I'm back this week with more photos of our basement progress.

It's hard to appreciate how far this bathroom has come without seeing the old one in person. But trust me—this is probably the room that saw the biggest improvement.

It is difficult to miss the hard-water corroded faucet and sink, formica counter top that wrapped oddly up the wall, the mirror that wasn't lined up above the sink, the vanity doors that wouldn't slide open without falling out of their track, the plastic tile shower surround, and the concrete shower floor and brick base.

Because now we have this:

The photo is labeled "in progress" because we have a couple of key things to finish: a floor to ceiling narrow cabinet that will go between the vanity and toilet (the current 2x4 wood support on the vanity will go away) and the tile backsplash that we will install after the cabinet is in place. And hanging the mirrors.

The sinks are Decolav and the faucets Glacier Bay, both from Home Depot (also both in stock items which is so much less expensive!). All the floor/shower tile and marble countertop tile is also from Home Depot. (Going with tile for the counter top was SO much less than getting a granite or marble slab). We bought the mirrors for $10 each from IKEA, and although they are a little bit narrower than ideal, they were much less than cutting custom mirrors. The light fixtures are from West Elm, and the baskets are from Target.

This is now by far the best shower in the house. It features dual shower heads (love)!

The tile is all my dad's handiwork. He also built the cabinets that I will show you once they are installed. (They are waiting for Yours Truly to apply 2 more coats of varnish.) We are so blessed to have someone with so much talent helping us doing most of the work on this remodel and otherwise probably wouldn't be able to have half as nice a result. Thanks one hundred times over, Dad!

If you could hear through cyberspace you would hear alot of banging in the background of this post. That is because the carpet layers have arrived and are nailing down tack strip in our basement! We have been putting in a few marathon days to get ready for their arrival, and while I wish I could say that we were 100% done with everything, we still have quite a bit more trim to caulk, spackle, and paint. We also have the flooring on the stairs to do and a few other finishing touches around the basement.

But for today, I thought I would show you the progress in the bathroom.

It went from this.... to this.....

And now to this....

Well, I'm not quite ready to show you the whole thing yet. We have some cabinets to build, mirrors to install, etc. and I want my final reveal to be complete. But I won't leave you hanging. Here are a few teasers:

A glimpse of the sink and faucet, with a peak at the marble tile countertop in the background. (We still have to add a tile backsplash after a tall cabinet beside the sink is installed.)

This is the accent tile in the shower, and below is one of the dual shower heads. We have my dad to thank for the gorgeous tile work. Considering how much tile installation would have added to our costs if we would have had to pay someone else to do it, we are incredibly fortunate to have a bathroom this beautiful.

The floor is simple except for the addition of a subtle "rug" accent in front of the sinks.

The light fixtures are from West Elm. You will have to excuse the construction dust on everything... it was futile to clean at this point.

We kept our costs in check by purchasing all in-stock items from Home Depot. The tile is a great line of porcelain that included a great variety of accent pieces to choose from. The sinks are semi-recessed from Decolav. The faucets are these by Glacier Bay, and while they were a little less elegant than I wanted, they were the only in-stock option that would work well with our sinks. We were willing to make a few concessions since this is, after all, a basement bathroom.

For example, I had my heart set on a Euro-style frameless glass shower door. After pricing a couple of options ranging from $850 to $1400, we decided we would live with a shower curtain. We are installing a rod that is hidden inside the shower and an extra long shower curtain, so it won't be visible when the shower is not in use. (I'll show pictures later.) So, as I said, we have made a few concessions; but we are still very pleased with the results (especially considering where we came from!)