The day after we closed on this tiny house JP and I were moseying through the house talking about how we would want to change it, what had to go, and what had to stay. We stopped in the bathroom to survey the dingy and claustrophobic space. It had some funky flooring that was just plain gross. I was certain there was wood floor under there: our house is 572 square feet above grade and is 100 years old. What else COULD be under there? So JP went to get a hammer to start ripping it up.
second layer first layer
Of course, as we were doing this we weren’t thinking that, hey, even if it IS wood, what if it is rotten? It is in the bathroom after all. We pulled up the first rosey pink laminate to find a sheet of thin wood. Pulled up this to find another layer of flooring. This time 20s style deco laminate “tiles.” Gross. We pulled this up but the fact that whoever installed that glued it directly to the wood floor beneath made it a difficult task. However, after some elbow grease (and help from JP’s brother, DP) the floor came up and TA DA! wood flooring, which, miraculously, was NOT rotten. Hooray for us. Now we just had a thick layer of (probably) asbestos-ridden tar or glue or sticky-stuff or something to sand away.
I digress. Before all the flooring was up JP realized we would have to remove the shower to get the flooring underneath. Besides, we didn’t really want that shower and it was connected to this weird dummy wall that took up a lot of precious floor and wall space. Out comes the hammer again. JP takes a whack to the wall and via flashlight and craning of the neck we peek and cannot believe our eyes: a WINDOW!
So we tear out the plastic stock shower (rip it out in pieces mercilessly) and find a HUGE window hidden behind. This window is the biggest of four windows on our main level (the kitchen one doesn’t count since it’s the size of my pea-head). Sunlight pours into the house, birds sing, we celebrate. Yay. Our little bathroom, with more light and no shower, looks LARGE. I am liking this.
By this time we decide to scale back the craziness. Floors refinished, toilet reinstalled, sink and vanity made, stained, installed. Those are our top priorities. Here is the finished product of priority number one: floors refinished. We choose a gray/blue stain with tints of green/brown inspired by the bathroom floors at Colt & Gray and mixed by the pros at Guiry’s.
There’s a lot more we’ve been working on (think new window, new concrete sink, new vanity, rerouted plumbing, hoorah) so I’ll get some updated photos and send those your way!
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One Response to how we spend our days off: ripping out the bathroom
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Hmm. Ever think of tearing out all the walls – and making it wide open: living room/dining room/kitchen with that big window – and putting the bathroom at the back of the house? I'm thinking Jonathan can do just about anything.