It all started with a crowbar...
When we first moved in to our house, we were a little over ambitions. I can be the one to blame for that. We had given ourselves two weeks from when we signed the papers to when we planned to officially move in. In that time we started painting, cleaning the old, wood floors and adding item after item to our to-do list. And then I got curious. What is behind the gross wood paneling in the tiny, half-bath? Cue the hammer and crowbar.
A house built to last...
Behind the wood paneling was tiles of years past. In the beautiful yellow and red tones you’d find in your grandma’s house. Under the sink, there was a little patch of missing tile. Either they had a leak and the wood was the attempt to cover the missing tile, or they tried to tear it down and quickly threw in the towel.
Naive Alyssa and Jared thought it would be easy enough to pull down the wood, hammer out the tile and save the sheetrock on the top. It wasn’t sheetrock. It wasn’t easy. This baby had to be taken to the studs. Because plaster walls are a bitch to knock down. Shout out to Home Depot for carrying a jackhammer we could rent.
Along the way, we found some interesting newspaper articles under the wallpaper. I’m still unsure of how they got there, because the dates don’t seem to align… 1930s house with renovations estimated in the 50s.
Drywall. Paint. Prime. Tile.
Thank you to YouTube and Jeff Thorman from Home RenoVision to teaching us how to cut, hang and mud drywall. But please don’t look at the corners when you’re in our bathroom. We did a terrible job. Our tip to you? When you think you have sanded enough, sand again… and again.
I wish I could tell more of the story, but blogging wasn’t in the mind when we were tackling this renovation. I did, thankfully, share the process on my design business’ instagram.
We purchased the paint and tile from Home Depot. If Floor and Decor had been open on Kellogg and Webb, we would have gone there for tile.
Done enough for now.
The bathroom is done. But the window needs to be painted and the glass frosted. Annnnnd when we hung the door, it didn’t close. We think spending a year in the garage caused some swelling. I am happy to report, with a little tug, the door now closes.
Eventually we’ll break out the paint and finalize the project. I’m just thankful that after 10 months of having to go upstairs every time I needed to pee, we finally have a small bathroom back.
