I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy....

Down in my heart and oozing out between my toes.

The main bathroom is done, all 6 x 8 feet of it.

So when we moved into this house almost 13 years ago the bathroom was - you asked how ugly? It was so ugly... that when our daughter had a girlfriend travel to see her, she died laughing when she saw it. I gave her grace because she was all of 12 and 12 year olds are just a bit too honest at times. She didn't know it was rude to laugh at our ugly bathroom.

Besides that, it was that ugly.

After she left, I started looking at this oh so ugly bathroom, and began picking at the pink plastic tile on the wall. Pink plastic tile. By jove, they flew right off, so I got a putty knife and they really came off. Then I realized what I had done, that I had no clue how to put up new tiles, and besides that the rest of the bathroom was ugly too. The toilet and tub were peach. The countertop was some color of formica, the cabinet had been made of some scrap wood. And the floor was peach too in keeping with the peach theme. And there was a big old sheet of glass mirror that ran all the way across the bathroom wall because the room was so pretty you might want to get a better look.

This is Dan, my partner in crime. At 13 you can talk a boy into destroying almost anything. He's 26 now. He probably still likes to destroy things.

I called Manly and told him what I'd done and that there was no return. I think he sighed and then didn't speak for awhile. He may have asked me why I did it. I think I told him I couldn't stand how ugly it was for another single minute.

You can tell from the look on his face how excited he was that I'd started this, with no skills whatsoever to put it back or fix it. I probably did this in the middle of spring when he was mowing every five days. I'm usually good that way.



Very handy to have the toilet paper right there, when there's no potty. And a family of four loves sharing one bathroom every morning anyway. I remember it was a blast. Nobody ever got the least bit irritated.

Beautiful green sheetrock, and we were on a roll. Time to install a lower and upper cabinet and new flooring. Might as well add enough outlets too for all those curling irons and dryers. We pretty much gutted the bathroom, except for the tub which they told us would cost $1,000 to remove before we even bought another one. So we had it painted instead. He replaced the walls, the cabinet, the mirror, the lights, the fan and the toilet. Pretty much everything. Installed a wall surround, a new rounded shower rod and one of those big spouty shower heads. I put up lovely wallpaper, and any wallpaper that was lovely 10 years ago is not acceptable today. So we had to redo, again, only this time it was all me.

So I removed the wallpaper, we had the tub painted again, and finally, finally today it's all finished, and I'd say something along that line if it wasn't just too sacreligious to the point that I'm afraid I'd go straight to H. E. Double Hockey Sticks, so instead I'm saying I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in my heart, because I do.

So here it is today. After a coat of wallpaper applied, then removed, then border applied then removed. We're now at a nice neutral coconut milk, white trim and lots of fluffy towels. And we're even going to use these while the house is listed. I bought a bunch!

Just enough on the counter to look inviting, but nothing you really need is out and handy. Living in a staged house is going to be such fun!

A bit bland and I hear that's what we need to do - dazzle them with boring beige!

And this? This is the door we replaced, six months ago. It's been bare of any paint for that long, and finally, finally today I got two coats of paint on it. Hallelujah!

There it is - nothing to knock socks off but probably nobody is going to fall over laughing at it either. Hotel towels from T.J. Maxx for $6.99 each made me smile inside, and a few charming things to warm the room.

I'd like to say, thirteen years later, that I'd know better than to start picking off tile, but that would be lying. I'd still do it, and I probably wouldn't mention it first either. That, my friends, is the miracle of marriage, that two people continue to agree to spend their lives together in spite of knowing in most areas this is as good as it gets.

Bless his heart, seriously.