Our Next Big Project

While we had planned to finish painting the trim work on the upstairs balcony and pain the porch floor, the weather has not cooperated. It's rained (or sleeted) nearly every weekend since December.

So, we decided to start on the next project since we're not ones to sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the weather to change. We both agreed that we were ready to tackle the downstairs bathroom.

Today, we tore out the light peach or beige tile above the tub. (I never could tell which color it was supposed to be). We also dismantled and removed the old toilet, dated July 10, 1984. We thought for a moment about reusing it in the new and improved bathroom. Then, we recalled that the home was a rent house for many years with many different tenants (No offense, Krista!) plus, it was previously an antique shop, so we decided we would go ahead and splurge on a new one.

We have decided to keep the old sink. It has a lot of character. Plus I like how big it is. We will just replace the fixtures and hang it sturdier.

Now, for the tub. Gary is a pretty strong guy, if I do think so myself. However, the current tub is either stuck like glue in its place, extremely heavier than we expected, or Gary is losing some of his strength. I retain my trust in Gary and his abilities, so I vote for one of the first two. I'm sure that he will come up with a plan to get it out of the bathroom and out of the house. If you remember from a previous post during the summer, we pulled out the antique cast iron tub from the old upstairs bathroom. (I use "we" lightly... our contractors did it, actually). It has been in the backyard all this time, but we believe it will fit in the downstairs bathroom in a new location next to the sink.

The new toilet will be placed where the current tub is with a shelf or closet next to it for more storage space and more privacy for the toilet area.

Next steps...

* Figure out how to get the old tub out
* Pull up the old linoleum flooring
* Caulk all the cracks in the beadboard (about as much fun as being poked in the eye with a stick, but much more tedious)
* Decide what color to paint the walls (Anyone have any ideas???)