Thursday 4 April 2013

Transformation of the bathroom

I've mentioned before that our cottage renovations and improvements have been going on for some time; approximately 22 years I believe! So I thought I'd show what we did to the main family bathroom over this time - I hope this isn't a boring post - I love to read house renovation and decoration blog posts.

When we first bought our house it was 2 cottages, I suppose semi-detached best describes them downstairs it was two separate houses but upstairs all one. One side was lived in and one side derelict. It was debateable whether one side was actually habitable but an elderly lady certainly did live there.

We had to wait over a year for all the necessary permissions covering the work we wanted to do and for the first few months we camped out in the house. I didn't use any of the cupboards and lived out of suitcases until we decided a caravan in the garden was a better option.

The house had been fixed up over a period of time by the owners late husband, one of the improvements was the electric pump to bring water from the well into a tank in the eaves space. She explained that the pipe had a filter on it and we should switch on the pump every day for a short time to fill up the tank. The switch in the kitchen activated the pump but had been installed upside down; so when it said on it was off and when it said off it was on! There was no cut off for when the tank was full but when water started to drip down the kitchen window you knew the tank was overflowing! One day I ran a bath only to find it full of dirty water and some small twigs - it appeared the filter had broken. The builder went to investigate the filter - what type was it? Would we easily be able to get another? Not a problem as the "filter" was an old pair of tights!

The houses had obviously been built without a bathroom but Mr DIY had added one some years ago; it was a wooden shed attached to the side of the house and knocked through! A little chilly to say the least. It only housed the bath though, the loo and basin were in another cupboard like room just off the kitchen (ex coal hole probably)

bathroom/shed
The loo had a window which didn't shut and I had my worst moment when going to clean my teeth one morning I found a snail on my toothbrush! I wanted to cry right then, the journey to get permission to renovate the house was a long one and then we had to tackle the build! I don't really think we knew what was in store for us (just as well) and we were on a very tight budget.

The new bathroom and an en-suite at a later date were to be situated in the eaves spaces, once the roof had been lifted to allow head height. Personally it just didn't seem possible to me when it looked like this....
The afore mentioned eaves space is behind the fetching red curtain! And my lovely Timothy (or Timmy Titten as he was fondly known) was not at all impressed by his new home
 (he did like the mice though)
Sorry about the awful pictures but they are old and have been scanned in.
 
Well the bathroom took shape eventually and we were able to afford to fit out one of them, we were only a family of two then so that was fine for the time being. Money was in short supply as The Builder had given up work to spend all hours on our house, I worked full time and we cashed in everything we had - including our car!
the dividing wall between bathroom (far side) and en suite - almost built. Me peeping through from the far end!
 The first incarnation of the bathroom was very "early 90's" and brightly coloured. In those days we had no need for a long soak in a relaxing environment, we had no children to escape from! We couldn't afford the free standing bath I'd set my heart on and we regretted the pine panelling almost as soon as it was done! Panelling it horizontally was a nightmare as any drips and runs of water left marks no matter how we sealed the wood.
post baby - note the bath toys!
The bathroom ceiling sloped down to just above the tiles so head height was still a bit restrictive.
I had been itching to redo the bathroom from day one and got my chance when two things happened. First we decided to add a bedroom above our kitchen which in itself was not too difficult but meant we had to create a hall through our bedroom and lose the en-suite. In doing this we could raise the ceiling of the bathroom and enlarge it slightly. However The Builder would no doubt have bodged together an almost matching extension to the tiles etc if I hadn't have inadvertently turned the water back on one night after he turned it off. I didn't realise it was off for a reason! The whole room flooded and as you step down into the bathroom it didn't creep onto the landing but the water went straight down; and flooded the hall below!
 It now became a much bigger job and we had to strip it right back to basics, hooray!
We were able to add a shower and retile and re-do the floor.
It is now my sanctuary and I love it - still a few too many kids things around but we've recently regained an en-suite so I'll be moving in there soon.


 
The bath is re-panelled and painted antique white, there are pale beige tiles and limed wood-look lino on the floor. I really like the flooring, it was really expensive but our insurance was new for old when we flooded so we could have almost anything.
The ceiling candle holder was made by a blacksmith from a metal beer barrel ring (not sure what the proper name for them is)
There is a feature wall at the end painted a coffee colour, the room can't take too much colour as it only has one tiny window.
 I should also point out that during the renovations (2nd time around) we're removed all the skirting boards as they just never seemed right with the wonky walls - it's not very practical as shoes, sports & school bags and the hoover leave scuff marks all the time!
 
Well I hope this is ok as a post, I'm not sure if it's interesting to anyone else or not!

35 comments:

  1. I love your bathroom now. It looks really warm and cosy. Vertical paneling on the bath is definitely an improvement! xx

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  2. Your new bathroom looks so lovely.
    I really like the white panelling around the bath.
    It sounds like you have had to wait quite a while to get this far!
    I'm like you, I enjoy reading posts about other peoples transformations, they can be quite inspiring.
    Lisa x

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  3. I love reading about house decorations/ renovations. Your bathroom look so lovely and the ceiling candle holder immediately caught my eye!
    Sarah x

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  4. Like you I LOVE re-model posts, think they reveal a lot about the person and the time in your life and room and the country. I had forgotten how hard it was to get permissions to do things in England - its pretty much zip zap here. LOVE your bathroom with the wall colour and the pattern on the blind and the addition of the beer crate roundy thing - really cool. Like clothing think Brits take many more risks for interiors and make everything eclectic!

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  5. I only wish our tiny bathroom with it's leaky tap was to get a makeover. Yours looks fab.
    June

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  6. We're renovating our bathroom at the end of this month so this is certainly of interest to me! The transformations look amazing and I really love that ceiling candle holder.

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    1. Thank you, hopefully you'll post photos too?

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  7. I can't believe the before pictures - no wonder living in a caravan was preferable. New bath looks great - like the flooring a lot.

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    1. Thanks Beryl, the caravan was pretty awful too - that's another story!

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  8. Oh well done! We inherited a truly disgusting bathroom but made it the first room to get a makeover - so I could have a hot soak in a clean sanctuary at the end of a long and hard day's work on the rest of the house. Worth it (but I wouldn't want to do it again. Would you?)

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    1. No we've talked about it Freda, but wouldn't do it again!

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  9. Looks brilliant Jay! Great colours and it's such a big space! I love the candle/light fitting thingy :-D Please keep such posts coming - I think most people love a good diy/reno post. Have a great weekend! Mel x

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    1. The photo is deceptive Mel, it's not big at all, just long and thin!

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  10. Firstly, yes I love posts like this. It looks wonderful now and you certainly deserve it after all you went through. I think the snail on the toothbrush would've been the last straw for me!

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  11. I've just seen your comment that you went to Biddy's today. Glad you liked it.

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    1. I loved it and will be going back, the scone was huge!

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  12. WoW! What a transformation - it's gorgeous! I'm in awe of the amount of work you and The Builder have done; I thought we'd done a lot to our place, but in reality we lived in a rental house while we got someone else in to do all the hard work, so we had it easy.

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    1. We really had no idea how much work there would be - rose tinted spectacles and all that!

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  13. Looking inside other peoples houses? of course a post on that is 'alright'...it is one of my favourite things to do...and I don't think I'm the only one! Your bathroom is really beautiful....what a treat to have a shower in there...and what kind of lino did you use?

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    1. Thanks for dropping by Libby! I'm not sure about the lino, we did the bathroom a while ago & I just repainted it recently. It has a wood grain in it and is a matt finish. It's quite thick and looks liked limed oak planks; very practical. Wouldn't have been able to afford it if it hadn't been part of the insurance claim!

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  14. I love the lightfitting... do you light the candles? I'm trying to persuade Salp that we need a new bathroom floor at the moment... she's a big job though! x

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    1. We only lit the candles once (it's too high) and husband did that as a surprise, he bought 4 candles one for each holder, when he got up the ladder he noticed there are 5 holders! We never did buy the extra one!

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  15. I love seeing before and after posts so loved this one... your bathroom looks lovely.

    Victoria x

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  16. I love having a gander in other people's houses - bring back Through the Keyhole! The bathroom looks lovely now!

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  17. Absolutely ok to post about renovations. We are all nosy beggars at heart!
    Love your new colour scheme and your 'accent wall'. Interesting you should get rid of skirting boards too.
    I remember our 90s style - we all went a bit dado crazy and our colour schemes were just a tad too bright. Our house is all 'natural calico' now: took ages to paint over dark terracotta and dark green!

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    1. I'm definitely a nosey beggar!
      The first incarnation of our house was just like that, terracotta, bright orange, yellow you name it we had it and lots of stencilled borders!

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  18. Hello Jay, thanks for posting on my blog and my apologies, I have only just found your comment, purely by chance; I used to get email notifications of every comment but they seem to have dropped off, and I am well out of date to thank you!

    Just working my way through your blog - and certainly don't apologise for lovely photos and tales of your renovations! More!

    Catch up again sometime. L.x

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  19. Hi Jay, I found you from your comment on my blog :-) I love your new bathroom, I went through something similar myself, soooo worth it when it's all completed Rowen@ Coastal Colours x

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  20. wow, what a transformation ! I love the new bathroom, you must feel like your in a hotel in there!
    http://myfroley.blogspot.com

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  21. What a transformation! You've got a good looking new bathroom there. :)

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  22. Hello Jay,

    First of all, thanks so much for posting such a sweet comment on my most recent post. Like Lynn, above, I, too, am not getting all my comments in my inbox! This is very frustrating as I JUST discovered yours and some other really nice folks who did the same!

    Your new bathroom is lovely and serene. Love the chandelier and the sloping roof! Sometimes, good things take a little while to develop, but when they do, it is quite rewarding.

    Poppy :)

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  23. renovating bathrooms are not just for design. It is also done for safety and hygiene. Changing floors will avoid slips. It will also prevent bacterias from growing.

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  24. Who wouldn't love that bathroom? My bathroom is also my sanctuary since that is the place in the house where I can be totally alone. Your old bathroom is downright ugly, so I am really happy that you had it redone. And I can say that you did a great job in turning that place into a haven! Roland Duffer

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  25. Woah! 22 years is a very long time, but with all the setbacks aside now, I believe you will be able to do all the renovations you want. It's always nice to see your ideas come into fruition, and the new bathroom you have is just amazing. I love the sliding glass door for your shower area. Thanks for sharing this, Jay.

    Rapid Roofing Renovations

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