Main Bathroom Renovation [Plans and Demolition]

I have to say this is the most exciting renovation project for me so far. Until now every project has been repairing or replacing broken or worn out things in and on the house (think roof, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, septic system) Now we can finally get down to making it pretty!

So here's the main downstairs bathroom. I will call the current style "log home meets circa 1980 Motel 6 bathroom."

The back section has a dropped ceiling with popcorn finish, from what we can tell it was just to install the exhaust fan. We know the beams extend through the wall to the log wall behind the shower insert.

The goal is to completely gut it and change the floor plan for two reasons. We want to add a door into the adjoining bedroom to create a private guest suite when needed. Also that gorgeous log wall on the left has always seemed like such a wasted opportunity to me. It should be showcased instead of something you just walk by on the way to the toilet.

So here is the original floor plan:

And here is what we hope to accomplish as our new floor plan:

Last week we started the demolition. My husband had the whole week off work and I naively thought we would just bust out the demo in a day. You know how on those DIY shows the demo takes about 5 minutes with a sledge hammer and then they're done? Nope. Not when you want to save some elements. And certainly not when you have to work around hand hewn logs and beams and fragile chinking.

We started by very carefully (slowly) removing all of the trim pieces. These pieces would not be easy to duplicate so we are trying to save as much as possible. This was mostly my job because it is time consuming. A 3 inch metal scraper and a little pry bar let me gently separate the boards without damaging them.

So after a day we had accomplished this much:

And at the end of day 2, that dividing wall was down:

And the wall adjoining the log wall had to be very carefully taken apart, line by line. I used my little blue pry bar ( I call him Lil' Blue because we're good friends now) chisel end to precisely separate the chinking from the drywall so pieces of the chinking don't come off with the drywall. (Imagine the hammer in my right hand instead of the camera)