la toilette

It is now safe to visit again. After a month of not having a downstairs bathroom, it is back up and running. And for the first time ever I can now happily show visitors to the downstairs wash room without cringing inside. For two years I have been recommending that guests make the trek upstairs to use the loo in order to avoid the possible reaction of friends running screaming out of the house in revulsion.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that bad. But it was with a happy heart that I watched Clay tear out multiple layers of asbestos flooring and repair the rotten wood underneath. And I definitely was not sad to remove the old sink and vanity with peeling paint.

Last night Clay officially completed my birthday present :

It was a labor of love. Coming home after long days at work only to shut himself into a tiny dark cubby hole for a couple more hours. This was actually the second remodel on this bathroom. We removed the breaker box from the shower immediately after moving in and Clay tiled and waterproofed around the shower at that point. He's such a good husband.

Here is a before picture, for comparison:

 Now we have new (non-peeling , non-rotting, non-linoleum) flooring, new sink, partially new toilet, new tiles on the non-shower-walls and vigorously cleaned bath tub. The completed product is beautiful:

The old sink has been moved down into the dungeon basement with plans to hook it up near the laundry station for use as a utility sink. I repainted it today but before I did that I took a couple pictures. Just to help appreciate the clean lines of our new pedestal sink.

It's actually a cute little vanity, just way too big for our tiny cubby hole bathroom. Of course when our house was built there was no bathroom.... hence the breaker box in the shower. So we have lots to be thankful for. Nevertheless, it needed to go. The crevice it created between one of its sides and the bathtub was like the pit of no return. Drop something in there and you would never see it again. Except during a bathroom remodel. I believe Clay procured 4 pairs of tweezers, toothbrushes and various toys, among other things. 

 Another thing I'm looking forward to? No more little lizards crawling up through the unsealed cracks in the rotting floor and curling up to die inside the vanity. I've found so many lovely little surprises opening up that vanity door....

And finally, don't you love the polka dotted teal paint? Renters can have such good taste. I'm just impressed that they apparently unhooked the sink just so they could cover every square inch with such awesome paint. I thought we had already painted over all the polka dots. Surprise!

  

 Once Clay got done with all of the hard work I helped with a couple finishing touches. Like repainting stuff. And cleaning up these old brass hinges:

 Previously, they looked like this:

 

 The other downstairs door hinges still look like that and it is on my short list to clean up all of them. Now that I know how easy it is. I followed this tutorial and it worked like a charm. And then I spray painted it with Rustoleum oil-rubbed bronze. Not sure how the durability is with that spray but with first impressions I am completely in love it.

 Voila!