While looking through our old photos from our first home, I stumbled upon these pictures of our old bathroom before the big renovation. For the record, Lisa would like me to stress that this was MY bathroom and not OUR bathroom since it was rehabbed before we got married and she moved in.
The before shots:
Horrific. Don't touch the Loofa.
To say the bathroom was in dire straits before the remodel is an understatement. The tiles were regularly falling off the shower wall. The tub was only 48″ long, much shorter compared to today’s standard 60″ tubs. Not like that mattered though, no one ever laid down in this thing, not while I owned it anyway. You can clearly see there was an attempt to replace some of the tiles around the tub spout, but it was done poorly at best. The plaster was chipping off the walls and falling into the tub. I’m pretty sure the CDC would’ve condemned this “room” if they had caught wind of it.
If you look closely, you can see some plumber’s tape wrapped around the p-trap. Yes, there is such a thing as plumber’s tape. That plumber’s tape essentially became the p-trap after the actual pipe rotted through. These pictures were taken the day of my “Demolition Party” to capture the timeless nastiness that was my bathroom. A few months before the demolition, I had decided to stop cleaning it. What was the point? If anything, maybe all the mold and rot would ease the demo.
The new bathroom was much nicer.
In addition to gutting the entire bathroom, I expanded the room length by one foot into the adjacent bedroom. Although that third bedroom I borrowed space from was small to begin with, I don’t think I could’ve sold the house with such an undersized bathroom. The extra foot really helped. I was able to install a full sized tub with a subway tiled surround. The window was replaced with glass tile block. The toilet is a top of the line American Standard Champion model.
The bathroom was still on the small size, but that’s just what you get with homes of that age in that area of Philadelphia. Sure beats the Green Monster.
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