Bathroom Remodeling

Our bathroom needed some serious help. The tub and sink were original to the house which was built in 1950. Who knows maybe the toilet was original too since the tank seems to have attached itself to the wall. I'm not sure when the surround and shower were added. Obviously, this bathroom was not meant to have a shower since there was a window for ventilation on the wall just above the tub. You'll see that in the second photo.

 

Of course I have to begin with my adorable boy Michael. He would be so embarrassed if he knew I posted a photo of him in his pjs. He was eight and hunting Easter baskets. He found this one in the tub. This is one of the only photos I have of our bathroom pre-remodeling. Who takes photos of bathrooms? Notice our cat Sebastien to Michael's left. Yes, he's trying to get a drink from the faucet. Sebo likes running water. Go figure.

While Michael finds his basket he so happily showed us in the first photo, you can see the shower surround and the window framed with wood. Who would put WOOD in a tub or shower? By the time we began the remodeling the wood was rotting and falling into the tub. YUCK! It also creeped me out a little to have a window in my shower.

My Dad decided enough was enough and after Christmas in July he came up for two days to rip out the old bathroom. We discovered that the tub would in no way fit through the door, so we had to break it apart. The tub was cast iron and made in October of 1950. I noticed the time stamp when I carried that particular piece out of the house. Dad and Matt had most of the tub broken into chunks. While they took a break, Michael took his turn with the sledge hammer. It's amazing to look at this photo of Michael because he's gotten so big. He's eleven now. Boy, time sure flies.

 

We struggled with the tub trying to get it to fit.  More of the wall had to be removed. I think the guys got a little happy with the sledge hammer. What is it with men and destroying things? The surround we chose attaches right to the studs in the wall. We closed the window and placed the surround right over top. When we side the house (Who knows when that's going to happen? Supposedly the supplies for the roof arrive this Friday. I'm not holding my breath.) the contractors said they would insulate and board up the window before siding over the top of it.

Notice there are no pipes between the wall studs. Dad decided to replace all of it with PVC. The pipes were copper and also original to the house. We also added a new drain pipe. You wouldn't believe what was in the old one we sawed off. 

I hate this wallpaper. I've been pealing it off the walls for months. It's stuck tight. I've been perusing magazines of late looking for ideas for bathroom renovations. Our home is tiny and cottage like so Matt and I wanted to go with a cottage look for the bathroom. Many of the photos showed bead board three fourths of the way up the wall. Works for us. No more pealing wallpaper.

This is the old vent that we had to prop open with a bowl to get the heat to come into the bathroom. Dad's taking the metal frame out so that we can purchase a more modern cover that will be flush to the wall.

While we were at it I decided I wanted to replace the floor too. Why not? We pulled up the old linoleum. Afterwards our day was finished. We worked hard that day and Dad was tired, hot, and hungry. He would come back up tomorrow with my brother Jerome to finish things up. No shower for us that night. Instead we had to take baths. Ahhhh....bubbles. Matt wasn't so keen on the idea.

The next day Dad, Matt, and Jerome tackled the plumbing. That's enough said about that. Once the plumbing was finished they began measuring and sawing the bead board for the walls and ceiling. All three guys had to work to get the ceiling in place. Each time they hammered a nail the ceiling light would flicker. It eventually went completely out. Interesting. Is there an electrician in the house? Jerome's nail gun was powered by a generator. Cool guy toy! The nails went right through the bead board to the stud, leaving the bead board hanging, literally. We finally nailed the ceiling in place. Jerome felt bad for all the holes in the ceiling. I told him not to worry; we could fill them. He said this was the hillbilly way of remodeling a bathroom. I love my brother's sense of humor!

This was how it looked after all the bead board was placed on the ceiling and walls. We used bead board above the shower to help cover the window. You can just see daylight peaking through the crack between the two pieces of bead board. We're going to place a piece of molding between the two boards above the shower and on the ceiling.

 This is the last wall to cover with the bead board. Then we can put the sink back in place.

The walls will get a fresh coat of white paint. We're also going to place molding around the edge of the surround to cover the nails and tabs. We haven't picked that out just yet. I was thinking maybe even tile would be pretty around the surround.

Our first coat of paint goes on the bead board. Originally, we were going to leave the bead board white and paint the blue above the bead board. However, there was a ton of white in the lower half of the room with the tub, surround, sink and toilet, so we reversed it.

I discovered that the shelves in the shower were rather shallow. We went to the hardware store and I found hooks with suction cups. I purchased several to use in the shower to hang our body poufs. It gave us a little more room on the shelves. Hanging the poufs will also help them to dry better. While we were at the hardware store, I spotted baskets for the shower that you can hang by suction cups. Clever. I haven't purchased those yet. I'm not sure I want to clutter the walls.

It took Matt and I only one night to cut and place the floor. We love it! I took this picture before we finished around the toilet. The blue of the walls really makes the blue stone on the floor pop.

We love the ocean and we wanted to go with a cottage theme in the bathroom to match the rest of our house. On a trip I took with my mother, we went to Ocean City, Maryland. At one of the gift shops I purchased the fish you see on the stand as well as the glass oyster dish filled with shells, the starfish hiding behind the shower curtain, and nautical pictures placed in other areas of the room.

We still need to place the chair rail on this wall. We haven't yet because I'm not crazy about the mirror that came with the sink. It's sitting on the sink at the moment. Whatever mirror we choose it will have to hang flush on the wall and that means the chair rail has to be cut to fit. All though, I would love to buy a hook and hang the mirror from the hook with wire wrapped in ribbon. A little Victorian touch.

 The boys love the little stand in the bathroom to hold their reading material. I like it because I've used baskets to hold my makeup, lotions, and body sprays.

I found this adorable Welcome Aboard life ring with a clock and nautical pictures at a garage sale. Unfortunately, the clock no longer works. Matt's going to see if he can fix it. For this reason, I haven't attached it to the wall yet. I also need to find light switch plates. I want to find something more nautical.

This is where we stand on the bathroom. Hopefully, we'll have most of the trim finished this week. I'm hosting our book club on Friday, and I can't wait for the girls to see what we've accomplished.

Thanks Dad, Brenda, Jerome, Matt, and Michael for all of your hard work and sweat.  I love you!