A weird kind of surprise

I have felt a strong urge to tackle and achieve something major and tangible this week. So I have gone for a bit of a bathroom makeover. Now our bathroom is really nice. It is huge, and it has wild wallpaper which was put up by the people before us and which I absolutely love. There was one major problem with our bathroom however, and that was the carpeted floor. I dislike carpets in bathrooms, they just don't seem very hygienic or practical. Add to this the fact that we inherited the carpet, and also that it extended sixteen inches up the back wall behind the cistern and basin (yes really!), and you will see why this has been a makover on my mind for a while.

Another factor in the equation is that my husband works away all week, only returning home late on a Friday night, and then off again on a Sunday. So it is nice for me sometimes to take on a big job and do it while he is away, then he comes home to a great big surprise.

We do a lot of DIY. This is because we don't like to pay other people to do stuff we can do ourselves, and also because, although it takes us a lot longer than it would a professional, we believe that for the most part we get exactly the finish we want if we do it ourselves.

So with all this in mind, on Monday I ripped up the carpet from the bathroom. I have put down some vinyl flooring in the wet area of the bathroom, and am going to put a small carpeted area (yes I know what I said above) in the entrance part of the bathroom (you see the room is really big, so there is kind of a dressing area and a washing area, so two floorings will be OK).

As I mentioned, the old carpet extended up the wall (yuk!), and when I pulled it off I found out why. In the past someone had tried to box in the pipework, and had done a dreadful job, so the wall carpeting was covering various holes and gaps and unevenness. I was determined to improve this area, and so today I have gone for some pine panelling. Now this is actually my favourite part of the make over, because the panelling is made from recycled wine box lids. A few weeks ago I got 300 of these lids from a local wine merchant through freecycle. They were from 2-bottle presentation wine boxes, and the lids had been removed so that a corporate client could put their own printed lids on. I have been using these lids to paint on, for craft projects, and now for panelling my bathroom! I have teak oiled the panels (we don't like to put varnish on wood), and put some architrave on the top and as a skirting board, and I think it looks fine and dandy. It will amuse me for years to come that our bathroom is decorated with recycled wine paraphernalia.

Tomorrow will see the laying of the carpet in the dressing area. The previous carpet was a dark sage green, but I am going for a cream waffle effect carpet.

The room is just going to look so different, and I cannot wait to see my husband's face. When we first lived together, he used to play five a side foot ball on a Sunday afternoon, and would come home to find a room re-painted or some such, and four years ago I made and decorated a bar for him in the cellar during one of his weeks away. So this should bring back some fun memories for him.

I forgot to take a before picture, but here is just a small area of the part that has been completed.