Main Bathroom Before
Well, my friends. After months of it being finished, I finally photographed my new bathroom. A little walk-through seemed in order after all the bleating you heard about how hard the process was. And for the sake of perspective, I'd like to show you how it was before our first renovation in 2009.
You can see how it was since 2009 over here. And while it looked pretty nice in photos, there were things that were hard to live with. My biggest gripe was how impossible it felt to clean it. Imagine trying to clean around and behind this radiator (below) - particularly when it was hot! Not to mention all the wasted space. We couldn't put our trash can or scale anywhere on that side of the sink.
The radiator needed to be taken out and stripped because it had been painted with paint that was not heat resistant. In the end, we decided to take the radiator out completely, since it's a small bathroom and stays warm without its own heat source.
The plaster walls didn't appreciate the steam our showers created. The paint was happy to peel off in chunks that fell into the tub with us.
Above you can see why it felt impossible to clean. I had almost given up at this point, knowing it would be gutted soon. It hurts a wee bit just showing you these photos, but I'm determined to keep it real. A lot of renovations I see on blogs feel out of reach. The budgets are big and the finish is amazing. Well, this will not be that post.
Our floor was another problem. The original wood floors were all we could afford when we first renovated, but the toilet had problems in the years since. Brian repaired it several times and finally replaced it when the tank cracked, but the floor would never be the same.
I know...gross. I had clearly given up. We decided to replace this window, since I didn't have the energy or ambition to try to get to the bottom of all that paint.
The tub hardware was original and there was no mixer in the faucet. I didn't know what a mixer did, but it helps you get the right temperature of water. So this is why I would turn the knob for hotter, hotter, hotter and suddenly it would get cooler.
You can see how it was since 2009 over here. And while it looked pretty nice in photos, there were things that were hard to live with. My biggest gripe was how impossible it felt to clean it. Imagine trying to clean around and behind this radiator (below) - particularly when it was hot! Not to mention all the wasted space. We couldn't put our trash can or scale anywhere on that side of the sink.
The radiator needed to be taken out and stripped because it had been painted with paint that was not heat resistant. In the end, we decided to take the radiator out completely, since it's a small bathroom and stays warm without its own heat source.
The plaster walls didn't appreciate the steam our showers created. The paint was happy to peel off in chunks that fell into the tub with us.
Above you can see why it felt impossible to clean. I had almost given up at this point, knowing it would be gutted soon. It hurts a wee bit just showing you these photos, but I'm determined to keep it real. A lot of renovations I see on blogs feel out of reach. The budgets are big and the finish is amazing. Well, this will not be that post.
Our floor was another problem. The original wood floors were all we could afford when we first renovated, but the toilet had problems in the years since. Brian repaired it several times and finally replaced it when the tank cracked, but the floor would never be the same.
I know...gross. I had clearly given up. We decided to replace this window, since I didn't have the energy or ambition to try to get to the bottom of all that paint.
The tub hardware was original and there was no mixer in the faucet. I didn't know what a mixer did, but it helps you get the right temperature of water. So this is why I would turn the knob for hotter, hotter, hotter and suddenly it would get cooler.
So those were our major beefs with the bathroom. Sorry for all the grossness!
It was bad enough we decided to work on it even though we had only about $300 to put toward it. It is miles better now and I'm so glad we did it. It cost much more than we expected in money (not that we thought our $300 would get us far) and boy did it cause trouble in ways we'd never imagined, but it is done and I'm looking forward to the summer of 2017 simply because there is no renovating to do!
I promise to be back with pretty pictures soon!
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