Welcome to the inner sanctum......known as our old bathroom. The vanity is 9' long, the window was updated a while back so it's fine. Everything else had to be repaired in some way, thoroughly TSP'd, sanded, primed, repainted, resurfaced....you name it. This is all the BEFORE and a couple photos of DURING ONLY!. (be prepared!) To say I am embarrased to show these would be an understatement.
added to note: AFTER will be revealed in November.
Looking in to the bathroom from the doorway. Oh that horrible floor. We had the cat box in there for a time (as you can see) and we both hated it. It was always clean but they tracked litter that was a constant chore. It just didn't belong in there and it's not going back in. The floor could be scrubbed within an inch of its life and never looks clean. The floor will be the LAST thing we redo because we will probably have to have someone come in to do it to level over what's there and install a new lino. And no more coving either! So for now the floor remains (I found a nice area rug that draws your eye away from it a bit for now you will see in the "after" photos) We cannot afford to go down to the subfloor and start over....someday we will.
The condition of the cabinets is obvious here. I had once tried something on the drawers for a little "relief" effect but it never was right. I started peeling it off one drawer to make sure it would, in fact, come off and it did. They looked dull, duingy and dirty. (and yes, we tried cleaning them) That's a lot of storage but we decided we didn't need those two cabinets with the doors on the left. You will see the what we did instead in the "after" photos in another post later. (same with the doors under the sink) You can see the pink tile in all is ugly glory....trust me when I say pink tile for some may be fine, but for me it was not. That entire vanity and all the drawers had to be completely sanded and primed and then painted. I bought new hardware for the drawers.
This is during the process of refinishing/repainting the tile/sink - they came in and redid it all in 2 days. It's Kohler white and truth be told I wish it had been just a bit creamier but hey, I'm not complaining.
Being an old bathroom the sink jets out from the vanity, we couldn't change the sink without redoing the entire vanity........but the top near the faucet had some cracks. (NOTE: that fixture NEVER looks dirty like that normally...honest) Luckily they were able to repair all the cracks. They fixed them on top AND from underneath and it was so smooth before they did the resurfacing you couldn't even tell they were ever there. The cracks happened back when BohoHandy replaced the old faucet some time ago and had to use a lot of force to remove it. You could bleach the heck out of that sink but the surface was just so old. We keot this faucet.
Here is the sink after it's repair and redo. Doesn't that look like a face? I think it may be saying "ahhhh, that's better, thank you".
The tub/shower combo. BohoHandyman had to do some repair work above the tile as you can see. The tub had long ago lost it's smooth surface so it never felt truly clean. The tub, toilet and sink and tiles (and probably that hideous floor) are all original to this 1949 house.
This is during the process on the tub and tile. They wrapped the exposed pipe fpr the fixtures while doing this. No showers for 2 days......what can I say?
Looking back towards the door. That poor old door and that poor old trim.... it all received some serious sanding and repainting since this photo. That's Daisy coming in the room having opened the door while I was taking the photo...she hates closed doors (see previous post). We had taken everything out - that's a ladder on the right.
This light fixture has been up since the late 80's. It was fine back then but those gigantor globes are so not my style. We tried to find new glass replacements in some other style but they don't make the openings that wide any more except for globes like those. We did find a new fixture, he replaced it and we didn't like it or the lighting it gave off so he removed it, packaged it and we returned it. So in the meantime I did a VERY quick paint job on this old one (this is the before) and he rehung it FOR NOW. Ideally a sconce on either side of the mirror would be great so we are talking about doing that instead........problem is the wall is now all painted and it will mean messing it up again and repainting. So we're on the fence.
The walls are not in the best shape, they could use brand new drywall but this project was not intended to go that deep at this point. You will see later that a bit of spackle, some sanding, primer and paint did the trick though. (added note, the original wall color when we first rented this house....we later bought it.....was pink! Pink tile AND pink walls....can you say Pepto Bismol?)
Then we had that hole.........I told you about it here. That is completely and totally fixed so you can't even tell anything was ever there. BohoHandyman even patted himself on the back for that one.
For the bathroom mirror....what we had was a good size but the frame we used back then was rather skimpy in size. I can't believe I didn't take a before photo. BUT we had framed a chalk board in the kitchen (see below) with a frame I bought at Michaels and although I planned to paint it I hadn't yet. Sooooo....we took it down and it fit the mirror perfectly. So I painted it and we reframed the mirror.
You'll see it redone and in the bathroom later in the "After" photos
Soooo....there are still about 7 more things on the to-do list but they will get done. One involves some treasure hunting for accessories....we are going back to visit our friends L & J again soon and then let the hunt begin. Those guys know ALL the good places up there!
Now you know why this project has taken over our every waking hour. BohoHandyman comes home from work and then works on his part. He just amazes me!
I will share the "After" photos some time next month. Aren't you thrilled with anticipation? *grinning*
☛ The thing I want to leave you with is this......you don't have to break the bank to make over a room giving it a fresh new look (even though you may want to tear it all out and start over). You can repurpose things you already have.....shopping around the garage and shed I remembered I had bought a wooden medicine chest (with a mirror inset) for $10 at a thrift store.....I repainted it (inside and out - it was hunter green), crackled it a little and voila! And here I had been looking at them online! Same with that bathroom mirror frame. Look around....flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, Craigslist....... and yes in amongst your own stuff .........give something a new look rather than buying new whenever possible. Add some crown molding or wood to the walls or any myriad of things that can give your room(s) a whole new lease on life, especially paint. Paint can change everything! It's rewarding in the end I assure you. And may I say Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is my constant life saver for furniture and accessories!
Last and certainly not least, and more importantly, is having ♥BohoHandyman for a husband!!
So until next time.......I hope you're having a great week. The weather here is changing....it's cool and it's even raining off and on AND I got to wear these.....
P.S. ART will return....it's been on a bit a hiatus of late as you can imagine.
