The End of the Bathroom Debate

Something I pondered for years is finally happening!  Nothing in my 42 years of rehabbing this house has been mulled over and debated as much as this project.

Remodels were done over the years to this bath, but none really addressed all the issues.. I have blogged about this room a couple times here and oops, I guess nowhere else. That means I might have to check the old photo box to give you some samples.

Okay,   I found a few snapshots of this bathroom that date back to 1977.

This is how it looked when I bought the house.  The toilet was in a separate room adjacent to this one.  That is the same medicine cabinet, the same sconce lights, and the same tub that remain in this bathroom until today.

I gave it a cosmetic uplift with a bit of paint and wallpaper.

That lasted until there was money for a more thorough update.  That was about seven years after buying the house.

This time some demo was required.  The medicine chest/mirror was moved to a level where I could see more than my bangs.  The wall was furred out to make it even with the flue wall.

And a few other changes that seemed appropriate at the time.  But this look grew old over time and ..

 this happened.  An amoire became a linen closet and the vanity.

A sink installed inside the amoire was a novelty.  When I felt like a change I switched out the mirror and the fabric panel behind the mirror and even painted the inside and changed the fabric on the inside panels of the doors. As with any decor, it has a life span and then it just looks too dated to be left alone.

The older I get the more tempting it is to just leave it as is for the next owner to figure out.  I convince myself that it would be better if they were given the opportunity to make it exactly the way they would like it to be.

As you can see, I have been down this road a few times. My theory is it would benefit from a fresh perspective.  That works for awhile and then the whole thing about resale value and lack of closet space raises it's ugly head again.  And, the whole cycle starts over once again.  (yes, I threw in the lack of closet space because that is all part of this master bedroom/bath dilemma.  But more on that in the next post. It's an integral part of why this particular remodel has been such a tough decision.)

Six months ago when the seal on the toilet gave out and started leaking, I had my brother shut the water off while I thought about what should be done. Seriously! Six months of "remodel or reseal?" I took the easy way out and asked Dan to reseal the toilet.  He arrived with the necessary materials and when he left I had done a complete 180 and demo on the bathroom was out of the gate.

Off and running.

I have jumped off the ledge and am well on the way to Point of No Return.

The amoire was SOooo heavy it had to be cut into pieces to remove it.  Well, weight and the fact that it would not fit through the doorway prompted drastic measures.

This small decorative piece of the pediment weighs as much as 450 pennies.  How do I know that?

Because the only scale in my house is a penny counter scale.

Committing to an idea has a way of making things happen.  

Congratulations to the leaking toilet that got me off the pot.