April 10, 2011

My Kind of Birthday: Embracing the Turquoise

We moved into our current house about ten months ago.  We are very pleased with this home as it is a great amount of space for all seven of us and it came with the right price.  However, what we don't love are some of the very dated fixtures. This home was built in the fifties and the original owners apparently enjoyed the turquoise and pink theme, alot.

We really haven't done much significant to the home since we moved in and the lack of personalization was beginning to get to me.  So, about two weeks ago I decided I would make the main level bathroom my first project.  I picked this room because we plan to replace most of the windows in the house, but not the one in this bathroom as it is newer.  And although this bath needs a major redesign, as there is literally a two foot wide walk space (and that may be a generous estimate!), that project is not remotely in our sights. 

So, what was I to do with the 'dijon mustard' walls (that were peeling to show previous pink paint) and the very bold, but high quality turquoise tub and toilet?  Not to mention the brown and sage green towels thrown in for good measure...


I chose to spend last weekend, my birthday, embracing the color turquoise and telling the mustard good bye.  I took great pleasure in removing the peeling gold fixtures, the hideous shower door, and an almond colored mini blind!   

It was the kids' first taste of 'remodeling' as we emptied the room of nearly everything removable and masked it off for painting.  Z did not like the upheaval nor the smell of masking tape.  The girls thought it was quite exciting to see everything going on.  M didn't really care what happened.  S enjoyed dropping the cordless drill on my foot, which is still bruised and eating screwdrivers.  One thing they all agreed upon by the end: they were tired of going shopping!!!  These projects sure take a lot of errands....On the other hand, Z thought it was nice to be going to 'boy' stores (just don't tell him how much Mom likes Lowe's). 

Ryan thought it was the strangest birthday he had ever been a part of, but I thought it was great fun.  I felt a great sense of accomplishment in chiseling off glue from the old shower door and having it come smooth after a good hour or more of elbow grease.  I tackled hanging a curtain rod and towel bar and won.  Ryan and I painted together, laughed about how much he HATES plumbing (and it is alot), leveled mirrors, patched a major hole I caused (long story that involves the above mentioned bruised foot and horrible old plaster), and were able to accomplish something besides diapers and feeding, which felt really good!  Not to mention a greatly improved bathroom.




We have a few small things to finish up, but it is sure feels like an improvement to us! Who knew you could work with a turquoise tub and toilet (at least that's what it feels like I succeeded to do)?? Today we will finish up some electrical, a bit of plumbing (yes, Ryan is very excited), do a bit of touch-up and we should be 99%done.  This week we watch for our new rugs and a oiled bronze recessed toilet paper holder (thus, the hole under the window) to arrive by mail.  Meanwhile, I ponder what area I will take on next (no I will very likely not wait until my next birthday)!

4 comments:

liltleli said...

Come do my bathroom. The master bedroom one is the forgotten stepchild of our house and it needs a serious overhaul!!!!!!!

Diana said...

Happy Birthday! Wow! What an interesting birthday. It looks great. I agree with you in that I don't like those shower doors either. The builder wanted to put them in this housevand I requested that they leave them off! For me I like most things blue so I would have been able to work around it like you did. (now if it had been from the 70's, you might have had an orange tub and toilet! No thank you!)

We will not tell Zac that girls can like Lowes too! So funny! :-)

Jessica-MomForHim said...

Ha! I had to laugh at the last comment, because our house IS from the 70s and had a combination of orange, mustard yellow, tan, and apple green toilets, sinks, and tubs/shower stalls in the 2 1/2 bathrooms! Ted hates remodeling and plumbing, too, but he has learned to replace a toilet (several times now!)! It isn't that expensive, really, and it doesn't take too terribly long, once you psych yourself up for it. And it looks SO much better!

The tub we left for the professionals when we finally had a major overhaul done of the girls' bathroom. The shower stall in our bathroom was done by professionals, too. But Ted did the toilets--all three of them!

Anyway, Happy Birthday to you! The bathroom looks great! I am going to have to use your idea of the curtain rod over the window in some of our rooms--it looks great! :-)

Ryan & Heather said...

Thanks Jessica.
If it helps: I found the curtain rod at Lowe's. Target had some cheaper ones but they looked it. Lowe's had a great selection for under $20. And check their website: sometimes they offer a $10off $50 purchase.