Ironic Renovation

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been renovating our downstairs bathroom. (By “we,” I mean Joel and some other guys. I “tried” to operate a drill on Thursday to drill in some drywall screws…too bad you weren’t here to laugh at me. It was hilarious. Thank God I have a patient husband.)

Our house was built in the 1960s, and the original bathroom fixtures have lived long and prospered since then. Upstairs, the bathroom and sink are a grayish-lavender purple, and downstairs, the bathroom, sink and toilet were pastel-seafoam green (until a couple of weeks ago).

Downstairs bathroom "before" 

We have been talking about renovating our bathrooms for a couple of years. The downstairs (seafoam green) bathroom took priority because there have been several issues with the plumbing and the toilet (including one fateful overflowing of the toilet during a consequentially memorable New Year’s party).

After bathtub was removed. See the lovely green toilet back there?

I originally had an old-fashioned-antique-ish vision for the downstairs bathroom (warm bronze taps, dark, fancy wood, deep red accents), but somehow my vision gradually changed into a less antique-ish and more modern classic look. We even strayed from the safe taupe turf and delved into the land of cool urban purple for the wall colour.

Then last night, I had a thought. I thought, Oh my goodness: we picked a purple paint colour for the downstairs bathroom. Also, oh my goodness, the colour of the bathtub we can’t wait to dispose of (hopefully next year) upstairs is purple, too. Then I brought the paint color chip upstairs and placed it on the side of the bathtub. The new downstairs bathroom colour (Fog Grey) is not at all unlike the old upstairs bathtub colour (maybe just a little foggier-grey). In fact, in some ironic circumstantial twist of fate, the colours are quite similar.

"Fog Grey" (with the "X") is the new bathroom colour. (It's not painted yet.)

Our purple "fog grey-ish" upstairs bathtub. Emmett's strategically-placed arm and leg justify me posting this bath picture.

How ironic is it that in the effort to purge our house of colours that were trendy 40-50 years ago, we managed to select a new, “modern” paint colour that is actually reminiscent of that which we are itching to remove?

That fashion and style moves in circles is very true—we all know that. I mean, with a modern twist, so many ideas from so many years ago have come full circle and are stylish yet again.

So I guess if you don’t renovate often enough, you may not need to renovate at all (as far as aesthetics go).

New bathtub/floor (bathroom isn't totally finished yet)