Way back about 6 weeks ago (which at this point feels like months ago-- it was still summery weather back then and now I'm sitting at my keyboard wearing a coat inside my house), I tackled another pretty hefty remodeling project and promised to post about it here.
The kids have pretty well trashed everything in our house during the last ten years. Sometimes I look around and sigh heavily-- I can still (barely) remember how beautiful everything looked when we moved in to our brand-spanking-new house.
Now, you could charitably describe our house as "well-loved." Or maybe as "well-lived-in."
The kids' bathroom has been tackled before. It's one of the few rooms in the house that has been painted more than once as well as getting a new (um, well, stripped and painted) floor. This project was to deal with the problems caused mostly by M's shower length turning the room into a daily sauna and somewhat by the multiple times the kids have flooded the bathroom (which was why we had to rip up the vinyl a few years back). The wood (well, particleboard with a wood-looking outside) had been slowly rotting away and it was starting to look as if cabinet might collapse under the weight of the vanity top. So once I had some money set aside and some time (i.e. fall break, less driving), I decided it was time to replace the vanity. I'd done a lot of research and learned that what I wanted to do (a pedestal sink) was manifestly a bad idea for a house with a passel of destructive kids. So we had to go to a back up plan, which was cheap knock off wood. Terence just shrugged and said that we'll just replace it again in ten years, only by then most of the kids will be grown and we can do something nice in there.
Anyway, here are some pictures to document all my hard work, mistakes, and sharp learning curve experiences:
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| I forgot a before picture, so this is one of my pics from when we did the floor. Notice the bright green walls :) |
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| Too much steam had damaged the paint and drywall around the top of the shower. I got to do a lot of sanding and spackling before the primer coat of paint. |
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| Here's the old sink before I rather enthusiastically ripped it out. |
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| The sink itself was super easy to remove. Just take a knife to the caulking. Now the backsplash on the right that was glued to the drywall? Not so much. |
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| This back turned out to be a nightmare. No way to get it off without removing the valves and after the fiasco in the laundry room I wasn't even about to try. I ended up using a drill, a branch trimmer, a chisel and a hammer to cut through it. (Maybe I should buy a saw.) |
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| Even though I was super gentle, taking off the glued on backsplash still pulled most of the drywall off with it. That meant I had to cut it out and do a bigger drywall patch than I every have before. I now know what furring strips are. |
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| While the new drywall patch was drying (the purple drywall mud that turns white as it dries is awesome). The perfectionist is not happy with how it came out, but sheesh, perfection from a beginner is unrealistic. |
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| The vanity light had to go too. This was after Terence took the front cover off but it was rusted beyond recovery. Shiny metal and steam and time don't mix. |
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| There's the new light fixture. Terence did that job. I don't do wiring. Ever. |
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| Finished look! It's about as opposite from the former green and blue look as you can get. But most importantly, no water damage. For now. |
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| The new sink and vanity. I hadn't put the big mirror back up yet. That turned out to be more difficult than expected without the backsplash to hold it up. Sigh. Anyway, it's up now, if a little less secure than I would like. |
Once the bathroom looked all nice I really could stand the rest of the house even less. (Ten years between paint jobs in a house with five kids is a little long.) So we are in the midst of a slow repainting job. The hallway and living room are now done; next up is the kitchen. Though what possessed me to tackle this during the holiday season . . . . .
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