A_ went out of town on Friday. He's been planning to have a "man weekend" for over a year. It was supposed to be a celebration of finishing law school/passing the bar. Yeah.
So he finally went off to have it. He drove down to Nashville and a friend of his drove up from Florida and they played golf and went out to a pub and all that not-really-exciting-jazz.
I didn't mention to him that while he was gone I planned on replacing our bathroom floor. Our only bathroom.
Our house was built in the early 1930s and is a small bungalow with some great original bits and some horrid horrid not so original bits. The bathroom floor was dirty stained whitish linoleum that had been placed right over tile, so you could see the pattern pressed through it. I pulled up the linoleum to reveal small tiles in two shades of pink and tiny maroon tiles connecting them. I'm pretty sure it was not the original and was actually put in in the 1950s, so I felt not so bad about destroying it.
I somehow thought that I could:
Rip this up on Friday evening
Put down the new tile on Saturday
Grout on Sunday before A got back.
WHY I thought this, I do not know.
This is my floor Saturday night after twelve hours of prying and scraping up tile.
By the time A got home at 3pm on Sunday I had finished popping up all of the tile except around the toilet. The ancient, ancient toilet.
And being as brilliant as I am, I convinced A that if we took the old toilet up I would be able to pop up the rest of the tile, put down the underlayment, set the new tile and pop a brand new toilet on.
I mean, easy peasy, right?
Ergh.
Luckily my office has full bathrooms with showers and fresh towels and toilets where one can pee. (Oh glorious toilets!)
I finally put in the new toilet last night, though using the bathroom was a problem because we couldn't walk on the tile yet.
I am happy to say the tile is now walkable so once I drag everything out of the bathtub, finish laying some edge pieces and grout the whole thing I'll be done!_________
Of course...I still have a new bathroom sink in my back closet and I want to rip out the shower surround and retile it...
But it's so, so, so gorgeous. The next time you think of doing home improvment, you'll think "it was a big hassle, but it was all done in 4 days!"
ReplyDeleteOh yes, you'll do it again.
(good job!!!)
You are my mother fuckin' hero! I wouldn't be able to get that done in a month!
ReplyDeleteHoly shit, I am impressed that you know how to do all of that. I have never had to learn how, or had the opportunity for that matter, but how awesome.
ReplyDeleteGood job!
That floor looks great, and well worth the effort, I think.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I also doubt this is your last home improvement project.
Looks AMAZING and (though I haven't seen your house) feels utterly appropriate for the era/style. Bathrooms, esp single bathrooms, are the worst.
ReplyDeleteYou rock, that looks fucking awesome. Makes me want to rip somethign up. Pity we rent....
ReplyDeleteHaha, I feel your pain - we are just finishing up our bathroom reno. It was started back in March pre-surgery. We just last week got the toilet and sink back in. Maybe if it was our only bathroom, we would have finished quicker? Who knows :).
ReplyDeleteGood job on yours!
Your floor looks beautiful, but damn, that's a lot of work!
ReplyDeletei am in absolute awe of your home improvement skills! the floor looks absolutely gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteimpressive! completely impressed i am!
ReplyDeleteso so badass!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks really awesome.
Love the new floor!
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome. I want to redo my bathroom badly, but every time I look at it I get depressed imagining bathing in the basement (man) shower.
ReplyDeleteBravo lady! When I first started reading your post I thought it was going to be a tale of disaster but when I saw the final pic it looked fantastic - well done you!!!
ReplyDeleteThat looks beautiful! We SUCK at tiling. Can you come fix it????
ReplyDeleteIo, I love your outlook on home improvement projects. I know sometimes it means you don't have a toilet for a few days, but at least you don't get paralyzed with fear (like me) and never attempt anything as a result!
ReplyDeleteYou. are. awesome.
The new floor is beautiful though!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you did that. It looks fabulous. I am envious of your mad skills.
ReplyDeleteCudos to you missy!! My bathroom needs done, are you available?? :)
ReplyDeleteIt looks wonderful!
i'm so freakin in awe! it took us almost 3 years to get our kitchen 60% done! of course we had a few $$$ issues holding us back...
ReplyDeleteit looks awesome by the way. we lived in a 1920's apartment building with the same floor & i really loved that apartment to death! i'm all nostalgic now!
Dude. I wish I were as cool as you.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you did that! it looks amazing - I'm in awe and worshiping at the temple of DIY at your feet!
ReplyDeleteimpressive!! seriously.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I retiled my dining room once and it was horrible! You are such a brave woman!!
ReplyDelete