Monday 27 August 2012

When you change a washer....

Our bathroom is old, original and is on our list to redo one day.

This bathroom was probably really flash in it's day, back in the 60's. It is covered with green laminate stuff all over the walls with metal joining strips. Green tub and a green pedestal sink, a brown and cream mosaic floor is the icing on the cake.

It still functions quite well. The bath is deep and quick to fill, the sink does the job too. There is no shower in here, so I will show you pics one day of what we did to rectify that too.

The kids like the big tub, but this bathroom is a massive comedown from my much more modern 1999 era bathroom we left in our previous house. It has taken some getting used to. And I am trying to figure out how I will fit a tub, separate shower, a toilet and a vanity unit in this space when we do it.

I have big plans for this room when we do it, and my husband keeps wanting to just fix things up temporarily.

The taps leak and really needed replacing, because our water pump cuts on and off and it isn't good for it to be doing that. He hated the pedestal sink, I don't like them either as there is no storage. I like the idea of them, but they aren't practical.

So I researched on the net for a pretty vanity unit that I could fit into my bathroom, and that would do the job until we gutted and redid the whole thing properly.

I have got to tell you, most vanity units are extremely ugly and I hate them all! I found some nicer ones at Recollections, but the ones I liked weren't the right size. And some had open shelves so I lost storage space.

Recollections

I like this one, but it lacks shelving.

Recollections
I think this one has a nice shape, but I hate semi-recessed sinks. So it is a no from me.

Recollections
I like how this one is flush with the floor, I really don't want to be cleaning under a vanity, so that is a plus! I would prefer a shaker style profile on the doors instead of French Provincial. Better, but not quite what I am looking for.


Recollections
 
Nice, but glass doors so people can see my mess under my sink. Another no from me.

Schots
I do like this one, but it is not flush with the floor and it is $2300. This is the pick of them, but I am not sure how I am going to configure my bathroom.

I will probably have to get one custom built, so it will cost about the same (or more) than this one.

Getting to the point of my story, I was looking and showing my husband what my dream bathroom would look like and it looks like this...

My dream...... from Pinterest

I love this pic, I have loads more dream bathrooms for my inspiration on my Pinterest page. http://pinterest.com/joannakennedy79/dream-bathrooms/

I want a marble vanity with basket weave mosaics on the floor, lots of light, grey and white.

Anyway, I promise I will get to the point now!

Husband decided that he would replace the washers in the taps - the quick fix!  In order to do this, he was going to remove the tub taps and take them to the hardware shop and he would buy a couple of new taps for the sink. As the old ones were completely stuffed.

I warned him that the taps might be hard to remove, and we should just leave it all alone until we do the bathroom. He couldn't leave it alone, so out came the Stilsons.

How ugly is this bathroom? I have no idea why the wood is screwed onto the tub.

He removed the bath taps and proceeded to take the sink taps off. One came off well, but the other was really tight and he broke the sink!

Broken corner of sink

No, it can't be glued on again!

After a few "Damn it's" and "Bloody hell's". We were looking at it in stunned silence like "Crap! That wasn't supposed to happen".

I said, "I am not fixing this thing up until we do it properly". As I do know it will never get done if it functions.

Well, husband went in to town to the hardware shop, and I told him to get the cheapest, nastiest, most gross looking vanity in the shop and then I will sell it (or hoick it to the tip if I can't). Then I will buy a nicer vanity down the track to do the room properly.

Beautiful looking pedestal with louvred windows. So rank!

The sink has gone to the tip. The taps are hanging on there until the plumber comes.

The moral of the story is....... Don't touch old bathrooms or you will end up doing more than you expected.

We were lucky this time, you should see what happened when we moved the position of a shower head and taps in our laundry. It was supposed to be a quick fix job also! Will do a post on that incident one day.

Plumber is coming tomorrow to install the ugly vanity for me. I will post pics of the functional, but not beautiful unit when he does.

6 comments:

  1. Oh, poor you (however that is a funny story.) My sister had a similar green bathtub and basin, including those same mosaics, in her old house. Reno the bathroom was always on her to-do list. She lived with that bathroom for 20 years - it never got done, but it functioned perfectly. xx

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  2. I think there are a lot of bathrooms around in this exact style and colour in the 60's.

    My bathroom in my previous house (before we gutted it) was pink and green. Pink tub, toilet and sink with green mosaics. It had a linen cupboard within it too. Nice and mouldy!

    This bathroom has a linen cupboard within it, but there is a tiny door that you can open to grab a bar of soap through. Flash in it's day! :) I think it is funny that other people have the same bathroom as my green one!

    I hope to God that our temporary vanity is going to be temporary, and we do it sooner rather than in 20 years time!

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  3. Jo, I have that one from Recollections and another from Schots and I love them both, and they are almost identical to some from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware so you can't go wrong. Husbands!

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  4. Hey Mel, I knew you found your powder room sink from Recollections, but I didn't know you had one from Scots too. I need to stalk your blog much more than I have been! Ha, I stalk your blog as soon as a post is up I love it so much!

    I will draft up a post tomorrow if I get time with the nitty gritty of my sad, sad new vanity (quick fix method).

    And I will have to post some more house stuff too, where I had much more input than this room! :)

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  5. I have a guilty secret...I like the green pedestal sink! In an all white bathroom with a few hits of citrus I reckon it could look neat. For some reason my decrepit bathroom is green too, I actually posted about it a couple of days ago. Our homestead had loads of green. Oh... And sorry for the comment overload, I've just found your blog and I'm doing a similar thing, so I'm enjoying it :)

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  6. That was quite a day! I agree—it wouldn’t be a good idea to do the fixes on your own. If there really is a need for replacement, it’s better to call a professional plumber. That way, you're sure that the installation is fool-proof, and you can call someone to redo it if he didn't the first time.

    Lavern Knight @ Midland Mechanical Inc.

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