Transformations

Since my computer hasn't been working properly since early spring, there's a huge backlog of projects and things I´ve wanted to post here but I've since forgotten about most of them. Today I'm sharing two home improvement DIYs, one by Dani the Brave, and one by me. I'll start with the nasty one first. But you should be prepared of the worst:

Our bathrooms. Are. Hell. I mean, literally. The guest bathroom and main bathroom are so bad. Our landlords said they planned to completely renovate them one or two years after we moved in and well... let's just say it hasn't happened yet. We've lived here for more than three years and every time we've brought up the topic of our old bathrooms to our landlords, they bluntly changed the topic. They did say we could paint the tiles, after I asked them about it when we first looked at the appartment. I thought we'd do a quick (Ha! Ha!) paint-job until they renovate everything in one or two years. Well, turns out tile paint is a lot more pricey than we thought, especially when the tiles go all the way from the bottom to the ceiling, incuding the floor. The only thing that isn't tiled in our bathrooms is the ceiling. Note to everyone out there... should you smell a rather strong public restroom smell coming form the toilet / bathroom while touring a house to rent, do not automaticly assume the stench insulting your nose is because the landlords were partially renovating the building by themselves, smelling a bit like sweat themselves from the work and all. Oh no. The bathrooms weren't just super dirty when we moved in, the one toilet particularly never stopped smelling bad. No matter how many times it was cleaned or what type of cleaner was used. Or how bravely the hubby tried to tighten any leaky holes in the old pipes leading to the toilet seat. Because sometimes bathrooms and pipes and plumming and toilets can't be saved or fixed. Sometimes... you just have to burn everything down. Ugh. Can you feel my frustration? Yes, I'm pregnant, but even when I'm not, lying in a bathtub next to a stinky toilet, trying to relax in a sweetly scented bubble bath, when suddenly strong waves of urine smell hit my nose, cancelling out all other scents... it's just not that relaxing. Ok, I'm getting distracted here. But you get the picture, right? Oh, I need to add that all bathrooms have tiny windows, hardly letting light in. And no ceiling light fixtures. Just a little light outlet above the mirror. And have I mentioned all tiles are poop and pickle colored? WHO in the world does that? No matter how old the building is (early 80s, by the way...it does NOT justify this sin against humanity!). I think the previous owners just wanted to save money and bought left-over tiles from a rural 70s era town or something. The bathrooms are so small, I couldn't even take a picture of the whole room. Here's the before:

Ouch! These are the wall tiles, making the already super-tiny bathroom even smaller. This picture was taken during daytime. 

The floor tiles with nasty groutlines.

Yesterday, Dani finished 'cosmetically' renovating our little bathroom downstairs, priming, painting and all. He painted the tiles a crisp white and it's twice as light as you enter the bathroom (which means, it's still a very dark little room, but not as bad as before). He's my hero. We also bought some super-cheap carpet that we covered the floor tiles with. I've waited so long for this but then it wasn't in the budget at first and later I kept thinking 'Let's not bother, since our landlords are going to renovate soon, anyways'. Blatantly ugly things, especially in a home, literally make me feel pain. It's crazy but that's how it is. Now that we've realized the bathrooms won't likely ever be renovated as long as we live here, I am so happy at least one of the rooms is a bit better off. Since it's not our own house, we are not willing to spent thousands of €s on completely overhauling the bathrooms. The little bathroom is not the stinky one, so that's a plus for everyone who comes to visit ;).
Here's the after:

Feast your eyes! :) It's still not super pretty but SO much better!

My mantra for our current home.

Now that you can actually see stuff in the bathroom during daytime, I had to decorate a little :)

Then there was my own little project back in summer. It's much easier on the eyes than the whole bathroom episode!
Remember this table? It underwent several transformations since I found it years ago at a thrift store. I don't think I have a picture of what it looked like when we bought it. It was just a really red woodstain, almost like mahogany.

This was the first stage of improvement (back at our old appartment). A thick coat of clear sealer on top and white legs. I liked it for a long time.

I did't find a better picture of stage two. Somehow, Flynn came into my life and tables didn't seem to be the main focus whenever I held a camera anymore... ;). I had sanded the top and painted it white as well, followed by a second coat of creamy white. It's been like that for quite some time.

It is real wood, I liked the rustic-ness of it, but not the reddish color of the wood. So it was painted in various stages, and I liked each version of it. Lately however, I really fell in love with bleached wood and white or light washed woodstain. There's not much here to choose from, color wise. But I found some nice wood stains at IKEA, which I mixed and put on the table, after stripping it from all the previous paint and bleaching it in the sun. All the red original wood stain came out during the bleaching process and the new wood stain made it really nice and light.
This is what it looks like now and I will probably keep it like it is for good (...or will I?):

My little new love in all it's bleachy-lightwashed glory. And decked out for Christmas.

And no, this is not usually on the table. Candles and decor are only possible when Flynn is asleep right now ;). Oh the joys of motherhood (and the woes of a decorating addict)!

When I'm feeling really energized one day (and have a babysitter), I'll do the same to our dining table, to get the orange woodstain out and make it match. Maybe next summer... .