Norm Abram Has Nothing On John

I've been waiting to post pictures of our new bathroom until it was 100% done, but who am I kidding? Nothing at my house ever is complete. We're at about 90% with just a few loose ends. First, I have to say John ROCKS. With the help of our brother-in-law, Christmas Steve, he sledge hammered the ORIGINAL tub (85 freakin' years-old -- it's been resurfaced, but you can imagine how awful it was.) He replaced it with a new cast iron tub. He tore out the original flooring and replaced it with something similar. It was a beast, because it was the small hexagonal tiles and even though they were in sheets, they kept popping up. The only thing I really did was design, shop, help paint and boss him around. I'm married to a saint.

The rest of the house, unfortunately, is in complete shambles. I must be insane, because we started painting the living room. It's just the bathroom was so shiny and happy and pretty and lovely that I couldn't stand my drab living room being next to it. John was not happy, but again... he's a saint.

So, right now the bathroom is our sanctuary. It's the only clean room in the house. I just go in there and sit on the side of the tub just to have some peace. I heard this brilliant idea that works well for insomniacs like me. You put dimmers on your bathroom lights and keep them down low, so if you have to go into the bathroom at night, you're not disturbed by the harsh lights. We love it. Now we just keep the dimmers whenever the light is on, so it's just really relaxing.

We're taking August off of home improvements and actually paying attention to the yard for a change, but I'm hoping starting in the fall, we'll have a shiny, happy house to match the bathroom.

Here is the before and after. The pics don't do it justice. The lighting isn't good and it's hard to get a good shot, but you'll get the point. We made some changes to the bathroom when we moved in the house in 2000 (it was bright turquoise and the shower tile actually sunk into the wall when you pushed it since there was so much water damage). Those were necessities. This remodel really makes a world of difference.

BEFORE: Dingy floor circa 1925, GHETTO tub, tiny wall sink, dumb mirror and cabinet, ho-hum light fixture. Nice color, but definitely wanted something more serene and grown-up.

AFTER: New floor still in the same style of the 20's bungalow, nice pedestal sink, great new mirror and cabinet, awesome light fixture. Atmosphere blue paint color because I wanted to bring the sky in. New bath mat, towels and shower curtain (it's hard to tell but it's got different color blue stripes). The only thing we kept was the shower tile that John put in when we moved into the house in 2000. With a good grout cleaning, it will look brand new. Tip: never use Restoration Hardware paint. The stuff we got must've been sitting on the shelves for years and it just ran like water down the walls. We took it to John's 2nd home, Home Depot, and they matched it perfectly with a terrific Behr paint.

Now, I just need to get a cool picture to hang over the towel rack!