Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A Nearly Clean Slate

SO, we are still in the process of renovating our bathroom. What does it look like now? Well, like this: That is where our tub used to be. It was cut out in pieces, to determine if the dry rot extended underneath it. Turns out the subfloor there was fine. Oh well. The plumbing bits sticking out to the right are the new shower/tub controls, which we paid our plumber to do for us. After the little copper soldering experiment, I am happy to concede that plumbing is not a DIY skill for us at this time.
This is the double sink vanity for the bathroom--very nice, a good knock-off solid surface countertop, and the integrated sinks make it easy to clean. It's definitely coming back in, but first had to go out so that we could deal with this lovely little remnant:
That would be painted over, textured wallpaper...with an oh-so-charming grid with embossed flowers. I'm sure this was stylin' back in about, oh, 1979. We had covered it up with a venetian plaster product--an agonizing multi-day affair that had us cussing a bit and fussing with the right amount of "product" necessary to cover the offending "texture" of the wallpaper. However, since we are redoing the floor and the tub, we decided what was a little drywall on top of it? Might as well do it right.
This was partway through removing the old vinyl flooring (all four layers of it), plus the particleboard underlayment. All of that is now gone, and we have no drywall (hooray, all textured wallpaper is gone!) and we are down to the 2x6 subfloor. We are ready to start putting it back together, folks; and in the process we will master framing, drywall hanging, taping, mudding, wall texturing, tiling, grouting, and painting. We are fixing a few "wonky" bits, like framing in the linen closet 5 1/4" so it will accept a standard size bi-fold door. The gauze curtain 'door' just wasn't cutting it for us. Likewise, we are moving the light fixture box over 3" and framing in 5 3/4" of a new wall bump-out next to the pocket door, so that the vanity will fit the remaining space exactly. In the new wall section, we are installing a mirrored medicine cabinet and a set of open shelves at the front for lotions, potions, and towels. We are even putting in a recessed light at the top, and I'm getting some glass shelves custom cut at a glass shop for the top shelves, to make it really look nice (we hope).

It's a lot of work. Pray for us. DH & I get snippy at the best of times with DIY, and we are embarking on the most ambitious project of our marriage. Let us hope we emerge unscathed, and, dare I hope, the better for it.


No comments: