From: DixieBelle@blather.com
To: Bathsunlimited.com/contest
Dear Sirs,
To describe my bathroom, I must first tell you that it was my Mother's bathroom before it was mine. I moved here to care for her in her waning years, and now she is residing in a nursing home. I honestly need this renovation, badly.
The room itself is nicely sized, with plenty of room to maneuver about. That is the only thing I like about it. The floor is carpeted in a pale green Berber. My brother thought adding carpet would be a good idea after Mommy fell getting out of the tub a few years back, but after about four years of dampness, it stinks and has faded to a muckish gray color outside the tub. I tried to pull it up, but the sheet linoleum underneath is worse than the carpet.
The walls are a yellow, green and peach geometric print wallpaper, which needs to go also. I remember this being installed in, I think 1974, and I believe that 35 years is long enough. Luckily it was installed well, and to this day has not peeled.
The tub itself is a white standard tub, and there are grab bars on the three adjoining walls, but too high to be of much use while taking a bath. They were installed to help Mommy, when she used the shower chair in the tub.
There is a hand held shower head, which I think my brother welded on, as I cannot remove it to save my life. Needless to say, I have to keep one hand free in the shower to hold the nozzle, as its bracket is broken, and it flies all over the place when I lay it down unless I turn off the water, but if I do that, I get a nice blast of ice water every time I turn it back on.
There is a small window that lets in light, but is too high to actually peer out of. Should I win, I think I would like to have that enlarged, with maybe some glass brick for privacy.
The toilet is also standard, white porcelain, but it sits in a little alcove, which is actually too small for anyone larger than average. It makes me feel like I'm a prisoner, sitting there.
As you can see, I need this renovation badly, and I can't afford to do it myself. I would dearly love to come home and take a long hot soak in a Jacuzzi in my sunny new bathroom after a hard day at the Nursing Home where I work, but unless I win this contest, it will have to wait.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Dixie Black
DixieBelle@blather.com
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Comments: 23
The window and the tiny alcove sounds exactly like my mom's bathroom. What the heck were people thinking? Were they so thrilled to have indoor plumbing that any old spot would do? My husband's parents' house had a toilet in a closet. Yup -- a closet. With louvered doors, no less, right off the living room. Alrighty then!
Very fun take on the assignment.
Thanks. I've been there too with the shower head, and the carpet as well. When I moved into my house, both the bathroom and kitchen were carpeted. Who in their right mind carpets either one of those rooms? Oh yeah, an owner too cheap to lay tile over the sub flooring. Needless to say, within 6 months I had tile in the bath and Pergo in the kitchen...lol
I stayed in a motel once which had "saloon" doors on the bathroom, and I was traveling with a male friend.
Even Dixie's bathroom beats my current one. I have no tub, and no window. Only a shower with a bench seat. I miss a good soak in the tub so very, very much.
For the record, this is a FICTIONAL article. Dixie is as fake as the contest.
The shower walls are covered in plastic sheeting - still haven't got all the tile up. That's been going on for 2 years...At least we're clean. LOL
When I had the house, our tub was OK, but the walls were a plastic "surround", and the caulk had to be replaced every time someone leaned against it. The mold underneath was horrible.
My dear hubby laid stick-on tile on the floor in there, but it wasn't laid right, so instead of taking it up and redoing it, he just laid another layer of tile on top of it, which started curling almost immediately. After he died, and I met Bill, we bought some beautiful stone tiles to lay in there, but we ended up moving, so I still have 4 boxes of those tiles in our storage locker. One of these days I'll put them in another home. Ahhh...to dream.
i'm with you about the tub. i'm afraid that if i fill mine it will crash through the floor and land in the middle of the kitchen. the man is threatening to buy me an old clawfoot to put in the backyard...it's tempting but i suspect that as soon as i relax i'll have cats and bird crap in there with me! (i live next to a farm and neuter/spay all their barn cats and feed them - and the birds - so my backyard is popular to say the least...)
I would love to have an old claw foot tub.I had one in my very first apartment, and loved that old, huge thing...Let him put one in the yard, if nothing else, it would make a unique planter. I knew someone who had an old claw foot as a planter on their patio. It was pretty cool.
Thankee Duckie,
I tried to do something other than just taking a virtual room tour.
Circuit breaker box? Where else? Inside the friggin' closet where nobody can reach it! (nevermind find it)
Want to trade? LOL!
HealingLite
Keep your fingers crossed for her.
Healinglite,
Can't say that I'd want to trade, hon, but if you ever need a place to unwind, or just chill out for a while, mi casa es su casa. Actually, if I do win the contest, you are welcome to the old tub and such. I know you're doing some renovations on the land you now have, and its in pretty good shape, and I hate to see perfectly good stuff end up in a landfill.
I've lived in apartments with bathrooms like the one described; and boy was it challenging. Thank God I had a sense of humor about it.
Good One, sweetie.
I remember having an old deep claw-foot tub in my last apartment in Toronto... that I had to share with the third floor flat! Thank goodness the girl that lived upstairs and I became friends and worked opposite hours! I loved to fill the tub with Bath Therapy™ and get myself a cocktail, light some scented candles, settle in with a book (I had a narrow tray that ran across the tub and held book, bath accessories and my drink!) and soak away the stresses of the week... before my cat at the time figured out where I was and tromped across the tray to sit with her soggy tail whipping water around everywhere! ;>D
Is anyone ever satisfied with their bathroom? I know I won't be satisfied till I get a huge one with a jacuzzi, an entire wall glass block windows, and fireplace. I don't want much, do I?
This is one classy loo. Too bad you couldn't have photo accompaniments. :-)
LOL, the comments made me think of my poor bathroom....
it has "accessories" because the man that sold us the house, was disabled, but they are now rusting and do not work, no bathtub, ohhhhhh to have a soak, with a drink in a big old clawfoot tub, to he** with the water bill!!!!!
I want Purrs bathroom, jet spa, that is why she is so laid back!!! LOL
Good job on your take on this exercise, I really think you had a great idea and did a wonderful job of describing it and deciding to use a "makeover" contest~~~~~