I cannot say the bathroom is completely finished, but it is so close I can barely stand it. In fact, I just was trying to finish some things; decided I was rushing, and chose to take a break.

The kitchen in this house will be the biggest project, but the kitchen is at least USEABLE in the meantime. It is ugly but functional. The bathroom, however, was not. The house had been sitting for over a year, empty, and an already very bad bath became very VERY bad indeed. So bad that the floor had rotted out and it all had to be ripped out. Even after the floorboards and the tub had been replaced, it still looked like this:

What made an already difficult project even harder was that the bathroom was pretty shoddily done in the first place. If I knew then what I know now, I would have ripped out every bit of drywall and just started over. Unfortunately, I was just learning, totally stressed from the move, and it was the one thing standing between us moving into the house or having to stay longer with my sister. So I let my mother’s husband take the lead on this project. Lovely guy, but let me tell you: BIG MISTAKE.

Whoever had redone this bath in the 80s (I was old enough that I remember it being done, but young enough that I do not remember any details) did a really bad job. There were parts of the wall where drywall was nailed on top of more drywall. Wallpaper was put directly on the drywall. Everything was just a mess to start with.

Enter lovely mother’s lovely husband. He is a very handy guy, but to be honest, he’s getting up in years and frankly, I don’t think his heart was in it. My mother wanted to save money on the housework (understandably) and pretty much ordered him to do it. He made a lot of mistakes (the hot and cold taps in the shower turn different directions than they should). He covered holes by layering drywall the way the anonymous 80s contractor had done. He didn’t level the backerboard for the tiling. And the worst thing is that he didn’t finish the walls before putting in the toilet and sink.

By the time I had learned about a lot of this stuff it became apparent that the bathroom would be beyond quality work – I just had to figure out a way to make it relatively quality but look NICE. So I (and yes, it’s been me for the most part; David did some of the tiling but it is just too small for two people to work together) worked on trying to even out the walls as best possible, caulk holes due to uneven backerboard, and generally just try to make it as decent LOOKING as possible.

Now I am at the end and am so ready to have a pleasant bathroom, even I have started to cut corners, though I figure in a room so crappy to begin with what’s the point of being perfectionist about it? I decided against wood baseboard because I just can’t be bothered to cope joints for walls that are a mess. So I’m using some sort of plastic board, which is super easy but I definitely feel like I’m doing as secretive a crap job as the two people before me.

I am trying not to feel bad about it though. If it was a house we owned and loved, it would be different. But it feels like one big experiment anyway; one giant trial run. It is my grandparents’ house, and I will always have fond feelings for it, but I have come to learn that it was REALLY POORLY BUILT. I am SO glad I DON’T own it.

So anyway, other than finishing and caulking the baseboard tonight, putting in a new light, and putting hooks on the wall, it is finished.

Same view as above:

From the bathtub:

Hooks for the wall:

The boys "helping":

So yeah. I would do it ALL differently if I could start it today. It doesn’t look bad, but when you come over, you will see how… RUSTIC it is. But I’m going to pretend like that is what I was going for all along.

Meh.