I have to be honest. We have hit some major roadblocks as we begin week 3 of the bathroom remodel. The setbacks almost knocked the wind out of my sails to even finish the bathroom. It’s like When The Debbie Downer of Design Shows Up.
When The Debbie Downer of Design Shows Up
I think Debbie Downer Design often happens when you have to adjust your vision of what you want a room to LOOK LIKE and what is REALITY. Of course, there may be a disappointment.
In my heart of hearts, this bathroom needed to be gutted. But instead, Mr. Decor and I decided to simply do a “light remodel”. It just doesn’t make sense to spend $10-20,000 on a house we are only going to live in for maybe two more years. Other improvements to our home have also put us right on the fine line of what the real estate resale market value is.
What’s The Problem?
In short, an old house in Texas often has wonky walls. The clay soil constantly shifts, moving the foundation and walls. Nothing is level or plumb. This makes installing pretty crown molding and corbels almost impossible.
Even a person such as myself, who has a degree in design, can become frustrated.
Accentuate The Positive
A good solution when the Debbie Downer of Design shows up is to call on your decorating diva friends to console and offer solutions. Out of the box ideas are often the key.
Focus On The Good
But what if you don’t really have someone close that you can call on to be your decorating diva?
I recommend then reading this brilliant article.
Go ahead, I’ll wait. It’s worth it. Even the comments are amazing.
My new favorite word: “remuddled”.
If That Fails
Focus on what is good.
My absolute # 1? That Mr. Decor has been and is working so hard to try and make things RIGHT on the bathroom refresh.
That is a priceless gift that touches my heart.
So my best design advice to the Debbie Downer of Design is:
Flooring Options, Wall Treatments, and Window Treatments
With happy, satisfied eyes let’s take a look at the three areas we recently worked on.
Flooring Options
Yep, our 12″ square tile is DATED. But it is in excellent condition and a nice, neutral color. It just needed to be freshened up. So I purchased a $12 bottle of Polyblend Grout Renew in white.
Then I spent SIX HOURS on my hands and knees with a small paintbrush painstakingly applying the grout renew. It is by no means a new floor, but boy it looks so fantastically fresh!
Before
After
Wall Treatments
I had mentioned last week that we were going to add crown molding to the bathroom. Let me just take a moment and say that Mr. Decor ROCKS! Despite never having installed crown molding and faced with severely wonky walls he never gave up. We have crown molding. Is it perfect? In my eyes, yes it is. You may see things differently but I say “Change the way you look at things”.
Window Treatments
I came into this bathroom refresh wanting a FLOOR to CEILING shower curtain. I got soclose.
After my husband spent DAYS installing the said crown molding I realized that did not sit flush against the wall. It laid at an angle. This diagram somewhat shows you what I mean.
This made installing a rod in the ceiling, in which the curtain could fully cover the shower opening, impossible based on the way the shower is set up. There would be a gap of 2-3 inches on either end. So plan B. Which is oh so what I did not WANT.
But Mick Jagger warned us that we can’t always get what we want. So with THANKFUL eyes here is a solution that will keep water going down the drain and not on the floor when the 16-year old boy showers.
We are in the home stretch of The DIY Home Planner finalizing Lighting, Pattern Mixing, and Accessory Styling.
I’ve already decided that it’s going to be SO GOOD.
Laura
I’m already amazed at all you’ve accomplished at your house.
By comparison, we’ve lived in our small home (which we built 18 Years ago) all these years and still have many updates needed. But we don’t live in an area where house values rise (rather the opposite) so anything we do is simply for our own enjoyment because we’re never going to see any profit should we ever sell. Which, I doubt we will sell ever, because it’s a small home, suitable for us 2 and guests, AND we live here debt free (no mortgage), so one really can’t beat that while going into retirement. I retire exactly 1 year from this month as does Jim. Anyways, so our projects always pale in comparison to all you’ve accomplished but I’m pretty happy.
I am sure it will be amazing when you are done, you always have such great ideas to overcome anything.
The word that sticks with me from that article is lobotomizing houses, lol. So much of what is the focus on HGTV and social media is just that! What you’re is smart, Laura. I sure hope you were wearing knee pads on those knees! They are must haves for me whenever I am doing tile floors, and I love mine (originally for the garden, but had to get a pair for indoors!). Your tile and crown molding look great. You guys have worked non-stop on this house ever since you moved in. It’s incredible, and I’m sure it will sell quickly. And btw, I didn’t even know tile sizes date a place until we were redoing our bath last year, so what the general, non-design degreed public doesn’t know, certainly won’t hurt them. Clean and comfortable matters.
*what you’re doing is smart
Your floor tiles look great. 12″ or not, I doubt that anyone looking to purchase your home is going to mind – they will be looking at crown molding in a bathroom, for pete’s sake. For 2 more years of living there, I wouldn’t put a lot of $$$ into it either. It already looks amazing and will even more so when you’re finished.
That always seems to be the way, whether searching for a new house or trying to do something with the existing one – I don’t know if anybody ever gets 100% what they want. But you’ve done a good job, and it looks great! And I LOVE that article!
Last August we bought an 1898 Victorian Mansion in rural Minnesota.. One of the things that attracted me to it was that it had not been “remuddled” and ruined. All we are going to do to it, for the time being, is upgrade the electrical panels, a little bit of plumbing work, and then some painting and refreshing of the rooms. I love the space, the layout, and the old-fashioned double-hung windows. Later we will bring the laundry up from the basement and remodel the kitchen, but I want to keep it in the same spirit as the original and not knock out any walls, just use the huge space more efficiently. I love your attitude and philosophy. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, Laura, the crown molding is beautiful, beautiful. Your husband is wonderful, too. Do you have to seal that grout now? It looks like new! And don’t worry about the size of the tile. Next year, small will be out and big will be in. We don’t care about that, do we? People just want a clean, fresh bathroom. You’ve got that!
Your moulding looks pretty darn good to me! I’m looking forward to your final reveal.
Good for you to see the positive instead of how things aren’t going the way you wanted. It is looking good!
I always love hearing how you and Mr. Decor work together on projects.Your visual of the tudor house is great too. I remember hiring a talented carpenter to build shelves in a prior home. When it came to one above the window in my daughters bedroom he asked if I wanted it to be parallel to the window or the ceiling. Ouch?
It looks fabulous! I love your positive attitude which is sometimes a challenge when things do not go as we planned. I have a tip that I read on Pinterst, and it works fabulous. The next time you want to clean grout, you take liquid toilet bowl cleaner, it has to be the blue stuff, pour it on the grout and let it sit for 5 minutes, then scub with a tooth brush, the grout cleans beautifully!
I hope you have a great day!
Laura, what you have done is beautiful and very smart. When you move your efforts will certainly be rewarded. Great job!
Have a wonderful day!
Laura, thanks for the tip on the grout renewal, we are expecting a house guest who will stay for 3 months this summer and that will be a great way to get the tiled counter! all cleaned up for her.
I applaud you for making the best decisions based on balancing can and want. Truly, when you get the place decorated with your trained professionalism, I’m sure buyers will be happy.
So looking forward to the reveal!
Hubby did a great job and the crown molding will be the crown jewel of the bathroom. We are thinking the same – maybe moving in a few so what should we do. You are wise. It is nice and neutral and that’s what people want when purchasing.
I say bravo and fantastic because this is SO out of the realm of my life! But I agree on major renos. They can be horribly expensive and if you aren’t there long enough to really “pay it back” in terms of enjoyment (I’m not even getting into cost here) then let the next owner take it on. I muddle that with my family/kitchen area, which I’d love to make “one” but that would present a zillion other problems. I’ve been looking closely at Karianne’s book and the flooring options. I felt for you with the tile and hope you had a pillow or knee pads under you. I remember helping Rick lay his tile floor and that’s something I will never do again!
Things are looking good. The crown molding is great. We know so well about wonky walls here at this old house. Home stretch sounds good~