A few weeks ago I shared with you my bathroom reveal. After 6 long weeks of working on it, that beautiful room was done and perfect! Well, not so much. I’m going to share a few mistakes I made on the room in the hopes that you can avoid them while you renovate.
I purchased the incorrect shower faucet
We have a 1970’s condo and the shower faucet was an original push and pull ugly plastic faucet. So I bought a beautiful brass replacement. But when my husband went to put it on, it wouldn’t work. The screw holes for new faucets are at the top right and bottom left position. The faucet I had, had holes at the bottom left and right position.
The old faucet and new faucet were incompatible and so we lived with this eyesore for a few weeks. I started to do research. If you are in this same predicament, the first thing you should do is try to figure out the manufacturer of your faucet (here are some tips for doing that). Sticking with a replacement from the original company will be your best bet.
First, I went to Lowe’s and Home Depot without any success (though I did have a friend tell me she found a replacement at Home Depot, maybe different stores have different options). I was successful though and found some pretty replacements on Amazon for push and pull faucets from the 4 main hardware brands:
replacement options
Delta Renovation Kit. Available in stainless, chrome, and Venetian bronze. $50-$90
Pfister Tub only Trim Kit (this style option is also available). Available in brushed nickel, polished chrome, and Tuscan bronze. $25-$70
Moen Valve Trim Kit without Valve. Available in brushed nickel, chrome, and oil-rubbed bronze. $30-70
Danco Tub/Shower Trim Kit for Moen. Available in brushed nickel, chrome, and oil-rubbed bronze. $30-40
BUT do you see the issue I saw? Although they all come in 2 silver options and a bronze option, there isn’t a brass one. Whomp, whomp. So I moved on to the next step in my research- call the faucet brand’s customer service. I called and called and every company said that Moen was the main manufacturer of the push pull faucet.
FINALLY someone at Moen had an answer for me. An option to make my brass faucet dreams come true! Are you ready for this?!
Introducing the Shower Adapter Kit Replacement part!!! And it was only $16! I ordered it ASAP and when it arrived, my husband was able to make it work with our new brass faucet!
What the adapter does is makes it so the valve that is in the wall is now compatible with the standard faucet screws. So if you had a Moen push pull faucet, you can use the adapter and use any current faucet style. I know it was a bit of a pain for my husband to install, so I’d suggest going with one of the above options if you like the finish and haven’t already bought a $100 brass shower faucet ;).
That, my friends, was a long-winded explanation at mistake number 1. I am just convinced that there are MANY other DIYers out there with this same issue. I couldn’t find a solution anywhere online so I thought I would document some resources.
mistake 2- cutting the shower rod too short
The night before we had scheduled a photographer, my husband and I were up until midnight finishing up the bathroom. The very last thing we had to do was install the shower curtain. This wasn’t a simple tension rod one, nope, it was a brass metal one that needed to be cut to size.
My husband measured and I told him to go a little shorter to accommodate the brackets that held them on. We did the classic mistake of measuring once (instead of twice!) and it was too short. It was a little devastating so late at night, but we got it to look ok up and still installed the shower curtain.
I don’t think we have any pictures of the rod being held on by tape, but it was like that for a few weeks (in the picture above, you can barely see the white tape on the left side of the rod). Finally, my husband cut a few small wood blocks and installed those behind the shower brackets. We now have a beautifully functioning curtain rod!
mistake 3- hex floor tiles
When it was time to install the hex floor tiles, we were in a hurry because those needed to be down and grouted before the toilet could be installed. We didn’t do enough research and there are a few issues with the installation. For a few weeks, the edges were a mess (we later fixed the edges with quarter round tile).
But there are still some areas where you can see the seam in the tile and it makes my husband and I both nuts. I wish we had done proper research, slowed down, and planned it out before slapping it on. This was my husband’s second tile job and it looks pretty dang good if you consider that.
If you are thinking about using hex tiles, just know that they are a little tricky to install. Do your research and make sure to choose a straight starting place (like the tub). We are going to live with our mistake, but this is definitely one where I hope you can gain from my experience.
conclusion
There are the 3 mistakes I made on our bathroom renovation. I kind of hate saying what went wrong, but I want this to be a place where I can document the good and the bad in hopes that it helps you. Overall, when I walk in the bathroom it feels like my sanctuary and happy place. It is my style to a T and I love that room- mistakes or not 😉
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Christine says
Hi Ashley – Sounds like it all turned out great with the bathroom! If you ever are in a pinch again with a finish, you can get the piece replated. I’ve had to do this for similar projects where one item wasn’t available in the finish the client wanted, so we replated the existing to match. It not always the right solution l, but it’s a good trick to have up your sleeve!
-Christine
[email protected] says
Hi Christine! That is smart! It’d be super affordable to buy one of the new $25 faucets and get it replated. Thanks for the tip!