A Bathroom to End All Bathrooms

I love my bathroom! Is it weird to like your bathroom so much that you turn it into a showcase of textures, design, and artwork? I had great fun designing the room 40 years ago when I bought this house. It's large for a bathroom, as large as my spare bedroom. When I first bought the place, I completely gutted the ugly bathroom, getting rid of a battered tub and rust-stained toilet, the chipped sink and vanity, and the rickety old linen closet.

I installed real tongue-and-groove cedar on most of the walls, and faux brick paneling on another wall and behind the toilet. And because I am an art collector with a special fondness for horses, and because there was so much wall space in the bathroom, I filled the walls with artwork.

I'm not too worried about moisture harming the pictures. The bathtub/shower combo is around the corner, physically removed from the artwork, and with proper ventillation I've experienced no problem with moisture. Some of the below pictures are 4-5 years old, and I've recently updated the artwork, but at least you'll get an idea of the bathroom's basic layout. What do you think? Is it weird to turn your bathroom into an art gallery? *g*



As you enter the bathroom, the vanity is on the left and "art gallery" on the wall on the right. The bathtub and toilet are around the corner, to the left. (The bathroom is U-shaped)

Around the corner where you can see the toilet. The bathtub is to the left. You can see part of the vanity in the left margin of the picture, and beside the toilet is part of the linen closet.

Another view, showing the dresser and part of the art gallery to the right.



Turned around and looking toward the bathroom doorway and hall outside.

The "art gallery"

Life on the Fly

Stopping in at a dead run to say hi.  It's been crazy busy around here.  I had major furnace work done last week, and it wasn't cheap.  The plumbers were also out last week and fixed myriad plumbing problems.  That's my old-fashioned toilet on the left.  They had to rebuild it.  And below that is the other part of my bathroom.  Now the faucets no longer leak, nor the sinks, either.  Gone with the buckets under the sinks!

This week I've been crawling over electricians every time I turn around.  I guess it was worth it.  One of them said, "It's a miracle your house didn't burn down."  Now I can get rid of all the extension cords that my microwave, fridge, washing machine, lamps, etc. were plugged into because half the outlets in the house had quit working. 

I'm still washing dishes in the bathroom sink, which is a major pain, but it'll be a few more weeks before I can afford to have the septic people out to fix one of the septic systems so that my kitchen sink will be useable once again. 

No, that wasn't a typo.  Septic systems, as in two.  The people who built my house eons ago must have had plans to convert it into a two-family dwelling at one time.  Upstairs I have one septic system.  Downstairs, I have another.  It's a daylight basement that I converted to an apartment years ago, but quit renting it out when the septic system for the apartment began acting up.  Little did I know that the upstairs kitchen sink drained into the downstairs septic.  And when that failed, all that dirty dishwater began flooding the apartment downstairs.  I didn't know this, as I seldom go downstairs.  When I discovered the flooding, I was sick.  Brand new carpeting ruined.  Everything musty.  It's heartbreaking.

So Thursday I have a neighbor kid coming over to help me tear out the carpet and begin the process of drying out.  In the meantime, I'm up to my ears in work, and really can't spare the time for such nonsense. 

So to all 2 of my loyal followers, I may not be dropping in as much as I'd like to.  At least for the next month or so, while I deal with a gazillion old house issues.  Ahhhh, the joys of sinking my life's savings into a 100-year-old house!