A Thing of Beauty

They say that art is something pretty to look at, but that design achieves a purpose. After months of misery, I think the transformation of this bathroom is BOTH!

Everyone knows the bathtub story, but there's more. When the plumber forced us into an under-mount tub with solid surface tub topper, the depth of the tub area required us to purchase an entire slab of granite instead of a 1/2 slab as we had done with the living room and Jerry's bath. So granite guy says "well, you might as well replace the vanity counter tops because you're going to have the left-over granite and if you don't use it we'll just leave it in your garage until you need it." So I say, "are you telling me I can replace the vanity top for the same price?" They don't speak much English but they got a BIG LAUGH out of that!

Ceiling was raised to maximum height, wallpaper removed, new light fixtures and a beautiful framed mirror installed to go along with the new vanity top. Since we were changing everything else to Antique Bronze, we replaced the faucets on the vanity and had to order FIVE faucets to get two with a similar finish. By this point, I was immune to these "quality control" delays.

Juan found an unused phone line behind the wall of the old bathroom, so he hooked up a phone jack in case I get so comfortable in here that I don't want to leave to answer the phone! Of great importance is the placement of the toilet that now allows me to put the cat box where it is hidden. I cannot begin to describe the level of pressure I had to exert on three different plumbers, Wilmer the granite guy, Juan, his father AND his father-in-law to make this happen.

I'm still working on a towel solution ~ most likely a standing towel rack that will go on the back of the tub-topper against the tile wall. Blanca rolled up my extra towel so it looks like a spa. She cracks me up!

Wide view of tub ...



We're still waiting on a longer shower arm to put the shower head fully over the tub and a few other small things, but the bathroom is basically finished with the exception of the shower panel. Dauphin Sales (Melanie Brown) will be installing a sliding glass panel that will store behind the wall of the cabinet and pull out to prevent water from spraying onto the floor.

In the Beginning ...

Here are the "before" photos of the master bathroom. I want to confess that I am responsible for the wild, striped wallpaper, but I am NOT responsible for the "Miami Vice" wall mirrors with the beveled accents. In my defense, the purple and taupe striped paper was a vast improvement over the hot pink the former owners had used everywhere.

This bathroom also had the lowered ceiling, with large can lights & no fixtures ~ vanity of cultured marble, which I was originally going to save. One sad thing about tearing these bathrooms up was demolishing the tile floor that our friend Chris Allen installed when we bought the house in December of 1999. Chris passed away late last year after battling cancer for quite a while.



The original vanity was functional and looked nice, but the drawback of this bathroom was the closed in feel, unnecessary walls and original placement of the shower & toilet. The concept was good, but the effect was a very small, "T-shaped" room.

The short wall with the electrical switches/plugs has been removed in the new bathroom

This wall has been removed and the shower/tub has switched places with the toilet for a more open feel in the remodeled version.

That Was Then ... This is Now

Here are the side-by-side comparisons for Jerry's bathroom. Before ...

After ...

Old, closed-in shower with low ceiling ...

New & improved shower with raised ceiling and 1/2 wall for an open feel.

All of these furdowns have been removed so that the higher ceiling is consistent throughout the bathroom. Couldn't put my hands on the photo of the open area over the cabinet, but the lighting alone ~ ripping out that cheap overhead panel and replacing it with an actual light fixture was a great improvement.

Oh Yeah ... The Living Room & Kitchen!

Since we were already in the "granite buying business" we replaced the beige linoleum counter tops under the book shelves in the living room with a dark granite to match the black marble fireplace surround. The contrast with the white cabinets and shelves is a tremendous improvement!







We've never had a light over the dining room table and since this area of the ceiling was open from the plumbing work in the master bath, we had Juan run the wires to install a new light.



For some reason, I don't have any "before" photos of the kitchen, but the old ceiling was very low ~ it came out off the top of the door frames and cabinet tops. Juan & crew ripped it all out and reframed to work around plumbing and AC vents. We created this new raised ceiling design and the impact is dramatic. The kitchen is the same size, but feels much larger.

Please note the beautiful new kitchen faucet that Jerry picked out!

You're Welcome!

We received this Thank You note from Luke and it was so cute I had to post it. For all the adults reading this who aren't familiar with Nintendo DS, the translation is that he used his Target Gift Card to purchase a new Super Mario game. The drawing shows his hands playing his Nintendo DS ~ very good drawing!

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad ...

In the words of 80's rock icon Meatloaf ... "two out of three ain't bad" even if it has taken months to get here! Attached are a few photos of Jerry's bath. I'll post an update with before and after comparisons when I have time to go back to those old photos. The big change is raising the ceiling and cutting a half wall where the shower had been completely enclosed in the past. We also put in a shower bench ~ not necessary but nice to have ~ glass shower door and replaced old tile counter top with granite.

From One Disaster to Another

It's been almost 7 months since Hurricane Ike demolished Galveston. Much progress has been made, but much work remains! This jacuzzi tub washed in with the high north winds on Sunday afternoon and lodged under what's left of our dock. I hate to even think about what all is floating around in the West Bay.



This is our front door ~ you'll notice the lack of stucco. That said, we're happy to have a door!





Unfortunately, this is the back of our townhouse. No insurance settlement = no outside walls. Lawyers still working on it and the association has secured a Small Business loan to re-start the repair project. Don't know when because the SECOND contractor has just been fired and #3 isn't on the horizon. The good news for us is that our storage and inside garage walls have been replaced (at our uninsured expense) so we are "dried in" and waiting on exterior walls before working on the stairs/carpet/tile replacement.






This is our neighbor in #4 and our friends, the Rollins, who own #6. You can see that the theme of missing walls continues throughout the complex. It's a depressing sight, but when you compare it to what it looked like just after the storm it IS an improvement.






This is #37 and if you remember the original photos it was completely demolished. It's just a shell, but having a partial wall on the outside is progress.




I've just assembled a pretty complete slide show of "after" photos from all around the complex and you can scroll through them at: http://www.piratescovetownhomes.com/Ike.html

Powder Room Make-Over

Not sure why I don't have any "before" photos, but the updated version of the powder room turned out great. New Sink is a little too small for Elvis, but that doesn't stop him. We used a mirror, decorative lamp and jewel box from Ruth's apartment, which is nice. The photos don't do the faux paint job justice ...