New England's Narrow Road

My Bathroom Fixer Upper, Before and After

bathroom renovation before — My Bathroom Before

I sometimes watch the show Fixer Upper with Jo and Chip, and it always amazes me at how much they can do in such a short amount of time. Of course they don’t do it alone, they have lots of help. It’s a tv show. The houses are so affordable, and they end up looking so darn nice – it almost makes me want to move to Texas. Almost.

Jo’s tagline is “are you brave enough to take on a fixer upper?” And my answer to that is, “Did I have a choice?” Not only did I buy a fixer upper, but like those of us living in the real world, I had no team of contractors (or a handyman husband) to make the fixes. And, I had to live in the disgusting house while the work was slowly completed as I had the money to hire people to fix it. I did what was most necessary, one job at a time. I lived in a cold and leaky house and was just happy to finally have my own home.

This summer I had my own little bathroom renovation done. My daughter’s boyfriend is a carpenter, and he suggested putting beadboard on my bathroom walls. As you can see from the before photos the walls had ugly paneling on the lower half. This is nowhere near being a big bathroom renovation, but it’s an example of what a big difference a small change can make.

The wall next to the toilet was covered with duct tape (that was my own handy fix!) after the plumber had to cut it to access the tub / shower plumbing right after I moved in. There was old, gold and white tile on the walls behind the paneling. That big green shelf came with the house. In fact my house had an all-over, dark green and bright yellow palette. Hideous!
As you can see, the bathroom needed help in the worst way. (By the way, I’d already had the tub re-finished after I moved in. Talk about disgusting.)

bathroom before and after pictures — Modern beadboard replaces the ugly paneling, and a new shelf provides storage.

Scott did a wonderful job on my bathroom walls. He had to remove the toilet for the weeks it took to finish the project. He even took off the heater and stripped off the layers of gross paint, and I then repainted it white. As the beadboard went up, and the new trim was added, I painted it. My daughter and I painted the upper part of the walls a pretty blue color. Then I painted a little bookcase to put next to the sink as additional storage for towels. As you can see, the green shelf is gone. It’s been replaced with an over-the-toilet shelf that was in the upstairs bathroom.

The bathroom is not done yet. Soon it will have a brand new window! Then I will put up a new window shade and my bathroom fixer upper will be complete. It’s not perfect, but it’s so much better than what it was.

Yes, Jo, I am brave enough.

bathroom renovation before and after — New beadboard, blue paint, and towel & tp holder, gave my bathroom a cleaner look.

Repurposing My Little Heart Bookcase

I’ve had this unpainted bookcase for years. The carved hearts in the sides give it a unique look. Recently it was used in my kitchen as a place to put the phone and store cookbooks.

unpainted furniture — Bookcase Before Paint

When I had my bathroom walls re-done I couldn’t afford to buy a new vanity. The bathroom is so small, that a large vanity wouldn’t work, but I wanted storage space.

I decided that the heart bookshelf was the right size for the job, but it would have to be painted white to look nice in the bathroom. Since my daughter and I had been painting walls this spring, I had some leftover paint and I put a couple coats on the bookcase.

bookshelf bookcase painted white — Bookcase Painted White

I began painting outside on my deck, but the bugs kept getting into the paint so I moved indoors to finish the job. Luckily I have a big, open kitchen where I could let the shelves dry between coats of paint.

Now this pretty little white shelf is part of my new bathroom, and it’s the perfect place to store towels and act as a little counter next to the sink.

Wrapping it Up in Fall

Spring began with hope. I had high hopes of getting a lot accomplished while the good weather was around. Then I realized that other people, who would have to help me get those things accomplished, were not as interested. The first disappointment was buying the new refrigerator.

My son came to visit for three weeks and he helped me do a lot. I had been planning to put my house up for sale by summer, but I quickly realized that it wouldn’t be ready to show. I had to wait over a month for the guys to come take down a big beech tree that broke in a high wind. The wood from that is drying before we stack it.

After 30 years of marriage and 4 kids, I am constantly getting rid of the stuff we accumulated over all those years. When my ex left, he took what he wanted and left the rest of the mess with me to deal with. Last fall I had a big yard sale and donated what was leftover to the Kiwanis sale, which happened to be at almost the same time. It felt good to lighten the junk load, but yard sales are a lot of work. You don’t have a yard sale to make money, you have one to give away the stuff you have. Prices must be set super cheap so people know they are getting a deal on everything they go away with.

I’m not planning to have another yard sale, but I am always taking items to the swap shop at the transfer station (fancy name for the dump). I have made headway. The beautiful 3-piece cherry entertainment center I put up for sale (cheap too) on Craig’s list never got one interested buyer, so we chopped it up and threw it away! What a shame, but I couldn’t keep it in the garage any longer. For 4 years it’s been taking up space that I need for the snowblower and other things.

I did do a bathroom renovation in Spring. The new white beadboard and blue paint was a huge improvement. It looks really nice, even though I didn’t have the money to spend on a new vanity and flooring. I compromised by painting a little bookcase from my kitchen, that now works as storage in the bathroom. That was a big accomplishment.

The rest of the summer I spent working on the yard and trying to get a home improvement loan. Once that finally came through, my contractor was busy doing other jobs and couldn’t get to my home improvement needs until recently. Now September is approaching fast and finally I am getting my siding put on the back of the house (see my siding story from 3 years ago). Next, the roof will be shingled (when the builder has time, but he promises it will be before winter).

I have more that needs to be fixed inside, but that can be done in cold weather so I have a feeling I’ll have to wait longer for that. Everything takes so long to finish. I have no choice but to stay here another winter. I should be ready to sell by next summer if I keep working at the fixes and decluttering until then. My house won’t be perfect, but hopefully a potential buyer will see it as a good start. New siding, new roof, and new windows… what more could a buyer want?

All too soon the leaves will change to their bright autumn colors, and then they will fall off the trees. I will rake leaves for months and then fall will end. We are all dreading winter as we have not fully recovered from the last one. It’s still a ways off, and for now I’ll be wrapping it up by cleaning out the summer vegetable gardens and chopping and stacking firewood.

How has your summer been?

Bad Business Practices and Poor Customer Service

I love New England. It’s a beautiful place to live, although you must have money to enjoy it here. I don’t have money, and I’m planning to move. In order to do so, I must fix up my house, but the incompetence I am dealing with over this spring and summer is slowing me down.

I began a home improvement loan application over a month ago. Those people are dragging their feet. Summer is short. I need the money to begin home improvements. All I ask is that they keep me informed of the progress, but they don’t.

I bought a new refrigerator at Sears, which couldn’t be delivered for 3 weeks. After patiently waiting for it to arrive, it came with the door opening the wrong way. I had specifically asked for it to be switched. It’s been 10 days and although the Sears store manager promised to get on it, he never called me yesterday, as he had promised. So now, at 10am on Friday I am waiting to hear back, after I called the store again this morning.

Is it just because I am a woman? Do sales people, delivery men, store managers, and loan officers think I am barely worth their time? Or is this just part of the growing lackadaisical manner in which business people treat their customers. It seems to have become a way of life. Continue reading “Bad Business Practices and Poor Customer Service”