bathroom discoveries

I guess with a title like that one, we could go in any direction with this post, but I am pleased to inform you that this bathroom discovery was a good one.

A few nights ago, I shuffled into the bathroom to brush my teeth before bed, and my sock got snagged on the edge of a linoleum tile. The corner of the tile lifted up, and I was surprised to find real ceramic tile underneath. The tile was covered in blackish sludge and dirt from years of glue, as well as grime sliding under the edges of the linoleum that had long since separated to form gaps.

The prior owners of our house, or the prior owners to the prior owners of our house, did some strange things with the decorating. They'd put in hideously ugly carpet, different colors in different rooms, to cover up beautifully preserved hardwood floors. They put linoleum tiles inside the kitchen cabinets, and they're still there. Both the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms feature this non-matching random colored linoleum, even though the upstairs bathroom is yellow tiled and the downstairs bathroom is pink tiled.



It was a little late to be pulling up linoleum, especially because I didn't know what the state of the tile underneath might be. I'd normally assume they covered up damage, but since I've glimpsed some of their strange workings in the past, I thought there was a chance it might be okay.





Sunday night, I got down on my hands and knees, grabbed an old wallpaper scraper and got to work. With each piece of linoleum I pulled up, I made a little wish that it would be okay underneath. For the most part the linoleum came up in whole pieces and I only had to work to scrape up a few sections.

I cleaned each square after I'd pulled up the tile with Goo Gone, which worked beautifully! I was too lazy to go to Home Depot and ask about other products, but Goo Gone ended up being perfect and got all the glue up without any problems.

Josh had to recaulk around the tub and the toilet, but this is what the bathroom looked like in the end.






Thankfully, there is only one spot next to the toilet where a tile was cracked and removed. Unfortunately, it is right near the entrance to the bathroom, so it is easy to see. I'm assuming I can try to find some cream tile that will somewhat match and then chip it down to size. Has anyone encountered a similar problem?



There wasn't any wrong, per se, with the old linoleum, but I somehow feel that the bathroom has more charm now. it seems more authentic, funkier, more interesting. Now I'm looking for a black rug to throw down next to the tub to complete the look. The one in the above picture ended up having a hole, and that was the last one in stock.













I also received a postcard that Restoration Hardware opened up an outlet store in Boston, and I picked up some old fashioned canister looking containers, soap dispenser and garbage can at their super discounted prices, and the bathroom is starting to shape up!














Now the question is, do I take the same leap of faith in the downstairs bathroom? From the gaps in the linoleum, it looks as if the downstairs tile may be color coated with pink and black tiles to match the walls. Ick. But will pink and black be better than tan, yellow and green linoleum?