remodel my bathroom

I luxuriated in a nice hot bath while watching the almost hypnotic rotation of the washing machine. The extractor fan removes steam! There is a heater! There are towel rails!

A couple of minor things are still to be done. A towel ring needs to be put by the basin, and some paint splatters removed from the floor. The builder is coming to do those tomorrow.

Progress has been a lot slower this week. The painter came on Tuesday and looked at it, but didn’t actually start painting until Wednesday. That has meant the painting won’t be completed until Monday, so I’ve had to postpone delivery of the washing machine and dryer. I have had a few words to the builder about the delay.

The plasterers were in two days, with a day in between for the plaster to dry out. Flooring was laid yesterday so it’s beginning to look really good. The painters come on Tuesday. Yesterday I also picked up the towel rails and drawer handles, which are the last items I need to get.

When I arrived home yesterday, the bath and shower were ready to use. I had a vanilla bath bomb from Lush ready for the occasion, so I luxuriated in my bath. It is a really comfortable bath too!

There is still work to do. Although they have attached the vanity to the wall, it still has to be connected to the plumbing. There is some other plumbing and electrical to be done for the washing machine and dryer. The plasterers come on Monday, and the flooring people are Thursday. I think the painters are Wednesday. It should pretty much be done by next weekend.

In the shot above, you can see the bathtub with shower surround, and the vanity.

The builder has put insulation in the walls, and he is now putting the new wall lining on. The new toilet is in place and operational, and the new bath is in place but not yet operational. Currently racing down the road to the gym in the mornings to have a shower.

So far we have:

Bathtub, faucet & showerhead, waste overflow system + extra pipe
Tiles (4×8” subway tiles)
Toilet + toilet plumbing thingys

Today we’re supposed to be getting:
Table for the bathroom vanity, stain and varnish, a sink, faucets. (It’s an Ikea hack )

We haven’t got: grout for the tiles, cement board (backing for the tile), a new door, or anything at all to redo the floor.

The bathroom is certainly looking different!

The builder is coming tomorrow to start ripping out the old bathroom, so I figure I’d better give you a before photo. Sorry about the picture quality, but I had to take this with my phone.

today I tried _{really tried!} to clean the copper door handle (bathroom door), and although it now looks more like copper and less like – well, grime, there is still too much tarnish on it. I think we need a new door handle. And considering how poorly painted the door has been, I think we need a whole new door as well!

I’ve no idea why my boyfriend thinks this door can be salvaged, unless he is planning to scrape off all the existing paint – with it’s drips and chips and paint-encompassed chunks of lint. Yuck!

And, I might add – it is a cheap hollow door made of very dark brown plywood laminate, which has been badly painted over with2 thin coats of white wall paint – and the second coat, besides being a different shade of white, doesn’t even cover the whole door! Ghastly.

I repainted the tile… it looks bad (needs another coat, but I probably won’t bother). I was curious to see if that tub & tile refinishing would work on a tile wall, and it “sort of” did, but it’s far too fussy and too much work. _{We’re supposed to be tearing out the tiles int he next couple weeks anyway…}

However, the white enamel did manage to mostly cover up the horrible yellow, so the whole bathroom looks much bigger and fresher, even though the paint is sloppy and a little drippy.

Overall, I’d say it was a worthwhile experiment!