Remodeling Week: The Epic Begins

Longer ago than I want to know for certain, but measureable in years, not months, Mrs.5000 and I embarked on a remodel of the upstairs bathroom of Castle5000. The project, to be generous, has proceded in fits and starts. We managed to do quite a bit to the space without actually making it either fully usable or at all attractive, and then for various reasons we sort of... stopped.

And really, it doesn't matter why. There's no point in arguing about who "can't tear himself away from his goddamn blogs" or who "has no time for anything but her precious bookarts." The point is that over the next week, we are going to throw ourselves at this project with a unstoppable forcefulness and coordinated effort the likes of which hasn't been seen since the siege of Troy. Both Mrs.5000 and I are taking the week off and, except for a few days at Thanksgiving, we'll be doing home repair like its never been done before.

The PhotoEvidence!

Now, we'll be partially motivated by our desire for an attractive and functional living space. But thanks to you, the L&TM5K readers, we'll also be motivated by fear and shame! For posted below are seven pictures of the bathroom as it stands right now. And on Monday, November 30, I will rephotograph these exact same shots, and you will either be mightily impressed by our fantastic progress... or friends, you will jeer and scorn. Or maybe both.

I: The Shower

We took off the truly skanky old shower lining, put on new backer board, and tiled that sucker. We never sealed the tile, though, and there's assorted detail work to be done.

II: SE Corner

Here we see an experiment in color selection overlain by an experiment in wall texturing, plus a rather successful retrimming of the window. Also what cheap tile flooring looks like after three or four generations next to a toilet. Did I mention that this post was not vetted by Mrs.5000?

III: The Sink

We're actually pretty proud of our installation of this cute little sink, which replaced a comically tiny vanity sink that was there before. We are willing to admit that we have not yet provided it with an elegant setting, however.

IV: The Door

With the wall on the left here, which is also the foot of the tub -- we had to take it out, reframe it, put up new sheetrock, etc. There's new trim around the door. The door itself is unfortunately still an awful sickly yellow. And this is by far its good side.

V: Built-In Shelves

Easily the best carpentry I've ever done in my life. Just don't look too close at the details. A few coats of paints will hide most of the flaws nicely.

VI: The Floor

Did I mention, the floor is pretty heinous? We're going to cover it with a bamboo composite that will hopefully brighten things up a little bit and make it look a little more, you know... clean.

VII: The Light Fixture

You have NO IDEA how glad I'll be to see this go.

Wish us luck!