OMG! Who puts that in a bathroom?

So you have seen the outside of The Pearl, our house-to-be. Now let's discuss the first room that we will have to remodel, the full bathroom. We have two bathrooms - the first floor full bath and the second floor half bath. Well the first floor bath needs some lovin'. I don't know what the previous owners were thinking when they did this bathroom. There are a few things that tell me that it was most likely an older person or couple who lived here. The 50's tile and there are a couple of safety bars to help you get in and out of the tub and off the toilet. Please prepare yourself this is about to get weird and ugly.




That's right - we have wood shingles on the walls surrounding our bathtub. We have the lovely 50's pink and black tile. And we have floral wall paper on the upper half of the bathroom walls. The floors were originally a lovely yellowy green color. Who in the world thought that these were good color combinations?! Thankfully the bank laid new linoleum so that at least is in good shape and is pretty neutral so we'll keep it for now.

Let's not forget the brown trim. I didn't get a good picture of the vanity and mirror & light setup but let me tell you that needs work too. So our first thing that needs to be looked at is the bathtub surround. It's grosssssss! Sure people put wood shingles on the outside of the house but that doesn't mean they are a good idea for the shower.

We have no idea what is behind them. I'm pretty sure some water has gotten back there so when we open it up we'll probably find some mold. Wes, our contractor said he wants to pull everything out of there but I want to see how much we can keep until we save up a bit of money. The only thing that we will probably keep permanently is the actual tub. It seems to be in good shape so there is no reason to replace it even if it is an off-white almondy color and I would prefer white. Maybe we will consider refinishing it one day. The vanity may stay too and I can just paint the base a chocolate brown or something. The toilet seems to run a little every so often so we'll need to take a look at that to see if it can be fixed or if we need to buy a new one. I'd like to put off tearing out all the walls down to the studs but if water has gotten behind the pink tile that meets the tub, then the plaster or sheetrock behind there will probably have a mold issue. Now let's talk about some of the things I would love to see in here.

The Shower/Tub
Buy a prefab surround from somewhere like Home Depot or Lowes.

Aqua Glass 60 in. x 32 in . Eleganza Bathtub Wall Set in White - $198

A tiled shower wall would look great but I have a feeling it might just not bee in the budget. The prefab surrounds usually come in three pieces and can either be applied directly to the studs or to cement board. And they can be pretty cheap. I've seen some as low as $50. They have some fancier ones that will run you $1,300+. But who really wants to pay that much for a prefab wall when you could probably do tile for that.

The Walls
For the walls I'm thinking I'd love to get rid of all the pink and black tile & floral wallpaper and replace it with beadboard & paint. I've seen a less expensive option with that same look floating around the blogosphere - beadboard wall paper. It has all the texture of true beadboard but it is so much cheaper. I love to see it around the lower half of the bathroom and painted bright white.

Martha Stewart Living 1 Double Roll (Covers 56 square ft.) Beadboard Paintable Wallpaper - $24.98

I think I'm leaning toward a green color for the upper part of the walls. I want something that is kind of sagey green but still light and bright. So we'll probably go with something like this.

Sherwin Williams - Cascade Green

We won't be able to do all of these things right away. We'll have to slowly work our way through it when we have the money. The only reason things would get pushed quicker than anticipated is if we find some major water/mold damage behind the walls of the tub and the tile. One other thing that will need to be considered is ventilation. There is no fan currently in this bathroom. Because of the moisture build-up we definitely have some surface mold on the ceiling that will need to be cleaned up. So now I'll have to do some research to see what our options are.