Bathroom Tour

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When I first moved into the house, the most I thought I’d wind up photo documenting is a few albums on Facebook to share with our close friends as we remodeled. Then last April, a friend was able to convince me to stop babbling about my house obsession in person and start babbling about it online… and the Ugly Duckling House blog was born. So unfortunately, my lack of foresight means that the true before state of the UD house is left to the listing photos and those first few only-from-one-angle late evening glimpses.

Original listing photo – primary bath – (Yeesh!)

Now that we have a new year, and I’m getting the hang of this blogging stuff a little better (see? I got the comment thing figured out!), I’ve decided that one of my new year’s resolutions is to take better before pics when I begin a new project. Thus explains the copious amounts of primary bathroom photos you’re about to see. So I can get every grubby, unflattering perspective to make the after really P-O-P.

That’s the idea, at least. Otherwise, I’m just embarrassing the heck out of myself by showing you tens of photos of my grubby bathroom.

As I showed you yesterday, I’ve already begun the process of clearing the bathroom out.

 

The plan is to paint these cabinets to match the color of the beigey-gray builder’s tile I’m inexplicably in love with. By lightening up the cabinet base, our tiny bathroom will hopefully seem a lot bigger. And by keeping both the vanity and tile, we’re saving ourselves some serious dough that can be used for upgrades in the rest of the house. Oh, and one more bonus from painting the vanity – it’s a great trial run to prepare myself for the big kitchen cabinet painting project.

This is our nasty sink that I can’t wait to replace with a pre-fab top from Home Depot (or Lowe’s). One where the sink basin is built into the countertop would make it nice and sleek – functional and more my style.

One new(ish) update since I posted about the broken towel bar:  a shower curtain I purchased from Target about three months ago. It’s a mix of two grays, one blue-toned and one matching the color of the shower tile:

My standing on the vanity aerial shots. I think this is the best angle to show you just how little space we’re working with in here. I’ll have to make use out of every inch of wall space I can.

This medicine cabinet is inherited from the old apartment. I bought it ages ago at Bed Bath & Beyond (with a 20% off coupon, of course), and it hasn’t exactly stood the test of time. The rings on the top are from the heat of several tealights I used back in the days when I could take a spa-like bath (see above photo for a good shot of the rings). The only way I can make them disappear for now is to put new tealights in its place. It’s a vicious cycle.

The cabinet is also getting its worn-to-pieces look thanks to the humidity of the rooms it has resided in. The moisture level is causing a chippy paint effect. It may be en vogue to have such a thing on a piece of furniture, but because it’s not faux, I worry about the cabinet doors warping.

The shelves make for great storage space for all of my bath products (also inhereted from when I had a spa bath to look forward to), so if I get rid of the cabinet, I’ll have to find an alternative for all of my indulgent treats.

Ugh – that light fixture! It used to have two globes that were so grimy my mother decided to scrub them out. I wish she’d have told me before she did it, because I’m so ready for this thing to go I haven’t even dignified this thing with putting them back on. Sorry, mom! Conveniently, this shot also gives you a really good idea of the hideous wallpaper I am forced to look at while brushing my teeth every day. I don’t even know what style this is… French Country Psychedelic? Don’t stare at it too long, or the little flowers will start to move around on you.

So, there you have it; each too-tight corner of our tiny primary bath is now posted for your viewing horror pleasure. Let ‘er rip, folks. I know she has it coming.