Out With The Old........

Autumn in our garden

The leaves are really falling now as you can see by the lawn. The garden Mums look so bright, it is a pity their flowers cannot last all through the winter.

Well, before I can tell you about our new bathroom I had better show you what the old one was like - a real disgrace.  I was always worried that someone visiting would ask to use the facilities.  The whole bathroom was pink.  Tiled pink from top to bottom, pink bath, pink basin, pink toilet.  Nice, some of you might think  - and I guess it was a novelty when we first moved in but the novelty soon wore off.  It was also very dark.  The room is on the side of the house where sunlight never penetrates and on a dark winter day it was like the black hole of Calcutta.  We should have got rid of it years ago but Mike was working and never had the time and it was impossible to get professionals in because he worked nights and slept days so there could be no noise.

A few years ago the bath panel split so we had to get a replacement.  Of course, they no longer made panels that colour so we had to get a totally new shade of pink which did not match.  The bath had started to drop downwards  and left a gap between the bath and the tiles which Mike had to disguise with a plastic strip.  When the toilet seat needed replacing, likewise, the pink was unmatchable so he got white.  The whole thing was a shambles.  Eventually, no matter how much you cleaned the porcelain, dirt or marks would not be removed.  It was so depressing.  Here are some pictures.

Note the odd bath panel

Well, Mike started by taking down the old ceiling tiles which were brittle and cracking and also of a hideous pattern.  Our lighting was a huge fluorescent strip so that went as well and up went new tiles and a new light.  Then the ceiling was painted.  Mike then tackled the wall tiles.  As I said in my previous entry it would have been too expensive to re-tile the whole place and, give the man his due, whoever put them up in the first place did an excellent job.  So, as we liked the actual pattern of the tiles and tile paint did such an excellent job in the kitchen, we opted for that.  Mike put on two coats.

Dean arrived a week ago to put in the new suite.  The ceiling had been no problem but it was a different story with the plumbing.  The basin was a different size, of course, so all new pipes had to be purchased.  However, there was then an incurable leak which took three days to get to the bottom off and fix.  The toilet went in without too much trouble.  With the bath it was another matter! 

We had often wondered just how old the suite was and Mike thought about fifteen years or so.  Wrong.  It turned out to be the first owner who put it in and we are the fourth occupants.  How do we know?  Well, when they eventually managed to get the bath out,  the man who put it in  had stuffed loads of old newspapers down the back of it, heaven knows why and we found the date.  Way back in the early seventies when Becky was but a toddler.  So the suite was over thirty years old and we were the fourth family to use it.  No wonder if had seen better days.

I say "when they eventually managed to get the bath out" because this clever person had cemented it into the wall so a great deal of time was spent knocking the wall out to get the old bath out and the new one in.  The noise, the cement dust, the dirt.  Eventually the new bath went in but the mixer taps and shower had not arrived so there was a couple of days wait.  When they turned up the shower head was faulty so that had to be dealt with.  In the meantime Mike painted what little wood we have in there and also laid new flooring.

Some of the old tiles had to be removed to put fitments in and Mike was able to cut them and re-fix them and you cannot tell the difference. The toiler roll holder fixings did not match the old ones so there was lots of filling in of holes and re-drilling, painting and making good.

Last night Dean came over again.  The bath panel had to be cut down as it was too long, the shower head replaced but....... it was finally done.  We are so grateful to Dean for all the work he has put in.  The whole of last weekend and then coming over every evening after work to continue and poor him indoors has been working at it all the time.

We never expected so many problems to be encountered along the way, at times I despaired it would ever be finished but what a transformation.  It was worth all the sweat.

So we are now from this

To this :-

New ceiling tiles, new overhead light, new blind at window.

New bath, new taps and shower, new handrail to bath.

New flooring, new toilet,  new cistern, new sink.  As you can see the tile paint did an excellent job and we can still see the pattern through it.

A complete transformation, a joy to walk into, so bright and clean looking.  We obviously could not photograph the whole finished project because the room is not big enough to allow for that sort of camera shot.  Anyway, we are delighted and my heart no longer sinks into my boots when I walk in there.

I would like to thank you all for your good wishes.  The pain in my leg is not so intense now but I am still getting lots of pain in my lower back and, as I only have a couple of weeks before my new clinic appointment, I am hoping for a miracle.  Even doing this entry, I have had to keep taking breaks from it and hoping that AOL did not swallow it whilst I was away.

I do so hope things get back to normal for me soon.  Anyway I did keep my promise and show you our new bathroom.  Have a good weekend everyone and know that I will keep updating as I can.

Love,