Downstairs Bathroom Demo!!

 As promised, I have pictures of the big demo going on at the house.  Let me just tell you that things will get scary (and possibly a little boring), so be prepared!  

Remember this lovely shower?

Talk about a stress reliever!

This demo took about a day for the walls and shower, then another day (or two) for the floor.  A pry bar works wonders for pulling off old drywall and ummm....fake plastic cultured marble.  The tub is a actually a nice heavy cast iron tub and if you like flesh toned bathroom accessories it's right up your alley!

This is the shower wall, do you see the  old wallpaper?

I love history, especially the history of homes.  So, imagine my delight when I make little discoveries along the way!  (I can't wait to tell you what I found in the attic!)  In this bathroom, we found old wallpaper beneath the drywall.  This is pretty typical for older homes, so not really a surprise.  From my limited experience, I have found that these ship-lap walls were covered with cheesecloth and then wallpapered; walls, ceilings and many times a small wallpaper border at the top of the wall.  This wallpaper seemed to be a cream color with lily pads all over it.  The ceiling was light blue with metallic silver polka dots!  Oh how I wish I could have seen this when it was new.  Unfortunately, I don't have a close up picture of the wallpaper before it was torn down.  I was able to salvage a few small pieces for a project later, though!

So, back to the hard work.  Since we are rearranging the layout of the bathroom, we will have to change all of the plumbing. Apparently, the plumbers can't reach the plumbing without removing the boards on the walls, so good-bye boards.  We (and by that I mean Brian) tore out the tile floor expecting to use some elbow grease, but instead got to use a jack hammer!  I rented one for him from Home Depot and he got to work.  There were two inches of cement under the tile, that stuff wasn't going anywhere.  Hubs continues to amaze me.  

Remember this?

After!  Beautiful, right?

After all of this, we found out this week that the demo of this bathroom is not quite finished.  The floor has to come out completely so that the plumbing can begin.  Maybe we'll get to meet the little critters that had their nest under the bathtub!  

Today, I am thankful for my family.  :-)  Quick, think of five people you are thankful for (I bet you can't stop at five...)  

Until next time!