Bathroom...sloooooooooow but ongoing progress

The bathroom left a lot to be desired, uninviting would be an understatement. It was the sort of room that left you feeling tainted, used and grubby even after a bath!

The entire room was tiled with white tiles and some sort of revolting 60's green patterned tile as 'accents'. The radiator was painted matt black, the loo seat was broken, flimsy plastic, but amusingly seemed to be a soft closing one, the pan repulsively stained, like the 'worst toilet in Scotland' from Trainspotting. The over the bath shower didn't work and was an electrical death trap, the bath was scrawled upon by a child with indelible ink. The sink was filthy, nesting in a built in corner monstrosity. Under closer inspection removing the panels from this built in carbuncle, revealed an abundance of cat shit. The whole room was so grimy no amount of cleaning could shift the dirt. The taps barely worked, we had one scalding hot water tap into the bath, and one very battered cold tap into the sink. Finally, the poor floorboards had sagged irretrievably south. The estate agent pictures were cleverly over exposed so it didn't look so bad on the advert!!

The first task was to smash out remove the old horrors. Dave demolished the tiles and managed to lacerate himself spraying blood up the wall! However, between us we cleared the room pretty quickly, with my steadfast Dave doing numerous tip runs.

Having delusions of grandeur, meant that I decided I wanted a roll top Victorian bath to luxuriate in whilst eating Cadbury's Flake and flooding the bathroom. We found one on ebay, complete with resplendent gold claw feet, for £100 collection only down in Wales. Dad and Dave nearly crippled themselves collecting it. It then took four men (Dad, Dave, Kev - the man mountain and Roger xxx), to get the thing upstairs, apparently Kev using ropes tied around his waist to haul it up was a sight to behold!

I was given an old porcelain French sink as a new wash basin, a second hand, but good quality porcelain toilet and a re-purposed shower cubicle. I bought and found various fixtures and fittings to tart them up, then Dave & Dad set to work. They made a new doorway, attached new joists, lay new straight floorboards down, drilled holes in external walls for waste pipes and plumbed things in. It meant showering at my parents and crossing our legs for a few weeks, but we got there....a functioning bathroom, with only minimal hitches.....of sorts (the toilet needs some tlc).

Progress then slowed over the summer. I learnt to plaster, so between my always amazing Daddy-o and I, we repaired and plastered three walls and a ceiling. We also tiled the shower, a task I'd learnt the previous year. This weekend the posh new radiator went in, as did the shaving/toothbrush charging point.

We are on the home straight with the bathroom, despite it taking seven months (and counting), longer than anticipated. I have all the bits and pieces for it now. the biggest expense was the light. I did have a vintage glass chandelier I hoped to use, but after the fifth person (Clive, my buddy and builder), warned me that it was unsafe, I relented. I have now ordered a beautiful cut glass Scandinavian flush light. It is zone 2 safe and has an IP rating of 44. It was my one indulgence, I can safely say I will NEVER spend that much on a light again, even if I managed to pay less than half price by the time I used vouchers and so on. We also wont be eating for the next month! I justified this by levying it against a gorgeous pair of full length ivory textured drapes I found in a charity shop for £4.99, and a bargain sheepskin rug...well that's my purchase conscience nonsense anyway!!

We still have a wall to plaster, cupboards to build, boxing in to do, skirting boards to add, and lots of smaller jobs but the ETA is Christmas, so with a few more busy weekends we can get there I'm sure.

True to his beautiful self (spot the Sex Pistols reference) , Dave even found a vintage Flake tin and filled it with Flakes. All in preparation for the most beautifully ostentatious powder room I've ever immersed myself in!

I'll let you know how we get on.......xx