Bathroom: The Final Frontier

After poking, looking, thinking and using the sink.

I realized it was about 2-3 inches too tall. 

So I got new legs for it thanks to Amazon Prime for 10 bucks. 

After disconnecting the sink again removing it all, putting on the new legs and reinstalling it is AMAZEBALLS

Other than some delay with spackle...wait for spackle to dry... more spackle...repeat. for like 7 days...   It is done!! Ok, it still needs some double coat in a couple spots. BUT IT IS 99% done! 

So back to the rest of the space... 

Bathroom Part Deux

In blog world this bathroom magically renovated in a single day!

In the real world this took about 2 weeks (I do have a job as well... )

By the shower the wall had some water damage, so I scraped out all the gross old plaster and started the process of gradually filling it back up.

Meanwhile I ripped out the old vanity. And I ripped out the ceramic towel bars, and the toilet paper holder that was right where your knees need to go AND that could not hold a double roll. That was so annoying!

I had a hard time deciding about it, I like that vanity, but the countertop and backsplash had water damage. Once I ripped it out I found out the vanity had a lot of gross mold and damage as well on the back. So replacing it was the best choice.

Here you can see where the bathroom used to have a hanging sink. I had thought about going with pedestal one, but that ugly plumbing was way too ugly. 

I cannot express the feeling of relief that the floor tile went entirely to the walls, sometimes it doesn't... 

Of course, before you do anything TURN OFF THE WATER. Very important. I did do this. I remembered. Nothing exploded.



For months I have been trying also to find a suitable replacement. The space is wide but very shallow and I had a hard time finding anything I liked that was also shallow enough at the big box stores at the low price I wanted. Then, like a lightbulb I remembered to check Ikea. They had this cool sink with a couple of little shelves and a very inexpensive cabinet to fit it. Of course this took hours of wandering the store and picking and choosing to decide. They have a lot of details and choices...   They also had a $25 coupon which essentially got me a free faucet!

I hit a small glitch here. Namely the sink was not fitting under the mirror and was jutting out from the cabinet. 

I thought through a bunch of solutions... then realized the solution was SO EASY. 

What was it?  

See you tomorrow! 

Bathroom!!!

Due to the humidity here I have had to have multiple projects running at the same time. Namely, because things have to dry and it takes forever.

So lets move to the bathroom while the sewing room dries...

Due to my lack of a decent camera (long story, I was supposed to be getting one as a gift months ago... I am still waiting.) I have very few pictures of the before.

Let's just say, it wasn't purely offensive, but not good either.

So, when my grandfather built the house he put in a classic tile mosaic that is still in great shape. It is a sort of pink/orange color with some brown. It is an odd color but I like it.

Over the years when repairs and updates were needed there were numerous attempts to match it.

Listen close to design 101. NEVER TRY TO MATCH IT!  It is almost never possible to do this well. It just doesn't work. So what I have is one bathroom with baby vomit tan tile and another with a pale pink that is just enough off from the floor that it makes me twitchy.

This back bathroom is the baby vomit tan.

To add to this, 5 years ago, another attempt was made to match... by painting the walls in baby diarrhea tan. It is a similar tan, but slightly different.

The cabinet is not so bad except the sink is sinking which is letting water go into the back of the cabinet and the walls by the shower have some water damage... from Dog knows where. 

So I started the funnest part of any renovation, tearing out all the crap. 

Behind the laminate was the old wallpaper. That was the wallpaper I remember being up for my entire life. So bad...yet so familiar and homey to me. 

Behind the wallpaper we have the layers of the 1940s and 1950s  and some fun water damage! 

I love this. Apparently there has always been some sort of shelf over the toilet... and Pop Pop got lazy when painting..

See you next time for the changes!

Trim horrible trim...

So the thing about wood trim is that you want it to have solid cover, but you can't just roll it with the big roller.

You can do a lot with the foam rollers to get a nice coating on the flat parts, but it all still has to be painted all over, including against the wall. This room has SO MUCH TRIM!!! So I gave in, used a roll of blue tape. 

Despite using a paint with primer in it the trim needs a good four coats to get a really good cover. This has taken a week so far. Granted I took a couple days off in there to do the bathroom... but still. 

Also, after trying to get the closet doors off to paint them with a paint sprayer, I decided that for now I will just leave them off entirely. In order to get them down I had to remove the track, the old school rollers just would not come out no matter how much I googled and tried. 

Which means I also have to paint the interiors of the closets at some point... 

Sigh. So much to paint in such a small room!!! 

The highlight of this week was accidentally knocking over an entire gallon of primer. 

Yeah, I did that! 

This, my friends, is why you ALWAYS do the floors LAST!!! Thanks dog I have old sticky tile that I am not keeping...   

Once I scooped up as much of the paint as I could I used the floor like a paint pan and painted another coat on everything. 

Since the can was bent I had to find new storage for it. The green paint in the rest of the room was almost gone so I made my usual Mason jar of touch up paint and put the primer in the green can. Since it is just primer that little bit of tint won't matter much in the future and I refuse to waste paint! 

What was next?   Wood Paneling!!

As is typical in many mid century homes, my house has an assortment of wood paneled walls. I am starting with the back of the house, the cheapest of paneling, the smallest of rooms.

Called the Sewing Room, it was an addition made for my grandmother. It also served as a guest room. As a kid it was my favorite because it was the quietest, darkest and also the warmest. Mee Maw blasted the AC. I always froze in this house. In that room I only needed like 3 blankets to sleep comfortably. Back there I could read in peace, pretend to be asleep when feeling introverted, and generally get some peace in a house full of people. I have great memories of that room.

However, I also like some color and find the wood overwhelming and outdated.

So here is the paneling, complete with wood trim, wood doors...  But it does have a fantastic light fixture, a white sphere that photographs poorly when lit.

I got super lucky and found a gallon of tinted primer in a nice green shade. I am horrible at making color decisions, so I like letting the magical cans of oops paint save me money and narrow my options. 

It took 2 coats of paint and luckily I seem to have enough, hopefully with a little left to have a mason jar of touch up paint for future spots. 

The hardest part was getting all down in the nooks and crannies of the paneling. The fluffy roller was fine in big areas where I could have it filled well and press hard. For the top and bottom I had to literally go into the cracks with a little flat craft brush. 

There was so much trim that this room is taking a lot longer than most. I totally brain farted and forgot to prime it.... so it is taking many coats. Lesson learned. Primer purchased. Time wasted... 

But here we go! Here are some images of the process as it comes together. 

A note about the door. Yes, I painted the glass. I HATE blue tape. It serves some purposes, don't get me wrong, but I am cheap as hell and I hate how paint bleeds under it (I know the trick to that, but it doesn't work on glass so well)

Did I mention now cheap I am? That tape is $5 a roll!! F that! 

Back to the glass. I love glass, it is the easiest! 5 minutes with a razor blade and that paint is gone with a sharp line, looking perfect. Voila! 

I haven't done it yet, still have to finish the trim... but first, I will move to the bathroom for a few days. 

Cast of characters.

Before I get into the room I started this renovation with I will introduce you to the cast of characters that will likely be in most images.

1. Monkey

Monkey is a rescued Pomeranian Chihuahua mix who has the curiosity of a cat and the brains of...well... a dog.

He pees on things, pouts, like to be underfoot and chases the cats.

2. Draco

Draco is a big dumb deaf cat. He is super pretty, seems to travel with his own backlighting, and likes to break things because they make pretty pictures on the floor.

3. Kesha Koshkovna

Named long before the singer hit the charts! Her name means Kitty, Daughter of Cat.
She is a 15 year old teeny 4 pound grumpy smelly old lady.

4. Fluffernutter.

She has big round eyes and is scared of everything. Rescued the same time as Draco, but infinitely more intelligent.

Okay, back to the real stuff.


These four characters made the shag carpet STINK!!!!!    Seriously, Monkey and Kesha in particular are EVIL. So evil.

So glad that stench is GONE.

Underneath all the horror is a very well laid floor of....

asbestos tile!

Luckily as a Realtor I am already well educated in asbestos. Namely, it will not hurt you unless you mess with it. That is the key. Leave it alone! Luckily it is stable, strong and well attached and can have other floor simply put right on top of it.

Eventually I want to tile over it. For now, I simply do not have the time and money, so I am using some vinyl tile I already have stashed in the back and will put some nice rugs down.

Or I may go ahead and invest in the cement board and ceramic tile as originally planned..

Have I mentioned I am a Libra who is ADD and has a hard time with decisions?

Let's Get This Party Started!!

Hi and welcome!

So here is a little background to my new adventure.

In the late 1940's my grandfather, Henry Walton, bought a double lot in the suburbs of Orlando.  Those suburbs are now in the heart of Colonialtown, 4 blocks from Mills 50, and in an amazing in town neighborhood. On this lot on an empty street he started building his new home. He was an architect, so he knew what he was doing :) .

Over the years the house grew as his business grew, rooms were added, porches became more rooms, walls of shrubbery were carefully cultivated...  And wood paneling was installed...everywhere.

So, 3 decades after he died, and 5 years after my grandmother died the house was on the brink of leaving the family. I decided to turn my world upside down and leap into the unknown and buy the house (with my brother and Dad as my partners in non-crime) and bring it into the present.

Now, the journey begins as I dig into 70 years of family history, wallpaper, wood paneling, carpet funk, and a few surprises I want to document the adventure and help others envision the possibilities with the own mid-century time capsules.

My hope is that I can modernize, clean, repair and update this space while still retaining the mid-century modern charm. I wish to cling to the quality craftsmanship, but shed the damaged, broken and outdated decor that increases energy bills, allergies, and water damage.

And so it begins:

REMOVE THE SHAG CARPET!!!

50 year old carpet has no charm. What it has is extreme funky smell, allergens and fills the room with despair and sadness.

So without delay, what did I do first you ask? I can't find my before pictures, but here it is with an old lady cat.

I had been DREADING this process. The smell I expected, but more than anything I thought I would have to do tedious cutting to get it in small enough pieces to get in my trash can. Luckily old carpet apparently turned to disgusting dirt powder. The backing just ripped like paper! It was glorious!!  It took about an hour to pull it up and get it outside, along with the powdery plastic padding underneath. I scraped and swept that up and found....  another floor!

And for my next entry I will examine the wonders I found underneath it...