When they removed the wallpaper, part of the wall came off with it.
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When Gene Tom and Linda Yen decided it was time update the bathrooms in their North Brunswick townhouse, they thought they could do the work themselves.
"We started with the wallpaper because that was the part that just offended us the most," Linda said. "We realized about a quarter of the way through it that we weren't very handy at all." The main problem was that they weren't able to cleanly remove wallpaper that had been applied directly onto drywall (basically, plaster sandwiched between heavy paper).
"The wall was coming off with the wallpaper," she said. "It looked horrible. We didn't know what we were doing, so we just stopped."
The walls in the first-floor powder room and the second-floor full bathroom remained in that partially stripped condition for 10 years, Linda said. Over the years, their lives changed and responsibilities increased with two young daughters; Linda stayed home to care for after leaving her job as an advertising executive. Gene would became director of information technology at New Jersey Business and Industry Association.
"My husband grew up in Freehold, and I grew up in New York," Linda said. "I think he thought I was handier than I was. I think he was waiting for me, and I was waiting for him to do something. My husband would say, 'Let me try it myself. I can do it. I have an engineering background.'...We just had the same conversation every time for 10 years."
The renovation
By 2014, their daughters were older, and the couple decided it was finally time to call someone in to replace the Formica countertops, laminate cabinetry, outdated tile, and linoleum flooring -- features that were original to the three small-scale bathrooms in their 1985 home.
They contacted Finix Construction based on the recommendation of a friend who had previously worked with the North Brunswick company. They decided to have all three bathrooms updated, one after another, as a single project. The finished project came in at just over $20,000, including design, materials and labor. The job took less than two months, Linda said.
Finix owner, Dmitry Andreyev, made them feel at ease and seemed to understand what they wanted. "He brought ideas to the table that seemed to bridge the differences that Gene and I had," Linda said. She also credits Andreyev with guiding their decisions to help them avoid going over budget with pricey selections, like the stone accent wall Gene had envisioned for the powder room.
"Since we live in a townhouse, we didn't want the bathrooms to seem out of place with the cost of the home itself." So they selected nearly everything -- from faucets to wall tile to flooring and vanities and paint -- at either Home Depot or Lowe's, she said. They also simplified the process by using the same tile in all three bathrooms and varying the look of each with the selected vanity, mirror and paint colors.
"Even though we did not use highly expensive tile, we did strategically choose earth-toned, large panel tile, and used lots of it, which helps give a spa-like feel," Linda said.
The 1,576-square-foot townhouse they bought in 2001 now has his and hers bathrooms. Linda shares "hers" -- the master bathroom -- with their girls, while Gene has the hallway bathroom.
"While we pretty much kept to the original bathroom layouts, our contractor advised that we spend to remove the soffits above the shower and bath areas," Linda said. (Bathroom soffits are usually built to conceal overhead plumbing or wiring._ Their soffits were purely decorative, so removing them did not require any other adjustments. "It really opened the space up," Linda said.
The powder room, which had been "the cat's apartment," is now a family favorite with the removal of wallpaper, the walls are now two tones of gray, separated by white chair rail. The porcelain tile flooring resembles short wooden planks.
Who did the work
Finix Construction of North Brunswick
How long it took
Work began Sept. 22, 2014 and was fully completed Nov. 19, 2014. There were some break times in between because Linda had to be out of town, and they had to wait for the shower doors to arrive.
How much it cost
Approximately $20,400
Where they splurged
On frameless shower doors for the master and hall bathrooms. "They permit a seamless view of the gorgeous tile work," Linda said. "Finix Construction came through with the clean, simple lines in the tile work, which really makes the bathrooms look contemporary and cosmopolitan."
How they saved
Shopping for vanities, fixtures and surface materials at Home Depot and Lowe's. "Our contractor also advised against installing an expensive built-in shower system."
What they would have done differently
"In retrospect, I probably should have thought about adding more storage space to the master bath because the bathroom is small," Linda said. "The 48-inch vanity in there right now offers sufficient space, but with three girls in the house, you can never have enough room for all the beauty products."
Kimberly L. Jackson may be reached at home@starledger.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.