Before and After of the Bathroom

YAY!

Exciting Change in Plans!

So, our original plan in the bathroom, as you know, was the remove the claw-foot tub. A previous owner had built a hideously ugly wood surround around the tub, and we assumed that it was because the tub was in bad shape and not worth salvaging.

WE WERE WRONG!!

The contractor removed the surround this morning, and the tub is beautiful! It will need to be refinished, but when it is finished it will be so, so lovely.

Check out the beautiful feet!

Change!

So, in what seems to have been a kind of sudden and quickly-developing turn of events, WH and I are having our bathroom torn out starting on Thursday (!). This plan has come to fruition after a meeting with a contractor yesterday who is able to do the work for a reasonable price, and who has availability only for the next two weeks. He will be taking out our old claw-foot tub (I know, I know - who in their right mind takes OUT a claw-foot tub?! Well, you'd take this claw-foot tub out too, just trust me.) and replacing it with a new basic tub, putting in proper plumbing for a shower, and then tiling a surround. He'll also be tiling the floor. The other pieces of the project are not yet confirmed, but will likely involve tearing out our big (ugly) cabinet, moving the toilet over, replacing the sink with a small vanity and replacing the door with a pocket sliding door. The latter will, I think, make the space look much larger.

This renovation is being undertaken solely for the purpose of sprucing the place up for sale. We are watching the market slide in our neighbourhood and it is an uneasy feeling. Our plans to sell this summer now seem more urgent, so the sooner we can get this work done and get the house on the market, the better we'll feel.

We know that we won't be able to make the money on the house that we once thought we would, but nor will we have to pay as much for the new house as we once might have. We are working hard to expend our energy on action, rather than on feeling sorry for ourselves about the turn in the housing market.

Given how hard many people have been hit by the recession, we are very, very lucky.