Thursday, December 04, 2008

The Tomato Bath


Now that the C.S. Lewis room is complete except for a few details, mirror over the sofa and Grandmother's clock in the corner; it's on to the next project...the bathroom. Hence today's picture. Yes, the inspiration for my bathroom is a tomato.

In fact, paint number one is called "Tomato!" What could be better? The bathroom is your typical small bungalow bath, nothing spectacular which is why we figure it'll be a quick and easy redo which it surely will not be. Already it's a hot mess and that's just with the wallpaper stripped. So here's the plan for the Tomato Bath.

Tomato red paint on the bottom half and for the top half; tomato stem green. It's gonna be great and being that it's Christmas I have subliminally convinced the Mr. to trust me. Once Christmas is over he will think it looks too Christmasy but I'll have the Tomato Bath and it'll be too late.

So having seen my parents extreme success in refinishing the vanity in House #2 we have taken their lead and will refinish our vanity in Espresso. We've already picked up the medicine cabinet and over the john cabinet to match. The bronzy light fixture will be replaced with a brushed nickel fixture with very farmy tulip shades. The ceiling will be bright white and we are "dropping" the ceiling by continuing the white down the wall a few inches and putting up a white moulding. The tomato bottom and stem top of the wall will be divided with a white moulding as well. The tub tile is white already. Brushed nickel fixtures and new hardware on the revamped vanity.

The floor is where we are at a deadlock. It has to be replaced. This is, as I said, a tiny bungalow bathroom. Maybe four by seven and that's including the vanity and toilet. The Mr. is not Mr. Home Improvement; he is Mr. let's go out to dinner and a movie. He's actually quite good at this stuff but he hates it and so drags it out forever and spends more time driving around getting and returning supplies than installing them. Seriously, he literally spend all day Tuesday by his own account driving all over town pricing things so that on Friday he will go and buy them. Seriously, eight hours.

Back to the Tomato Bath floor. It has to be an easy and quick install or it will never be complete and one cannot live with an incomplete bathroom, tomato, cucumber or otherwise. We considered the relatively easy to install "floating" laminate floors. I found a bleached white wood that I loved and as you may have figured out my favorite style is farm house. He hated it. We have hardwood in the rest of the house so he feels we cannot have wood in the bathroom. He does not have any votes because of his Panera decorating scheme but I'm trying to run a gentle dictatorship. Then the Home Depot guy convinces him that the fastest and easiest floor would be ceramic tile. Come to the ceramic tile class on Saturday and all you'll need is the tile, tile saw, nippers, supplies and the Home Depot guy himself. Unfortunately that last item comes with a high price tag. I love the Mr. but I know this cannot turn out well. Plus he might try to sneak in some egg plant colored tile ala Panera and this is the Tomato Bath, not the egg plant bath. He will also, I promise you, decide that fancy tiles with inlaid cherubs or some such thing is the way to go "while we're at it." We just cannot go down this road. We are still recovering from the C.S. Lewis room trauma..."I can't picture it. I just can't picture it. I don't think it is going to work. I can't picture it." And so forth.

I am saying that if he is absolutely against the bleached white wood (fool), we need to install a simple white vinyl floor. I know it's not exactly en vogue at the moment but it will look crisp and fresh and in this tiny room with a kicky little rug to accent it it will work out just fine. And it will have the highest probability of being finished before I'm in an assisted living center.

So please, help a sister out. Remember the days of the dishwasher? It worked. You can even cast your own vote, white bleached wood laminate or white vinyl. Just put some pressure on the guy. I am not posting this on the prayer blog; yet. But that doesn't mean you can't pray.

Onward.

6 comments:

Mrs. Mac said...

I know vinyl is 'not in vogue' but everything comes back in style. We put vintage linoleum tile squares (the real thing) in our master bathroom (a pro needs to install cuz otherwise it might pop up and look awful) ... and in the other baths and kitchen we got a nice vinyl that most people swear is tile (not the 70's looking stuff). It's easy to clean, no grout to clean, not freezing cold in the winter, and if you drop something you won't break a tile or grandma's pretty vase. Wood in bathrooms (even laminate) is probably not a good idea ... if water escapes the bath tub or the toilet overflows it goes under the wood and can be a problem. Just my two cents worth.

Margie said...

vinyl

Pat said...

Wood laminate. You don't even use that bathtub, so there won't be a water problem unless you spit too hard after brushing your teeth.

tina fabulous said...

i'll corner him at practice tonite.

i know some people who will disappear his bass, no questions asked, until all tomato-related demands are satisfied. you just say the word.

Trish said...

Wood laminate...your tomato bath sounds loverly!
p.s. I must say that I love my ceramic tile and it's not near as cold as I thought it would be...it is very low maintainance.

Deb said...

Well, I don't know how hard you spit...so I suppose the wood laminate would be okay --but truly, I vote for the tile. I once installed a tile floor in my bathroom (in another house - before I was married - so Brillo Man had no input...Anyway, if I could do it - anyone can do it. It was a stone tile - 12" squares - very chic and not as cold on the toes as one would think. Stone tile comes in many colors and textures --you could find one to match your tomato room.