Question of the Day: Sunday, September 4

[gilmargl]

Good Morning Everybody,

a lovely cool, sunny September morning here in Germany. "My" flock of sparrows is playing on the terrace picking up the seeds they've thrown out of the feeder (now empty) in their excitement and drinking out of the water bowls and mini-ponds.

I got up late having worked into the night on the report for the Annual General Meeting of the animal charity. It's still not finished - I was too tired to copy financial figures from a photo onto an Excel table and I desperately need the new agenda since the board of govenors have "forgotten" to include some important topics on the existing one. The meeting is not until Friday, so I'm not panicking yet!

I fed the cats, but got on the sofa with a cup of tea and Katy, who was so cuddly I couldn't just push her to one side. So it was rather late when I finally got under the shower and let myself get a bit excited about my new plans for the bathroom.

My heating and plumbing engineer visited me during the week to measure up for a new radiator for the kitchen and we started talking about bathrooms. He spent some time looking at my prehistoric - well vintage, 40 years old - main bathroom - as well as the plumbing in the cellar below - and he's going to refurbish the room completely, making it suitable for wheelchairs and senior citizens in general. Wow! I'm so excited! I know that the practical details may leave me with cold feet but it's a job that has to be done. There are two waste water pipe outlets from my house so my daughter, living above me, will not be affected and I can use her bathroom for the 2 weeks building period. (Not sure how the cats will react - the bathroom is in the center of my long, rather narrow, bungalow-type house.

New bathroom! My present one is rustic: beige units against brown tiles (floor and walls) with 4 pale yellow floral tiles to break up the monotony. I liked it for many years and it has its charm but water pipes need replacing, scaling is getting more difficult to remove and I'm not getting any younger.

Perhaps I'll go for all-white or grey non-slip tiles for the floor and walls, white ceramic basins and brown or grey cupboards? I've plenty of time to make up my mind, as work will probably not start till next year, unless he has some cancellations. But I will also need to prepare my mind for the change from my old comfortable, brown (autumn) room to a hygienic, modern, functional room which will appear cold even with the new underfloor electric heating!

What colors do you have in your bathrooms and would you like a change?

 

[strider rose]

basic white ... and yes maybe a deep purple or lilac

 

[catloverfromwayback]

My bathroom walls, cabinet, basin are white and the floor is blue. Not my choice, it’s standard for the village I rent in. I don’t mind it. It’s a lot better than the rather sickly lilac colour one I had years ago (including the toilet) with a brown patterned floor. My landlords were weird and extremely cheap.

 

[game misconduct]

looks good word of advice to help you design your bathroom to be fully accessible to those who are wheel chair bound.get/borrow/ rent a chair to use in making a practice pretend run having a chair in there to move around will give areal time perspective of exactly how much room. your going to need making things to spec and getting a chair bound person into your bathroom.(are not the same) the amount of space and clearance you will need is more than you think. for example the care giver helping the disabled will need enough room to maneuver the chair around to position it for the disabled to tranfer to tiolet/shower bench etc.all while providing a helping hand to stabilize them during the transfer even more so if the caregiver must pick up the person to transfer the person. my gf family renovated her parents house recently and all those engineers each and everyone came up with good plans to spec but all failed in how well their design would actually functionluckily we did a practice run using myself in my chair. just cause the wheel chair fits inside doesnt mean you have enough room to position it for a transfer to shower/toilet.
dont forget the wall mounted safety rails their importantif person has use of hands still and a good grip. oops i totally missed my answer for the question of the day in my replour bathroom is painted a tan but we have grey towels/rugs etc. we like to match things to graycies fur color

 

[catapault]

This is very timely and amusing gilmargl , as we are also planning some renovations to our master bathroom.

But first, to answer your color question - when we redid the quite small bathroom back in Connecticut the end result was speckled black / gray / white granite floor tiles, non-slip gray tiles on the shower floor, gray wall tiles, gray fixtures. In summer I had white towels, and in winter I had warm yellow towels. The difference in how the room looked, between white and yellow towels, was wonderful! And it was nice to have a seasonal change.

 

[Katie M]

My bathroom has beige-white walls and faux wood floors. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to make changes.

 

[Winchester]

Your bathroom will be very pretty.

We did our bathroom (we only have one) over a few years ago. The colors were Silver Bullet and Victorian Plum. The gray is on three walls with the wall at the sinks the plum color. We are pleased with the reno. Rick was "in charge" of the bathroom, since I was "in charge" of our kitchen reno. No changes....yet.

 

[neely]

Our primary bathroom is light gray with a white tile floor. I wanted to replace the floor tiles but DH did not and now I regret it. Our second bathroom which was used by our kids when they were young is a light beige. I would like to change that bathroom but it doesn't get used very much so I'm not in a rush. However, if Santa gave me a nice present I'd definitely redo that bathroom.

 

[Margot Lane]

Wood. No changes needed.

 

[Elphaba09]

After the Storm by Sherwin Willimas (We used it in our bedroom as well.) and Alice White by Behr
I would get a different shower curtain. The one we have is okay, but I want something a bit more colorful.

 

[NY cat man]

In our upstairs bathroom, which is also being remodeled, the one finished wall is a blue/grey color. The tub surround, when installed, will be matte white tiles, 12x24 inches, with gold graining
The downstairs bathroom currently is a pale green, but as soon as the upstairs bathroom is finished, Michele wants me to gut it to the studs and make some changes. Colors yet to be determined.

 

[Margot Lane]

If anyone is mulling over tile and is stuck, you might check out Fireclay Tile. Not only are they GORgeous, easy to clean, w/ amazing colors, but are sustainable from start to finish. (Too long to list the details here). Some of them have nice “crackled” Art Deco type edges. They are great for small areas where you want a bit of oomph.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

My basement bathroom is just white. I never use it so I don't really care how it looks. My main bathroom has aqua walls with accents of coral and gray. I decorated the room based on the shower curtain I bought a few years ago. I actually used the same paint I used for my bedroom which is turquoise, but I added some lighter colors that I had in my basement to make it an aqua color to better match the shower curtain.

I'm considering redoing the main bathroom including making the sink bowl myself in my pottery studio and then doing a mosaic design on the counter. I also want to put in a medicine cabinet but that would require I need to paint behind the current mirror and since I don't have anymore paint of the color I created, I'll have to repaint.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My bathroom is white, light purple and gray. I have a new shower curtain to match the new bedding and window treatments in my bedroom; but I haven’t gotten to some sewing that needs to be done so its all on hold.

I’d love to paint the walls but its our only functional shower at the moment so I’m not really able to. Maybe when we get around to fixing the water in the kid’s bathroom we can do that,

 

[iPappy]

The bathroom looks great!!
Downstairs bath is more rustic with burgundy, off whites, and wood floors/cabinets etc. The upstairs is off white and light yellow with wooden floors and cabinets. I like both just as they are for now.

 

[Maria Bayote]

I like brown hues in my bathroom. When I get the money I'd surely renovate it.

 

[verna davies]

My bathroom suite is white, tiles a pale cream and has soft, subtle colours of cream, blue and peach. I add bright towels and bottles of bubble bath to give it colour.

 

[mani]

Mine is as it has been for as long as the house has been here (60 + years). I did replace the sink and cabinet, and repainted it but all the tiles are the same.. those tiny little square ones in pale green and white. I really like them and wouldn't change it. It suits my 'cottagy' house.

 

[susanm9006]

I have two bathrooms, the main family that I remodeled shortly after I moved it. It has sort of light taupe walls, similar color tile and both cream and dark brown cabinetry. I am really tired of these colors and hate the tile floor. Am thinking about putting plank vinyl over it.

My master bath was totally redone 20-21. It’s light grey walls and cabinetry and a darker salt and pepper grey in the shower.