The Bathroom Finale!

July 6, 2008
I walked into the bathroom first thing this morning and was amazed at the beautiful colors as the sunlight shone through the stained glass window. Wow! It is gorgeous!

There is not much left to do. Once hubby got home from work he hung the crystal candle chandelier over the tub with the vintage light cover which hides the hook. We hung several pictures including the beautiful picture of the hand holding the roses that my neighbor gave me. The rose potpourri given by my dear friend as a birthday gift is scenting the entire bathroom. It was getting late so I decided to call it a night.

July 7, 2008
I was up early this morning and began cleaning the bathroom for the final inspection. The building inspector showed up around 10:30 AM, inspected everything and passed it which can mean only one thing…

drum roll please…

THE BATHROOM IS FINISHED!!!

In a mere ten months we have finally finished!!! I can’t believe it! Even as I type this I still can’t fathom the fact that the bathroom is actually complete!
After the inspector left I continued decorating. The china cabinet now houses towels, painted porcelain, and other useful trinkets. After moving a few more things around the décor was finally complete. Once everything was in its place I put the glass globes on the light fixtures making the bathroom look even more beautiful.

And so here ends the bathtub diaries. This project has brought many laughs, a few arguments, some bribery, an occasional threat, a few injuries, and a bus license for me. I have enjoyed sharing this experience with everyone. I would like to thank all of the people that have made this project bearable as well as beautiful. As much as I will miss writing these diaries I must bid all adieu as I have a date with an old claw foot tub and some bubble bath.

Happy soaking!

God Bless!

*********************

Before and After pictures will be posted soon so stop back by:).

Getting closer...

July 3, 2008
I spent two weeks in Atlanta and therefore the updates on the bathroom are extensive. Of course, one of the first places I like to visit once I get to Atlanta is the antique mall. I got my Chai tea from the restaurant next to the antique mall and then mom and I went antiquing. The antique store owner (also a real estate agent) was kind enough to take mom and me to see a gorgeous Victorian house a block away from the store that is currently on the market. The owner was at home and was very gracious about letting us look at the house. The antique store owner introduced mom and me. As soon as he told the homeowner where I was from she immediately asked- ‘Are you the one with the bathtub?’ I was shocked! Who would have thought that a total stranger would know me because of these diaries! She has now been added to the bathtub diary email list. Apparently my antiques store friends have been sharing this story with their friends too.

While I was gone hubby worked hard at installing the quarter round to the baseboards and completing the wainscoting. My plan was to arrive home last Sunday but hubby asked that I stay another day so he could get more of the bathroom completed. He had called me the Friday before to tell me that he was going to COMPLETE the bathroom before I arrived home a week later. I told him to wait because I knew he needed my help to install the pillars. He was quite insistent stating that he was going to complete this project and followed with the statement that he was not going to do another home improvement project for at least two years. This made me laugh. Two years before he does another home improvement project? I think not! He is not doing anymore home improvement projects of this magnitude! I will hire someone next time!!! Anyway, when I arrived home he had installed the pillars (with Gary’s help) and they look grand!

Now to answer the question that is probably running through your head right now-Is the bathroom finished?

You have been reading the bathroom diaries for ten months now!
What on earth made you think that this time the project would be complete?
Everything on the inside was in fact completed; however, the siding on the outside center wall had yet to be hung.
And so the diaries continue…


Hubby sustained one injury while I was gone. While painting one of the pillars he burned his arm on the wall sconce light bulb. Not only did he do it once but twice. Ironically his burn was not as severe as mine.
One other incident occurred while I was gone. Apparently hubby forgot about the open views of the bathroom windows since the curtains have yet to be hung. One afternoon he walked into the bathroom before realizing that everyone could see him. Oh, did I mention that he was naked at the time? Yup, anyone who happened to be walking by got a surprise show. Needless to say he is being a bit more careful now.

While in Atlanta I purchased a few more things for the bathroom. I found a lovely Victorian style tissue cover as well as a hairspray holder, covered box (for cotton balls), and a small glass container for Q-tips.

Yesterday I did the paint touch-ups to the pillars and the walls in the bathroom. When hubby got home from work he finished installing the siding on the outside center wall. We have only to hang mirrors, artwork, arrange furniture, hang curtains, and get the final inspection. Hmmm, it didn’t seem like much more needed to be done until I typed it all out.

July 4, 2008
Let the fun begin! All of the structural work and painting is complete! Now it is time to decorate. WooHoo!!! We hung the mirror over the sink. Then we moved the china cabinet in and placed it on the wall behind the door. In addition, we added the small shelving unit that we had in the old bathroom. It provides great storage without taking up much space. Due to the extraordinary amount of time that has elapsed since the start of this project I have made several purchases for the bathroom without knowing if the items would work or not. I actually have two options for a towel rack. You may remember that I purchased a beautiful scrolly, fru-fru iron towel rack in May from an antique mall in Lawrenceville. During my most recent trip to Atlanta I found a lovely antique architectural piece that once probably graced the top of a dresser. Someone added very ornate hooks to it making it into a wall mounted rack for clothes or towels. It was marked down to $30. My intention was to use this piece behind the bathroom door to hang my pajamas and robes. However, the china cabinet is now located behind the door making this idea obsolete. So now this piece is also being considered for the towel rack. It seemed like a simple decision. Unfortunately both pieces looked great. Hubby was not much help stating that the choice depended upon what would be hanging on the neighboring walls. Hmmm. It was late so we decided to sleep on it until tomorrow.

July 5, 2008
Yay! Another decorating day! Now I know that you are on the edge of your seat wondering which towel rack we chose!
So here it is…

I’m still not sure.

Since I was still unable to choose a towel rack we did the only thing that we could do-we hung everything on the neighboring walls and then made the decision. The small antique corner medicine cabinet ($95-Lilburn) went on the only available corner in the bathroom. After that we hung an antique shelving piece on the wall across from the tub. Next the infamous stained glass window went into the lower portion of the center window (it fit the window niche nicely). A piece of antique lace and a small valance covered the upper portion of the center window. The curtain rods were very inexpensive white wood rods from a national hardware chain. This allowed us to custom fit the rods to each window. Curtain panels to match the valance were hung on the two side windows providing privacy at night and light during the day when they are opened (or to block hubby from any further exhibitionist shows). I put an antique red velvet chair under the corner medicine cabinet ($40 from an antique fair in Atlanta). Back in May during one of my visits to the antique mall I found an antique linen towel edged with crocheted lace and embroidered with the initial ‘P’ ($26). We added a small towel rack to the bottom of the medicine cabinet using the leftover wood dowels from the curtain rods. We had finally finished decorating most of the tub area of the bathroom.
Now back to the towel rack decision.

And the winner is…

the antique architectural piece with the hooks!

We hung a beautiful framed print above it that mom purchased in Williamsburg, Virginia a few years ago. I began moving some of my things in and then went to bed. Decorating is exhausting!

Tile scraping continues...

June 16, 2008
I can hardly move today. After spending 3 hours on the floor scraping tile every muscle and joint is sore! But there are still several tiles to go. I managed to scrape two more tiles but that was all-I am still too sore.

June 17, 2008
I tackled the rest of the tile today! It took a couple more hours but I managed to get all of the grout removed from the intricate design! WooHoo! The only thing left for me to do is to apply one more coat of paint to the wainscoting and the red walls. I suppose I should mention that I have a very steady hand when painting and therefore I do not tape off the trim work when I paint. Hubby was very helpful and taped off all of the trim in the main section of the bathroom in an effort to help me out (this was several weeks ago when we were painting the moldings). After painting the new section of the bathroom I moved the ladder into the old main section. I pulled off the first section of blue painter’s tape. It came off pretty easily. So did all of the paint below it! And some of the drywall too! I thought that the whole point of using painter’s tape was that it DOES NOT stick to the paint. Apparently not! This was the case with all of the tape removal-or should I say tape and PAINT removal! Not only did I have to repaint the red paint around the moldings but also the gold paint on the ceiling. When hubby got home from work he came back to the bathroom where I was still painting. I showed him where the tape pulled the paint off of the walls. His response was ‘I was afraid that would happen.’ Hmmm…my next thought was -do I throw something at him now or do I wait until after I ask the meaning of his comment? I decided to wait. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked. His response ‘I think that was two day painter’s tape.’ In other words, we should have taken it down after a few days instead of a few WEEKS! At this point I am beginning to adjust to such little setbacks so instead of throwing something at him I just resumed painting. A couple of hours later the painting was complete.

I was just reading the updates to hubby regarding the tile scraping episode. He wanted to know why I did not write about his efforts in this area. So to be fair, hubby did spend a few hours last week with the grout dissolving stuff scraping and brushing the tiles. However, he was not as successful as I was. There, now he can feel better-I mentioned his contribution, albeit a minor one, but I mentioned it nonetheless.
Beep, Beep, Beep goes the bus!

Full steam ahead...

June 8, 2008
After church hubby and I started working on the bathroom. I continued painting while hubby worked on the box supports for the antique pillars. He did a wonderful job of designing them with a bit of storage included in the design. It took several hours of cutting and constructing and then hubby came in for a fitting. (Now mind you, it was quite a daunting task getting to the pillars which were located in the library, aka the black hole, amongst a sea of bathroom stuff. I removed everything from the library to the small opening on the living room floor and then was able to locate and bring out the pillars and caps). I carried the pillars and caps to the bathroom and hubby placed all the pieces together and determined that the box size was correct. He handed me the pillar to lean back against the wall.

And that’s when it happened.

You know one of those slow motion moments when you want to move quickly but all you can do is stand back and watch the impending disaster that follows. Somehow during the passing of the pillar we did not make contact it was just millimeters out of my reach. I yelled for hubby to catch it but it was too late. CRASH!!!!! The pillar fell against the toilet smashing the toilet tank lid. Porcelain bits went flying everywhere! As the pillar lay against the toilet tank with porcelain shrapnel all over the floor I did the only thing that I could do…

I busted out laughing!

Hubby was not as amused. I told him not to worry that I was sure we could find a replacement. He replied with a ‘probably not’ since it was a fairly old toilet and that most of the toilets today are much larger (this is why we kept the original-because it was small and fit in the space). Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about that. All of a sudden it wasn’t quite as funny but then a new thought occurred to me! A most enjoyable thought! Now we could buy the expensive toilet that matches the pedestal sink! Hubby was not amused.
A little while later hubby went to the hardware store to get some decorative trim for the pillar support boxes and primer for the pillars while I continued to paint (have you ever noticed that the more you paint the more there is to paint)? Once he arrived home he applied the decorative trim to the boxes. Now they just have to be painted.

I sustained yet another injury when cleaning up the mess on the platform area of the bathroom. When removing the tile cutter a shard of glass cut my thumb. I cleaned and bandaged it immediately and all looks as if it will be fine.

June 9, 2008
There may be hope for the toilet! Our dear friends have replaced their toilets and they still have the old ones. These are older, small toilets so she is going to bring in one of the tank lids tomorrow for us to try on our toilet. Toilet trading, it’s a good thing.

June 10, 2008
Hubby finished the grout while I primed the decorative boxes for the pillars and patched some nail holes.

June 11, 2008
The toilet lid given to us is too small for the toilet tank. Hubby went out and bought a new tank with a lid for the toilet.

· New toilet tank and lid $50

June 14, 2008
St. Pauly came over today to replace the sink drain and to install the new toilet tank. We officially have a working bathroom but I refuse to use it until it is finished!

June 15, 2008
I am not sure if you remember (since it has been so long ago) that we purchased a raised decorative tile for the platform step. Hubby installed it a few weeks ago including the grouting. This is the first time that hubby has worked with tile that has a raised design on it and it was a learning experience. Did you know that when grout dries on a raised design tile that it is nearly impossible to remove? Yup, all of the grout formed a cement-like substance that fills in all of the intricate crevices of the design. Not a problem-surely there is some sort of grout removal product that will make the grout dissolve without damaging the surface of the tile. Sure enough there is! Unfortunately it doesn’t really dissolve the grout away-so we discovered after following the directions, and the grout remained. There was only one solution-scrape it off. Now I know what archeologists go through on digs! I had a small screwdriver which I used to carefully chisel away the grout after spraying the tiles with the grout removal stuff. I spent almost 3 hours working on this and was able to clean a little more than half of the tiles. I feel like a contortionist after being curled up and bent around in order to maneuver the screwdriver into all of the intricate nooks and crannies of the tile design.

It sure would be nice to soak in a tub right about now!