Pink? The rest of the recycled, repurposed bathroom!

We had a tub! The neighbor had come over again and inquired if we wanted the sink and toilet...hmmm...pink?  "Well, I will come over and look at it today" I got in my car and drove down there...he opened the door...and I was instantly in love...they were not the gaudy 1970's I had envisioned...they were 1950's with curvy lines and a pretty shade of shabby chic pink! Faded from use...and age...I will take them! I loaded them in the car and anxiously awaited Honey to come home so I could show off our new pink appliances...I kind of thought he might balk at the idea....I mean pink is not exactly a "guys" best color now, is it? Well, he loved em! They fit with the house, he could now quit listening to my wails about toilets and sinks and we could always change them out at a later date? 

Honey promptly installed the toilet, it did not have running water to it yet, but it was in there! and he hung the sink up on the wall...it also did not have running water to it...or a drain...Next order of business was to figure out how the plumbing was going to be installed...after much research and talk, we decided that a hole had to be drilled in the foundation...the bathroom sat atop the back porch and underneath it was a crawl space...the foundation to the house was a wall on the far side as the back porch and pantry had been added to the house after it was built.

My Honey said that a jackhammer was needed to get thru the foundation but we didn't have one...and to rent one was 75 bucks a day! What he did have was a small air hammer with a chisel bit...and the compressor we found in the garage...he spent 3 days down there chiseling around rocks and removing them to get a hole big enough so that the sewer pipe had the right angle to drain...the sewer pipe out to city sewer was already on the floor on the basement side of the wall (that is where the other toilet was stuck to the floor).  In the mean time, Christmas was coming...and Dad...he bought us our Christmas gift early...he was going to get us a new barbecue for our first spring in the house...but the wonderous, incredible person that he is? He showed up with all of the plumbing for the sewer, toilet, sink and the tub drain...

The foundation wall is hand tooled rock and cement 2 feet thick

We proceeded to cut holes in the floor of the bathroom floor to put the pipes in, we used a hand drill and a wood bit....the drill got really hot! We had plumbing! We had water! and we had the fixtures! Holy Moly! we had one UGLY bathroom....


THAT is where the net, HGTV, Rate My Space and all of you come in!  I searched day in and day out for ideas...I covered up the Mamie pink on the walls with white...painted the tub white...BUT I ended up with Mamie pink sink and toilet...what to do...and the floor...hmmmm...


I guess you work with what you have...up to the treasure room...I pulled out sheets...there was some beautiful linens in this house but they were mildewed and some were stained really bad...I washed them, soaked them, bleached them, Super cleaned them...the one sheet I wanted came fairly close to new...that is the one I made curtains out of...I am no seamstress, but usually, I can sew a straight line...they are very simple but the sheet material is gorgeous! They have some wear holes in them and some from moths but I had enough material to make a simple cafe curtain and a tiny valance...

I brought down a bench, one of several I saved...they were so cool...old, filthy and covered in icky yellow paint but sturdy...I scraped most of the paint off...with Super Clean in strong form, it kind of just melts the paint...white washed it with 1/2 water 1/2 paint and...shabby bench! I had enough of the sheet material to do a tiny pillow case and a cover for it if it was tailored...no ruffles...I really wanted ruffles...oh well!

I had found several old suitcases, they just have so much character and since I had no storage, this one works really well!

Wow..now you can really see my non sewing skills...lol!

I also brought down various other things to decorate with...one was the shelf that was down in the basement attached to that horrible "toilet" room...whoever made it did a great job, just painted it with white wash and added some decals and some hooks...

The medicine chest was also downstairs on that icky wall...peeling off contact paper, super cleaning it, bleaching it and then a coat of paint? It is plain but I have tried several objects in it's stead and not one has come close to belonging like this ole thing!

The item that made the most impact was the "shower curtain"...it was my Honey's idea to use the Ox yoke...after all, he had to have something manly in that pink, girly bathroom! It turned out wonderful...I bought an enormous hook at Wal mart for a dollar, spray painted it bronze and then sprayed the yoke itself with clear so it wouldn't get my curtain dirty...when I hung it up...it was terribly lopsided! Well, Honey to the rescue...he drilled holes in the ends and inserted nuts until the "weights" made it hang straight...a sheer scarf was added and TA DA! shower curtain!

The sink skirt is a dollar find at Wal mart in their clearance section and it has white ribbon sewn on for a band..it is attached by velcro, I glued the velcro on the sink with fingernail glue but I had sewn the other part on the ribbon.  It is incredible easy to get off and on when it needs to be washed.

The one thing that made me laugh was the platter...who knew?  It matches the sink and toilet to a T! and I bought it before I even knew about the house...It was a fluke, also ,that when I went thru a junk pile in a lady's back yard? I found small plates that matched the platter...plates are a really inexpensive way to recycle and repurpose for wall art...right up my alley!

My bathroom was coming together...and it seemed that someone was trying to keep it Eisenhower pink no matter what! Even the toilet paper hanger...

At first? I tried to scrub the paint off of it...

I was riding to town one day...and out of nowhere....another pile! Well, in that pile, I found a rug...it was a filthy dirty orangey looking thing...for some reason I just had to have it along with a white1940's wicker hamper...I took that rug home and washed the daylights out of it...Hmmmmm....Mamie Eisenhower pink...really? imagine that!

The one thing that took the longest was the floor...I couldn't brink myself to rip out that 100 year old wood floor....It was stained and ugly...but it was in otherwise terrific condition...what do you do?  so I painted it...I had reservations about painting it and my Honey REALLY didn't want to paint it...we finally came to the conclusion that since, someday, we were going to redo the floors anyway...the paint would be easier to get off than linoleum or peel and stick tiles, etc...

Painting the floor

Painted floor

This is where the bathroom became something special...after hand sanding, bleaching and filling in the cracks with putty...I primed it...it totally shocked me...it was just primer but it brought this bathroom to a whole nether level...







It really made it special...after two coats of just normal Kilz brand semi gloss white paint...I put two coats of paste wax on it...this floor has been simple to clean...it is still shiny after  4 months and it gets a lot of use...and it also gets water on it frequently...the only thing that might be considered wrong, in my opinion, is that EVERY spec of dirt or a single hair looks like a bulls eye target...so I keep a small feather duster by the toilet and it does a great job!  Even the lil kids that come over frequently? know to dust off the little specs after they use the bathroom...the duster just sucks them up and after a week, I take it outside and shake the holy living out of it...

Soooo....for a grand total of under $50 bucks...this is what I got...

Vintage cottage bathroom painted floor

When the sun shines in the morning, it is filled with light and in the afternoon...again...It truly does shine and it is pink...thank you Mamie Eisenhower! I love my bathroom!