A bathroom makeover...

Well, as has been the tradition, Chad headed to seminary for two weeks...and I started planning a surprise home project. Except I waited a week before I really thought about it. And then I chose something that was no where on our lists of brainstormed next home projects. :)


I decided to try to do a facelift to our upstairs bathroom. There were sinks that leaked to the cabinets underneath because of missing caulk, 2 different colors of wood cabinetry, old linoleum flooring, and a mustard-yellow toilet that was getting more persnickety by the day (one day I flushed 5 times in a row, to no success...).


As it turned out, my father was up to helping with this little challenge, so we buckled down and spent MANY evenings (and nights!) together. I hadn't ever heard that apparently, he finished the basement in our old house, pretty much single-handedly! However, along the way, we hit some issues...

I hadn't planned on replacing the toilet when I started, but some of my handy friends informed me that I really should pull up the toilet to the do the new flooring. Well, if I was going to have to pull up that awful toilet we owned, I certainly didn't want to put it back! :)



When we pulled it up, we found an entirely corroded and distroyed flange. So...add "new flange installation" to the learning curve. It was a pretty nasty job, but...










We did it! This is a picture where you can not only see the beautiful new piece, but also the floor tiles for which Dad and I made quite a team installing! (you can contrast the old, ugly linoleum in the picture above...)






A couple of coats of paint on the walls and cabinetry, some new caulking, a toilet installed (had to do it twice, because the 1st time the T-bolt spontaneously snapped! So, we pulled it up, got new wax seal, put it back on, and finally got it), and.....




PRESTO! A fresh and new bathroom! And the toilet flushes EVERY TIME. :)

It was very challenging and time-consuming (my champ of a father stayed until 4am one night...after staying until 1am the night before!!!!), but it felt like a real accomplishment to tackle something this substantial. I love my handy friends who are willing to talk me through projects like this!!!