The Worst Parts of My House

The worst parts of my house aka my to do list for the next 5 years are
1. the hall bath
2. the kitchen
3. downstairs

This is the floor of the hall bath. I am generally a very careful person, so I took care to pry up small corner pieces of tile to see what was underneath. Original adorable square floor tile. Score. I let that soak in for a few months until I couldn't handle the wretched brown giant tiles anymore. So last week I got out the crowbar and down to business. But the more tiles I took up the worse it got. I can handle a few broken pieces, I can handle a few missing pieces but then there were just gigantic patches of missing tile, filled in by some kind of mortar. Another great and thorough DIY job by previous owners wah wah. Unfortunately this project is in hold for now because I need to figure out what to do and this is literally what it will look like for the next 2 years until I can make a decision. I think I'd like to do concrete floors. If that's not possible then a concrete looking tile. The shower is this same brown tile. So.

No it's not a black and white picture. It's just a cold and lifeless kitchen.

The kitchen is in pretty good shape because somehow I have controlled my to demo it. Initially I thought I would need to redo all the cabinets because the layout is all wrong and there's no storage, but now I've decided to do everything in my power to keep them. But this room really needs warming up so I'm going to strip the cabinets and get back to the wood/birch plywood underneath that I think is really pretty and warm. I've already done one to test and I love it. The subway backsplash was something we did when we first moved in because there wasn't one. Subway tile is fine for most kitchens but it doesn't seem like it belongs in a mid century house. I've got my already broke just thinking about it heart set on Heath Ceramics tile. The fault really goes to these two kitchens for being too damn beautiful.

The floor is the #1 thing that has got to go. It's awful. The tile is so so bad. It is so ugly and dirty looking and also super uneven. I have tripped over uneven tile. #2 thing that has got to go is the counters. They are concrete and I like the look but they are just too fragile on the surface and look cheap.

And I'd like to add: pantry and other better layout things, grown up dining set, sexier light fixtures, new hardware.

So really, it's fine I just want to change every last thing about it.

The downstairs is scary, starting with this horrible banister. I've gotten a few quotes from stair people and metal workers on a better railing but nothing seems quite right. Something with a matching gate would be nice so this ugly thing isn't the first thing you see when you walk in the front door for the next 5 years.

The actual downstairs is really a full gut job. It was all DIY'd in a major way. Wood laminate that is clearly not on an even surface, toilets turned the wrong way, original fireplace covered with 90's ceramic tile, beadboard where there should be sheetrock, etc. There are no pictures because it is just too scary for the internet.