Almost Finished!

Last week, I stopped at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, just to browse. As I passed the tile area, a small box of pretty vintage yellow tile caught my eye, but it wasn't nearly enough for the bathroom. But a couple of steps later, I hit the mother-lode! 400 full-size tiles piled on the shelf, along with a box of bull-nose and pieces! A few short minutes later, they were mine! Even after my calculations (which showed I needed 450 tiles and 40 bull-nose tiles), I wasn't sure I'd have enough for the bath area. So I came up with a design that worked in slightly smaller new white tiles (since the fixtures are all white). Here it is mostly finished before grouting: And here it is after grouting. The only thing remaining to be done is putting the shower head, spout and escutcheons back on. I think it looks really awesome. But after it was finished, I realized that I really do have enough of the tile to have done the whole thing in yellow. You see, they were made a little bit bigger back then (just like ice cream cartons!), and I had also rounded up to the next full tile in my calculations. Oh well, there will be enough to save, until I find more and can do the walls, too!

The Bathroom Renovation Begins!

For a LONG time, I've wanted to get rid of the really disgusting tub surround that's been in the bathroom since who knows when. It's impossible to clean, it's never been what I really wanted in there, and it's just ugly! These are the before pictures: Yesterday, my handyman pulled it out and removed the wet layer of dry-wall that was behind it. This is what was under that - plaster and lathe on the top half and real wainscoting on the lower portion!

Here's the bucket of parts - I hope I can get the calcium deposits off the faucet pieces because they're perfect for my bathroom of the future!

Someday in the future, I want a sink vanity something like this one:

The style is perfect, but I'd rather it had either two doors opening traditionally or sliding doors. It would be great to have a laminate top with a hudee-ringed sink, too, but the laminate companies are rapidly discontinuing any laminate pattern that might work. They all seem to just love anything that looks like granite or marble, but nothing with the sparkle and charm of 1960!

Although the wainscoting is mostly in good condition, that's for the person who owns my house fifty years from now and wants to renovate the bathroom. My plans are 4" tiles with bull-nose tiles around the edge. Don't know the color yet (although, since it's "forever," it will probably be predominately white so it goes with anything), but it's going to be something very 1950's-1960's. I don't care that my house was built in 1870 (the original portion), 1915 (the front room and attic over it, along with this bathroom), 1941 (the kitchen) and 1965 (walling in the back porch), the rooms are (eventually) going to reflect a mid-twentieth-century impression. I'll keep you posted!