Throwing The Baby Out With The Bath Water!

Well, it looks like my last post is toast.  I posted it sometime during the blogger blow-up, got one comment, and then it went up in cyber smoke...Pouff!  At least a draft was saved of the first section, but I still have to recreate most of it from memory.  Here goes nuthin'...and I mean that...my memory is toast most of the time too lol!

This baby is really, really ugly...I mean close your eyes because it might blind you, kind of ugly! Now before you go reporting me to social services, let me explain. The "baby" is our main bathroom.

It is approximately the size of a postage stamp, but it is our main bath because it has a tub. The other bath is a half bath. This bathroom is butt ugly! Everything in it is older than dirt (some of it is returning to dirt I think). Except for the toilet. We bought that a couple of years ago and it will stay...because...we are fiiiiinally going to gut and enlarge it...the bathroom...not the toilet.  I am soooo excited!!

Here's proof of the tiny, ugly bathroom:

This view may not look so bad, but look closer...if you dare!

That little medicine cabinet is crammed so full I can barely close the doors. The cabinet below is the same.  All the toiletries for 5 people are stuffed in there.  My hair stuff won't even fit.  I keep it in the half bath, as well as hubby's shaving paraphernalia (big word for more stuff!)

The finish on the fake tile surround is flaking off.  No that isn't mold.  Remember the old formica counter tops in great-grandma's house that had little flecks of gold and silver to hide the dirt, only it just looked dirty?  Yup, uh-huh...that's been my cross to bear.  It gets worse.  My kitchen counters are covered in it too.  No matter how much I scrub, it just looks dirty.  I think that style was manufactured just about the time indoor plumbing was invented.

The floor may look okay from this view, but it is a piece of vinyl I cut as a temporary fix.  Ahem...please don't ask me to define temporary, but it was long ago and far away.  I messed up cutting around the toilet, so there is a crooked seam right across the middle.   I gave up, threw a rug over it and tried to ignore it. 

Here is our beautiful hollow core door.  There was a big shoe shaped hole in it when we moved in.  We didn't ask.  I temporarily patched it, but it got run into at some point (actually I think someone desperate was banging to get in), and it broke again.

And the tub...I actually didn't post this the first time around.  I couldn't bring myself too.  But in the spirit of keeping it real...maybe this is too real!  It's an old cast iron tub whose finish is etched.  We have rusty water, even with a filter.  Again that isn't mold, it's rust stains and etching.  We are going to have to get a water softener too, but that is not part of my bathroom budget.

I have $1000 to spend, so I am being as frugal as I can be and still get a bathroom that I can love, and that will last the next 20 or 30 years!  My husband said he didn't think I could do it.  I said, "watch me." 

I already found the faucets, yes, faucets plural. I want a big double sink vanity with lots of storage. Even though we have a half bath, this bathroom is the one everyone brushes their teeth in. Imagine two or three people brushing their teeth at once in this tiny space with one sink. I have actually been spat on (purely by accident of course) reaching to rinse my toothbrush just as someone else leaned over and spat out their toothpaste! Yuk!

I walk into Home Depot praying for what I need at great prices.  God is so awesome that he loves to give us the desires of our heart when we seek after him.  I found two of these faucets in a cart right at the front of the store, marked half off.  They were the exact color and style I wanted.  I got two of these babies for $138.  Delta no less.  Score one!

A few weeks later, hubby and I were doing the Home Depot Date.  No kids.  Just us and HD...bliss!  That's when I scored the tile.  You couldn't miss it.  There were stacks of it, once again, right at the front of the store.  Are you ready?  .57 cents a square foot.  I spent $54.  I may need more because I changed the floor plans for the billionth time, enlarging it even more.  I may get a slightly lighter shade and do a two tone pattern with some fancier edging tiles.  I've got an idea playing around in my head, but you and I will just have to wait and see what I come up with. 

I also got a shower curtain rod on sale at amazon with free shipping.  I couldn't find just what I wanted here in Smallville.  That set me back about $38.  Go figure, the shower rod cost only $16 less than the flooring.  But it's perfect and I love it.

Just this past week the hubs and I were once again in Home Depot without kids.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who loves HD dates?  He was looking for a gasket for something (yawn).  After he found it I dragged him over to the tub section.  I had looked a few weeks ago during their bathroom sale, but thought if I waited I could do better.

Lo and behold, there was a nice $280 American Standard model on clearance for $67!  But someone had beat me to it.  There was a sold sticker on it.  I almost groaned out loud.  I asked an assistant if by some chance they had another one somewhere, but he confirmed that was the last one.  I chalked it up to being a day late and a dollar short.

He walked away to help someone else, then disappeared.  We kept debating about tubs for a few more minutes.  Suddenly he walked back up, reached up and ripped that sale tag off the tub.  He said the person that bought the tub changed their mind a while ago and no one had bothered to take the tag off.  It was still for sale if we wanted it.  If ???  I think my mouth hit the floor.  Before anyone listening nearby could jump in front of me I said, "SOLD!"  Seriously...an almost $300 tub for $67!  You think someone was holding that tub just for me?  God is good.  She's nothing fancy, but she's perfect for us.

My original post seemed a lot shorter.  Oh well, if you made it this far you are either a true friend or a real sucker for punishment!  Thanks for listening.  Stay tuned.