Have you checked out my home tour?  Have you ever wondered why there are no pictures of the bathroom?  Let me show you the before.

The after?  You’ll have to wait until my next post.

Other than a neglected small town gas station bathroom, this is the worst bathroom I’ve had the privilege of using.  To it’s credit, the linoleum isn’t that bad, but it is starting to peel by the bathtub.

Blinding Yellow + Fish Wallpaper=Awesome

The specialness starts with a blinding shade of yellow (previously found on our kitchen cabinets) and continues with yellow fish wallpaper.  I’m sure it was glorious in 1970 or so.

When you think of an appropriate material to line your tub area, what do you think of?

Tile? Vinyl?

The geniuses who decorated thought of wallpaper.

Needless to say, wallpaper and water do not mix.  Some slightly smarter person thought that maybe tile would be a good option.  Did they remove the wallpaper?

No.  They just tiled right over it.  But only a foot or so, so there’s still lots of wallpaper left to behold.  (In all fairness, I understand not wanting to remove wallpaper.)

It Gets Worse

Shortly after we moved into the place, the tub faucet started leaking.  This was my husband’s solution, bless his heart.

The toilet was okay, but somewhere along the way one of the screws that holds the seat in place came out and it started to leak.  Did the Hermit and I fix it?

Of course not!  It’s much better to suffer in silence and avoid a $15 purchase.  Because you really need to save that $15 when you know you have a major renovation coming up.  As for the leak?  Everything is getting ripped out, so it doesn’t matter.

Related: Phase One Renovation Home Tour

Curb Appeal in a Weekend

The sink was passible until I started painting the whole house and cleaning my brushes in it.  There was a clog in the sink, so that water didn’t drain properly, and all the colours of our walls settled in and deposited themselves on the marble.  Sigh.

Using the Bathroom Makes Me Question My Life Choices

In short, if you come to visit my house, you can use the bathroom. . . but you really don’t want to.

The good news is, all that is about to change and our bathroom will be gutted and renovated into glory.

Have you ever gone through a major renovation?  I’d love to hear your stories or any advice you have to offer.

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.