This time it's the downstairs bathroom. We have said all along that it should be the last thing to be renovated because we use it to wash out paint brushes and scrub off the debris of construction so it is totally trashed. But Will has decided that it can't wait. And honestly, I don't think we will ever call this house "done" so we might as well.But why, you ask, in the middle of the holidays? Oh, well, you know. We're nuts. I did, shortly after moving in here, paint the walls and trim and cabinet so that it was at least a little nicer than it had been, but the tile is old, the sink is old (not in a good, cute retro way either, in a badly made in the 1980's way) and the floor is in bad shape. But if those things were the only problem, we'd probably just keep what's there for at least another year before tackling it. But that's not the real problem. Or the real reason that it's now go time.
For as long as we have lived here and no matter how hard/often we clean, that bathroom smells like a train station public toilet. Yeah, ick, right? I can go in there and disinfect every surface in the room and it still smells wonky. We tried replacing the toilet but that hasn't helped. The only thing that seems to alleviate the problem a little is to keep the window open, and right now it's 17 degrees outside. So, no.
Now, part of this is that the bathroom has no exhaust and so no real air flow, but we suspect that there is something going on with the plumbing under the tile, which means that the tile needs to go. And if the tile on the floor needs to be replaced, well, then the cabinet has to come out. And if the cabinet comes out then the wall tile comes down and you see where I'm going with this. TBO. Total Bathroom Overhaul.
The good news is that it's a very, very small room. Smaller now than when we moved in due to the locker insertion/wall move. And as it's only a powder room we don't have to deal with things like bathtubs and waterproof wallboard. This is just going to be some tile, paint and a new sink. Which, yes, is more daunting than I make it sound. But the thought of having a stink free, Tiffany blue (I think) bathroom at the end makes it worth jumping in. Besides, it's not like we're doing anything else right now, right?
Let the dust fly!