The Wren's Nest: The Master Bathroom Before and During Remodeling

Hello!

During the summer we spent a lot of time working on our little place in the mountains, The Wren's Nest, which we purchased last fall during the week that we were closing up Birdsong Cottage for the winter. This little old single wide mobile home is in the same mobile home park as Birdsong, and though seven years newer than Birdsong, having been built in 1976, it needed a lot more work since it had never been updated. Since we got it for a great price, it having come out of an estate sale, it was worth the effort since in the long run it will have more to offer us than Birdsong did. The park that it is in, though old, is wonderful and in a great section of  Hendersonville, NC, where anything you could need to buy or do is just a few minutes away. So while the thought of buying such an old mobile home would be odd to most, it is pretty commonplace in that area. As the homes get fixed up with the new generation of retirees (like us), they tend to increase in value. Not to mention that there is a real sense of community because of the great people that live there.

In June, right after I completed the painting and he finished laying the laminate flooring and putting in the 4-inch baseboards, my husband ended up with a nasty wound on the bottom of his foot, and since we were up there when it happened, we ended up going to a wound specialist in Asheville. We developed a great rapport with that doctor, and consequently spent a lot of time up there. Because of the wound, Bob was in a cam boot most of the summer, and not allowed to drive. So we obviously couldn't do much of what we had hoped to.

Because we were back and forth most of the summer, I didn't have much time to post about our adventures, so here goes nothing!

These first three photos show the bathroom

as it looked right before we took ownership

last November.

Here is the original harvest gold fiberglass

tub and surround.

This is the toilet that was in there.

Since it worked quite well,

and was fairly new,

 we took it out and saved it

for the guest bathroom remodel,

replacing it with a new one 

that is a little higher.

You can see the flooring,

which was peel and stick faux wood vinyl.

Bye bye.

Also, to the left of the toilet is a piece of 

wall that juts out,

whose purpose remained unknown to us.

Also bye bye...

In April, during our first trip up here,

Bob took an ax to the tub and surround.

The only way he could get it out was to

remove it in pieces.

( I couldn't take photos of him doing that

because he doesn't appreciate my telling

him to pose while I shoot!)...

The focal point of this room is without a doubt the vanity

and tin medicine cabinets with the sliding door thingys.

The cup dispenser was one of a million or so items

that the previous seller had attached to the walls,

cabinets, doors, and everywhere else that 3M hooks would stick.

Particularly fascinating were the old timey faucets that when you

turned the water on scraped your knuckles on the low-hung

medicine cabinets.

Can you believe that the countertops,

which were originals,

were neither scratched nor chipped?...

So, when we went up in May, my Mother's day 

was spent putting in the new bathtub.

Ever so much fun when you have no wiggle room.

Remember that in mobile homes a lot of this stuff

is put in at the factory,

with walls being added later.

So behind the tub you see the original paneling

that had never been painted,

and below it you see a section of the original

yellow and gold flooring,

which was covered by the old tub.

We had to rest the tub on an old chair

to be able to maneuver it in.

You see the hole for the plumbing to

the right...

Though a bad photo due to the light,

below you can see the delightful ceiling 

above the mirror.

This was from a very old leak

that was revealed when we decided to take 

down the flimsy bulkhead 

that housed two very ugly globe lamps.

The rotted ceiling did not smell,

nor was it wet, 

but it was brittle,

so we covered it up with something 

a little decorative.

In this photo you can also see the original

wallpaper (top left near the rotted ceiling)

and the second go around of wallpaper,

just underneath it,

which covered only half of the walls.

(The rest of the walls were the old paneling).

We hung my little bedroom mirror in here

while we were working,

and made do with this hanging light bulb...

Here is a photo of the right corner above the vanity.

Old wallpaper from under the bulkhead,

new wallpaper underneath it.

My attempt on the left to see if dark grey

paint would cover it. 

Naught! The paper was embossed!

My attempt to see if paneling was under

the wallpaper.

Naught! Just plywood!

So we backed away from wall design choices...

...and Mr. Perch decided to fiddle 

with the plumbing,

with the goal being to add shut-off valves,

a luxury missing from each sink in this dump!

The fiddling did not go well and took three days

over two trips

to rectify.

Not easy when you have a bad foot.

Not easy when you can't be up there all the time.

Not easy when you are trying to fix bad 

work done by those who just know enough

to be dangerous...

Hubby then covered the hideous ceiling that 

was rotted under the bulkhead

( we suspected that the bulkhead was a 

camouflage act)

with plywood (later painted), 

and he hung two pretty hanging lights.

We then decided that we wanted a bead board look 

on the walls,

and I felt that the best (cheapest!) way to accomplish

that was to purchase paneling

and install it over the awful wallpaper.

It was a light grey color and not fun to install,

and you see it behind the light below.

It went over about three walls.

And then had to be primed before I could paint it

without it all peeling off..

I cannot remember when I last had this much fun...

We then replaced the vanity top with what you see below.

These are the ones sold in the big box stores

that you cut to fit yourself.

We managed to get it done with no mistakes.

The sinks and faucets were also purchased similarly,

and really ended up looking lovely in the finished bathroom

considering that they were pretty inexpensive...

Here is a shot of the corner where that piece of wall

jutted out by the toilet.

Gone!

These two walls also still had their original 

paneling...

Below is the completed vanity

(the old vanity was just painted,

as were the knobs that were on it),

and the first stage of the new flooring.

To the far left you can also see where Bob

trimmed out the corner seen in the photo above.

(I had finished painting the walls at this point)

The Wonderboard was recommended

by the guy in Lowe's.

It was able to go right over the old flooring

and provide an even surface for the tile to come...

And here is the tile showing a portion of

the newly painted walls.

Baseboards were not in yet...

In my next post I will share photos of how it all turned out.

If you are still awake after this post,

I thank you for staying with me.

If you are not awake,

I thank you for trying!