The Bathroom Elements are Coming Together!

So I told you that I had found the perfect vanity for the bathroom remodel at a trailer park for $20. Here is a picture of it after it had been sanded down, re stained, and varnished. The wheels need to be replaced still and the knobs although at first I thought they were glass turned out to be just plastic and broke at that. They will have to be replaced as well.                                Above you will see the faucet we

 ended up with. It looks like the chrome one but

it has that lovely curved spout that I love. My three

year old son picked it out. I think he did a very nice job!



I got excited today and took the sink out of it's box. It's been just sitting in the bathroom since October and every once in a while I drag it out to see how pretty it is and how nice it will look when it's all done. 

Here are three paint samples I threw up on the wall to check out. The far left is called "Hint of Mint". I think it's a bit to light for the space. Don't you?

The second one is called "Water Spout" and both C and I love it. We never agree on color so I was very surprised.

The right one is called "Peach Tree" and although a lovely shade I can't help but feel that "Water Spout" wants to come and live with us for awhile. 

Tile Picture didn't work

So, sorry the picture of the tile didn't work. Here it is again.

Join me tomorrow for Falling Down House's new feature "Ask Sher" where you can ask Sher any and all questions about the nightmares of remodeling…

I came across this tile the other day!

Hello there my Readers!

I have been staring at the world's ugliest, and in nasty shape I might add bathtub tile for the last 5 years. It is grimy and I have tried everything I could imagine to brighten it up or make it look like it is supposed to. It is a plain white, glossy ceramic 4x4 tile that people put in bathrooms when they have no imagination. It was there when we bought the Chateau Ghetto. I have hated it from day one.

The good thing about the bathroom rotting away underneath us is the ability and the necessity to remodel without C being all nutty. So obviously I want to replace these ugly tiles and while walking around in Home Depot the other day I came across these fabulous tile. The little square tile match the tile on the floor perfectly.

I'm still not totally sold on them though. Tell me what you guys think…. Leave a comment and if you like Falling Down House go ahead and take the plunge become a follower…

See you next time….

Vessel sink Faucet

Hello there loyal readers!

Today I am coming to you with a bit of a dilemma. Now, that I have the vanity and the glass vessel sink of my dreams I need a little help deciding on a faucet. I found a plumbing supply warehouse that is moving and they are selling out as much of their stock as possible to make it easier to move. They are offering all three of these faucets for between $45 and $125 a piece and it even includes the step up ring and the drain. Who knew that these came separate? I sure didn't. I am attaching the pictures of all three. Email me and let me know which one I should choose.

Email me at blythenbonny@yahoo.com with your pick!

I know I promised my next post would be about painting the cabinets but a new problem in Le Chateau Ghetto has emerged which needs my attention and yours as readers. Our piece of urban paradise (yes, this is a joke) has a full bath and a half bath. They stack on top of each other at least until a few weeks ago when parts of the upstairs bathroom collapsed into the downstairs half bath. (Please, see attached picture of the hole in the downstairs ceiling).

When we bought the place we discovered the old owners had taken a sledgehammer to a few things 'ere they parted and one of them was the upstairs potty. We replaced the potty with a spare the in-laws had. (Yes, it is weird they had a spare. They were adding an addition to their house at the time and had bought one and changed their mind).

What we didn't know is that the flange had been busted and the new potty had been leaking for 5 years. We knew the floor was bad but we thought we had time before we had to fix it.

WE WERE WRONG!!!!!

So with the collapse came the immediate upgrade and remodel of the bathroom. We ripped up the floor. (See picture of broken flange). That pink you see is the downstairs bathroom. It is a weird feeling to stand on one floor of your house and stare down into another room from where used to be a floor. I put in new tile. I chose these 16 x 16 in porcelain tiles because I hate doing tile (I get anal about grout lines) so I decided the bigger the tile the less I had to mess with. (See perfect grout lines picture). Yes, those are perfect grout lines.

Next came the new potty. It is dual flush! I discovered that this means it has two different flush levels and forces. The big button for light things and the little blue button for heavy things. We put it in and the darn thing leaked. We tried everything we could think to stop it but ended up just turning the water on/off when we needed it. We also kept plenty of towels around it. We called in a plumber friend of ours and discovered the directions that came with the potty were wrong and after 10 minutes (we struggled with it for 3 weeks) he fixed it!

So here is where we are now. There is a tub/shower in the room with a new floor and potty. Eventually the tub and the tile work in the surround will be replaced but as of yet we are focusing on getting a sink in!

I bought a fabulous frosted glass vessel sink for $56.00 at Floor and Décor Outlets but was unable to find a vanity for it I liked. C doesn't really like having a say in it and since I do all or the majority of the remodel I usually pick and only ask his advice when I am stuck.

I was having a hard time finding the perfect vanity for the vessel sink. I was unsure if I wanted to find a piece of existing furniture and repurpose it or build a new one from scratch. I even looked into a already made vanity but couldn't find anything. In dismay I decided that I would abandon my dream of the bowl sink and just put in a pedestal sink. I found one at Lowe's for $48. I took it home and set it up so I could get a good idea of what it would look like. It was at best okay. It just wasn't what I set my heart on. In the last five years I have come to accept that there are things I would like and love to do but I either can't afford them or it would price us out of our neighborhood. Being an accountant the last option is simply not something I will go for. Did I mention I'm and accountant by day and a weekend remodeler?

On Saturday my niece and I happened to drive past a trailer park where they were having a yard sale. There before my eyes was my vanity. I quickly went home and grabbed C to come look at it. We decided we would not pay more than $40 for it. We measured our space and raced out the door completely leaving the tape measure behind (pretty standard for us). When we got to the Trailer Park it was still there. It was even better up close. It is an antique dresser with three drawers and glass knobs. We bought it and took it home.

Next step repair, reconfigure, and repurpose.

I don't want to give the surprise away just yet. I will post a picture of this precious vanity when I start my new post.

Join me next time with: The Vanity of my dreams … or it will be….

Kitchen and Mold: A Tasty Treat

Over the years (5) to be precise our kitchen has been many different things. It has been an orange 1986 horror, and $100 fix up, and what it is right now, NEW! When we moved into the house I hated the kitchen because it looked like an orange nightmare.My husband C told me he didn't care what I did to the house he just didn't want to be involved in any shape of form and I had to pay for everything out of my income. I had great ideas already in my head. I pictured hardwood floors, granite counter tops, and nice crisp white cabinets with and antique finish.Three weeks after we moved in my husband was laid off from his job as an Insurance Agent. C hate being an Agent so I held down the fort while he found what he wanted to do. So my dreams of the perfect kitchen were derailed a bit.  

So the white cabinets ended up yellow and the frosted glass inserts became toile wallpaper inserts with ceramic apple handles. The counter top I painted a faux finish in yellow,brown, and red.The whole kitchen makeover cost under $100 and I was happy with it other than the last obstacle.

 The floor was still a horror as you can see in this old picture.

After we had been in the house a few years we had a baby boy we call Goo. He was born early and had a few problems so the rest of the remodel (cheap as it was) was put on hold. Then one day when Goo was two I was watching dishes. Yes, washing them not putting them in the dishwasher (that's a whole different post). I smelled something terrible. It smelled like Goo needed a diaper change. I took him into the living room and discovered that he didn't need a change. I went back into the kitchen but still smelled that nasty smell. So I took out the garbage. I still smelled it. I started to look around to see what it was. I took all my cleaning supplies out from under the sink and what did I discover????

MOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was everywhere under the sink, up the wall and we soon discovered it had creeping its way under the tile from hell and it had to go. The whole kitchen was a gut job. We took our dimensions and found that stock cabinets in unstained Oak would cost $1900. That wasn't too bad but one day while stopping in at Lowe's on a whim we discovered they were closing out a few cabinet lines and we were able to get Hickory in a natural finish instead. We were also able to get the whole kitchen cabinets for under $800!!!! We then decided to put in granite tile instead of a slab and we saved another $1500, plus we learned how to tile. Since it is so popular we decided to add a glass Mosaic back splash but to make it affordable we added tin tiles with an embossed pattern. We kept the old sink my parents bought us a new dishwasher, the in-laws bought us a new stove and we sprung for laminate floors in a heart pine pattern. So far the whole kitchen has cost us $2500. I will post more pictures as we go along. There is a lot to this kitchen and a lot of stupid mistake to take on one at a time.

Join me for the next post: How to Really Paint Kitchen Cabinets and what you really don't want to do.