Ahhh prison

Here are some before/ after shots of the bathroom. This room took most of the work.... our land- lady would come by every once in a while to see what was causing so much racket. At the beginning stages, she was clearly upset at what we were doing to this room, and often tried to talk us out of it.... but at the end, she was very impressed. I should learn how to say "I told you so" in our local language.

Look at that GRUNGE!!! ugh!!! The tile was in good condition (no cracks, well sealed) except for rust and filth. Get this, it's only 2 years old!!! I tried everything under the sun to get that up, but in the end it was decided the only way to fix it was to lay new floor tile, and come up with something to go over the tile on the wall (and find a way to keep the orange fungus from coming down from the ceiling haha). We thought about wallpaper, but according to HGTV, wallpaper won't stick to tile. So we gritted our teeth... and plastered all the walls. Yikes! It was such a big job... but sooooo worth it.

First, Scott and I cleaned as best we could. Next, we sanded every square inch of the tiles so paint could adhere to it. Then we painted a thin layer of plain white paint over the tile. (If you skip this step, plastering will be extremely difficult) After the paint dried, we plastered... we learned a trick. While the plaster is almost dry but still a little wet, put some water on your metal applicator and carefully smooth it out. After the plaster was completely dry, we sanded it with fine sand paper. Look below- see the area where Scott's head is? That's plaster- see the difference in the plaster and tile? (on the right side of the picture). Cozy!Next, we added a sliding glass door to make the bathroom into two rooms. We got such a deal- a friend came and installed this door. Anywhere else, we would have paid triple, and we wouldn't have gotten a plain glass door. Other places only have etched glass- with weird cartoons or women on them. (? whats that about?) Above the tile in the back room, we saved money and time by installing a wall mirror (we ran out of tile!)

See in the back room, Scott installed the new tile, and in the front we re-used our laminate from our first apartments bedroom. We picked a nice creamy color tile. He deserves so much praise for laying the tile and laminate. The whole room is sooo crooked- no such thing as a 90 degree angle here. The floor also slopes so that water will fall into the squatty potty.

I like this shot below because you would never know that beneath that plaster and laminate flooring is icky icky tile!We hung curtains over the sliding glass door so anyone using the bathroom will have privacy from anyone using the sink or washing machine.We also hung a shower curtain over the bathtub so Scott can take showers instead of baths.

Probably my favorite thing about our new house is that we have a bathtub! We don't have to stand on a concrete floor next to the toilet to take showers anymore! Our sink. Our building (as new as it is) has a few fatal flaws. The draining pipe for the sink is so small, that if too much water is drained into it, it over -flows in seconds and water goes every where. So we put a bucket into the left cabinet and re routed the hose to fall into the bucket. We only have to empty it about 2 times a day... but its easier than cleaning up a mess every time we wash our hands hahaThis is one of the pieces (above) we ordered from our neighboring city's wood workshop. I borrowed some ideas from Pottery Barn for the ladder-shelf. Cute! and so functional.
A few finishing touches- some bath mats, and laundry baskets and soft towels from IKEA and a cute little chair that came with the apartment and.... it's done! I'm so happy all that hard work is over with!

And to make it even better... Scott's mom sent me a lot of Bath and Body works bubble bath and shower gel. Mmmmm Black Raspberry Vanilla! Thanks DEBBIE!

Last but not least... our toilet caddy. I love the furniture we ordered- we had is specially made to fit everything ( I hope we never have to move hahahaha!) so this toilet caddy is a perfect fit over the potty, and it hides some very unsightly pipes and hoses.

Here is the view from our bathroom window, right over the tub. Those bars make it feel like prison... a very.. nice prison- with bubbles and scented candles and a toilet that works when you flush it. ahhh prison.