Bathroom Before The Facelift...

Not the best day to take photographs...dismal, dull, grey and lack of any kind of good lighting for photography.  Still, this will give an idea of why this room, at 50 years of age this year, needs to have it's face lifted...actually it will be torn right off and recreated.

I don't much care for the shape of the room, a long rectangle, but we'll work with what we've got because we are not at the stage in our family life where we can tear out a bedroom to create a lavish bathroom.  Children come home from school and do need a place to lay their weary heads.  A sleeping bag and the couch hardly seems hospitable.  Mind you, come the time they are in their 30s and want to come home for longer than a quick visit, that may be all they get! 

So this is the before....and I very much look forward to the after!

Everything is going in this room, even the window.  We no longer have a need for two sinks, but I will say, this counter top was brilliant when the boys were babies and we needed space after the bath.

Over the years we have made changes...I painted out the vanity which was an ugly brown.  We replaced the sinks and the toilet -- one sink had cracked and the toilet was just "old".  The fixtures were that sand/pink/brown.  Ugh.  The wall originally had an ugly black and yellow wallpaper on it.  We changed it to a nicer pattern and colour but wallpaper in a bathroom that has no vent is a disaster.  And then we noticed the cracks appearing in the walls so in the 90s I used the "go to" treatment of sponge work on the walls to try and mask the imperfections.  And now these many years later there is nothing more to do with these walls other than to tear them down and build new ones.   The floor was an ugly pattern of congoleum which curled at the edges and then became impossible to clean.  My husband put down these tiles but as he neglected to replace the quarter round, everything shifted.  Not his fault.  As he tells me often over all these years we have been married, "I'm an accountant, not a handy man".  This is true.

All those tiles that are off the wall?  Some began to heave and fall themselves.  The others had a little help.  From yours truly.  It was fun, what can I say?

The window is also being replaced.  The wood is rotting and impossible to keep clean and if we're doing the whole room there is no chance I'm leaving that ratty old thing in there.  Be gone!

This monstrosity has always frustrated me beyond belief.  There is ONE electrical outlet in this room and it's way up there by that small, lonely light fixture.  So when I need to plug in my hair dryer, I have to stand on my tip toes and strain my little arms just to hit the spot and then heave to get the plug in the socket.  Do not even ask me how many years I've put up with THAT.  Too many is the only one that suffices.  The mirror?  The medicine cabinet?  There are no words.

This is the colour of the bathtub and the other fixtures that were in the room.  The mess?  That happened years ago and we had fixed it, or thought we had and then it just all started up again.  There was a leak behind the wall and the plumber did fix it but too much of the damage had already been done.  That's my handiwork there as I tried to replace the tiles that had fallen off.  And it worked for quite a long time...and I can't even say that I'm an accountant not a handy man because I dislike anything to do with math and numbers! 

The ugly countertop that has to go!

The ugly tile that surrounds the entire bath/shower and the other wall in the room (the only wall it is not on is the one that the shower/tub is on), and evidence that these ones are beginning to give up the ghost as well.

The tile continues on the ceiling which, again, for me is a nightmare to clean.  I have to stand on the edge of the tub and squirt cleaner UP to reach it and then jump down and back so that I don't get splashed.  I then use the shower head to clean it off.  I've rigged up old broom handles and old bristle brushes to do the job and they require lots of muscle.  Once we knew this was being "done", I haven't bothered getting up there...and don't mind in the least!  Not sure what the answer will be for this but the contractor will come up with something.  I have faith!

I'm looking forward to seeing my design ideas go from my imagination to a room that is functional, relaxing and easy to clean!