And now for something completely out of the lunchbox…
We have a dirty big secret! About two years ago, our family bathroom shower began leaking into the kitchen. So, we adults began showering in the smaller very useful basement bathroom. I actually enjoyed my showers there. I looked upon the shower as a kind of basement “grotto-spa,” so to speak. And it was easy to go from workout to shower in a jiffy. However, several months ago, the big family bathtub upstairs started leaking into the kitchen. In fact…and let me see if I can tie it into the “lunchbox season” theme, here….the family bathtub began dripping down from the second floor right onto the weekly treats I was preparing for the kids’ lunches. So much for my basement mini-retreat. It’s filled with tub toys and spilled shampoo. Let’s just say the notion of four people crammed into a utilitarian water closet is making getting “clean” much harder than it needs to be, particularly in a bathroom. So much for the very large family bathroom (originally, a tiny bathroom and a small den that were combined) we admired when we bought the house four years ago! Last week, the flusher on the toilet even popped off!! What about the bath-tub-water-gun-wars I had promised the kids for our upcoming Summer of Funner??
We could see it coming. We bought the house for its location, age and layout. We knew full well, not long after we purchased the house from a very “handy” young “dude” and his sometimes-prevaricating spouse, that things around here, even the costly ones, had been splashed about with a rather free hand: old wiring tied to new wiring, well-hidden in the ceilings, where it wouldn’t easily be identified; tiles “around” the toilet; tiles tiled onto the acrylic shower base upstairs (part of the cause of Leak #1) that squished and popped right off; tiles tiled over laminate on the kitchen counter-top; large crevices between the wood-slats in the newer wooden floors…the list goes on. All “vanity” aside, howver, it’s time to do something about the very large and very useless space upstairs.
We’re artists, not household DIY’ers, so we won’t be doing the work ourselves. However, we’re artists. So, to save on costs, we’ll be doing all of our own designing and sourcing of materials. While I thought, initially, that this was going to be a spectacular amount of fun, I have to say, it was a lot of hard work, and, at least for me, it is not as ultimately “creative” as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I have a feeling that this will be my first and last post about household design. It just isn’t in me, nor do I think, to be the kind of artist I want to be, it ever will be in me…Not to say there aren’t others who do it brilliantly. Take a look at Aubrey and Lindsay’s Little House Blog for an example of a place where art, home design and family harmonize well, and all the time.
In any case, renovation’s tentatively scheduled from late May to early June. Above, you’ll find a little picture of the types of things we’re planning on putting into the space after we recycle what we can, gut the space, and re-build. I’ll try not to have an asthma attack between now and when it’s shower-time again. Next time you see anything posted here about bathrooms, anyway, let’s hope it has to do with those bath-tub games I promised the kids for late June! One thing’s for sure…I’m not going to be all precious about keeping everything in pristine shape once the new room’s in place. We’ll all be too busy digging in and using it!
Best,
R.S.C.
P.S. You’ve all asked for pics of the finished product, so check out the pics and the video hidden here: Contractor Cookie [and Bathroom Pics]!
P. P. S. Everyone’s been drooling over our cheap and cheerful light fixture. Here’s a link to how we made that IKEA plug-in pendant into a ceiling fixture: KNAPPA LOVES MELODI
P. P. P. S. Here are the items that we actually chose for the project. Fairly similar, no?
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