A bathroom once again!

Of course there was drama! The morning before the plumbers were supposed to install the toilet and sink for our restored basement powder room, the basement drain backed up. At least one freakout occurred. (Passive voice intended). Then the hot water line failed. FIXED! All’s well that nearly ends well. We now have a functioning bathroom that will enable us and all of our contractors to have more than one area to do what one does. Here is our work in progress!

As you can see in both photos, the walls are a mess! Part of it was cut out presumably to deal with a former toilet issue. One whole wall was ripped out and those that remain have etchings from teenagers including “[Girl’s name] is crazy!” We know who [girl’s name] is and plan to cut out that section of wall to frame for her. Other etchings include those from whom we know to be teenager because of when they posted the date of their marks. Yes, of course, we should have done a full prep of the walls before we installed the fixtures, but I’m a little torn about removing these kids’ musings. I will ultimately, but because we had to have a third functioning toilet quickly before we started the big reno, it was worth it to me to pause on this decision until we have more time (and at this point, money).

As Dan cleaned out the debris in the unfinished wall, he found something that was a bit bizarre:

Why is a scrap from a local bank-deposit slip from 1978 stashed in a wall? My guess is that before at least the former owners turned this room into a storage area for shutters and doors and storm windows, it was–enabling the teenagers–a junk room of sorts. We won’t ever know.

But what we do know is despite the gross walls, we have restored and updated a bathroom that likely in the past was used as a form of in-home segregation. We will enjoy it ourselves and welcome our guests even while we all grimace at the walls.