I have a new bathroom!

 

I love my house but the bathroom had a bit too much 'character.' The plumbing was boxed in along the wall, the toilet plumbing was exposed and the bathtub was blue! So I decided to get it all redone. 

Here's what I started with

I hated the thought of what was going down that big pipe 😄

I found a great plumber to do the work. He said it would take two weeks, but it ended up being three, which really isn't very surprising. 

We visited a plumbing place in New Ross and picked out tile styles and colors, the sink, toilet, tap, storage units etc... And also ordered some things online from a variety of places.

Niall, my plumber, was really frustrated some days dealing with the old pipes and the non-plumb walls. 

In Progress

The bathtub had been leaking behind the wall for years, so things had to be stripped back and rebuilt.

Some interesting wallpaper history was exposed

As well as old tile that had been covered over

Pipes had to be moved and put under the floor

Tiling in progress. I wanted big tiles to have a little grout as possible and I chose two shades of grey. The dark grey is the stripe on the wall and the floor.

A plastic ceiling was installed so there won't ever be a problem with paint bubbling and mold from the moisture

The walls were up to two inches out of plumb. The tiling took a long time.

Real progress. The tile is done on the walls and the floor and the pan for the walk in shower is installed.

The utility room downstairs was the storage place for stuff as it arrived

Dust clothes were laid all through the house

The new toilet is in

And the sink. 

So I had to go stay somewhere else for the duration. There was no water for three weeks. I found a great place to stay that took pets about 20 minutes away.  It was south of the town of Mullinavat and a beautiful big house with two smaller houses and a large garden. 

Penelope, the owner, has lived there for more than 30 years and renovated the whole place. It was a mainly derelict mill when she first moved there. Now it looks like something out of an Jane Austen novel. 

There is a fish pond that Milo was quite fascinated with, below the patio with a beautiful wood gazebo.

It was so great that Penelope loved Milo. Every morning she would open the main house door facing the courtyard for Milo to come in and lounge away his day in the Papa San chair in the gorgeous conservatory. 

Milo and I stayed in The Grain Store, where the grain was stored when it was a mill. The arched windows were where the carts of grain with moved in and out. 

A very foggy day

And it even snowed a bit one morning. 

It's a beautiful place. Penelope has it on the market if you're looking to buy a beautiful place in Ireland or know of anyone. https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-knockinure-mooncoin-co-kilkenny/5713649

Unfortunately Milo got injured while we were there. He's very much an outdoor cat, so I put him in a harness and leash to explore the garden several times before I let him out on his own. 

All was great the first week but then he came home one evening and had what I thought was just a scratch on his little forehead. But it turned out that he had evidently run into a neighboring farm cat, got the worst of the confrontation, and was bitten. 

It very quickly became a big abscess and he had to have surgery. He was then in the 'cone of shame' for nearly two weeks.  It's so great here though that the vets realize that animals also feel pain. So in addition to the antibiotics, Milo got the equivalent of 'Kitty Ibuprofen and never seemed to be in distress.

Right after the surgery

He still wanted to go outside, but I only took him out a leash for quite a while

Everything is more difficult when you have to wear a cone.

Very unhappy about staying inside

He's now healed but I still don't know if his fur will completely grow back. But no matter, he'll just have a little swagger with his scar. 

Finally we got to come home.  The bathroom looks great!  It's such a pleasure having this gorgeous retreat now. And taking a shower is a whole different experience. 

Lots of storage and the sink is such a great size.

Gorgeous shower!

I used my old rubber ducky shower curtain for the window curtain. A fun pop of color. 

Totally worth the time and hassle.