Remodeling a Bath in Land Park

Remodeling a bath always starts with an innocent idea. You know, it would be nice if the tub faucet didn’t leak. I could replace it, yeah. New hardware. Maybe bronze, that seems somewhat timeless and not as trendy as brushed nickel. It’s really tough to make a decision on hardware because one day everybody loves chrome; the next day it’s gold-tones and then a decade later it’s back to chrome. You don’t want your new remodel to look dated a few years after you’re done. Remodels should transcend trends and time.

After I got past the thought process of replacing the hardware in the bathtub and changing out the dippy showerhead from 1948, it occurred to me that I am staring at a wall of glass. The other side of the wall is cedar. The easiest way to remove the fixtures is to remove the sheets of glass covering the walls. My husband and I own one of the few homes in Land Park in which many walls were once covered in colored glass.

Ack. The tiled floor. What moron installed that horrid 12-inch tile in the guest bathroom? Oh, wait, it was this moron. What ugly tile. So dated. So rosey beige. Like somebody spilled cherry Kool-Aid on top of cat puke. We definitely need to consider remodeling the bath. I felt myself begin to gravitate toward 24-inch or 18-inch.

And before you can say travertine or marble, I am in the midst of tearing out the walls and the flooring, coupled with replacing the fixtures, the light bar over the sink, and installing a new light fixture with an exhaust fan over the tub.

I asked my husband what level of involvement he would like as his participation in this bath remodel project, whether he had opinions or preferences. The response I received was amusing but typical. Is there such a thing as a negative involvement, like a minus 10?

Fortunately, I’m not all that fussy and have a pretty well formed idea in my head of how this should look. Decisions are not that difficult for me. It’s not agonizing to select tile or light fixtures like it is for some people, and once I make up my mind, I don’t vacillate.

While I did not intend to embark on a 3-week project, it’s actually a very good idea. Sometimes we live with our present environment for so long that we don’t see it the way others do until we lock out the exterior world and focus on it. There are other people who view a bath remodel project such as this as unnecessary. Other people might say that as long as everything works and you don’t fall through the floor, it doesn’t need any work. Of course, those other people aren’t watching the tub faucet drip.