The tour continues of the main floor of our renovated home. When we put it on the market a few months back we anxiously awaited any possible offers. Selling it in two days boggled our minds, but it felt like a little pat on the back after all that we had put into this home.
What a happy ending to a very long story!
Our journey continues to one of the most important projects we tackled early on: the bathroom.
To say this bathroom sucked would be a GROSS understatement. There is a darn window in the bathroom. A window. That looks out onto the laundry room. And it was the ONLY source of light given that there was no electricity, or outlet present when we purchased the home.
Don't you love those little lighthouses decoupaged on the wall?
I couldn't even bare to take a picture of the mold filled bathtub and the peeling tub paint some amateur tried (technically you can see how bad the tub paint was in the next picture). And that vanity? Don't lean on it because it was already tipping and breaking on the bottom. Oh, and the brown water that spewed from the taps? Not my fav either.
Following the very recent purchase of our home and the birth of Sawyer, we went through what I can only describe as a walk through hell when Keith lost his job.
He came home and that day he ripped up all the carpet in the kitchen. Then he spent the next few days with a sledge hammer ripping the entire bathroom to shreds. How grateful we were he had somewhere to channel all that frustration.
I'll never forget how grateful I felt when our dear friends, the Wilsons, drove down from Massachusetts and lent us a hand for the day. I literally think of Timo every time I see our radiators that he spent the entire day scrubbing free of pealing paint.
Note the peeling tub paint? Lily called it the icky tub and refused to step in it. We bathed in a big bucket for about a month while we renovated this bad boy.
We decided to increase our storage space in the bathroom by adding some shelves where the window used to be. Before ripping it out we installed working lighting and an electrical outlet, because heaven knows I couldn't live with a dim Coleman lantern in my bathroom any more as the only embarrassing source of lighting (sorry again to those who visited during the Coleman days).
And here's the after!!!
I found the pedestal sink on Craigslist for cheap (I think $50? can't remember). We bought new faucets and my dad sprung for us to have a new shower head. We saved money by reusing the same wood. With a coat of primer and white paint it looked brand new! Then we added a decorative trim top to fancy it up a wee bit. Keith built the shelving himself and added a little privacy glass window on top to filter in some natural light during the day. We once again used the same self-stick linoleum on the floor with grout.
A couple things we learned in our bathroom process:
1- If you are going to have an old tub resurfaced and painted make sure you go with a company that has been around for many, many years. They will offer a warranty on the paint job and come fix it up, because it WILL chip. It's good paint, but it is paint and things like little boys with metal tongs can ruin the new finish. Trust me on that one. We went with a newer company that folded and they were unable to hold up their 5 year warranty on the paint job. But it held up remarkably well despite life.
2 - Painting your radiators. Do not bother with high-heat white spray paint. We tried all kinds of different things and were always dealing with chipping paint on them. We finally learned one that worked the best: Good ol' white Killz primer. Just a few coats and it hasn't chipped in months!
Let's step into our smaller downstairs' bedroom now:
This room has been Lily's, then Sawyer's, then Grant's, and now it's Sawyer's room once again.
We'll start with the *ahem* lovely maroon shag carpet. The paint wasn't bad, but running through the center of the room was a wallpaper border that had been painted over again and again. So, why not do it again I asked? We'll just fancy it up for a little boy this time!
We pulled up the rug and found hardwood underneath. It is honestly in terrible shape, but I wasn't going to redo the floors with three little kids running around. I stopped by a carpet store and made a lovely discovery. They often take nice carpet remnants, trim off the edges, and sell them as area rugs for a really cheap price! It's usually the mom and pop stores you can find them at. So we bought this neutral rug, painted the room the same color as the hall, living room, and kitchen and covered up the bump in the wall with a little retro stripe. We also updated the outlets in this room.
AND since I haven't talked free for a few minutes, let's go over what is free in this room! The changing table was free, the toy box was a roadside find that I stripped and painted blue, the wagon was another cast off, the bed too was found next to a dumpster (We bought a new mattress. We do have some standards here, sheesh.), and the white dresser was a cheap thrift find that we stripped and painted white.
Moving onto the "Master Bedroom"
It's in quotations because it is sad that this is the master. I wish it had a jetted tub, walk in closet, etc. But this is a 1950s home with a very small master room and master closet. Still, we did our best.
Another view. Ahem. Notice the jet black paint. Please note the doors. Two different colors. One green, one original.
After:
I actually liked the idea of a green room and decided to paint it a lighter celery green and go with gold and brown accents. Because the room was so small we actually opted not to go with a headboard and footboard for our bed, instead positioning it by the window to add a little bit of framing.
If I told you how many bins are under this bed you would laugh. Storage is an issue when your closet is tiny!
We updated the electrical, painted, and removed the black trim (it was necessary) and replaced it with new trim. We also replaced all the doors in our house with 6 panel doors to bring it up to this century.
The L-O-V-E I made myself after seeing something similar on Etsy. I have to be honest, it would have been maybe $5 more to buy it on Etsy than to make it myself after I purchased all the materials. Lesson learned. The wooden wreath was a gift from one of my dearest friends (that I STILL miss everyday).
I know, I too miss the green door with black trim. But sometimes you have to let go.
And now you have seen the downstairs!!! Part 3 we go upstairs to visit our guest room and Lily/Grant's bedroom.
