Flip That Bathroom

When we first bought the house 11 years ago, we only had two kids. The extra room over the garage, plus its attached half bath, were hubby's office and private latrine. The previous occupants, with their three cats and three kids, had left the bathroom in pretty gross condition, but hubby didn't care about that at all...and I had other priorities at the time. When we decided to make Baby #3, the office was moved to the basement. Five year old Son #1 got to move upstairs when his baby brother's arrival was impending. The bathroom was cleaned up so it was sanitary, but no amount of washing could get rid of the rust on the radiator cover or the dingy faded white paint or the gouges in the walls.

Hubby started saying that he would turn the bathroom into a closet -- the room didn't have one -- which elicited horror from the rest of us, and all other homeowners we knew. "You NEVER want to get rid of a bathroom! Everyone is always looking to ADD bathrooms! They increase the value of your home!" Son #1 loves having a private latrine so has resisted.

Anyway, given hubby's laxity with taking on -- and finishing -- home improvement projects, after 11 years in the house we still have a bathroom upstairs. One is being built in the basement too -- a real one with a shower -- but all we have is the frame and the plumbing. Now that Son is working and needs collared shirts and slacks, he and I went to IKEA and got him a free standing wardrobe two weekends ago. I started thinking that I should just redo the gross bathroom already. Then Son #2 said something that made a lot of sense. "Closet or bathroom, you have to paint it."

I started with the spackling during the week, and then the sanding. Sanding rust off the radiator covers was a weird experience but it needed to be done. Bright and early Saturday I began painting walls, blue to match the bedroom. By Sunday morning I was ready to do trims. Sunday afternoon I primed the radiator cover with Rust-Oleum, and last night I gave it one coat of Rust-Oleum flat enamel. Tonight or tomorrow morning I hope to give it the second coat.

Yesterday afternoon we went back to IKEA, and Son chose some lovely artwork and some nice dark blue rugs and towels to finish it off. I found myself thinking that it was really a couple of hundred dollars and some of my time. It looks completely transformed. If there had been anything truly horrifying or disgusting, or if we were homeowners trying to sell the place and conceal something, it would have been a good coverup. How many unscrupulous people do that sort of thing? Oh well, can't stay up at night worrying. I think I'll just be proud of myself.

And I'm definitely Son's favorite person...this week at least...hubby is at most neutral about this whole thing. He doesn't necessarily like that I have the power to proceed with a few home improvement efforts without him...tough darts on this one. Tee hee.