It's less ugly! Our bathroom before, during, and after.

I finally got around to taking some proper photos of the finished bathroom (and Mr. Fantastic lent his photographic eye to the endeavor as well). It proved to be a bit of a challenge to capture more than any one component in a frame, as the walls are about five feet away from each other, but hopefully you get the idea.

Here's what we started with:

Gorgeous, huh? Call us crazy, but we wanted something a little different. We did not, however, realize that we were bargaining for two months of various states of this:

I think -- and I can only say this now, mind you -- it was worth it.

Small victories.

We may not have floor tiles installed... We may not have primer or paint on the walls (skim coat goes up today!)... We may not even have a sink set up...

But our eight guests on Christmas will be able to make the bathroom as dim or as bright as their hearts desire, thanks to our new dimmer switch.

We pull put all the stops around here.

Nice pipes.

That's where the Hated Sink used to be.  It's also where walls used to be.  Project "Make the Bathroom Less Ugly" has taken a turn for the ambitious.

Our original plan was to get the most aesthetic bang for our buck by doing the following:
- replacing the medicine cabinet, light fixture, and light switch
- tiling the floor
- removing the glossy, speckled wallboard (shudder) from about 60% of the wall space - the rest being passable tile - and painting the drywall underneath
- replacing the Hated Sink with a cute little pedestal number and a retro faucet
- finally putting up the new shower curtain and chrome curtain rings we got as gifts months ago.

And that was supposed to be the extent of it. 

But then... we realized that the wall tiles around the tub were set directly on the glossy, speckled wallboard (shudder), so that by removing the wallboard, we'll also be removing the tiles.  So we added wall tiles to the project.

And then... we realized that one of the bathroom shut off valves had corroded over time (three guesses how that became apparent).  So we added valve replacements to the project.

And then... we took down the glossy, speckled wallboard (shudder) and found that the lurking drywall was in bad condition.  So we added complete demolition and rebuilding of the walls to the project.

And by "we," I pretty much mean "the Best Husband in the Whole Wide World."  I'll help when we get to the priming and painting.

The Hated Sink

Alright, you guys.  I had three requests for pictures reflecting the Before status of Project "Make the Bathroom Less Ugly" and so I present to you The Hated Sink.  The rest of the Befores will be forthcoming, likely when I post the During and After photos.  (Can't wait for those Afters!)

Anyway, I despise this sink.  The back corners slope away from the basin, so water landing there either overflows to the floor (awesome) or simply stagnates (double awesome).  Hate.  And the vanity it sits on doesn't win it any points either.

I kind of want to Office-Space it after we replace it.  But I won't.

There's no turning back now.

Project "Make the Bathroom Less Ugly" is officially on.  We've purchased a sink. And, since we won't be having pieces of a pedestal sink collect dust in the basement, I guess this means we'll be moving from the theoretical to the practical pretty quickly.