You may be tired of hearing about bathrooms.  I know from my own perspective I am tired dealing with all the bathroom reno / update details.  I just want them finished.

So to continue with the Pink bathroom update, we now have a working shower!

We primed and painted the shower ceiling, then it was time to deal with everything else.  First, the pedestal sink and toiled were removed.  You may remember the sink offered no options for mixing hot and cold water and we wanted to install a toilet that would help conserve water.  In terms of the toilet, we went with a Toto, and on the advice of many people selected the “comfort height” model, in white.

We had some issues regarding the replacement of the pedestal sink.  On the one hand, we would have liked buying an updated pedestal model.  We like the old-school charm of it and it would have worked well in terms of decor.  However, in thinking about the end goal — that is opening a bed & breakfast — we had other points to consider.  One point being there is no storage in that bathroom whatsoever.  A second issue was counter space.  We would have been quite limited in the size of the sink and felt it would have offered little or no “counter” space for people.  Ultimately we decided to purchase a wooden vanity with a top matching the cultured marble shower installation.  Am I in love with it? No.  Does it work?  Absolutely!  There is a nice storage space and room on the counter for guests to place personal items.  We will also be adding a glass shelf for some additional space and of course a matching mirror framed in wood.

One more word on the vanity.  We selected a model with greater height to it, measuring in at 36″ inches installed.  I can see where the convenience and ergonomic design may be comforting to many people.  However, I am 5 feet 3 inches tall and I personally prefer the lower, more traditional height of 33 inches.  Keep this in mind if you are designing a bathroom or kitchen.

When we began this project, we were trying to balance a budget.  I’ll omit all the detailed decision making involving the floor.  We ultimately went with a laminate /vinyl flooring.  It looks fine, will be durable but frankly we both wish we had tiled the floor instead.

The baseboard in this room is peculiar.  Before I elaborate, I just want to say we do have early floor plans for the house, I believe dating around 1910.  We think it was when the heating system may have been installed, although not totally sure about that either.  The plans show the upstairs of the house with a far different layout than now exists, particularly the “pink bathroom” area of the house.  It appears it may at one time have served as a very small bedroom, probably servant quarters, and had a door to the hall where the shower (formerly the closet) now is.

The baseboard is simply planks of wood, 8 inches in height.  On one wall, an additional electric space heater had been fixed.  During our update, we moved this heater to the opposite wall and attached a wall control, instead of trying to wrangle temperatures on the baseboard unit.

Our Challenge: The so-called baseboard in the Woodland Room bathroom.

We had thought bead board would be a good solution for this room and planned on installing it ourselves.  However, the way the walls were constructed and baseboard set in, on a couple of walls there is a full half inch lip of the board showing where it meets the wall, on another wall it is barely a quarter of an inch. We have thought about all this for a while now and believe we have a solution.  We do not believe this baseboard can be removed without some serious wall damage — more on our solution as we experiment to see if it actually works.

Meanwhile, I removed the pink wallpaper. Disturbing to see the walls were not properly prepared for wallpaper and the amount of residual paper paste left of the walls was disheartening.  I removed much of it by hot water and elbow grease — at least on single wall with fairly contemporary drywall.  Time-consuming, but easy enough.  The other walls, much older, are made of something I am unfamiliar with.  It has to be an early form of dry wall board, but it has a rough porous look and feel to it and is miserable, if not impossible to remove the residual wallpaper paste.

Old walls equal big problems.

Oh and the ceiling.  Same deal, with the old boarding and the paste.  kind of hard to envision dealing with it, even if we had scaffolding.

Paste removal and new ceiling.

Bottom line is, as usual, time and money.  Adjust expectations, consider your options, and try to move on.

To be Continued.