Remodeling the Bathroom

We’re in the midst of remodeling one of our bathrooms this week, and I’m really wondering, who’s Bright Idea was this?

…. Oh yeah, I think it was mine. Somebody just slap me up the side of the head the next time I get such an attack of insanity!

This is our second major remodeling project in this house, the first being a kitchen makeover. It had wallpaper that was not put up properly and came off in little tiny bits. This bathroom also had wallpaper, which thankfully came off in somewhat larger pieces than the kitchen wallpaper did, but left tons of glue behind. I’m talking about a wall GUNKED over with glue. I was actually a little afraid when we got rid of the glue the wall might fall down.

At any rate, I have come to the following conclusion: Anyone who puts up wallpaper in a slipshod manner in a house to hide imperfections on the wall so they can sell it to some poor unsuspecting soul who will then have to deal with it and try to somehow fix the mess deserves to be put in the 9th level of hell (as in Dante’s Inferno), and in fact, I think we need to invent a 10th level for such deception. It’s just too evil.

Young Son (aka to Ellie as “Uncle Geek”) and I worked on that mess today and we’re still not done. Understand this room isn’t that big, only about 4×8 feet, with one wall mostly taken up with the space for the tub & surround.

We rolled the liquid enzyme stuff on the wall to soften the glue, then scraped, scraped and scraped some more. Then we rolled more enzyme stuff on the wall, and scraped even more. We found holes we had no idea were hiding behind the wallpaper, and in some places a second layer of wallpaper. Preparing a satiny smooth wall for a paint job just ain’t happening. No, it would take more time and energy than we’ve got, and probably only new wallboard would actually do the job.

Instead, we formulated a plan B which supposedly works well for imperfect walls, and decided to use a Faux Finish, namely Color/Lime Washing to make what the paint company calls an “Old World Fresco” kind of finish. Since we bought a new pale gray commode, and the cultured marble countertop & sink are creamy white with swirls of gray and black, but the cabinetry and trim is all oak with a light stain so will put a lot of wood color in there, we decided to use some gray on the walls.

Specifically, after a primer coat, the base coat of color is going to be “Argent Gray”. (Who names these colors anyway?) It will get a lime wash and a tinted umber glaze.

We’re going to pick up the umber tint in the flooring, which is a good grade of vinyl with a pattern that looks a little like diamonds of slate in varying shades of taupe and cream with just an occasional slight brush of gray undertones. (Don’t I sound like a decorator? Ha!)

Tomorrow morning The Farmer & Geek are going to take out the old vanity and sink, and the old commode, then we’ll get the wallpaper hiding behind them off and finish prepping the wall and go from there.

We’re hoping to get the majority of this project finished this week, but you know how it goes with these things. There’s always surprises, and usually not good ones!

It’s gonna be interesting!