of a dark and very narrow, low ceiling hallway, enlarging the bathroom using the area under our entry steps, and adding a brand new shower with curved walls so it would take up as little space as possible. there used to be a huge level difference between the hallway and the bedroom here with about three clunky stairs which we of course had to fix as well. we will post before and after pictures as well. thank you cj and tj for the remodeling help; --beautiful work!!