Home Improvement

My husband and I decided to embark on a do-it-yourself (well do-it-ourselves) project this holiday weekend. Our house, also known as a starter home, has some of the ugliest bathrooms ever. We decided to replace our nasty vinyl, lighting & one of the ugliest vanities ever in our guest bath room. I was inspired by YogaGirl more than a year ago seeing her bathroom transformation. Granted, we were not planning to do anything so ambitious, what with her pretty tiles and dazzling color schemes. I just wanted something a bit less chintzy.

We stocked up at Lowe’s last weekend. I used to be a Home Depot loyalist but my last few visits were  a disappointment. I went to Home Depot for several major projects including a new water heater with installation and new flooring for my 800 sq foot basement. I wanted to spend substantial sums of money. Getting people to help me or scheduling the installation was not an easy process. It should not take over an hour in store to arrange for the installation of a hot water heater once you’ve purchased it. Our Lowe’s experience provided a surprising contrast. We found all of the items we wanted then realized they would never fit in the car. We stopped by customer service to see how to arrange delivery and learned we could do it at check out. It was painless and easy. We did indeed schedule delivery at checkout adding about 3 minutes to our departure. As planned, our new cherry vanity arrived today. Of course we are not quite ready to install it. But, I’m a Lowe’s convert. Sorry Home Depot.

Here is our before.

Yes, I know how 1975 it looks even though our house was not built until more than 10 years later.

Today we began the demolition. The lovely fluorescent light fixture, mirror, storage cabinets and vanity came out relatively easily. We’ve started ripping up the torn vinyl and have found water. We hadn’t planned to replace the toilet but it looks like we will at least be replacing the O-ring at the floor drain. There is a damp area spread out in a large diameter around the toilet. I think we will also be replacing the wood under the vinyl. This small job just got much larger in scope.

Wish us luck.