Day One: The Beginning of the Massive Main Bathroom Project!

When I first purchased my Cleveland home, the biggest two weaknesses were the main bathroom and the basement.  But being on a very limited budget, I had to postpone working on these two projects for some time...all the while knowing that they needed to get done.

Well, as seems to happen, the days passed, and I worked on some smaller projects first.  I updated the exterior by adding shutters (which I love), and I painted the kitchen and downstairs bathroom.  The home was being updated little by little, and on a budget, that is simply what you have to do.

Well, it came time to tackle the behemoth.

First, let me describe this bathroom to you.  The home was built in 1939, and the bathroom is original almost down to its core.  It has been painted a salmon color to match the salmon tires which extend halfway up the wall in the majority and almost all the way up the wall in the bathtub itself.

A very ugly flower wallpaper border went around the top of the walls, and a very dated sliding glass door was put on top of a replacement tub liner.  Oh, and I can hardly forget!  Inside the bathtub were two very important tiles:  SHIPS!!!  Yes, no bathroom of the early-to-mid 1900's is complete without some sort of decorative tile. I ended up with Christopher Columbus ships complete in full color.

Sounds like a bathroom YOU would like to own, doesn't it?!!!





The bathroom before. A huge, old vanity and tiles everywhere!



The bathroom before...



Hideous wallpaper border, towels for curtains (I'm not kidding), tall ship tiles, glass shower doors...and lots of tiles!



You're jealous, I know.

Well, first things first.  I decided to paint the bathroom.  I had considered re-doing the entire bathroom (pulling out all of the plaster walls, etc.) at the recommendation of a plumber who came to fix a tub leak, but after his $3000 estimate for the job JUST to see what was behind the walls, I said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Before I could paint, however, I had to remove the wallpaper border.  The good news it that the wallpaper border came off oh so easily!!!  I literally just grabbed one corner, gave it a pull, and it pulled itself off the rest of the way around the bathroom!  Too easy, right?!

The ridiculously unmatched flower and wheat border on top.

The wallpaper border peeled right off in one minute!

Well, the bad news was that this was due to the fact that this border had been placed directly on top of the original 1939 wallpaper border.  I'm not even joking.  What is more, 1/3 of this original border had been removed already...and I would quickly find out why it was only 1/3.

The surprise was this original wallpaper border that was underneath the other!  It was soooooo hard to peel off!

I started to remove the border myself, and what a chore that was!  This border was about the thinnest you could find, and it was bonded to the walls with some sort of phenomenal paste!  It simply did not want to remove itself from the wall!!!  I would spend way too many hours scraping the border with a razor blade.  The project had started out very, very slowly.

The old wallpaper border would peel off in teeny tiny sections.  That was work.

FINALLY both borders are gone!  It's ready for paint!

Well, I was finally able to completely remove the border, and I went ahead and painted the walls a soft green.  I had picked up this paint for $1 from Wal-Mart as it was a mis-matched paint, but I fell in love with the color after I had painted a birdhouse with it.  So much so that I painted three birdhouses with it!  I figured my bathroom would benefit greatly!

What a difference this paint is going to make!!!  I love contrasting colors!

The painting itself wasn't hard at all.  I'm too good of a painter to hate it as much as I do, and it's a discipline every time I start.  But as the walls get color, it gets easier and easier to finish.  I am just amazed at how much paint can change a room!!!

The walls are starting to change!!!  :)



Well, that was how it all started.  This six-week project had only just begun.  I would work during the week and then get two or three days off to work on the bathroom.  It wasn't quick work, but I had one goal in mind...update this room!

I am well on my way.  The bathroom took two days to paint...now it's time to tackle the tiles.