The Further Adventures of Heidi and Wendy

Ch. 2 - To Remodel, or not to Remodel: That is the Question!

I've had this issue in my master bath for a while now - the wax ring that sits under the toilet cracked, allowing water to leak under the vinyl flooring, which then developed mold underneath the surface of the vinyl. This shows up as yucky grayish-black stains around the toilet, and they can't be removed with any amount of scrubbing because the stain itself is actually under the surface of the vinyl. You can see them in this picture, although it looks much uglier in person.

Since I'm still hoping to graduate sometime soon, and still hoping that whenever this happens I will have a job lined up somewhere - presumably somewhere that requires moving - I sort of figured this was something I would need to fix before putting the house on the market. It's not a huge problem to fix, but it is a big cosmetic issue and I certainly wouldn't want to have anyone looking extra-hard for other issues with the house after seeing something like this. At a minimum, this would require pulling up the toilet, replacing the damaged part of the floor, and picking up a new wax ring for under $10.

But my whole master bath is builder's grade stuff - I spent all my extra money when the house was being built customizing the kitchen, so the bath has very basic everything. And I started thinking, if I have to pull the toilet up anyway, why not upgrade the flooring to something more master bath-ish? All those home improvement shows say you get the most return on bathroom and kitchen remodels, and with the economy the way it is now I thought I might be able to find some good bargains. Here's my builder-standard bathroom in all it's non- glory. It's not just that it was builder's grade, though - this is the bathroom I use the most, and the vanity was also getting a little beat up, including some water damage inside from when I had a small sink drip going and didn't realize it for a while. And you know how once you get an idea to fix one thing, but suddenly find yourself dreaming of something bigger?

So long before Heidi came for this visit, I'd been seriously thinking about a mini- bathroom remodel. The tub/shower are functional, and I decided my budget didnt' extend to something that big, but I was seriously contemplating replacing the vanity and sink top at the same time as fixing the floor. (This makes more sense than you think - I was leaning toward tile, and to do it right I would have wanted to pull out the vanity anyway so it could be tiled under and not stick any future home owner with an awkward vanity footprint if they decided to remodel.) And since I had someone here who was sort of a captive audience, I drug Heidi off to home depot to check out what was available and help me with some decisions.

I'll blog about the actual remodeling part later - the little old ladies at home depot had us convinced we could do this ourselves. I resisted on the floor part - it's not only the lack of knowledge, but I don't have any of the tools needed to work with tile, and having the floor installed cost less than $200. But they convinced us we could handle the toilet, vanity, and sink top on our own. (Even after we told them we lit a toilet on fire last Thanksgiving!)

But meanwhile, here are the items I selected for my new, grown-up bathroom. I couldn't find a picture of the tile, but it's a 12x12 tile that is a light neutralish color. Here are the vanity and sink top, although my faucet is different. I'm still working on a color for the walls - I think that's going to be my hardest decision of all. (Well, that, and forcing myself to order some grown-up spa bathroom art instead of the adorable cartoon cats in a series of bathroom routines. The one sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper was the cutest, but I think it sort of undermines the feel I'm going for, don't you?)