Our house was built in 1992 and had just one owner until we bought it in 2010.
We live in a planned community or a “subdivision.” There are almost 2,000 residents and many different neighborhoods, some with free standing houses, some with attached town houses, some in the woods, some in the central village area, some hilly, some flat. You get the idea.

This is the front entrance, back in 2011. It is basically the same (path, white gate etc) but also very changed.

And here it was before we did anything at all. Note the tall fir tree by the front door. There was no fence, or gate, to enclose the front garden area. Huge shrubs were everywhere…

 

Our house is in the central “village” area: we don’t have much land around the house although we have more usable, gardening-friendly land than many/most houses in this area. This is what appealed to me when we were looking. We wanted, definitely, to be in the village. We can walk to restaurants, bank, fabulous book store and several shops. We have people walk by our fenced terrace just as in a French village. It is, as they say, perfection!

But the house is showing its age.
When we moved in we did a lot of work, both in enclosing the entire dining room to make it a study and lots and lots of interior color changes and decorating. But soon it will be ten years and yes, there are more updates needed! Oh, that original carpeting on the stairs: it MUST GO!

Today I will show you a quick redo of the shower in the master bathroom! We have a molded insert for the shower..and also a full tub next to it which we wanted to keep.  We don’t use it much but I like having it there if only to hang up my bathing suit every day in summer!
I’ve looked at some mighty gorgeous bathroom renovations in our village. Really nice. So we went to look at tile and actually were able to pick out just what we wanted, including a fun river stone floor. Then the contractor came back and we got down to business.

It’s very hard to really see here: but you certainly see the shower curtain and general disarray. Believe me, it was not a joy to get in here!

Ah yes. The price. I want to tell you that:
a) Even just doing a shower stall replacement is very expensive

b) There ARE other options than using tile

c)Be sure to get at least two quotes

Yes, I really wanted a tile shower. But no, I am simply not willing to pay THAT much for something that no one else will see and something for which I know there are alternatives. My advice is to think long and hard about what really matters to you. Unless you have an unlimited budget, you will have to make choices.

For me, the choice was clear. We would forgo the tile shower.  We cleaned… I mean CLEANED…the acrylic insert walls.  Next we put in a gorgeous glass door, shiny chrome door handle, brackets and bars in the shower and will redo the sink top and faucets with part of what we saved.

Installation:

Right away we both realized how much lighter it was to stand in the shower! The door is perfect and we are satisfied customers. If you are local and are interested, I highly recommend
Glass & Window Warehouse in Siler City

They are a pleasure to work with, are very prompt, and have the best prices around.

We’re still waiting for several flooring projects to get going… these things all take SO much time.