Tuesday, August 19, 2014

What's next on the to-do list?

The next project brewing on the to-do list is the downstairs bathroom in the Catskills' Farmhouse. I don't know if you remember what that bathroom looked like when we first bought the house, but it was truly the stuff of nightmares. So much that it even came with a place to stash a dead body if need be.

To refresh your memory, I encourage you to re-watch the YouTube video that John and I made a little over a year ago, when we first fell in love with our very own money-pit. 


Nowadays, the bathroom is considerably less frightful-- we pulled up the vinyl tile, closed up the creepy-crawl space above the shower, painted every possible surface, and cleaned the billow out of the shower, toilet, and sink. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing to write home about, but it's a perfectly serviceable bathroom that has done well by us in our time of need. ; )



That said, now that we're the proud owner of two other fully functional bathrooms, it seemed like it was time to hunker down and address the shortcomings of this space. It is currently the weak-link in our house, and something has to be done! 


My fantasy is to completely remove the existing fiberglass shower enclosure which veritably sings midwestern truck stop, and replace it with a smaller shower stall and a glass door. And once we open that pandora's box, I was thinking we'd remove the existing wallpaper, install a beadboard-wainscotting throughout, and possibly install a new wall paper. Yes! I did just say that! I found this incredible old bird wallpaper at a yard sale, and if I've got enough, I'm thinking I might just "put a bird on it."And if I don't have enough, I might be entertaining buying some from this awesome website, because I've gotten a little bit obsessed with her wallpapers, looking for more of mine... 



I tell-ya! You spend ten friggin' minutes on a design-reality-TV-show, and before you know it, you're hanging kook-a-doo bird wallpaper up in your own house, ON PURPOSE. 

Is nobody safe anymore??? 


I am considering some very straight forward white hexagon tiles for the floor, which I imagine John will be elated to hear. I'm not sure if you remember, but the last time John and I installed some "very straight forward white hexagon tiles", it was in the tiny bathroom in the Fox Ridge Cottage. I was probably six months pregnant at the time, and I think it's the closest brush we've had with divorce in the twelve-and-a-half-years we've been together. Let's just say that two grown adults and a half-baked baby should not cram into a 40-square foot bathroom and try to cut one-inch tiles by hand. 

While trying not to step on the floor. 

I dare you to try it and see if you don't emerge with a pink slip. 

That said, it's hard to resist the overwhelming allure and simplicity of "very straight forward white hexagon tiles", so I might test fate and see if our marriage can survive another installation. I'd like to think we're older and wiser now, so hopefully it won't be as arduous, but we also have additional square footage and not being pregnant on our side too. 


Basically our bathroom, in my magical imagination, will be the combination of the bathrooms shown above and below. Minus the clawfoot tub and plus a bird wallpaper. (!!!!)


The only question I have, aside from the obvious zinger (Where will I get the money and time for all of this genius?!?) is whether it's a tad overwhelming to have wainscoting, hexagonal tile, bird wallpaper, and probably a white subway tiled shower enclosure all in one 75 sq. ft bathroom. 


Okay-- this example is kind of a nightmare-- but if you subtract the pretty horrifying fake tin ceiling, minus the lovely though rather busy marble floor tiles, and then-- and here is where you'll have to squint a little-- add some bird wallpaper-- this is pretty much exactly what I'm proposing!!! 

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks to see if I can make this magical thinking become a reality!! 

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