When we first bought into our house in 2000, one of the things The Wife and I knew we needed to get fixed, sooner rather than later was the bathroom. It was so bad, I actually entered some contest called “America’s ugliest bathroom.” Alas, we did not win. But it was UGLY, SO ugly… I must have those pictures somewhere.
Unfortunately, other home improvements, including, but not limited to, a new kitchen floor, a new roof built by a Trusted and Recommended Roofing Repair Company near me, and having someone dig a big hole in our front lawn to stop sewage from coming to our basement, and replacing our deteriorating above ground pool patio with grass all took precedence. In the summer of 2014, we contracted work to begin on our bathroom starting with a glass shower enclosure.
These pictures do not do their ugliness justice. The pink toilet, pink sink, terrible wallpaper. Worse, a shower where the tile was falling down. Well, the shower was replaced, and the bathroom expanded. The new vanity was purchased in August 2014. But then, for reasons I cannot explain, the work stopped. The vanity was moved from the living room to the room adjacent to the bathroom just before Thanksgiving. In July 2015, after looking at the panel above for nearly 11 months, work commenced again.
The white, pink and light blue wallpaper was taken off, and somewhere below was this:
If that design were in the whole room, it would have been like showering in an aquarium. Then, the very next level down, we discovered this:
It made us laugh heartily.
The house is around 100 years old, so it’s quite believable that someone would have used this design.
Sorry that the pics are so dark. they were taken on the Wife’s iPad, before the dim lighting of the bathroom was enhanced.
EDIT: My friend Arthur lightened the top pic and especially the lower three. GRACIAS!
All pictures (C)2015 by Lydia P. Green.
I love the vintage wallpapers. Even if the thought of “inexplicably, the work stopped” makes me twitch.
(I know someone here who, no joke, had a kitchen remodel that took 3 YEARS. Because the guy she hired was a flake who kept leaving for other jobs. Yeah, she and her family had three years of using a microwave set up in their living room)
Now I feel better about the Vineyard From Heck stuff on my bathroom wall.
If only you knew someone who works with photos in Photoshop all the timeā¦ if only. š
Arthur – wish I did…
Wow. Just…wow!
This is phenomenal. I am rapidly discovering that owning a house, particularly an old house, is like having a new friend to discover. I love that crazy black-and-white wall cover you have, I would have preserved it in some way.
Did you hire a lot of contractors to do the work? I’m thinking of blowing out a wall and turning my 5 bedroom into a 4 bedroom with a fantastic living room with a fireplace (my reading room/ “woman cave” has a fireplace, but it’s a small room.)
Kudos to you! I am also learning this process not only requires work, it requires bravery. Particularly with people around you shocked that you would try it (probably somewhat less of a problem as a black man than as a white woman š But no one would be shocked if I tried to be a librarian, so there you go.)
We had one contractor to do the work. He got some help from his adult daughter.
Smart. I’m trying to do a lot myself. My friend Matt did it, I don’t see why I can’t. But holy moly the learning curve!