12 November 2007

Yo, Ho, Ho: From Heinous to Tuscan in Eight Easy Months

If you've been reading my blog for long, you may remember that we started working on our half-bath back in April. I am thrilled to report that yesterday, November 11, the job was finished. (Well, two remaining things remain to be purchased: a new soap dispenser and a new hand towel, but I'm calling it done, for psychological reasons.)

We've been down a long, ugly road with this little project. Back in April, I got the bright idea to start peeling off the heinous (to borrow a word from my friend, Darci) wallpaper. After five minutes, I discovered that it would not come off. We worked on it tediously for weeks, even enlisting daughter and her friends and trying almost every method of removing it, but eventually we abandoned ship.

Our next bright idea was to try to prime it heavily and paint over the mess. Unfortunately (that being a big understatement), you could still see heinous wallpaper through the paint.


Finally (and this was my only good idea), we purchased textured, paintable wallpaper (made in England, thank you very much) and just covered it all up. This weekend, Spouse finished painting it Behr Sweet Maple, the same 70's color as our laundry room. (Yes, it is a bold color...not for the faint of heart.) I even forced him to hang up an old print from an art exhibition I attended many years ago in Paris. Then Spouse toiled mightily to change the fixtures from bright gold to dark bronze, encountering numerous plumbing issues along the way. But, in spite of all the pain, I have to say that the transformation is quite amazing.

As you can see, we don't have a huge amount of light in the new bathroom. I told Spouse that this is actually a good thing, since most people look more attractive in low light. Moreover, "It's Tuscan," I announced, borrowing a word from another friend, Sharon.

But Spouse is not convinced that it is 70's or Tuscan. He says our bathroom now looks like the queuing area for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.

70's...Tuscan...whatever. Arrr.....I'm calling it done.

11 comments:

Maureen said...

Tuscan or Pirates, no matter... I LOVE it (does it come with a photo of Jack Sparrow to stare at whilst showering??) ;)

Heather said...

I love it too! That print looks awesome in there, and I really love those dark fixtures. Our 1/2 bath is currently heinous as well, especially since our medicine cabinet jumped off the wall recently. It's also all white and has horrid "gold" fixtures. Maybe we can redo ours soon. Thanks for the inspiration anyway! LOL

Tina said...

LOVE your new bathroom - the color is fabulous! I just re-did my entire kitchen over the summer so I know what kind an ordeal you went through!

Tell your spouse that I totally see the POTC reference! My DH would love it - he's a BIG POTC fan - I may have to show it to him later (maybe I can get a bathroom remodel out o fit!) Great work!

Janet said...

Maureen - Thanks!! But alas, there'll be no removing of the clothes in this bathroom: No shower! But now that you mention it, we could post a picture of Mr. Sparrow anyway.... :-)

Heather - Do you mean your medicine cabinet fell down! If so, OH MY!! We have those gold fixtures all over the house, so we still have miles to go, but I'm much happier now. Thanks for your kind words and good luck with your project!

Captain Janet

Janet said...

Scrappy Bee -- Thank you! Now he says he's hanging a lantern in there. You should hear his imitation of the Disney ride attendants...Thanks for your kind words!

Katy said...

Love the new bathroom!

The colors are just GREAT.

Anonymous said...

Your DH needs a POTC outfit. That would be great for parties, so he could hand everyone a ticket. LOL

Love the color and I'm not a gold fan. Also love the print and dark fixtures.

Good work, mates! Looks Tuscan to me.

Cheri said...

Whatever you call it, it's beautiful!
I'm glad the pain was worth it in the end:)

Anonymous said...

Wow! Looks great!

Melanie said...

WOW! It really looks beautiful! What a fun change!! We need to do that here at our house. It's been AGES & Ages since I have re-decorated. Congrats on your new pretty room!

Sarah Coggins said...

ROFL about the Pirates of the Caribbean comment! :) Personally, I think the room looks beautiful. Such great new fixtures.