Living in Denmark: Bathroom Remodel

A bathroom remodel in Denmark can be an exciting way to make new homeowners feel that they are settling in to a new place. Though it can be a stressful time, it was very much worth the uncertain times for us!

Buying an Old House in Denmark

When we were looking at houses to buy, we decided to go with one that was older but had lots of space. You can fix ugly in my opinion, but you can’t always make a house bigger. I’m sure there are those out there who would argue the opposite to be true, but I don’t want to go crazy with renovations. I was about to find out just how easy modern Danish design could be created in an old house and bathroom.

That being said, when we bought our house, we knew that we would have to put a bit of work into the house to make it work for us. What better place to start than the bathroom. It was a “must” for us to have a house with two bathrooms. In the US, we had three, which was a bit extreme, but two is very nice, especially since we have two little boys who always seem to have to “go” at the same time. What are the odds?! Two bathrooms makes life a little less stressful for everyone. We also don’t live near any family, so if we are going to have visitors, chances are, they will be staying over. That also adds to the need for two bathrooms.

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Deciding which Bathroom to Remodel

Of the two, we thought we could live without the bigger, light blue bathroom with a bathtub for the month it would take for the remodeling to get done. It had an issue with the drain, which meant that if we were to let the bath water out, the water would come up the drain on the floor under the sink. Besides, it was just plain-old ugly. An update was definitely in order.

Would you like to go on a tour of our Danish home and see the remodeled bathroom up-close? Check out my Home Tour Video!

Beginning our Bathroom Remodel in Denmark

Though my husband likes to dabble a bit with handyman tasks, we thought that this job was way over our heads. We looked around and talked with a number of different people. We visited countless kitchen and bath stores in our area as well as in Aarhus, which is the closest, big town. Stores we visited were HTH, Tvis, JKE, Invita, and Svane, as well as others. We researched their showrooms and thumbed through all the books we could find, and we even scouted out hardware and tile stores for ideas.

Our Main Concern about Doing the Remodel Before the Holidays in Denmark

After weeks of discussing and researching, we decided to go with a local plumber/installer (Referred to a VVS guy in Danish.) to do the job. He would be doing the job almost entirely himself, but with the occasional day or two with a helper. The only important thing for us was the time it would take. We quickly agreed to have him start working in the end of November, which gave him just enough time to get the job done before Christmas. Time was of the essence. We were planning on having a house full of my husband’s family for Christmas, so the remodel needed to get started.

My husband and I thought long and hard about this remodel. Should the left wall be knocked out and expanded? Could we find a way to include the washer and dryer? Should we include a separate shower stall? We had lots of ideas about what to do, but when it came down to it, we decided to gut it and start fresh with the space we had. I was ready to throw the hammer myself, but left it up to the worker. I knew it would look fabulous in the end, but my only reservation was getting rid of the tall cabinet. Though it was a massive eye-sore, it really was a great space. We could fit everything we needed in there and then some extra. I was worried that the new vanity wouldn’t even hold half the amount of stuff. I guess we would have to wait and see.

Bathroom Supplies for the Remodel

Just before the worker began the job, my husband and I tried to get all of the necessary items. We bought a vanity-sink-mirror combo from the local kitchen and bath store. Of course, we didn’t have anywhere to put it, so it went in our spare bedroom. It is amazing how much space that puppy took up when it was all in pieces. Luckily, we didn’t need to use the spare room for any guests, so it could just sit and wait until the worker (I’m going to call him Pal.) was ready to install it.

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Getting the Bathroom Furniture Delivered

The big shock for me was one day when I was home from work, cleaning/doing laundry and two huge trucks pulled up. I actually heard them from the middle of the house and went to the front window to see what the noise was. It turned out that they were both in front of my house. I had no idea what was going on. All of a sudden, I see a guy take a bathtub off of the back of one of the trucks, and another guy from the other truck started bringing out three large boxes on a dolly. “What in tarnation!” It made sense that these items would be for us, since we were about to embark on a bathroom-remodel adventure, but I was completely unaware it was coming.

I had my car in the driveway, which was blocking the carport. The tub had to sit in the driveway behind my car, because the trucks were blocking the road. I couldn’t move my car even it I wanted to. I quickly phoned my husband at work to figure out the situation. Turns out that the big boxes were parts of the toilet and faucet fixture, etc. Talk about a communication gap. Husbands! 😉

We moved the tub into the carport and the rest of the boxes went into the spare room with the vanity. It was starting to look like a storage room, and my stress levels were going up. I was really hoping this remodel would be done in time for Christmas.

Where in the world would we put all this stuff when the family came?!

Demolition Day: Saying Good-bye to our old-fashioned Danish Bathroom

I have to say that I felt over-the-moon about having that ugly, blue bathroom disappear. All of the white, wood paneling would be a faint memory, and we could have a nice, clean (as in white walls) room. Peeking in the room after Day 1 was over, I was surprised to see all the bricks. I knew that most of the walls were made of brick in our Danish home, but for some reason, I believed it more once I saw it.

Are you interested in seeing what we did with our kitchen remodel in Denmark? Check out the whole process in this video!

I, however, wasn’t nearly as prepared as I thought I was for Week 2. The feeling of panic came when I began to smell earth from the hallway. Yes. That ripe smell of warm, wet dirt coming from my bathroom.

Being the ever so curious creature that I am, I had to take another peek. He didn’t just take out the tub, sink, toilet, cabinet, tile, etc. He also gutted the floors!! Umm…what is going on here? I come from the Midwest, where we tend to get our fair share of tornadoes. People have basements in their homes there. I don’t have a basement in my Danish home, and apparently, there isn’t much in the way of foundation under it either. Oh, sweet Lord! I hope this man knows what he is doing!!

The fact that after Week 2, I could see dirt where the floor should’ve been freaked me out. Yes. I’m a bit on the sensitive side.

Recycling our old Bathroom Furniture

When you look at these pictures and see all that is missing and all the bricks that are lying on the ground, I want you to imagine for a second the pile of crap that generated in the front yard of my house.

Oh, yes!

My husband thought it would be best to dispose of the garbage himself, so not only did we have a huge brick and rubble pile off to the side of our home, we also had a toilet, tub and sink out there for extra decoration. I bet we made quite an impression on our neighbors, since that rubble pile wasn’t just there for one or two days. Oh no! It lasted until the weekend. At least, the first, large dose of garbage did, but that was the stuff that was the most noticeable (and not to mention embarrassing).

Life During Remodeling

Not long after I noticed the dirt on my bathroom floor, they poured the cement. This was, of course, a good feeling. After all, we need a floor. I should’ve known that with a bit of cement mixing and construction, there would be a bit of dirt/dust. My entryway and foyer looked like they were hit by the ash and dust of an erupting volcano. Of course, noticing this, one might decide to take the items off the wall and out of that space in hopes to keep them clean.

Not me.

I’m sure it was just laziness talking, but I thought I would just play it out and clean when it was all done.

Are you looking for a place to stay in Denmark while you remodel your home? Why not stay at a Danish summer house?

Gross!

That thought didn’t really last that long, since we actually live in this house. Floors had to be cleaned so that the dust wouldn’t be tracked in other rooms. I did hold off until the weekends for most of the cleaning. Why clean it everyday if tomorrow was another day of dust and dirt!?! Agghh! The joys of living in a construction zone.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, We Want our Tub!

Don’t let me fool you. It wasn’t all that bad. Luckily, the bathroom is located off the foyer, so it is really separated from the rest of the house. We normally don’t use the front door anyway, so we didn’t have to tread through all of that. The only big thing that was missed was the bathtub. When my boys (then ages 4 and 6) get tired, they want a bath, not a shower. I figured since they waited seven months to get a bathroom with a tub again after we moved to Denmark, they could wait a few more weeks. We survived.

Now, the bathroom was a work zone. Every night that Pal left, he would rope it off, so we wouldn’t go in. I was much too curious to let a little rope stop me, so I managed to snap a few photos of the progress. They aren’t the best pictures. It was difficult with the angles and no lighting, but here is what I could get.

Redesigning our Bathroom with Danish Design

Because we wanted to have room for the new vanity, we decided to have the toilet come out of the corner of the room to the side of the door. Now, I thought it would be positioned a bit differently, but I trusted the judgment of Pal, the plumber, since he was the expert in this situation. He had to make a wall for it and position the tank behind the wall, since our toilet is one that has a button on the wall. Fancy! I know!

Then, it was painting time. The fixed, brick walls just lacked paint, so a painter came out to work on the walls. The space was really starting to come together, and we were getting excited for the end result.

After the walls were all patched, painted and pretty, it was time to begin the tile work and bring in the tub. Of course, he put all the sealers and “tub stuff” down before the tub came in, but I’m not a plumber and can’t really talk you through that. I can tell you that we hand-picked the tile from Bauhaus, a hardware store nearby. It has a large selection of tiles, so we bought ones that we thought would look good in the space. Luckily, Pal knew what to do with them! 🙂

It was so amazing how different the bathroom looked at this point. I was seeing more of the finished look now, but we still had a long way to go. This picture is after 3 full weeks of remodeling. Will he get done in time for Christmas? (Inhale…exhale…)

Nearing the End of the Remodel: Will we be done in time?

Countdown to Christmas in Denmark

We were less than a week away, and the remodeling wasn’t done. At this point, Pal was working on the tiles, which, of course, couldn’t be rushed. It was starting to look great, though. I had to think on the bright side. When it was all done, we were going to have an awesome bathroom, which (knock on wood) we wouldn’t need to change for a VERY, LONG TIME, if ever! I just thought it would’ve been done by now.

Will the Bathroom be Ready on Time?

The End of Our Bathroom Remodel in Denmark

The Finished Product!!

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