The Importance of a Bathroom!

Bathrooms are taken for granted.

With that being said, I'll explain. We moved into this house thinking that all we were gonna have to do is slap on some paint and install kitchen cabinets and flooring. We were fools. Upon tearing out the kitchen floor and pulling down the existing cabinets, we find that the upstairs bathroom has a great deal of "leakage". So down comes the ceiling in the kitchen. While the kitchen ceiling is down my husband (thank God he's got plumbing experience, and he's good.... real good) replaces the entire plumbing for the upstairs bathroom (tub, sink, toilet). Meanwhile, not only does the plumbing need replaced; we find that the waste line also needs replaced. THAT was absolutely disgusting.

So, after all the plumbing is done and we move upstairs to the actual bathroom we find that the upstairs toilet is cracked. Completely unusable (thank God we hadn't used it since we moved in). Since the toilet is one piece, it couldn't be repaired. Besides, every piece in the upstairs bathroom was purple. Light lilac, to be specific. While I love the color purple, it's not really a color I like to see as the main attraction in the master bath. Beside the fact of the bright colored toiletries, we find that they are so old that they aren't functioning as they should. So we went and picked out a new toilet, new bath and new lavatory. Now the thrown is a bright white, as it should be. The tub is huge and the lav is a pedestal sink (very nice).

The "quick" version of this story is that the flooring in the upstairs bath got pulled up as well a floating wall had to be reconstructed since the new tub is larger than the old tub. The toilet is higher than the old and since we are putting down ceramic tile on the floor the toilet had to be "raised", so it now sits on a platform. Upon our venture of installing the new tub (which I LOVE), we decided to do the same ceramic tile around the shower wall.

It's been a very frustrating process and, not to mention very costly.... but I now see it coming together. And for my husband, one who wasn't a "handyman"; he seems to be coming around to the excitement as well. He's learning new things, which he loves and I must say does an absolute gorgeous job on anything he tackles. He just stood in the living room last night, dust all over him from cutting tile, and smiled. He said he just realized today that he is working on "his" home. I've been so bummed about this entire process that I hadn't even stopped to think of it that way. Now that we both see it coming together, it's rewarding and exciting.

After the master bath is complete, it's on to the kitchen. I'm kind of sad that I'm unable to cook Easter dinner for my family, as that's something I've done since my Mom passed; but I must say that I'm EXTREMELY excited to see how the kitchen is going to turn out.

Here are some photos of the "process" of our master bath:

View of the ceiling from the kitchen.... that's right, it's the sewage pipe. Ewwww!


Bathroom "before"

Bathroom (same view) "during" .... coming along :)

Another view... my husband's idea of having the "throne" on a step up (i like it!!!)

And another

The Beginning

Well, it's finally official; we're residents of Shinnston, WV. I must say that it's been a bit more of an adventure then what I expected, but I'm hoping that in the long run it works out for the best.

I never really took the time to realize the luxuries that we have, that is... until we don't. Take for example; running water. Needless to say that while it's exciting to have the opportunity to be "homeowners", I had at least expected to have running water. Well, we DO have running water actually; the problem is that it's running EVERYWHERE. We have some water leakage in the house and while it's not major, I have to say that I cannot wait for the time that the main valve doesn't need to be shut off between uses. Not only do we have water problems, but also water problems causing our kitchen ceiling to have to be replaced. I keep thinking in my mind "It will be worth it, we WILL conquer". I still can't wait for the time to hop into the shower without having to visit the basement first. If not for point of the matter, I must say I'm not a huge fan of dark cool "underground" places. I'm just glad my husband knows plumbing, and knows it well. Hopefully this weekend all will be repaired and we will be able to regain the luxury of that sweet sound I call "running water".

We also have taken it upon ourselves to totally redo the kitchen (thanks to the skill and craftsmanship of my ex husband), I began to get excited just talking about the changes and updates. Meanwhile we are literally without a kitchen. That's right. No sink, no cabinets, and the refrigerator is sitting in the dining room.... across the room from our stove. Last night a trip to the grocery store resulted in a lot of frozen/microwavable dinners.

Tonight I went to an auction with some friends and as I was dropped off at the house, she went on and on about how cute it was and how much she liked it. I sat there in the car dreading the fact that inside there was so much to be done, however I was able to glare at the outside of the house for a moment. I like it. I like it a lot. And after discussing the updates with the ex husband and current husband (many think that sounds strange, but I'm so glad it's that way... it really is nice to get along so well), I realized that this little place has a lot of potential. It's going to take time and effort; not to mention a very generous loan from my mother-in-law (that woman should seriously have a Superman cape on), we'll get there.

So, tomorrow I'm going to contact the landlord and advise her of what we would like to have stated in the contract and then request that she try to get that drawn up within the next few weeks; before any major purchases are made. After work, it's off to Lowe's to window shop for kitchen cabinetry.

So the adventures begin....... potential is my new favorite word.