DECORATING | The Spring 2020 One Room Challenge (ORC) and me. And my pink bathroom. And the boring cleaning and prep and minor renovations I’ve done so far.

OH HAI! It’s the second week of the One Room Challenge. And I’m back! I haven’t dropped out yet! It’s a miracle!

Is now the right time to admit that I am not a designer? You knew that already? Oh. Well, I mean, I’m NOT. And before this post, I’d never made a mood board.

Pink tile, a potential paint colour, and a thrifted gold mirror that may or may not be growing mold. Magic!

I’ve made a bit of a hobby of styling and decorating my space(s), and as a vintage reseller, I’ve learned a lot about design over the years, but yeah. I would never presume to call myself a real designer, and perhaps unsurprisingly, this also means that when it comes to the ORC, I have no idea what I’m doing. Do I even know how to make a mood board? No. I do not. I attempted something for this post, just so I would have an image to post that wasn’t mildew or a toilet, but I fully accept that it’s ugly and unprofessional. Whatever, okay? Apparently people have sponsors for this thing? That would be cool. I also sometimes wish my partner was handy. Instead, I’ve got myself a husbutt who doesn’t even know how to swing a hammer, and we have no money, so lol. GOOD LUCK, ME!

The pink bathroom is not exactly coming along. I mean, it is and it isn’t.

A few boring things are done. I took down the grody-ass glass shower enclosure, as mentioned last week. This is an easy DIY. All you need a  screwdriver, maybe a utility knife or razor if there’s caulk to cut, and a bit of strength to lift out the doors, And a strong gag reflex if your shower door, like mine, had 20 years of mildew trapped underneath it. BARF. (Then just fill the holes in the tile with a little clear silicone. They barely show.)

The American Standard Clean White WaterSense toilet.  Ooh, smooth sides, baby!

I also replaced the toilet. Or rather, I had the toilet replaced.

I actually didn’t do this myself, and I also didn’t do this in real time. This was a fix that happened awhile back, before the Coronavirus pandemic. But I do want to mention it, because I’m REALLY happy with the new toilet. It’s not fancy. I got it at Lowes for less than $200. I’m going to link to it. Lowe’s isn’t sponsoring me or anything (see above). I just like this throne. It’s the American Standard Clean White WaterSense Elongated Chair Height 2-Piece Toilet.

What I love about it is that it has a higher seat, which is really nice for when my elderly relatives are visiting (the old toilet was sooooo low.) It also has SMOOTH SIDES. Which makes it way easier to clean. I HATE cleaning the base of the toilet, where the pipe curves are and the dust collects. Gross. It also has a nice soft-close lid. It’s honestly a pretty great toilet, as far as toilets goes. I don’t believe in spending more than a couple hundred bucks on a shitter. That seems like something Trump would do. Nuff said, amirite?!

The height has been a little bit of a challenge for my four-year-old, but overall, I’d still recommend this toilet.

It’s fairly easy to replace a toilet yourself.

Watch a couple YouTube videos and Bob’s yer uncle, but when I did this, I was feeling lazy, and ended up hiring a guy. This bathroom is SUCH a tight squeeze. There was all this black mildew on the wall behind the toilet when the old one came out. I admit that I threw money at the problem and saved myself the aggravation. I’ll spare you a pic. The oil toilet was from the early 1990s and was leaky and running all the time. We got a rebate from the city for putting in this one, because it conserves water. So that’s also worth looking into if you are thinking of doing a toilet replacement. Anyway, this one leaves me a wee bit more space behind it, so I can clean back there, and that’s another benefit. No more vile mildew.

Speaking of cleaning, that’s the other thing I’ve been focussed on. For those who were worried, I never intended to replace the pink tile. It’s cemented in with the power of a midcentury Superman, and it’s not broken, and anyway, I have no money (see above), so I was never actually going to gut the bathroom. I just scrubbed it. I scrubbed those pink tiles down like WOAH. And the grout is much cleaner. The tiles themselves, particularly those in the shower, however, still have a haze to them, which I doubt I’ll ever get out. I have tried every cleaning product in the universe. CLR. Everything. But the haze persists. I don’t know what it is. They look good enough, so I’m trying to let it be.

Do you have a tip that will get the dull haze off of my tiles? Please share!

What else? Whelp, I have removed and replaced the caulking.

All taped up and ready for caulk.

This is a satisfying DIY and yet again, one that isn’t too difficult, though it can be a bit finicky. What you do is get a razor blade with a wee handle, and cut and scrape out all the old caulk. ALL the old caulk. Get rid of it. Clean the area. Then, give in to the fact that you are NOT a wizard and will never be able to apply a truly smooth line of caulk without years of experience. You just won’t. Stop trying. I have re-caulked many a tub in my time, including when I was 9 months pregnant and in labour. (Really. I went into labour, and before going to the hospital I re-caulked my bathtub between contractions. Pregnancy does some seriously weird things to the brain. That’s my excuse.)

Anyway, it is a project I highly recommend, especially to renters, and I know what I’m talking about. So listen up: if you need a really crisp line? USE TAPE. That’s the best caulk tip I can give you: tape! Tape it up. Apply the caulk. Remove the tape immediately. Then DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING FOR TWO DAYS. Done. That’s it. That’s my caulk tip.

And ya, I said it. CAULK TIP.

A mood board. I don’t know how to make a mood board. Whatever.

Again, just use tape, y’all. And realize that it’s not going to be super perfect. What it will be is clean. And that is no small thing. (Oh, also? You probably don’t need the big tube of caulk. The $5 little one is enough. And you don’t need a caulk gun. They’re annoying.) It’s a $10 project, but one that is immensely satisfying.