"hey! i wonder what's behind there?"

If there is such a thing as famous last words for renovators, it's got to be those.

You might note that on the bungalow to-do list at the bottom right of the page mentions that we hope to paint the bathroom trim soon. Although now...we first have to install some new trim before we can paint it.

We had set aside this past holiday weekend for painting the bathroom. We'd decided to go ahead and pick out a nice pale yellow/gold for the walls, and just paint over the plastic wallboard stuff that's on the walls. The tile is a minty green, and we kinda like it, so we wanted to leave it (besides, that's an entire remodel for the room) but wanted to get rid of the twisty, spiral tile that someone installed at some point.

You can see the "before" bathroom in this photo. It looks cute in photos but is really a weird mish-mash of styles and decades of home "improvements."

So...we started by removing the twisty tile trim. It came off easily enough--turns out it was glued on! Of course I cut myself about two minutes into this job, but I've already had my tetanus shot, right?

Then, at some point, one or both of us wondered, "What do you think is behind this plastic pebbly wallboard stuff that someone has painted a noxious pale green?" We wondered this because as we pulled the twisty tile off, bits (and by bits, I mean a lot) of old paint and plaster started falling out from behind the wallboard, which had not been secured by any other means than the glued-on tile. We debated, and then finally, riiiiiiiipppppp! off came the wallboard, literally ripped in two. It was then that we discovered that the wallboard was also nailed into place at the top only, by little tiny nails that were under the moulding (which was also glued into place!). So off comes the moulding. And part of the drywall ceiling edges. Oops.

The wall behind the plastic stuff was solid, but a little mildewy. We haven't seen any signs of a serious or recent leak anywhere, and there are no pipes in that wall (that we know of), so we think it's just years of moisture build up, or possibly an old leak. We found a few minor cracks, and in many, many places the top layer of plaster had disintegrated. Possibly some wallpaper was up at one time as well, since a yellowish glue substance seemed to still exist on the walls.

We could have chosen to hire a plaster guy at this point, or tried to learn to plaster (I read the top layer is called "skim" and it's possible to do yourself, with some practice), but no. Instead we decide the wall has "character" and decide to smooth out the worst bits with drywall joint compound. You know, the kind in the little tubs.

Two largish tubs of compound later, the wall looked...better. We haven't primed the walls yet, and plan to do that one night this week. Then we need to cut new trim (the old stuff was in fact, not old, and was made of foam/plastic) and put it up, then prime it, and caulk, and then paint the walls a nice yellow/gold.

So this is why I haven't posted anything for a few days! We picked a great weekend, though, since everything outside was covered in ice, although it did make for some interesting trips down the back stairs. They are scary even in nice weather...

More coming soon...and photos!