When my husband and I were house hunting we had a list of things that we wanted our home to have.  We wanted a fairly open living floor plan where the kitchen, dining, and living areas had a good flow between them.  Hardwoods were also pretty important to us, and we needed closet space and storage.  Aside from those things we were pretty open.  It would have been nice to have had beautiful updated bathrooms too, but our dream home did not have that at all.  The house we picked was built in the 1950s, and the second we walked in we feel in love.  For a house of that age it was really open and the hardwood floors throughout made it even better.  The lighting and the molding was all new to the home and it gave it a more current feel, but you still got the charm from the farmhouse that you would want. We loved it all, except the bathrooms.  Wow were they awful.

The original part of the home only offered one small bathroom.  The previous owners built another small one off of the master bedroom.  They were both just bad, but the guest bathroom was our first priority.  There was nothing we wanted to keep.  I mean absolutely nothing.  Here’s what the space had to offer:

• On top of the standard drywall a vinyl wall was tacked up.  If you have ever been into an RV bathroom, it was that same stuff.  Yep, we had RV vinyl walls in our home.  It was disgusting looking.
• The linoleum was not only hideous, but it was poorly done.  I can’t believe anyone would like the design of it.
• There was a drop ceiling installed, you know like you see in basements and office spaces.  Under it, the ceiling slanted up and really opened the space, so I still have no clue why they hid it like that.
• The vanity was dirty and would not come clean.
• The mirror looked original to the house.
• Lastly, I had no clue they made straight plastic bathtubs.  Yes.  The bathtub was like plastic.

We had a huge project on our hands, but we got it all done in a weekend.  Vinyl walls came down and the drywall was patched up.  The drop ceiling was officially dropped and the new slanted ceiling gave it a much needed look to seem larger.  New tile flooring, a new tub and subway tile, and a new vanity made it the bathroom of our dreams.

If you are looking at homes just remember you cannot have it all if you are on a budget, but overtime you just might get exactly what you wanted.