Remember the almond-colored toilet that used to be in our master bathroom (the one we recently replaced with a taller, cleaner white model)? For a while after we swapped it out, the old toilet sat in our entryway. Yes, it was a little odd, but we had a plan.
We decided to try selling it on Craigslist. When John discovered it was originally a Kohler that cost more than $1,300, he was sure someone out there would want a high-end almond toilet. You’d be surprised what people buy secondhand. A few days later we had a buyer: a lovely family—a dad with two young boys and a baby girl—who came by after work and took it off our hands. We sold it for $80. It felt oddly satisfying to know it was going to a family who needed it. Clara insisted on waving goodbye as they drove away and even told us she wanted to go with them. Apparently she liked the new owners as much as we did.
Initially we figured the $80 would be a small credit toward our new $88 white toilet. But then we learned about a local family that Habitat for Humanity was helping: a single mother named Chevelle with six children. Habitat was asking for a $100 donation to supply them with a toilet for their soon-to-be-built home.
So we put our Craigslist profit toward the donation, adding twenty dollars of our own to make the full $100. It felt good to pay the forward. Habitat does great work, and this felt like an easy way to help. With that chapter closed, it was time to move on to another overdue project: trimming the bottom of the bathroom door.
We had mentioned before that the bottom of the bathroom door was catching on a floor vent and wouldn’t open all the way. It was annoying on its own, but it also prevented us from using a bath mat. Every time the door tried to pass over even the thinnest mat, it would bunch it up and push it into the tub area, leaving wet puddles on the floor outside the tub—right in front of the toilet. Even if the puddles were clean bathwater, stepping into them felt gross, and wet socks are the worst.
This week we finally fixed it. The solution was straightforward: we removed the door and trimmed a small portion off the bottom. To remove the door safely, we unscrewed the hinges and had two people hold it as it came free so it wouldn’t unexpectedly slam. Two-person teamwork makes a big difference for tasks like this.
With the door on the patio, we set it up against the table saw fence and, carefully and slowly, cut off about one-third to one-half of an inch from the bottom. The goal was to give the door enough clearance to pass over the vent and allow a bath mat to sit flat without getting snagged. After cutting, I sanded the newly exposed edge to smooth any roughness; once the door was rehung, it would be difficult to get at that area again.
About thirty minutes later we rehung the door using the same hinge screws. Success—there was now adequate clearance over the vent. We still need to do a few paint touch-ups along the bottom edge, but the door operates smoothly and the vent is no longer an obstacle.
I also added a doorstop to the bottom right edge to prevent the towel hooks on the back of the door from swinging open and hitting the art on the adjacent wall. It’s a small detail, but it saves future damage and keeps the bathroom looking tidy.
Here’s our updated bathroom to-do list:
paint the walls so they have some contrastreplace the ceiling lightpaint the cream trim whitehang bathroom-friendly artsell the almond toilet and replace it with a classic white oneadd privacy treatment to the windowremove the cluttered showerhead caddyremove the door and trim the bottom (and add a doorstop)- finally get a bath mat
- replace the border tile around the room (maybe in phase two)
- recenter the pendant light so it hangs in front of the window (phase two)
- change the floor tile to add visual interest (definitely phase two)
John and I are still deciding whether to tackle the border tile and light relocation soon or save them for a second phase. If we delay those tasks, we’ll publish a full budget breakdown for Phase One once it’s complete. In the meantime: have you ever sold a secondhand toilet, bought a new one, or trimmed a door? We’d love to hear about your projects.
Psst—If you want the whole backstory on this bathroom refresh, check our earlier posts covering the planning, painting, light swapping, art and trim updates, the toilet update, and the window treatment work.