You hear jokes about guys who fix everything with duct tape. If using a small amount of duct tape is kind of funny, the hardcore use of it in 7487 made our new home a laughing stock! It had been used on everything from light fixtures to pipes to the kitchen sink, literally. When we moved in, we had to renovate the main bath immediately, and wanted to save anything original that we could. In this case that meant the bathtub, the tile around the tub, and the large mirror above the vanity. We needed to strip it down to its core, but we wanted to keep this simple, which is what we did. We started by removing the glass tub surround, taking up the floor tile, taking down the mirror and putting it aside for safe keeping, removing wallpaper, taking out the old electric wall heater next to the window and throwing out the old toilet. To put it back together we ground the concrete floors, put on a clear coat of urethane , patched the holes in the walls, cleaned the tub and tile, had the tub resurfaced, painted, made new baseboards, ordered a hospital track and shower curtain from a hospital supply, got new light fixture from e-bay, new bathroom door, ordered Kohler sink and fixtures and then my favorite part of the bathroom, a new vanity made by T.K.. Aside from looking exactly like I had wanted, it created so much amazing storage that the Costco toilet paper pack would never be a challenge again! Made of Maple Euro-Ply with a white Formica counter-top, by putting the vanity back where the original was, we saved money by not moving plumbing  or electric, although we did add a few additional outlets. TK installed the new sink and simple white tile as a back splash and put the original mirror back in it’s place. A few paintings and accessories later and we had a clean, simple modern bathroom. The vanity in this bath was the first of many cabinets throughout our house, and other homes as well, that T.K. has built in this style. We think the clean design works well in any era home. They can be made of maple or walnut plywood. Check out “before” and “after” photos on flickr. What renovations do you have planned for the new year? Maybe we can help?