Week Two | October 5 | Mid Modern Bathroom
For the Fall 2022 One Room Challenge we are taking our guest bathroom down to the studs and starting over. This project is LONG overdue, and we can’t wait to get started!
Be sure to check in on all of the other ORC projects on the ORC blog here.
I hope you are all having a good week. We have had gorgeous weather which makes staying inside hard, but we have made progress on the bathroom — and now we have a small setback, too. But I’m not going to make it sound dramatic — it is just the way it goes with construction.
Ok. So, if you are new around here, let’s review in two photos where we started:
The bathroom on the day we closed on the house. Cheap finishes and cut corners all around.
After a catastrophic flood of the sewage kind, the bathroom has been stripped to the studs.
This project is part-DIY and part-contractor work, but the contractors have had to stop to wait for the plumbing pieces to arrive before they can continue. Hopefully all of that will arrive this week, and we will be back on track. But we do have drywall and blueboard on all but one wall. And we have a ceiling again!
Without contractors working, I’ve been hard at work on the bathtub. What? You can’t tell? Go back and look at the before photos again — I’ve made a good 5 inches of progress!
I have been working with two methods to remove that tub finish. First I filled the tub with water as deep as it possibly would go. And I let it soak. The water seeps under the peeling paint, loosening it, and making it easier to peel away from the green tub. That worked well for awhile. However, there are places where the paint is truly adhered, and I reached the edge of the waterline. So, I have been using a heat gun to loosen the edge and then scraped the paint away.
Frankly, this could go on forever. And I don’t have that kind of time. So I’m turning to a paint stripper next. Why haven’t I done that sooner? Well, this room has almost zero ventilation, and I really don’t want the fumes in the house. So I wanted to try anything else first. But it is time to put on a mask and get to work. Hopefully next week that tub will be spectactular!
Scraping this tub is a bit therapeutic!
The original glass-block window is staying.
And Now a Word about Our Sponsors…
Choosing the materials for this bathroom has been so fun, and I am delighted to introduce you to two of our sponsors this week: Modwalls and Speakman.
I have a tile problem. Seriously. I would tile everything if I could. And it has been a long time since I chose tile. But for this project, I went back to one of my favorite tile makers, Modwalls. We used their tile in the last kitchen we did, and it was so gorgeous.
My dreamy kitchen in our last house. I loved this kitchen! | Modwalls Lush Subway Tile in Surf
The tile was installed in a pattern featuring two different sizes in the same color.
I am so excited to have Modwalls as a sponsor for this bathroom. Their tiles are so yummy! The tiles should arrive this week, so I’ll show you what we are going to do soon.
Choosing bathroom fixtures is also super-exciting. There are so many choices, and this isn’t something you decide about every day. I have had this image saved for years as inspiration for the shower in this room:
Ummm… if only my bathroom was that big! But it is NOT. I wish I knew where this image came from originally! But I don’t. I do love the shower configuration, however.
I love how these shower fixtures allow for a rainhead shower as well as a hand-held attachment. But it all also works with the plumbing configuration we already have. And the retro look and feel works well for our bathroom, too. I worked with one of the associates at Speakman to configure exactly what I needed to create this look using their new Lura Collection. It will be both retro and modern, and I can’t wait for everything to arrive!
Here’s a peek at one of the pieces on its way…
Thanks to both Modwalls and to Speakman for supporting this project. I’m so excited to pull this all together!
To Linda Weinstein, the creator of the One Room Challenge, I offer my most sincere thanks. Thank you for offering this kind of opportunity and for opening it up to anyone. And to Apartment Therapy, the ORC media sponsor: thank you for making this possible! And to all of the other ORC participants: I’ll be sure to stop by to admire your work! It is always fun to do this together!
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Here’s to a week of work and progress! More next week!
Cheers!
Angela
Thanks to my sponsors for this project!
Interested in being a sponsor? Let me know!
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