Here it is, our lovely bathroom. I don't know quite what color the tiles and countertops are...dirty lemon or harvest gold? Don said to me a few weeks ago that this bathroom was so ugly it was driving him crazy. Now in all the years we have been married, he has never said anything like that...and then as I stood there stunned ..I had no reply. I've been thinking and thinking and thinking about what to do in there. I don't have a clue! HELP!! Any suggestions?? Obviously it needs to be cheap. 
Some of my thoughts are, tear out the tile and replace with drywall. The tub has a surround, so we don't need it really...and gosh there is just so much of it! I momentarily thought of beadboard..it's so pretty, but it would be expensive and I haven't been thrilled with the way it's held up around the kitchen sink...it's ok, just not something I want to do in the bathroom.
Then I thought about replacing it with white tiles..maybe subway, but that's a little too modern for the design of our house...not to mention cost.
The one thing that has been updated is the vanity and I don't mind doing the same treatment on both of those storage units and replacing the existing doors and trim...we are s..l..o..w..l..y doing this throughout the house anyway. Oh yeah..and the tile floor that Don put in last year. 
But I just don't have any inspiration in this room. Any thoughts or suggestions??? Wouldn't this room drive you crazy too?? 
Wow...firstly i'm hugely jealous of the size of your bathroom, in England you'd have to live in a mansion to have a bathroom that big lol!
ReplyDeleteOK, in my opinion, i'd say the tiles have to go. But that might be a huge expensive project that you may need to plan and execute at a later date so perhaps we need to find a way to distract the eye from all that crazy sameness if you know what I mean. How about some tile appliques. Not the best solution but at least it will draw the eye to something and help break up the wall of 'lemon' ;-) And I think swapping or painting those cabinet doors will help a lot too.
I'm nuts about tiles in general and being Portuguese we have a history of some beautiful tiles and still produce such gorgeous tiles but if I was lucky enough to have your bathroom i'd paint those walls a nice relaxing colour, something cool in contrast to the white cabinets.
It must be so much fun doing this stuff! Enjoy :)
I feel the same way about our bathroom, so I avoid it at all costs, except to clean it once a week. At our old house, I thought our beadboard did great in the bathroom, so that's what I plan on using. We had it for a little over a year before we moved. But we had tile around the sink, so I definitely recommend that.
ReplyDeleteI hate our doors and trim. That's what drives me nuts!
We finally redid our hall bath, and it looks great. Beadboard around part of it and tile around the rest. You can see it here: http://mary-lifeinasmalltown.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-done.html
ReplyDeleteNow we have to finish our bath, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it. Can't wait to see what you decide to do with it!
My vote would be lose the tiles and just do sheetrock. Which could end up being a really big project if you tear up the walls while removing tiles. You can scuff those tiles up a bit with sandpaper/power sander, prime and then paint them, my sis-in-law did it once at my inlaws. It would be cheap project anyways, and you'd get rid of the, uh, lemonesque hue...
ReplyDeleteor my hubby said if you leave them long enough maybe they'll come back in style ;-D
ReplyDeleteEloise, yes our bathroom is a nice size and it's a good thing because our other one is tiny. Actually in our other house I did use some tile appliques around our garden tub in the master bedroom. Unfortunately I think that may just further enhances the color and draw the eye to it and if I put them on all the tiles that would probably be expensive. Tearing out the tile wouldn't cost us anything since we could do the work ourselves...but it would be a big mess and we would have to be super careful not to damage the existing drywall, cabinets or mirrors. Ugh! I wish we could just totally gut it and start from scratch!
ReplyDeleteBecky and Mary, I love beadboard, I have it in many place already in our house and both of your bathrooms are fabulous!! I just didn't want it in this bathroom, it's in the other bathroom downstairs.
Monica, we have painted tiles before and it holds up for awhile and that would be a cheap solution, but I'm looking for something more permanent so I'm leaning toward drywall. Oh and tell Aaron that is a GREAT idea;)
If he's interested once we tear them out, I can send over the solid pieces and you could save them until they're trendy.
I understand the feeling. I wish I had a magic wand and could just get my living room done!
ReplyDeleteI think if you are up to it, get rid of the tile and just paint the bathroom a solid color that is neutral but still goes well with what is already there. Or if you are going to redo the sink/countertop then you can decide on all new colors. there's all sorts of possibilities but I think the replacing the tile with new paint will be something you can do right now for at least a little relief for Don. :)
Or just tell him, honey if you don't like it, fix it ;) (kidding...sort of)